Two Guys Detective Agency Read Online Free PDF Page B

hug, but pulled back when the emotions started to
    overwhelm.
    “Thank you for coming,” Linda said, wiping her eyes with a tissue.
    “Of course,” she murmured. “Richard is here, too. He’s parking the car.”
    Linda smiled through her tears. “There’s quite a crowd here. I need to get ready for the funeral soon,
    and I’m not sure how to ask everyone to leave. They mean well, but....”
    “Do what you need to do,” Octavia said. “I’ve got this.”
    She retraced her steps to the living room and kitchen, wrinkled her nose at the array of sloppy, smelly
    dishes of food sitting on every horizontal surface, and tried to get the crowd’s attention. When waving and
    pinging on a glass didn’t work, she put two fingers in her mouth and produced an ear-piercing whistle that
    silenced everyone.
    “Hello,” she said with her best pageant smile. “I’m Octavia, Linda’s sister, and we’d like to thank you
    for your support during this difficult time.” She reached out and snagged a toddler by his collar as he ran
    by. “But I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask everyone to please collect their kidlets and their casseroles and
    leave.”
    They gawked at her, then at each other, then one by one, they began to move toward the door, gathering
    children and cake pans along the way. People talked behind their hands to each other, obviously put out
    with her eviction, but she didn’t give a good damn what these rubes thought.
    “Bye now…thank you…goodbye.”
    She stood at the door and ushered out the last guest, a chubby woman stuffed into a skirt, who seemed
    reluctant to leave. “I’m Linda’s good friend Nan Boyd.”
    “Good for you,” Octavia said. “Now, if you don’t mind, this family needs some privacy.”
    The woman put her hands on her hips. “You don’t have to be rude.”
    “Apparently, I do. Goodbye .”
    Nan Boyd’s fat mouth twisted, but she turned and marched away. Octavia glanced to the curb where
    Richard was still in the car talking on his phone. She was shocked, though, to see his arms flailing and his
    face contorted. She’d never seen him behave that way when talking to a client.
    “I remember you.”
    She turned to see a boy standing nearby with a hound dog sitting next to him. The dog wore a UK visor.
    “I remember you, too, Jarrod.” She closed the door.
    “Where’d you learn to whistle like that?”
    “My dad taught me,” she said, then realized she’d said the exact wrong thing.
    His eyes clouded over and he turned to flee down the hallway, presumably in the direction of his
    bedroom.
    She closed her eyes briefly, then went in search of Linda, cringing over the disastrous state of the
    house. She sent a resentful barb to Sullivan that he would allow his wife to live like this. She wouldn’t be
    caught dead living in this dump, and her sister deserved better, too.
    Vaguely recalling the layout of the house, she walked to the end of the hallway past the kids’ rooms and
    knocked on the closed door of the master bedroom.
    “Come in,” Linda called in a weak voice.
    Octavia opened the door to find her sister sitting on an unmade bed. A pole had collapsed in the closet,
    whose door was off its hinges. Boxes of hardwood flooring were stacked against the wall.
    “Everyone’s gone,” she offered.
    “I heard,” Linda said wryly. “I’m going to have to publish a blanket apology in the neighborhood
    newsletter.”
    Octavia scoffed. “Screw those vultures.”
    “Easy for you to say. I have to live here.”
    Her sister’s resignation stoked her ire. “No, you chose to live here.” But as soon as the words were out,
    she wanted them back.
    Linda’s mouth tightened. “And you look down on me for that.”
    Octavia sighed. “That came out wrong.”
    Linda pushed to her feet shakily. “No, it didn’t. Why did you come, Octavia? To remind me I made all
    the wrong choices and look where it’s gotten me?” Her eyes glittered with new tears.
    “No,” Octavia