Hiding From Death (A Darcy Sweet Cozy Mystery #6) Read Online Free PDF Page A

the woman slouched, hunching her shoulders.  It was then that Darcy noticed how much makeup Laura wore, far too much to be pretty.  Her hair was unnaturally dark, too, and was probably dyed.  Laura couldn’t help but wonder who the woman was trying to impress.
                  “We have things to do,” Laura snapped.  “Please leave.  Alex, get inside.”
                  “Mama?” Laura’s son asked, his eyes pleading.  “I like chocolate chip.”
                  Laura’s face softened as she looked down at him.  When she turned back to Darcy there was less hostility in her voice, but just as much caution.  “Thank you,” she said.  She took the cookie container from her.  “I’ll get it back to you.  Now, please just go.”
                  Without letting Darcy say another word, Laura shut the door.  Darcy had just enough time to see a smile on Alex’s face before she did.
                  “Well,” Darcy muttered as she went back down the steps, “that could have gone better.”  Maybe Cora and Evelyn and the other people in town were right.  Maybe Laura was just an unfriendly person.  She’d have a hard time making it in Misty Hollow if this was the way she was going to treat everyone.  At least she had accepted the cookies.  Darcy supposed that was a start.
    ***
                  Darcy made it to work just after Sue had opened the shop.  When she came inside and took her jacket off, Sue was helping a mother pick out a book for her little daughter.  “Something with fairies?” the mother asked hopefully.  “Sophie won’t read anything else.”
                  Sue nodded with a smile.  “Those used to be some of my favorite books, too.  Let’s see.  I remember there was a series I used to love…”
                  Darcy left them to it and went into the office instead.  She was still upset over her encounter with Laura Lannis.  There had to be some way to draw the woman out, didn’t there?  She sighed and sat down at the desk.  Maybe it was none of her concern whether Laura wanted to be part of the neighborhood.  It bothered her, though, and she couldn’t decide why.
                  Sue swept in just then.  “Hi, Darcy!  First sale of the day.  She bought the first two books in the series and promised to come back for more if her daughter likes them.”
                  “That’s great, Sue.  I sure will miss you when you leave.”
                  Sue’s smile turned a little sad.  “Yes.  Me too.  Is everything all right?  You seem a little down.”
                  Darcy twisted the ring on her finger.  “I’m upset over my new neighbor, actually.  You heard that someone moved into Anna’s house?”
                  “I heard the gossip around town,” Sue told her.  “Have you met them?”
                  “I did, just this morning.  The mother’s name is Laura Lannis.  She shut the door in my face.”
                  “Oh no!” Sue said.  “How terrible.  Everyone in town is talking about how rude she is.  I don’t know if she’ll be able to make much of a life for herself here if she keeps acting like that.”
                  “See that’s what I thought, too,” Darcy said.  She drummed her fingers on the desk.  “I don’t know.  I want to go and try to talk to her again but maybe I should just let her be.  Maybe she has a good reason for being so private.”
                  “Like what?” Sue wondered.  “This is such a great town full of such nice people.  I know I’ve made so many great friends here.  Maybe she just needs to know how to meet people.”
                  The bell over the door jingled as someone else came in the shop.  Sue looked over her shoulder.  “Oh, that’s Dawn Wagner.  Probably