1 It's Murder, My Son by Lauren Carr

Author:Lauren Carr [Carr, Lauren]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery, Murder, suspense, cozy, Whodunit
Publisher: Lauren Carr
Published: 2010-06-23T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Mac checked the time on his watch while turning the Viper onto Spencer Point. Instinctively, he wanted to keep his eyes averted when he passed the Hardwick home, but curiosity overcame his bitterness toward the neighbors.

A van with a cockroach huge enough to take up the whole side panel rested in their driveway. The name splashed on the door indicated that it belonged to a pest exterminator.

Carrying what resembled an oxygen tank, a man in white overalls jogged out the front door and across the driveway. His long ash-colored hair, fashioned in dreadlocks that looked more like a bird’s nest, hung down to the middle of his back. He made a failed attempt to cover up the nest with a white ball cap pulled down over the top of his head. Dark reflective sun glasses concealed his eyes.

The exterminator jumped into the front seat of the van and slammed the door shut.

Mac didn’t know if he found the man with the tank so interesting because of the contrast between the stark white overalls and the bushy hair, or maybe because the Hardwicks had bug problems.

When he saw Archie sitting on the front steps, he recalled his reason for hurrying home. Hoping that she was waiting for him, he gunned the engine to take him up to the front door.

Gnarly’s non-stop barking punctuated his elation. Archie claimed it had started before Mac pulled into the driveway. She assumed that the dog’s sensitive ears had picked up the sound of the Viper’s engine and Gnarly was excited about his master’s return home. She appeared to be wrong. Becoming increasingly agitated, Gnarly threatened to charge through the stone entranceway at whatever was upsetting him.

“Gnarly, will you shut up?” Mac ordered when he couldn’t hear Archie tell him about the events of her weekend.

As if to answer him, Gnarly jumped up to plant his paws on Mac’s chest. He then whirled around and once again perched between the pillars to resume barking.

“What’s wrong with you?” Archie asked Gnarly. “The thief is gone and she won’t be back.”

Whining, Gnarly hung his head and turned in a circle before plopping down in the driveway.

With a shake of her head, Archie followed Mac inside the house.

“Where’s the bologna?”

Mac swore that he had left an unopened pound of bologna in the refrigerator before he went to Washington. Now it was gone.

Archie hadn’t eaten it. She didn’t like processed meat. He learned this fact when she screwed up her nose and uttered an “ugh” noise after he had offered her a hot dog.

He became distracted in his search for the missing lunchmeat when, through the kitchen window, he spotted Archie in the hot tub out at the tip of the Point. Soft blue lights under the water along the walkway and around the gazebo cast the spa in a dreamy air. She had warned him that sometimes she would soak naked in the hot tub. Mesmerized with visions from the depths of his imagination, he stared at the tub until he recalled his manners, stepped back from the window, and returned to preparing dinner.

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