Sweet Taffy and Murder: Sweet Taffy Cozy Mysteries Book #1 Read Online Free PDF Page B

town.”
    Taffy sighed. “I wish you’d told me that sooner. It seems I’ve already pissed off a lunatic she-cop.”
    “Not Maria? She’s a good nut.”
    Did he really just call someone a ‘good nut’? She was definitely not in Manhattan anymore.
    “Seems to me she should be focusing on suspicious deaths rather than hassling pedestrians.”
    “Why are you so keen on seeing Janet’s death as suspicious?”
    “Because I think it is.”
    Ethan scratched his chin. He had one of those sexy two-day-growth beards, but Taffy had a feeling he wasn’t trying to look like a celebrity on the cover of People , but kept it that way because it was easier to care for day by day.
    “How well did you know her? I mean personally, apart from all the saintly business.”
    He shrugged and looked through the French doors into the small overgrown garden.
    “I helped her out with small repairs. I delivered and chopped her firewood, and I always brought it up to the porch so she didn’t have to haul it in herself.”
    “Did you know what she was she planning to do? I mean, obviously she had some sort of plan after selling her house and most of its contents. Was she going somewhere?”
    “She was planning to move in with friends in Arizona. Said her retirement in Abandon wasn’t turning out to be as retiring as she’d hoped.”
    Taffy couldn’t imagine a slower-paced town. She sipped her coffee thoughtfully.
    “Davenport said someone named Swain found her body.”
    Ethan shook his head. “It was Bill actually. He came to check on some wiring. Found her lying in the foyer. I think he was suspicious at first. But Randall was the one who knew about the bowling ball. Confirmed it was just an accident.”
    Taffy leaned back. “Still seems suspicious to me.”
    “Listen, death and suspicions aside, Janet was a lovely woman, and you should feel honored to be the owner of her house.”
    Taffy looked around. Ethan’s house was a little like Janet’s but smaller, more shabby, and suffering from manly neglect, though Taffy had no doubt that the wiring was up to code.
    “If you like the house so much, why didn’t you buy it?”
    Ethan took a slow slip of coffee. “I tried. In the end, money talks. No one could compete with the secret New York bidder.”
    He raised his mug to her.
    “It wasn’t me . It was Nana—my grandmother—who bought the place. All as some joke on me.”
    “Expensive joke.”
    “She’s got money to burn.” And she was refusing to give Taffy any more of it. She was actually going to make Taffy work for it. At a candy factory of all places. Taffy tossed back a mouthful of coffee as if it were tequila.
    “I have an idea. I can sell the house to you.” Taffy grinned.
    Ethan shook his head. “I couldn’t afford what your grandmother paid.”
    “No, that’s not what I mean. For whatever you could afford. I don’t need the money. I mean, I do, but not that much. The house should belong to someone who loves it. Someone who loves living in Abandon.” And that someone was not Taffy.
    Ethan poured her a little more coffee. “Maybe you’ll come to love it. Maybe you should give the whole joke a chance.”
    Taffy sipped her coffee and watched the dappled light on the terrace. It was nice sitting here with Ethan, but it was a far cry from life in the Big Apple.
    “I have to hold onto the house for three months. But when that deadline expires, you’re welcome to it.”
    Ethan lifted his mug to her. “Here’s to the next three months and the possibility of falling in love with Abandon.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
    Ethan had managed to reach Bill, the utilities guy, who said he’d stop by the Harken house sometime in the late afternoon or early evening.
    Ethan then said he had to get back to work and check on some park trails. He gave Taffy his number and told her to call if Bill didn’t show up, and then he dropped her back at Janet’s house.
    Reluctantly, Taffy sidled up the front steps. She picked at the peeling