Read The Lady Who Cried Murder (A Mac Faraday Mystery) for Free Online

consider you my friend, and I hate to see my friends have their dreams shattered by circumstances that are no fault of their own. You were in law school and on your way to becoming a lawyer when a car accident turned your world upside down. I’m in a position to help you realize that dream through a job as a paralegal with flexible hours to allow you to go to law school, through paying your tuition, and through a nice place for you and Molly to live in.”
    “You know I can’t pay you back.”
    “I don’t expect you to.”
    “Like maybe by getting together with David?”
    Mac chuckled. “That’s Archie’s dream.” He shrugged. “Hey, if having you here in Spencer with David driving you and Molly around will help to spark a little romance, so be it.”
    “What if it doesn’t?”
    Mac could feel her light blue eyes boring into his face. “What if it does?”
    Standing up straight, she stuck out her chin. “I don’t need or want a man. It’s nothing against David. We’ve become good friends since all this happened with Riley. I’ve forgiven him for what happened back when we were in school—but that’s it—nothing more. We’re never going to be anything more than friends, and I wouldn’t be surprised if David felt the same way.”
    The lady doth protest too much. Mac lifted his head to look at her. Her ivory cheeks were bright pink. Her pale coloring made it very difficult for her to hide the blush that happened when David was around or the topic of him came up.
    Hearing the door open and shut, they both looked up in the direction of the doors leading in from the back deck.
    “Okay,” they heard David say into his cell phone, “I’ll be there in an hour.” Dressed in his uniform and jacket, David jogged up the steps from the drop-down dining room. He slipped his cell phone into its case on his utility belt. “Good morning, Chelsea. You look great this morning. I always thought you looked pretty in turquoise.”
    “Thank you.” Her smile contradicted her claim that she and David could never be more than friends.
    “I see you’re finally rested up from your trip,” David said to Mac while retrieving Chelsea’s coat from out of the closet.
    “It’s a wonder what fourteen hours of sleep can do.”
    “I’m going to run Chelsea in to Fleming’s office.” David held her coat open to help her slip into it. “Doc called with the autopsy results. She wants us to meet her at the morgue. Would you like to meet me there?”
    “Sure.” Mac sat up from where he was lounging. “What did Doc tell you?”
    David shook his head and shrugged at the same time. “She said it just keeps getting weirder and weirder.”
    “I hate being an imposition.” Chelsea buttoned up her coat.
    “You’re not.” David picked up her briefcase and held it out to her. “I like driving you and Molly.”
    “But you have to go to the morgue to find out about Khloe Everest’s murder.”
    “I’d have to do that anyway, whether I was taking you into work or not.” When she didn’t take the briefcase, David continued to hold it out to her.
    “Yeah,” Mac said. “He’d have to go to the morgue anyway.”
    “How about if after the morgue I swing back over to take you to lunch?” David offered while shaking the briefcase in hopes that she would notice it.
    She gazed at him without answering. Mac could see her yearning to say yes, but holding back.
    “My treat,” David added.
    She opened her mouth to answer, but fear refused to let her form the words.
    “Think about it on the way.” He took the strap of the briefcase and draped it over her shoulder. He then took her hand and wrapped her fingers around the strap and held them there until she took hold of it. “There,” he said after observing that the case was secure. “That will work.” Taking her by the arm, he ushered her to the door. “Come along, Molly.”
    Reminded of her duty as Chelsea’s service dog, Molly stopped licking Gnarly’s ears to scurry