Killer Amnesia by Sherri Shackelford

Author:Sherri Shackelford
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2019-06-25T13:26:26+00:00

* * *

Liam suspected that Artie had either discovered something incriminating and scampered, or someone had silenced him. He was certain the dog was Artie’s. Call it instinct. There was no way Artie had left his dog unclaimed since Friday. Not a purebred with a litter of puppies on the way. Artie probably loved Duchess, and he wouldn’t let her wander around the town square.

Unwilling to disappoint Emma when she was celebrating the return of her memory, he kept his suspicions to himself. Since Bishop had already checked out the house, he was confident Artie had met his fate—whatever that might be—elsewhere.

The trip didn’t take long. Artie’s house was a battered white two-story shotgun a couple of blocks off Main Street. Liam peered through the windows, but the shades were drawn. He ran his fingers around the window flashing and was rewarded for his effort. Artie wasn’t very imaginative when it came to hiding his extra key.

Emma hovered behind him, and he faced her. “Wait in the foyer. I need to check the house first.”

Better to be safe than sorry, just in case Bishop had missed something.

“Is this legal?”

“Someone called in a wellness check. The door was open.”

“You opened it.”

“Details.”

He unlocked the door and his senses were assailed with a musty shock. The place was stacked floor to ceiling with books and teetering piles of newspaper, limiting his visibility. There were no telltale signs that Artie was here—alive or otherwise—though he wasn’t taking any chances.

Emma surveyed the jumble. “This is hopeless. How are we ever going to find anything in this place?”

“Wait here,” he ordered.

There’d been too many close calls in the past few days.

She rolled her eyes. “Yes. Go. Hurry up. If we’re going to find anything, we’d better get started.”

Liam made quick work of searching the house, but there was no sign of Artie. He allowed himself a moment of relief before returning downstairs. He’d half expected to discover a crime scene.

The man’s disappearance meant they had their work cut out for them. As many books as Artie had in the front room, there were floor-to-ceiling bookshelves lining the space that must have served as a dining room when the house was originally built. Paths had been carved through the towering mounds in a bizarre maze.

The overhead lights were yellowed with age and barely brightened the task. Dusty, threadbare curtains hung in the windows, revealing shafts of light illuminating the swirling dust motes their movements kicked up. Cobwebs stretched between the corners of the ceiling and dangled to the tops of the shelves. The whole claustrophobic atmosphere was straight out of a horror movie.

Emma shuddered and shook her arms. “This place could be in an episode on a TV show about hoarders.”

“Look at this first.”

She followed him into the kitchen, and her eyes widened.

“Yep,” he said. “That was my reaction.”

Though the counters were crowded with more papers and books, the floor was immaculate. Checkerboard black-and-white floor tiles gleamed in the artificial light. A pristine dog bed took up one corner, with a bowl of food placed next to a basket of colorful chew toys.

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