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Assault and Batter(18)

By:Jessica Beck


Nothing did.

I was about to put it back when I opened the front cover to see if there was any identification there. Maybe an inscription or a library stamp would tell me where it had come from, but I couldn’t see a thing. On an impulse, I pulled the front flap to one side, and I still almost missed the name written inside.

In a very feminine hand, the name Lisa Grambling was written, along with a date that was less than two weeks old. How had a married woman’s book come to be found in a murdered man’s bedroom? Was there a connection between them that nobody knew about? I decided to take the book with me and ask Lisa that question myself. If the police chief had found it, I was sure that he would have spoken with her about it by now, so it wasn’t as though I was removing a valuable clue. I wasn’t even taking something that belonged to Jude, so there was no reason to tell Gabby about it, either.

At least that was how I was going to justify it to myself.

Tucking the book under my arm, I made my way downstairs. Doing as Gabby had asked, I left the keys and headed out the door. Had it locked behind me? I turned to try the knob when I heard a familiar voice behind me.

“Drop whatever it is you just stole, and put your hands up in the air.”





Chapter 8


“Not funny,” I said as I turned around to see my best friend, Grace, standing there smiling at me. She’d changed out of her suit into a nice pair of jeans and a sporty little blouse. We could wear the exact same clothes, but I knew that they’d look better on her than they would on me. If she hadn’t been such a good friend, I might even have been a little jealous about it. “How did you find me?”

“That Jeep of yours isn’t exactly inconspicuous,” she said. “I took off a little early to help you.”

“How did you know that I’d be at Gabby’s place?” I asked as we walked off the porch together.

“I didn’t. I was driving by and I saw your Jeep. I tried the doorknob, but it was locked, so I was about to knock when I peeked through the glass and saw you coming down the stairs. Sorry if I startled you.”

“I knew that you were there all along,” I said with a grin.

“Liar,” she answered good-naturedly.

“Fine, you got me.”

“So, what did you find inside?”

I looked around and noticed that one of Gabby’s neighbors was watching us through his blinds. It was Thad Belmont, a gossip worse than any woman in town. He probably thought we were burglarizing the place, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he were calling the police even as he watched us. “Let’s do this someplace else, shall we?”

“That’s fine by me,” Grace said. “It’s going to be a little unwieldy driving two cars around. Why don’t you follow me home? I can drop my car off, and we can take your Jeep.”

“Are you sure you don’t mind slumming it with me?” I asked with a smile. Grace got a brand new company car every other year, each model nicer than the last. As she’d climbed the corporate ladder into management, they weren’t afraid to show their satisfaction with the job she was doing.

“I’ll find a way to tough it out,” she said, smiling back at me.

“Good. See you there.” I put the book on the passenger seat and followed Grace home. Once she got out and joined me, I handed her the book.

“Thanks anyway, but I never cared much for love sonnets,” she said as she tried to hand it back to me.

“I’m not giving it to you,” I said as I pulled out of her driveway. “I found it when I searched Jude’s room in the attic.”

“I can’t believe that Gabby let you go through her house.”

“She even gave me her keys. She’s upset about Jude, but I think she’s also worried that Chief Martin might arrest her for his murder.”

After I told her about the scene Gabby and Jude had just hours before he’d been killed, Grace’s smile faded quickly. “This whole thing must be a nightmare for her. Imagine how tough it must be not to be able to make up with her nephew now.”

“She’s in some real pain. I was still surprised when she asked me to help her, not that I wasn’t going to investigate this, anyway.”

“You didn’t tell her that, did you?” Grace asked me.

“Of course not. It’s not like I’m working for anybody. This is just something I feel compelled to do.”

“Is his murder going to affect the wedding?” she asked.

“How could it not? Emily dated Jude not that long ago, and I can’t help wondering if his murder had something to do with the upcoming nuptials.”