Ladle to the Grave (A Soup Lover's Mystery Book 4) Read Online Free PDF

sight. Lucky pulled out her cell phone to call the Spoonful to let them know she’d be delayed. She only hoped she’d be able to get cell service from their location. She breathed a sigh of relief when Sage answered the phone after a few rings. She quickly filled him in about what was happening and told him not to worry. She promised they’d tell him everything when they returned.
    A few minutes later Lucky heard the crashing of branches. Nate Edgerton reappeared on the path between the trees. His shoes and pant legs were soaked to his knees. His complexion was gray, and dark circles outlined his eyes. He sat down heavily at the edge of the stairs and pulled out a notebook. “What brought you two up here?”
    Sophie spoke first. “I wanted to show Lucky my mom’s property. It’s been a long time since she’s been here. Sage and I are hoping to buy out my brother’s interest and redo the house.” Sophie’s hands shook. “I thought it’d be a fun surprise to tell Lucky about it.”
    Nate whistled. “That’ll take a lot of doing.”
    “I know. But we want it to be a real home again. And I don’t want my grandfather’s chimney and fireplace to go to waste.”
    Nate nodded. “I can understand that. It’s a beauty, all right. All river rock, all perfectly joined too.” He made a few scribbles in his notebook. “I wish you lots of luck. Don’t let this thing today get in your way. I’m sure we’ll find out who this man is and I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation how he ended up in your backyard. What made you go down there, anyway?” He nodded in the direction of the creek.
    “My hands were all sooty from the fireplace. And there’s no running water now, so I just wanted to wash up.” She looked down at her half-clean hands and rubbed them self-consciously on her jeans.
    “Elias is on his way,” Nate said to Lucky. “I don’t know what he can tell us. Given the way this guy looks, it’s hard to say what killed him.”
    “Do you think he could have fallen and hit his head and washed down this far?”
    “Possible.” He looked at both women carefully. “Anything about him either of you recognized?”
    Sophie shook her head violently. “Nate, there wasn’t anything to recognize. I’ve never seen anything like that.”
    “I’ll bet you haven’t. Sorry you had to discover him, but if you two hadn’t come along, well . . . who knows when he would have been found. Coulda been there for months, maybe years. At least we got him when there might still be some identifying marks.”
    They all turned as a car approached up the dirt drive. Lucky recognized Elias’s silver sedan. He climbed out and walked toward them, reaching down to place a protective arm around Lucky’s shoulders. “Are you all right?”
    Lucky just nodded.
    “Sophie? How are you doing?” he asked.
    “I’ll be okay, Elias. Just a bad shock.”
    Nate gestured toward the path that ran down to the creek. “You’ll find Bradley down there.”
    Elias nodded. “I’ll be back up as soon as I can.”
    When Elias was out of sight, Lucky asked, “What do
you
think happened to him, Nate?”
    “Don’t know. He could have slipped and fallen in farther upstream. Maybe knocked unconscious and drowned. But . . .” He trailed off. “I don’t know. That damage to his face . . .” Nate shook his head in disbelief. “Doesn’t seem like the rocks could’ve done that.”
    “Is there any identification on him?”
    “Nothing I could find. No ID, no wallet, which is pretty strange. We pulled him out of the water for now. Looks like he’s maybe been in there a few days. Once Elias has a look, I’ll have Bradley wait for the coroner’s van to get over here from Lincoln Falls.” He ran a hand through his thick gray hair. “I don’t know what’s going on anymore. Two deaths in less than twelve hours.” He stood slowly, holding a hand against his lower back. “Why don’t you two go back to town? We’ve got this