Swept Away: A Squeaky Clean Honeymoon Novella (Squeaky Clean Mysteries Book 12) Read Online Free PDF

me and then back down again.
    “That’s correct.” Riley placed his hands on his hips. “The man was upstairs in one of the bedrooms.”
    “Was anything taken?”
    “Not that we can tell,” Riley said.
    “Maybe you got here early and scared him away,” Yeller said.
    “No one was supposed to be staying here,” I added. “He could have assumed the place was empty . . . except our car was out front. It should have been a dead giveaway.”
    Had he been watching the house, waiting for us to leave? I shivered at the thought. There were many things I could handle, but being watched creeped me out.
    “Maybe we’ll find a clue inside that will tell us who this guy is and what he was up to,” Yeller said.
    Something about the way he said it left me with the impression that he was secretly thinking, But don’t count on it. He was simply trying to appease us.
    I’d glanced upstairs myself before the police arrived and hadn’t seen any overwhelming evidence that would point to who did this or what he was up to. Of course, it was hard to tell much because Mr. Murphy had left his own items here. If something had been taken, it would be hard to ascertain what. My guess was that the intruder hadn’t been here that long when we’d arrived.
    I wasn’t ready for this conversation with Chief Yeller to be finished yet. I still had more questions, but I needed to appear unassuming and normal—two words that rarely described me. Standing with my arms crossed and eyes narrowed as if I was about to begin a cross-examination probably wouldn’t do me any favors.
    I rested one of my hands against a turquoise Adirondack chair beside me. “Chief, is this in any way tied in with what happened on the beach last night? You know . . . the woman who was abducted.”
    “Why would it be?” Yeller scratched his head, leaving a dark lock out of place.
    I took a long sip of water from one of the cups I’d filled for all of us earlier. The day was already heating up—in more ways than one. The action also allowed me to measure my words and actions and to hopefully subdue my impatience.
    “Well, how often do crimes occur on the island?” I continued.
    He shrugged. “Not often.”
    “But you’ve had two crimes in less than twenty-four hours and both have occurred within one hundred feet of this house.” Riley narrowed his eyes in thought. “You don’t think there’s a connection?”
    The chief blinked. “Well, now that you put it that way . . .”
    I decided to play the victim here and brought my voice—and outrage at his seeming incompetence—down a notch. “What’s going on? Should I be frightened? I mean, somehow, this man got into the house, and there are no signs of forced entry. Meanwhile, men with machine guns and gorilla costumes were on the beach.”
    “Machine guns and gorilla costumes? You must have been listening to the townspeople shooting the breeze. They always like to exaggerate.”
    “Should I be frightened?” I repeated.
    Yeller shifted as if uncomfortable. “We’re still trying to figure things out, ma’am. The good news is that the intruder didn’t seem to have malicious intent.”
    I leaned closer and lowered my voice. “Can you tell me this, at least: Are random abductions normal for this area? Do you have any idea what happened to that woman last night? Should I be frightened to be on the beach alone?”
    He stared at me stoically, like my questions tested his patience. “We don’t know anything yet. We’re still working on it. And this is generally an extremely safe community, so I wouldn’t let this interrupt your vacation plans.”
    Riley pulled me closer. “This is not the way we planned on spending our honeymoon.”
    Yeller raised his chin. “I understand that, sir. I assure you that we’re working hard to find some answers.”
    “I fear this is all connected with that show being filmed next door.” I crossed my arms, fishing for answers. What did Yeller know that I didn’t? What I