He's Got Her Goat Read Online Free PDF

front of the kitchen counter and held up a used piece of packing tape. “There were some boxes here recently.”
    Paige blinked. He certainly was good at his job, but she had to confess. “I put those in my car just before I discovered Blanche in the closet. It’s why I came home, to get more inventory for my booth at the market, and then I went to update my records and...” She rushed to her computer to check her bank account. It was as abysmal as ever but untouched. “Another dead end.”
    “What about the bedrooms?” he asked.
    “Bedrooms? There’s nothing of value in there.”
    Dunn was already to the hall. “Receipts, credit cards, checkbook. If she’s an identity thief, it wouldn’t take much. And it could be months before they actually move on it.”
    “Okay,” she had heard the book fall in the back room. What if it wasn’t the wind? “My room is to the right.”
    The deputy had already made a left. “I don’t think this room was touched.”
    She rushed to the threshold. Uncle Bill’s bedspread didn’t have a wrinkle on it. She kept it the same way he had while he was alive. The nightstand was dust-free and the rug freshly vacuumed. If the deputy had opened the closet, he would have found it still filled with her uncle’s pressed clothes. Paige shut the door, feeling more alone than before. “That’s not my room.”
    They went the other direction and stopped at the entrance. A pile of dirty clothes filled one corner, and her dresser drawers sat askew, but she could tell Dunn’s attention rested entirely on the pitchfork sticking from her mattress like an overgrown lawn dart.
    Concern filled his voice, “Did she throw that at you?”
    “No,” her cheeks burned. “I threw it.”
    “If you caused this woman injury, even if provoked, you could be held liable.”
    “She wasn’t in the room at the time. I only thought she was.” Paige marched through the doorway in an attempt to miss the deputy’s disappointed expression. One look at the top of her dresser, and she knew it was exactly as she’d left it.
    “Ms. Lindon, I don’t…”
    “Wait a second.” Paige didn’t want to hear what he’d say next. She decided to comb the room herself. There had to be some evidence that Blanche was here. That the woman even existed. The bookshelf was a mess, and her chemistry textbook looked to have tumbled on the floor, which reminded her of the open window. Would any fingerprints have been obliterated when she closed it? She turned to ask the deputy but found him staring at her in a way that made her squirm. She wanted to explain how she’d been working every night into the wee hours, how she’d doubled sales while producing everything alone. She was working harder than ever and yet could never catch up, like she was running up a down escalator that kept going faster and faster. But she stopped herself. It would simply make him more certain that she’d lost her mind. Elaine’s taunt about her being a crazy goat lady echoed through her head.
    Her chest felt hollow and her throat tight, but she refused to allow herself to cry. Biting her bottom lip hard enough to distract herself, she pivoted and rushed to the bathroom. Turning the water on full, she splashed her face as much to wash away tears as to pull herself back from her depressing thoughts. The cold water extinguished her burning cheeks. After a minute she turned off the faucet, feeling decidedly better. Reaching for the towel on the rack, she paused. It was folded.
    She grabbed the towel, recalling the events of that morning out loud so Dunn could hear them. “I used my new blend of cardamom soap this morning for the first time. It’s supposed to relieve stress, but it wasn’t working. I was so worried about Blanche because I wanted her gone. I’d washed my hair and was drying it with this towel when I heard one of my goats bawling through the window.”
    She spoke as much to the police officer as herself. “Then I threw the towel