Good, Clean Murder Read Online Free PDF Page B

chest and boxer shorts.
    Jane’s face heated
up and she turned away.
    Jake shuffled into
the front hall. “Oh. Hey, Jane.” He yawned and stretched his arms over head.
    Jane tried not to
stare at his fuzzy chest.
    “Is there coffee
on?”
    “No, sorry. I
didn’t know anyone was in.”
    Jake shrugged.
“I’ll make it then.” He shuffled off into the kitchen.
    Jane turned her
vacuum back on. By the time she had finished the rugs in the hall the scent of
coffee filled the room.
    Jane wrapped the
cord of the vacuum and pushed it into the kitchen. “How are you holding up?”
    Jake pushed a cup
of coffee across the kitchen island. “I thought you’d never get in here. Who does
the cooking now?”
    Jane’s eyebrows
flew up. “Pardon?”
    “When I was here
over Christmas that lady…Dorothy? She did the cooking. Does she always do
that?”
    “No…I think your
mom does the cooking.” Jane dropped her eyes. “Did the cooking.”
    “Not likely. Maybe
they just ate out all the time. Is there any food in the house?”
    Jake stood in
front of the refrigerator.
    Jane frowned. “I
really don’t know. When did you get here?”
    “Last night, well,
this morning, I think. Around three. I’m starving. Let’s go get some breakfast.”
    “I, uh…” Jane was
at a loss for words.
    “I will put
clothes on first.” Jake stretched his shoulders back and patted himself on his
firm stomach.
    “I can’t leave. I
have a ton of work to do.”
    “Do it when we get
back. Aren’t you starving? You’re skin and bones.”
    Jane preferred
petite, or slender, but he had a point. Scant wages and high rent kept her on
the skin and bones side. And, like always, she was hungry.
    “Come eat, then
come back and work. How hard is it to clean an empty house? It’s not like
anyone used the place in the last few days.”
    But…Jane
thought…they had. At least the police had used it. It didn’t look like Jake had
any better idea about whether they should be there or not than she did, but a
free meal was a free meal, even if she had already eaten her half-bowl of
crisped rice cereal. “Let me just put this away.”
    “Good girl.” Jake
and his coffee cup ambled out of the kitchen.
    Breakfast would be
a good chance to learn how she could best serve the Crawford kids. And to find
out if she would get paid.
    Jane closeted her
vacuum. She stuffed her cleaning smock into her caddy. It was too late to find
something cute to wear, but she could at least put a little lip-gloss on and
run a brush through her hair. She stepped into the powder room. She noted the
dark shadows under her eyes and her pale skin but decided it was caused by the
fluorescent bulbs. She pulled the kerchief off of her head and tried to make
something nice out of the ponytail. At least this was her first house on
Wednesdays so  she wasn’t a sweaty mess already.
    When she stepped
out of the powder room Jake was waiting by the door. He was dressed, but looked
worse than she did.
    He looked her up
and down. “You definitely need to eat. Don’t they feed you anymore?”
    She didn’t have an
answer so she followed him out in silence. He went straight to her Rabbit.
    “Can you drive?
The guys dropped me off last night. We can go get my car and then eat.”
    “You could have
just asked. I would have driven you to get your car.”
    He got in the
passenger seat. “Whatever. We need to eat anyway.”
    Jane sat in the
driver’s seat with her hands on the wheel.
    Jake reclined his
seat. He closed his eyes and stretched an arm over his face.
    “And where are we
going?” Jane asked.
    Jake lifted his
arm an inch. He yawned. “Do you know where corporate offices are?”
    “Aren’t they in Maywood?”
    “Mmm-hmm.”
    She took his
mumble as a “yes” and headed for Maywood. It looked like she’d have to wait for
him to wake up a little before she asked about getting paid.
    The Crawford
Family Restaurant Corporation offices were behind their original restaurant,