Read Audrey Claire - Libby Grace 02 - How to Blackmail a Ghost for Free Online

small pity party before making breakfast. Soon I had Jake tucked into the car, and Monica in the driver’s seat.
    “Morning, pipsqueak,” Monica said and stole a kiss from Jake.
    “Morning, Aunt Monica. Mom, why don’t you drive anymore?”
    “What are you trying to say?” Monica teased. “Am I navel lint?” She tried grabbing for Jake, but he laughed and twisted away in the back seat. Monica waggled a finger at him with a promise to kiss him in front of his friends. Jake looked horrified, and I laughed.
    “You know my car broke down,” I said in answer to his question, “and I thought it made more sense to just sell it than to get it fixed. Besides, Aunt Monica has been a great help in looking out for us, hasn’t she?”
    Jake agreed, and soon Monica pulled up to the school. Jake strode into the building while I watched anxiously.
    “What, you’re not going in with him?” Monica’s eyes were wide. “You practiced not losing your concentration with the screaming children jostling about.”
    “I know, but Jake says his friends think he’s a baby because I walk in with him. I can’t seem to win. Each day he’s more independent.”
    Monica hugged me. “Aw, don’t worry. Soon he’ll be a grown man with babies of his own for you to spoil.”
    I shrieked. “Don’t talk like that. I want Jake as my baby a little longer.”
    Monica laughed. “So do I. We have a few more years. Let’s enjoy every moment before he becomes a know-it-all teenager who is embarrassed by your existence.”
    “Way to cheer me up.” I did feel better for some reason. It helped knowing Jake still had some years of innocence left. I had Monica drop me off near the police station as she headed to her part-time position at the library. I couldn’t wait for Clark to call me. I wanted to know now what he had found out about Sadie.
    When I strode up to the police station, I figured out things weren’t going Clark’s way. His bellow reached me before I crossed the threshold, and his officers scrambled to get out of his way. The new dispatcher, an older man named Hal, seemed ready to throw his headphones down and escape. I silently cheered for him when he braved another phone call instead.
    “Maybe I should come back another time,” I said, my voice lowered so Clark couldn’t hear me from his office.
    One of the officers rushed over. “No way. You’re the only one that can get him to stop yelling, Libby. Go in there, I beg you.”
    I felt like he threw me to the wolves, but my curiosity didn’t allow me to leave without getting the latest update. I squared my shoulders, offered the harried officers a thumbs up, and knocked on Clark’s door.
    “What?” came the roar, and I jumped.
    “Clark? It’s me, Libby.”
    He wrenched the door open, and I stepped back. No anger distorted his handsome face, but I did see annoyance. He moved aside to let me in, and I walked past him. Once I’d taken a seat, Clark dropped into his own behind his desk. He shoved hands through his hair, leaving it in disordered clumps.
    “No murders in fifty years, and two in less than a month.”
    My mouth fell open. “W-What?”
    His gaze focused on me. “Sadie Barnett was murdered.”
    “How do you know?”
    He glared at me as if I were stupid. Clark knew his job. He had gone to college for criminal psychology. His position as chief of police hadn’t been handed to him just because no one else was qualified for the job. I had seen Clark in action, and I admired his astuteness.
    “She had an overdose of hydrocodone in her system, enough to stop her heart. We checked the scene where she was found and scoured the park. We’re still going through the garbage, but I’m pretty sure, we won’t find the bottle where the medicine came from.”
    I swallowed. “Meaning?”
    “Meaning the killer took it with him when he left Sadie for dead.”
    I began to worry Clark might think I had some reason to kill Sadie, especially after the argument we had in the