Read 1 Death Comes to Town for Free Online Page A

that her family is going to have the funeral in their home town in some state down south,” Dianne was saying to Linda.  Linda made a scoffing noise and Dianne continued to talk. “That’s such a bad idea. What about all of her friends here? None of us will be able to attend.”
    “Well I just can’t believe that anyone would hurt Anna.” Linda sounded perplexed. “She was so nice and led such a quiet life.”
    “Well, it might not have been all that uneventful. I overheard Grace Wentworth and another police officer talking when I went to pay a parking ticket this morning.” Darcy was all ears now. What had her sister said? “Apparently the police found something suspicious in Anna’s house.”
    Linda again. “Really? Do you know what they found?”
    Dianne said, “No. No I don’t. They didn’t elaborate and by then my ticket was paid and I had to leave.”
    Darcy was intrigued now. Grace hadn’t said anything to her about that. Linda and Dianne saw her then, and they smiled at her and waved and made very sure not to say anything else about Anna the whole time Darcy was finishing her coffee.
    ***
    After she finished dinner that night Darcy settled down on her sofa with Smudge. She had begun feeling nostalgic and had brought out some old photos to look through. Her louse of an ex-husband had only taken the ones of him and his own family.
    “Look Smudge. Here’s a photo of the first book club meeting we ever had. It was only five years ago but don’t we all look so much younger?” She laughed as she held the photo up for her cat to look. He yawned before going back to cleaning his paws, not interested in the photo at all.
    Choosing not to notice her cat’s disinterest she flipped through a few more photos. “Aww, look. There’s Anna.” She ran her finger over Anna’s face in the picture and felt a chill run through her. A sensation crept over her skin and she pulled her finger away quickly. Smudge looked up at her curiously.
    “Don’t look at me like that. What am I supposed to do?” Smudge continued to stare at her, until Darcy finally relented. She didn’t know if it had been her idea or Smudge’s, but either way it felt like the right thing to do. “Fine, I guess it won’t hurt to check.” Grabbing up the phone she dialled Grace’s number.
    “Hey Darcy how are you?” her sister asked. “Are you okay?”
    “I’m fine. Everyone in town has asked me that today, Grace. There’s nothing to worry about. I just felt like talking to you. That’s all.”
    “Uh-huh.” Grace sounded unconvinced. “Well. I’m glad you’re okay. After what happened last night you could be forgiven if you weren’t. One thing they teach us in the academy is that a shock like that can eat away at you if you don’t talk about it.”
    Darcy smiled at her sisters concern. It was nice to know that her big sis was still there for her, even now. Pushing Grace’s worry away again, Darcy directed the conversation onto other topics until she could bring it back around to ask her question.
    “So there’s been a lot of speculation around town today about why Anna was killed. Do you have any idea why yet?” Darcy spoke very casually, trying to make it sound like a simple question so she could find out what she needed to know without tipping Grace off.
    She was disappointed by her sister’s answer. “No we don’t. I know what you’re doing Darcy and it won’t work.  You know I shouldn’t be talking about this with you.”
    “Aww, come on Grace. I heard that you found something suspicious in Anna’s house last night, can you at least tell me if that’s right?”
    Darcy heard Grace sigh on the other end of the line and knew that she’d hooked her. “Okay, fine. Just let me get in the other room. Aaron’s taking a nap.” There was the faint sound of a door closing and then Grace said in a whisper, “You didn’t hear it from me, alright Sis?”
    “You got it.” Darcy scratched behind Smudge’s ears and