Hide and Snake Murder Read Online Free PDF Page A

with a grunt.
    Dawg barked and started bouncing up and down on his hind legs.
    With a curse, I scrambled upright, buttoned my pants, jammed my feet into my shoes, and then realized my cell was still in the bedroom. I charged back in and retrieved it. Dog and I flew out the door, with me pausing at the last minute to grab the car keys. What was I going to do if they were in the house?
    Dawg followed as I pounded down the stairs. At the bottom, to the right, a short hall led to the Rabbit Hole. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee wafted through the air. On the left, a set of floral, fabric-covered French doors led into Eddy’s living room. When she was home, the doors were wide open, allowing her to monitor the goings-on in the Hole. She loved to lend a hand when the cafégot crazy.
    I unlocked the French doors and slowly opened them. My heart, already pounding, started tripping quadruple time. Thankfully, everything in the living room appeared the same as it had the night before.
    We hoofed it to the kitchen. Dawg, somehow sensing my stress, was now glued to my side, play-mode forgotten.
    I skidded to an abrupt stop at the doorway. The back door was wide open, the pane of glass nearest the doorknob shattered. Sharp shards of broken glass lay on the linoleum, glinting in the weak light. Panic flooded me.
    I grabbed Dawg’s collar before he wriggled past me and cut his paws on the glass. How could I not have heard any of this? Even Dawg had been oblivious. Damn those well-built nineteenth-century walls.
    Then my gaze caught the corkboard, and I nearly hyperventilated. Eddy’s carefully written itinerary was gone.

Four
    I dialed Coop and explained why I was speeding toward his place as if Lucifer himself were hot on my tail.
    Those thugs could’ve still been in the house when Dawg and I roared into Eddy’s apartment! I was a complete idiot. They could’ve duct taped us upside down just like Baz and then shot us both. Jesus. I guess I still hadn’t learned that little think-before-acting lesson.
    Ten minutes later Dawg and I screeched to a stop in front of Coop’s apartment. He burst from the front door in the midst of pulling a shirt over his head. Coop was always a good sport about getting ready in a hurry.
    Coop climbed in the pickup, and Dawg gave him a snoot full of tongue. I peeled out and headed toward Baz’s as Coop used the hem of his shirt to wipe away the evidence of Dawg’s affection.
    He said, “Have you tried to call Eddy?”
    â€œNot yet.” I threw my phone at him. My stomach ached, and my head pounded in time to my hammering heart. If anything happened to Eddy … or to Rocky or Agnes. I pushed that thought from my mind and concentrated on remembering where Baz and Agnes lived. Their house was near Glenwood Avenue and Penn, and it wasn’t exactly easy to get from Coop’s to there.
    Coop punched some buttons and put the phone to his ear. After a moment he said, “Can you please transfer me to Edwina Quartermaine’s room?”
    The morning traffic was starting to get heavier. Without slowing, I weaved around a recycling truck.
    After some long moments, Coop said, “Eddy, it’s Coop and Shay. We need to talk to you right away. Please call Shay’s cell, okay?” He disconnected. The message was similar to the last ones I’d left, and now, with Eddy’s itinerary missing, the lack of response weighed heavily.
    Pain throbbed above my right eye. “No one home again?”
    â€œNope. Maybe they stayed out drinking all night. It is New Orleans, after all.”
    â€œTrue. Boozing it up and playing poker. Eddy can sniff out a game in thirteen seconds flat.”
    Coop’s mouth twitched in a ghost of a grin. “Right. Hurry up, lead-foot. We gotta get Baz down before his toes ooze out his ears.”
    I pulled to a stop in front of an aging yellow, story-and-a-half ranch-style house with a tuck-under garage.