Evelyn David - Sullivan Investigations 02 - Murder Takes the Cake Read Online Free PDF Page B

so. Look at my car!”
    “ Girl, you drive out here with those flat tires?”
    “ Do I look like someone who’d drive on flat tires?” The old man was getting on her nerves. Half the time she didn’t know if he was senile or just joking. Either way he was slowing her down. Mac was probably wondering where she was by now. Probably worried about his dog. Whiskey! Oh, geez. She’d forgotten the dog. “Whiskey!”
    “ You’re too young to drink. But if you’ve got some on you, I could use a swig. For medicinal purposes you know. It’s gonna be a long, cold trek back to town.”
    “ I was talking about Mac’s dog. I brought her with me and now she’s disappeared.”
    “ You lost Mac’s dog? Wouldn’t want to be in your shoes.” He chuckled. “Hope you got other career options.”
    JJ ignored him and ran to the car, all the while calling the dog. She verified the car was empty, barely glancing at the shredded tires and the pitchfork lying next to the driver ‘s door.
    “ Whiskey! Where are you, girl?”
    The hum of Edgar ‘s scooterchair as he approached was the only response she got. “You getting any cell phone reception here? I got nothing.”
    JJ looked at him. The old man seemed awfully calm, but then he had a church van scheduled to pick him up. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her Blackberry. She had a weak signal. She wasn ‘t sure what she was she was going to do next, but calling for help seemed like a good idea. Only she would really like to find Whiskey before she called Mac. Maybe if she found the dog, they could all ride back in the church van. “When is your ride going to show up?”
    Edgar shrugged his bony shoulders. “Anytime or maybe never. I expected her back by now. Mrs. Filmore is a kind woman but she’s getting forgetful. I knew there was a risk having her drive me. Hope she manages to find her way back to the church okay.”
    “ That’s crazy! What were you going to do if she didn’t come back for you? Scoot your way back to D.C.?”
    “ I figured after I converted the farmer, he’d be so grateful he’d load me and this contraption up in his truck and drive me to the Amtrak station in town. I checked the schedules on-line before I left home. If you can get us to Landon, we can take the train home. Not sure about the dog; although it appears that might not be a problem. They got bears in this part of Virginia?”
    “ Stop talking. I’m not going anywhere without Whiskey. You can help me look or go on down the road.”
    “ Calm down–don’t get your leather pants in a twist. I’m fond of the pooch too. She probably didn’t like the smell here and headed home. You know a dog’s sense of smell is at least twice….I think I hear something. Is that barking?”
    “ Can’t tell with the wind, I think it’s coming from the house. Stay here and watch for that van.”
    “ You’ll need back up if you’re going to break and enter. I’m going with you.”
    “ Whatever!” JJ took off running towards the house, one arm wrapped protectively around her side. The house was on a hill, about a quarter mile from the barns. Upwind, she supposed, winding her way past the turkey compost piles, then heading uphill through the trees. There must have been another road leading to the front of the house, but like Edgar she’d turned down the first road off the highway and ended up at the barns. She looked for a path but didn’t see one. She made her way up the steep slope as best she could without slipping. As she finally reached the two-story clapboard structure, it occurred to her that someone besides the farmer might be at home.
    No one answered her knock, but the backdoor was ajar, moving a little with each gust of wind. She was wrong; the house wasn ‘t exactly upwind from the turkey barns. She could still smell the pungent odor of decaying turkey litter.
    She was right about the dog. JJ could hear Whiskey clearly now, a familiar howling coming from upstairs. The young