Crosspatch by Elizabeth Craig

Author:Elizabeth Craig
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Southern mystery, Easy mystery books, Small town killers, Humorous cozy mysteries, Funny mysteries, Light mysteries
Publisher: Elizabeth Spann Craig
Published: 2022-10-04T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

He opened the door and Miss Sissy stood there glaring at them as if they’d taken their sweet time.

“Is everything okay?” he asked with concern. “Come inside and have some breakfast and coffee with us.”

That’s when Beatrice realized something must indeed be wrong, because Miss Sissy shook her head vehemently. Strands of iron-gray hair fell out of her messy bun. If Miss Sissy was turning down food, she was decidedly worried about something.

“Something’s wrong with Sylvia,” she spat out.

Beatrice frowned. “Sylvia Hutchins?” The old woman who lived next door to Summer and Harlowe was the only Sylvia she knew.

Miss Sissy nodded. “Didn’t come to get me.”

Wyatt said patiently, “So Sylvia was supposed to come by your house and pick you up for something?”

Miss Sissy nodded again, more strands of hair falling out of the bun. “The church pancake breakfast.”

Now Wyatt looked startled. “The church is having a pancake breakfast?” Wyatt tried to make it to every event the church put on and was panicking now that one had somehow slipped him by.

The old woman said impatiently, “At her church.”

“Got it,” said Wyatt, looking relieved. “Sorry, Beatrice and I have just woken up and might be a little slow.”

Miss Sissy didn’t look apologetic in the slightest at waking them up. In fact, she looked quite irritated at the slowness Wyatt mentioned. “Needs help!”

Beatrice, like Wyatt, was still trying to put together the threads of what the old woman was saying. “Okay. So we need to go find out what happened to Sylvia. She’s not answering her phone?”

More impatient head-shaking.

Beatrice said to Wyatt, “We did oversleep a little. Why don’t you get ready to go to work and I’ll get dressed and head to Sylvia’s with Miss Sissy?”

Wyatt seemed resistant to this idea. “Something could have happened. I’d like to be with you.”

“It could just be a misunderstanding,” said Beatrice in a low voice.

But Miss Sissy, who had excellent hearing, glared at them. “Something’s wrong!” she hissed.

Wyatt wouldn’t be dissuaded, however. Which is how, just minutes after they’d gotten up, Wyatt and Beatrice were dressed and driving Miss Sissy to Sylvia Hutchins’ house.

They knocked at Sylvia’s door and Beatrice rang the doorbell a couple of times. Miss Sissy looked even more agitated than she had before.

“Could she have overslept?” asked Beatrice.

Miss Sissy shook her head vehemently. “Doesn’t oversleep!” she spat.

Wyatt tried the door handle. The door opened with a creak. The inside of the house was dim with the rising sun just starting to illuminate spots on the floor.

“Evillllll,” hissed Miss Sissy.

This didn’t help with the overall creepy atmosphere. Beatrice shivered.

Wyatt called out, “Sylvia? It’s Wyatt Thompson with Beatrice and Miss Sissy.”

There was no answer.

Miss Sissy rushed in, looking frantically around her. Then she let out a cry.

Sylvia Hutchins was sprawled on the floor at the bottom of her spiral staircase.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.