Bright New Murder Read Online Free PDF Page A

mouth.
    Jane set her cup down and tried not to stare. “Uhh…”
    Gemma didn’t look…guilty. In fact, her face split into a giddy grin as soon as she spotted Jake.
    Jake slid onto the stool next to Jane. “Mornin’.”
    Jane rubbed her eyes. What had Jake done now? Though she had hoped for a Gemma/Jake hookup ever since introducing them, she hadn’t seen any signs of…this.
    “Morning,” Gemma said with a nauseating giggle.
    Jake winked.
    Jane rested her now-throbbing head on her hand. Flirting. The Gemma/Jake thing had been limited to flirting. She had been fobbing them off on each other for months now, but it hadn’t seemed to have taken.
    They hadn’t really…had they?
    Jake’s eyes were just as tired as Gemma’s, and he had a matching silly grin. His slacks were wrinkly like he had slept in them, and his hair stood up on end. He had clearly woken up here. Jane stared, her mouth slightly ajar.
    Jake narrowed his eyes. “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.”
    Jane gagged.
    Gemma dropped her coffee cup. It hit the linoleum with a thud and splashed coffee all over her legs. “Jeeze, Jake, what’s that about?”
    “Look at Jane. She’s thinking horrible things about us right now.”
    “Jane, you wouldn’t…” Gemma’s face turned fifteen shades of red.
    “I, uh…” She took another drink of her too-hot coffee. “Dang it.” She banged the cup down. “If you aren’t here because you spent the night with my cousin, why are you here?”
      “It’s lonely at my house, and you have a very comfortable sofa.”
    “Go home.” Jane flicked a paper napkin so it skidded across the breakfast bar.
    “I couldn’t abandon two beautiful, vulnerable ladies after our harrowing night. Especially while the killer is still on the loose.”
    “Oh, no.” Jane’s heart sank. “She did die then?”
    “Indeed. If you weren’t such a sleepyhead, you’d know that. It’s been all over the news this morning.”
    “Did they say who she was?” Jane picked up her coffee cup again, but she just held it, and let it warm her hands.
    “Nope. She won’t be identified until the family has been contacted.” Jake held his hand out to Gemma. “Coffee me, please?”
    Gemma handed him a mug.
    “The game is afoot, Jane, and it’s up to you to solve it. What do you do first?”
    Jane didn’t want to answer him. Especially since she didn’t know what to do first. She was inclined to take a long, hot shower and then go back to bed, but she really wasn’t going to tell Jake that. “Wait.”
    “You’re going to wait, or I have to wait for your answer?”
    “I’m going to wait—and pray.”
    “No extra points for church answers. I want to hear your game plan.” Jake grabbed hold of her shoulders and gave them a vigorous rub. “I’m in your corner, champ.”
    Jane twisted out of his grip. While the shoulder rub felt good—very good, if she was being honest—the daggers Gemma was shooting at her weren’t worth it. “It might sound like a church answer to you, and maybe to Gemma as well, but I don’t know what to do next. I don’t have enough training or experience, and no one has hired me to investigate. I do feel like I was there at that time on purpose, but that doesn’t make the job easy.”
    “Good. Easy work isn’t worth it.” Gemma yawned deeply after her bon mot.
    “Are you on call today?” Jane changed the subject.
    “Yup, and thank goodness. We need to get these babies delivered.”
    Jake lowered his voice so Jane could just barely hear him. “Don’t turn the conversation. I’m here to help you, but I can’t stay all day.”
    Jane groaned. “Then go, Jake. I’ll figure out what I need to figure out.”
    Jake threw himself across the couch. “Okay. You’ll do your thing. Gemma and I will do ours. Consider me gone, in the ‘interfering in your business’ sense, even though I’m technically still here in the ‘I’m still in your living room’ sense.”
    Gemma joined