Dying for Dinner Rolls Read Online Free PDF

straightened her floral sundress around her waist. She retrieved a tissue from her purse and dabbed the perspiration from her forehead.
    We stood on the porch of the two-story yellow row house. The sweet aroma from a tea olive shrub nearby permeated the air.
    I peered into the large front picture window. “The lights are on, but I don’t see her inside.”
    “I say we go in.” Annie Mae looked through the glass panel in the door.
    “Then we do it my way.” José jiggled the doorknob. He took something out of his pocket. I couldn’t see what he was doing. His back was to me.
    “That’s a scary thought coming from a bomb guy,” I said.
    “Y’all are making me anxious.” Bezu paced the porch.
    “We’re in.” José opened the door. “Welcome, my ladies.”
    “That’s called getting the job done.” Annie Mae made her way into the house.
    We all followed, entering the sitting room first.
    I darted my eyes around looking for Lucy.
    “Y’all are absolute barbarians breaking in.” Bezu strolled about Lucy’s sitting area. “My oh my, it sure is nice and cool in here. Maybe I can get a beverage. I’m parched.”
    “Holy smokes. That’s ugly.” Annie Mae stood in front of the love seat in the sitting room. She pointed to what looked like a paint-it-yourself, blue and white vase on the coffee table.
    “I do declare. Not at all what I expected Lucy would ever purchase.” Bezu leaned into the vase, forming her pink lipsticked mouth into a pout.
    “It looks like a monkey painted it.” José walked around. “But I love everything else.”
    I shook my head. That vase sure looked better in the picture Lucy had shown me earlier. The yellow roses in the vase looked as though they had been shoved in, as a few of the stems were bent over, the flowers scattered on the table. Lucy was a neatnik, so I was surprised she’d leave anything lying around. I picked up the petals and put them in my purse to throw away later.
    Annie Mae yelled, “Lucy!”
    We began to walk down the wood-floored hallway, four sets of shoes clopping to the back of the house.
    Bezu entered the kitchen first.
    “Lucy,” I shouted.
    “Lucy, I’m home!” José screamed like Ricky Ricardo had done on the I Love Lucy show.
    “Okay. I’m seriously worried now.” My chest tightened.
    “Me, too.” Bezu opened a closet door.
    “Where is she?” Annie Mae poked her head into a sitting room.
    “José, please call your people at the police department.” I ran into another room looking for Lucy. “Remember the crossword puzzle?”
    “Everyone calm down,” José shouted. “Let’s search every room first.”
    José and Annie Mae looked upstairs. Bezu and I explored the main level. The rooms were very much in order. A cross hung in every room. Fresh flowers sat in vases throughout the house. But it didn’t seem that anyone was home. Even though there were shoes near the front door, a sweater thrown over a chair, and dishes in the sink. My heart raced, and my hands began to shake.
    I had this ominous feeling that something was wrong.
    Really wrong.
    We met back downstairs in the kitchen.
    “Look here.” José held the panty door open and pointed at Lucy’s purse next to a clear bakery bag of dinner rolls on a shelf. He picked up the bag containing the dinner rolls. “They’re already cut in half, too.”
    On the counter next to the sink sat a cutting board scattered with crumbs. A serrated knife lay near a knife block set—which had two slots empty.
    Rocks formed in my gut. “This is not good.”
    José dialed Lucy’s cell. We heard ringing coming from the pantry.
    I ran in and picked up Lucy’s purse. Pulling out her phone, my hands shook. “Call the police now.”
    “Hold on, Cat. Maybe a neighbor came by, and she got to chatting with them.” José went over to a window and pulled the curtains back.
    “Maybe, but it may not have been a social call. They’re fighting with one neighbor, Ina Nesmith, over tree roots.” I began