Staged (The Busybodies collection) by Elle Cosimano

Author:Elle Cosimano [Cosimano, Elle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Amazon Original Stories
Published: 2024-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

STEP THREE

ADD PLENTY OF COLOR AND LIGHT.

Don’t be afraid to introduce bold colors. Consider using strategically placed lighting and accent colors to draw attention away from a room’s flaws and redirect the focus to the features you want to highlight.

Idon’t think this is what the Realtor on TikTok meant when she suggested bringing in more lighting.” Dani shook her flashlight when the bulb flickered, casting a long beam over the backside of the house. I tugged her down beside me where I crouched in the bushes.

“Turn that off! Someone might see it.”

“And we’re looking for what, exactly?” she whispered.

“Evidence so we can figure out who really killed Sawyer. All we need to do is find a way inside.”

Deputy Ames was fast asleep in his patrol car out front. The presence of his car alone should have been a deterrent to curious true-crime fanatics or local kids playing truth or dare, but here we were, creeping through the neighboring backyards and crawling around in the shadows, trying to break into an empty house. The first-floor windows and doors were all locked, and the only other copy of my key was in a safe inside my broker’s office. And since I had neglected to tell him my copy had been confiscated by the sheriff, I had no intention of asking him for another one. It was my job to make sure the house was locked after every visit. Even though I hadn’t been the last person working in the house, making sure it was secure was still my responsibility. The last thing I needed was to give my boss one more reason to hand this listing over to Gitta Jenkins. If I lost the old Victorian now, I’d never earn back the money I’d already sunk into it.

“Marilee said she left some windows cracked to air out the paint fumes. Maybe one of them is still unlocked.”

“Give me a boost,” Dani said. “I’ll stand on your shoulders.”

I resisted the urge to remind Dani she couldn’t manage a single pull-up in PE class in high school, pointing instead at a paint-spattered ladder that had been folded and left against the side of the house. “We don’t need to stand on each other’s shoulders.” Thankfully, Sawyer wasn’t the only contractor who’d left his tools on the job yesterday. Quietly, we raised the ladder and leaned it against the siding, lining it up with the bedroom window above our heads.

I tucked my flashlight under my arm and climbed up first to test the window. After a solid push, the lower sash slid open, and I crawled over the sill. I hurried to the bedroom door and pulled it shut, making sure the glow from our flashlights didn’t reach the rooms across the hall. If Mrs. Price happened to see us and report us to the police, it would take Deputy Ames all of ten seconds to bust us.

Dani hesitated in the open window, her flashlight roving over the room and coming to land on the patch of carpet where we had found Sawyer’s body the night before.

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