Murder in the Rose Garden: A Scent with Love Cozy Mystery (Scent with Love Cozy Mysteries) Read Online Free PDF Page A

Crawford & Co.She was surprised to find a
modern office layout inside. It wasn’t what she was expecting considering the
nineteenth-century exterior but she liked it. A tall blonde woman in her
mid-thirties greeted her from behind a sleek dark wood reception desk with a
white Perspex floating inlay at the center with the words “Crawford & Co
since 1995”written in the same formal black lettering as the sign
outside. The woman looked up from her computer keyboard.
    “Morning, may
I help you, ma’am?”
    “Morning, my
name is Elizabeth Andrews. I would like to see Chase Crawford; his mother
suggested I drop by.”
    The woman
smiled sweetly. “Oh…I see.  Please take a seat, I will find out if he has an
opening.” The woman stopped typing, got up and walked down the hall, turning
right at the second door. She was wearing a short black skirt, a pink button-down
shirt with a plunging neckline and shiny black patent leather heels. Her legs
were a lovely shade of brown and her muscular calves bulged in all the right
places. Beth sat down in the reception area chair, looked down at her white
button-down shirt tucked into dark denim jeans and brown leather loafers that
matched the belt of her jeans and wished she had worn something a little more
formal. Beth didn’t mean to be judgmental but she couldn’t help but think that
Chase Crawford’s secretary looked exactly like the type of secretary a man
would hire: tall, blonde and busty. A nice piece of eye candy to drool over at
the office.
    A short
while later, the tall blonde beauty came back followed by a handsome man, not
much older than Beth.
    “Thank you,
Charity, I will see Mrs. Andrews in my office. Please can you bring us some coffee?”
    Beth stood
up and brushed the creases from the front of her shirt. “Um, it’s Ms. Andrews,”
she replied with a high-pitched laugh and followed him to his office.
    The office
was large, probably three times the size of her own office back in Boston. Two
black leather chairs stood in front of a large dark wood table that was empty
except for a large Apple computer and a notebook enclosed in a black leather
sleeve. Beth could not remember the last time she had seen the top of her wooden
desk; it was always piled with papers. A large German Shepherd lay asleep on a
soft blue dog bed in the corner of his office. Chase noticed her looking at the
dog.
    “That’s Lola;
she used to be a police dog.”
    He waved her
towards his desk. “Please take a seat, Ms. Andrews.”
    Chase
Crawford was devastatingly handsome. He had black wavy hair lightly peppered
with gray and piercing blue eyes. His face was warm and his smile was framed by
two perfectly dimpled cheeks. The sight of him made her weak at the knees. She
blushed, sat down and started to play with a loose strand of hair.
    “Thank you,
but you really should call me Beth.”
    “Okay then,
Beth, what can I do for you today?”  Chase sat behind his desk, with his chair
pushed back and one leg casually crossed over the other. Beth felt like a shy
school girl, unsure of where to look or what to say.
     “Well you
probably already know this but I am Mary-Ellen’s daughter. I am in town to
finalize her affairs. I spoke to your mother yesterday; she told me that you
have information from the coroner that proves my mother’s death wasn’t a
suicide. Is that true?”
    Charity came
in with a tray and placed two cups of warm coffee on his desk. Chase thanked
her, put two spoons of sugar and milk into the cup closest to him and took a
sip of coffee. Beth watched his face as Charity left the room, expecting his
eyes to be fixed on her as she walked away, but he wasn’t looking at her. His
eyes were focused firmly on Beth.
    “Look, I
understand why you came to see me but my suggestion would be not to get
involved. You have no idea what you are getting yourself into. Emily mentioned
her suspicions to Sheriff Hunter, but he was not interested in looking into it.
If there is one thing I