Digging Up Death (A Mari Duggins Mystery) Read Online Free PDF Page A

these past two years with the divorce. I didn’t come back to cause trouble for you or stir up bad memories. I want to be here for you if you need me.” A playful grin emerged, his eyes focused, dilated. “Any way you need me.”
    The amorous sensation I’d kept at bay for years pulsed through me. I turned toward the mirror. Applied lip gloss. “I don’t have time for this. I have a 9:30 class.”
    “I’ll go for now. But we’re not through with this conversation.” He left without another word, and somehow I knew he was never walking out of my life again. I straightened my bangs over my wrinkles. It would have to do for now.
    Hurrying from my dressing room, I bumped into Cherilyn again. Papers flew from her hands. A timid “excuse me” escaped her lips. Either her clumsy innocence was an act or she really was as blonde as her hair.
    I peeked at my watch and bent to help pick up the papers scattered on the floor. A familiar tickle tap-danced around my nasal passages. I pulled a wadded Kleenex from my bag, catching three sneezes, which erupted in rapid succession. My eyes watered, threatening to smear my mascara again. As soon as I got to my office I needed to type a memo concerning our fragrance-free policy.
    Cherilyn gathered the papers, her limbs shaking as if it took every bit of strength in her petite body. She stood, shoulders slumped and hair in disarray, looking wilted. I handed her the papers I had collected. “Are you all right? This is such a shock to everyone.”
    She nodded, her eyelids drooping. I found a clean tissue in my bag and gave it to her. “Did you know Professor Henderson well?”
    “Yes, um … no.” Tears crowded her shifting eyes. “I spoke with him a few times about switching my major.” She sucked in rapid breaths like my seven year old son after a nightmare. “I’ve never seen a dead person before. Lying there … with his pills all over the floor. Maybe if I had gotten there sooner he’d still be alive.”
    I touched her shoulder, knowing her pain. “There was nothing you could’ve done.” My words cut me like a rusty razor. Cherilyn must’ve felt their sting because she turned abruptly, and hurried away.
    Trying to shake off Cherilyn’s grief, I approached the green room. Professor Henderson’s imminent funeral fogged my thoughts. Would I be able to make it through without Jack? He’d been the strong tower I leaned on at my mother’s funeral. The one I needed here now, to support and hold me up when everything around me was crumbling.
    The knot in my stomach tightened as I stalled outside the door. I dug in my bag, found the Altoids tin, and popped the last chocolate-covered mint in my mouth. Maybe no one would notice if I didn’t show up to the funeral. Hundreds of people would attend. No one would miss me. Would Fletcher attend? Peter Kipling? Would he blame himself for Henderson’s death?
    Backing away, I heard soft meows . I halted. “Basti?” The studio’s Egyptian Mau mouse trap. I reached for the knob, hesitating like a tomb raider contemplating the curse. Basti clawed the door, her cries desperate as if her ninth life was about to end.
    “Okay, girl. I’m coming.” I eased the door open. When I flipped on the light, Basti leapt, and I caught her. The breed’s classic, worried expression was etched on her face, but in her shimmering emerald eyes, I saw real distress. As I stroked her black spotted coat, her meows settled into labored purrs . I’d never seen her so upset. Maybe like me, she sensed death lingering.
    Traces of dirt freckled her paws. “What have you gotten into?” I surveyed the room expecting to see Professor Henderson’s soil samples, but instead I spied his latest book resting on the end table. Silt and Soil: The Making of the Nile. The culmination of his life’s work. As boring as the book sounded, at least his life would be remembered.
    An unexpected heaviness shrouded me, growing more burdensome, second by second, as I trudged