Taking the Fall: A Cozy Mystery (Brenna Battle Book 1) by Laney Monday

Author:Laney Monday [Monday, Laney]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Tags: Cozy Mystery
Publisher: Cozy Clue Press
Published: 2014-11-03T23:00:00+00:00

16

The paint was too smudged to give a clue as to shoe-type, but I snapped a picture of the first blob with my phone anyway. I did the same with the second smudge. Please, please, I begged silently. That can’t be all. I examined the sidewalk, trying to look casual, and I’m sure, failing just as miserably at that as I was at spotting any more of that green paint.

I wasn’t ready to admit defeat, so I just kept walking up the hill, hoping for anything that might end this mess. When I came to the opening in the sidewalk, the paved expanse that led to the deck and the park below, I turned. Why was I drawn here again? It had a strange, hidden, empty feel. A calmness, a silence that was just a little beyond peaceful. I’d expected, in the daylight, that it would feel different. More open. But I found myself wishing I hadn’t left Blythe behind. I should go. There was nothing here. Nothing except a strangely bright green spot on one of the rhododendron leaves!

I touched it and was rewarded with a lime-green fingertip. Wet paint! Ha! I wanted to shout. I’ve got you now. I combed the deck area for more paint. Nothing. I stared at the shadowy staircase leading to the park below. No, I wasn’t ready to go there. Not yet. Not unless I really had to. I backed up, giving the paved area another look over. I dared to take a couple of steps into the alley. It was barely wide enough for two people to walk side-by-side, and it wound crookedly behind backyards, walled on both sides by everything from wooden fences to dense shrubs, to the backs of sheds. The houses these belonged to had been built on streets facing opposite directions. Their backyards would have met in the middle if not for this passageway, which was shaded by their trees—everything from willow to cypress.

Most of the backyards seemed to have gates that opened into the alley. It was on one of these gates that I found one more bit of paint. It was such a little smudge, at first I wasn’t sure if it was the same paint. It was a thin layer, barely the size of a dime, and it was already dry. Still, it was definitely a similar hue, and it was completely out of place on the black gate handle.

I held my breath as I slowly lifted the gate handle. Don’t do anything stupid, I recalled Blythe saying. Well, this might be stupid, but I hadn’t exactly promised her I wouldn’t, had I? I pulled the gate open. It caught on the uneven concrete with an awful scraping noise. I froze, waiting. For what? The killer to whack me? I shook off my fear and lifted the gate a little as I pulled this time. It opened the rest of the way with relatively little noise. Well, at least now I knew this gate’s quirks, just in case I ever needed to trespass onto a dangerous criminal’s property again.

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