Deadly Patterns Read Online Free PDF Page A

“She fell from a roof. Of course she’s not okay.” But she lowered her chin and with her next breath she said, “Now then, Ladybug, you’re gonna be just fine, you hear me?”
    The Cassidy women weren’t known for their over-abundance of emotions. What with hiding our magical charms since . . . forever, we’d had to learn to be restrained. But Mama and Nana both looked about as strung out as I’d ever seen them. My eyes welled, but Jude clearing her throat broke the moment. “The doctor’s given her the green light to go home. She just needs to take it easy. Probably should steer clear of the widow’s walk over at the Denison place,” she added with a chastising smile.
    “You think?” I said with a little laugh. But truth be told, I knew I’d have to go back to the mansion soon. Although it could wait until tomorrow, assuming the raging storm didn’t knock the whole of Bliss off the power grid. Which would be bad. No power would mean it would be next to impossible to work on Josie’s ensembles and get them done in time for the show.
    Mama and Nana fussed over me, helping me into the Jeep. I waved to Jude. She raised her hand and gave a little nod. The second Mama drove off of the hospital grounds, she peered at me in the rearview mirror and Nana whipped around to face me. “What in tarnation happened?” Nana practically barked.
    I stared at them. “What do you mean?”
    “How did you fall? That’s what I wanna know,” Mama said at the same moment Nana said, “You attract death like honey attracts a bee. Do you know that, Ladybug?”
    “Whoa, what are you talking about?” I threw up my hands, grimacing at the shooting pain in my side. The doctor had given me the green light to go on home, but the painkillers hadn’t completely taken away the throbbing that the fall had inflicted on my body.
    The rain changed direction and Mama hit a slick of water. The Jeep skidded and then lurched. I careened against the door, righting myself with a grimace as she straightened the car out.
    Mama went on as if nothing had happened, heaving a sigh. “Hoss says those screws were stripped and that railing was an accident waitin’ to happen. He’s comin’ by to talk to you tomorrow.” She paused weightily. “And that boy of his—” She paused, gritting her teeth like she could hardly stand to utter his name. “His boy Gavin had the audacity to say how strange it is that you’re connected first with Nell’s death, next with Macon Vance, and now with Santa Claus.”
    “The only unnatural deaths Bliss has had in who knows how many years,” Nana spit out. “Girl, you gotta stop gettin’ yourself involved in stuff like this.”
    I stared at them both. “It’s not as if I’m asking for folks to up and die around me. And I certainly didn’t have anything to do with Dan Lee Chrisson falling from a roof. Why in the world does the sheriff think it wasn’t an accident? Dan Lee kept to himself, from what I know.”
    “He didn’t say,” Mama muttered, turning her gaze back to the road, the windshield wipers slapping as they tried to keep up with the downpour. I stared at the back of their heads. From the outside looking in, I supposed it did look suspicious. The sleepy little town of Bliss had been just fine until I’d returned home. Now we were two murders in—three if what Sheriff McClaine and Deputy McClaine suspected was true and Dan Lee had been pushed off the widow’s walk.
    “I hardly knew the man,” I said, more to myself than to them, and instantly, all the other people who’d been at the Denison place danced through my mind. Mrs. James and Mrs. Abernathy had both been working with Dan Lee, and Arnie and Hattie knew him well. Could anyone else have come and gone while none of us had been looking? I had heard the door slam once or twice, and Hattie had been talking to someone. Raylene, perhaps?
    “Well, I knew him. Maggie’s been mighty sweet on him, and she’s beside herself. Hasn’t been