Shed Girl (A Juliet French Mystery Book 1) by Milana Marsenich

Author:Milana Marsenich [Marsenich, Milana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Black Rose Writing
Published: 2024-01-18T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

After visiting with Antonia, Juliet and Kyle returned to Antonia’s tiny shed. Juliet no longer feared being evicted, but something else was off. A terrible smell came from inside the shed, and smoke spilled out from between pieces of the wood siding. She scrambled to open the door. When she finally got in, they found a smoking object. A smell wafted off the pile of embers, putrid and animal like.

Her heart seized up when she saw the orange fur. “No!”

“Shhhh,” Kyle said. “It’s okay. Looks like deer hide.”

“Deer hide?” Not Wilma?

Just then, Wilma came in and stared at the strange, putrid object.

“Wilma,” Juliet said with a soft breath and pulled the kitten into her arms. “Baby. Sweet Baby. You’re safe.” She held her close and kissed her a dozen times on her head, petting her warm body over and over. “You’re here. You’re alive.” The shock slowly left her bones as she whimpered, “It’s not you.”

She continued to caress Wilma as she looked more closely at the burned lump that was emitting such a stench. She could see the fur came from a fresh kill, and the only hunter she knew was George.

Kyle took the smoking thing outside and put it on the graveled ground.

Inside, a creeping, foreboding feeling spread across Juliet’s entire body as her eyes took in another object that did not belong in her living space. Sprawled out at the end of her mattress was a tiny wooden doll, one leg torn off and flailed aside, the other leg twisted up toward where the head should have been. She spotted the head on the floor near the bed, got down on her knees, and retrieved it. Juliet swallowed hard as she stared at a distorted replica of her own head, cowlicks sticking out in every direction and deranged red eyes glaring back at her.

Kyle came back in, his eyes falling on the dismembered doll.

“Tony LeCrosse,” she said. “He sent George to do his dirty work.”

“Warning you off.”

“From what? How could he think I’m a threat?” She didn’t think LeCrosse knew anything about her work with Picard. He’d have no reason to see Juliet as a danger to him. But then, she thought, maybe this threat wasn’t about her work with Picard. “I have been asking a lot of questions about Twyla. If he’s involved in her disappearance, he’d want to stop me.’

“What about Alice?” Kyle asked. “She didn’t look happy about her tarot reading. She gave you some very dirty looks.”

An icy shard shot straight through her. Maybe she had made an enemy. “She was angry with me at that party,” she said. “The tarot cards hit too close to home.”

Juliet thought about how Alice had flamed up and dampened her anger in seconds. Not liking how Alice had treated her from the beginning, Juliet had given Alice the worst version of the cards’ meaning. It was unethical and cruel, Juliet thought. And childish. Now someone had upped the ante.

“Creepy,” Kyle said. “But why? It’s such an overreaction.

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