Blessed Is the Busybody Read Online Free PDF

Detective Roussos said.
    “The door was locked. I opened it and stepped on the porch.” I shrugged. “No body. That I would remember.”
    “Go on.”
    “I reminded myself to water the planters. The petunias were drooping.”
    “They still are,” he said.
    I smiled a little. “You’re a gardener?”
    “Vegetables, some herbs. Go on.”
    “I walked down the front steps, not the ones on the side that go down to the driveway. The paper was lying halfway up the sidewalk. I got it, took it out of the plastic bag to scan the headlines, didn’t like what I saw, and tucked it under my arm. Then I looked to see if anyone else was around.”
    He slid farther forward. “Were they?”
    “Our street’s not very busy that time of morning. I didn’t see my next-door neighbors—”
    He looked down. “Mr. and Mrs. Simon?”
    “Right. An older couple. Usually I throw their paper up to the porch so they won’t have to go up and down the stairs. But it was already gone.”
    I tried to picture the street that morning. We didn’t have real neighbors on the other side of the parsonage, just a narrow alleyway leading to the church parking lot. The church proper sat beside the parish house and both backed up to the alley. “Sometimes the sexton is outside the church cleaning trash off the sidewalk or watering, but not this morning.”
    He looked blank, as if he wondered what bizarre rituals we performed inside the church walls and who performed them.
    “A sexton is a janitor. Church janitor,” I prompted.
    He looked vaguely relieved. “Anyone else?”
    I tried hard to remember. In every possible way the morning had been ordinary.
    Every way but one.
    “Well, there was a car parked in the driveway across the street, and now that I think about it, that’s unusual. The house is for sale, and it’s in bad shape so they aren’t getting any movement on it. Lucy—my best friend—is a realtor, so she keeps me informed.”
    “Did you see anybody in it? Can you describe it?”
    I tried to remember, even though I knew this was probably not much of a lead. “It was an SUV of some kind. I remember it sat up high, the way they do. You know, on big tires.” I spread my arms to make my point. “One of the smaller ones. Dark green, maybe, I’m not sure.”
    “License plate?”
    My arms fell to my sides. “I wasn’t paying that much attention.”
    “Would you notice out of state tags?”
    I considered. “I’m not sure.”
    He grimaced. “And occupants?”
    “I didn’t see anybody. The car was just parked there. Maybe somebody had gone inside to do repairs or cleaning. It was probably too early for potential buyers, and besides, the SUV wasn’t the kind of car a realtor drives. Too casual. A little beat-up.”
    “Anything else?”
    “Nope. The cat came around front, and we went back inside, and I made breakfast. My youngest daughter came down and ate cereal, then she took the cat outside again to bury him.”
    His face said it all. I explained until he relaxed. Gardener and animal lover. A back to the land kind of guy. Roussos would like my father.
    I told him about Ed joining us, about his going outside to help Teddy fill in the other holes she’d dug that week, about the cookies and the Women’s Society board and Deena’s arrival. I was out of breath by the time I finished, and his eyes had glazed over.
    “During any of that time did you hear any unusual noises? Did you look outside at any point after you came inside from getting the paper?”
    I tried to remember. “I stayed in the back of the house. We’re protected from the street and don’t get much noise, even with the windows open. I did hear tires squealing out front.”
    “Do you remember when?”
    I did the math. “Between eight thirty and nine.” I realized the squeals might well have come from the car that had dropped the body on our doorstep. The timing was certainly right.
    “We were inside. All of us.” I shivered. I was glad Teddy hadn’t