River Road by Jayne Ann Krentz Read Free Book Online Page A

discovered a long time ago that the old cop trick of staying silent actually worked very well in real life. It was amazing how people would try to fill in a conversational void, especially people like Kelly, who were constitutionally inclined to talk.
    “She inherited her aunt’s place, you know,” Nolan continued. “I’d like to talk to her about putting it on the market. I sent her a couple of emails and tried phoning her, but she never responded.”
    Lucy had not answered Kelly’s emails or calls, and she had made a point of pretending not to see him a few minutes ago, even though he had been sitting right across the street. It didn’t take a detective to figure out that she was not interested in talking to Kelly. Not yet, at any rate.
    Mason made his way back toward the counter. “I expect she’s probably still grieving.”
    “Sure, sure, understandable. The house needs some work, but it’s a nice piece of property, and that old orchard is worth its weight in gold. I can get her a very good price.” Nolan headed back toward the door. “I’ll drive out there now and see if I can catch her.”
    “Don’t bother. She mentioned she was going to do some grocery shopping.”
    “In that case, I’ll drop by later on this afternoon or early this evening, then,” Nolan said.
    “She told me that she has plans for this evening.”
    “How could she have plans?” Nolan frowned. “She just got into town yesterday.”
    “Sounded like personal business. Doubt she would appreciate having a real estate agent knocking on her door tonight. If I were you, I’d wait until tomorrow before trying to talk to her.”
    Nolan’s clear blue eyes gleamed with a speculative expression. “What was she doing in here?”
    “This is a hardware store,” Mason said. “I sold her some lightbulbs. What did you think she was doing?”
    Nolan’s jaw tightened, but he obviously realized he wasn’t going to get any more information.
    “See you later,” he said.
    He did not actually slam the door on the way out, but something about the way he closed it made it clear he would have liked to have been able to slam it.
    Mason watched him walk back across the street to join Jillian Colfax. Nolan sat down at the table and spoke briefly to Jillian. She did not look pleased.
    Interesting,
Mason thought.

6

    W hat was it about the beautiful old house that made her so uneasy? It wasn’t just the general gloom, Lucy thought. That would soon be rectified with the new lightbulbs she had picked up at Fletcher Hardware.
    She set the sack of groceries, the six-pack of beer and the lightbulbs on the ancient, scarred wooden table that occupied the center of the kitchen. She paused to look around, searching for whatever it was that was bothering her. She remembered the house as warm and welcoming, but now it felt cold. True, it was late in the day, but the place seemed darker than she remembered it.
    The paneled walls, faded drapes, wooden floors and heavy, vintage furniture had always been atmospheric, but in a cozy way. Now the two-story house was saturated with shadows. She wasn’t sure the new lightbulbs were going to help all that much.
    Perhaps the problem was that while Sara was alive the house had reflected her bright, positive, spiritual personality. Now that she was gone, the old house was simply an old house.
Missing its owner,
Lucy thought.
    “I miss her, too,” she said into the silence.
    Her phone chirped. She took the device out of her tote and glanced at the screen. The very pricey online matchmaking service with which she was registered had identified another match. All she had to do was log on for more information. Mr. Almost Perfect was waiting out there somewhere in the ether.
    She deleted the message and dropped the phone back into the tote.
    She put the baby bok choy, the fresh salmon, the white wine and a few other items, including a wedge of excellent cheese from a local artisanal cheesemaker, into the vintage refrigerator.