Page 45 of Down and Dirty

Chapter 19

Lifting the tape slightly, I passed under it and led Brandon inside to the kitchen where I started a pot of coffee.

Reggie was standing at my stairs. “Can I go check out the rooms upstairs?”

“Sure, and when you’re done there, the crime scene was in my basement. Maybe you can find a clue that the police left behind.”

“Cool,” Reggie said, jogging up my stairs two at a time.

I poured Brandon a cup of coffee, and he sat at the table as I stared out my kitchen window to my wheelbarrow.

“I’ll be right back,” I said, stepping outside. I followed the wheelbarrow tracks from the shed to my back door and then around my house to the street in front of my house. The tracks stopped at the sidewalk.

I shifted my gaze, letting it roam up and down the street. The only set of eyes that were staring back at me belonged to Elenore Bell in the window across the street.

She stepped out of her house, and I crossed the road.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Following the wheelbarrow tracks that was used to put the dead bodies in my basement.”

“And they lead to here?” she asked.

“Afraid so. For someone to notice everything on our street, you didn’t notice any strange cars that didn’t belong parked over here?”

Her brows dipped.

Was Elenore responsible for some of this? What did I really know about her?

“The only thing that’s been parked blocking my view of your house is an ambulance.”

My heart skipped a beat. “You mean when I fainted?”

“After that,” she said. “I think they were here picking up someone else or bringing you home. I don’t know. I got distracted with my website.”

“You’re sure it was an ambulance?” I asked.

“Of course,” she answered.

I slipped my phone out of my pocket just as Elenore spoke again. “And I don’t know whose car that is parked down the street.”

My gaze flew in that direction, and my heart almost stopped. She didn’t know whose car that was, but I did. I’d just seen it. “Go back inside, Elenore. Go call the cops.”

“And tell them what?” she asked.

“The killer is on my street.”

I’d turned to run back to my house when Elenore grabbed my arm. “It’s dangerous. You can’t go back in there.”

“I have to. I have guests who might be in danger,” I said.

“Wait here.” She ran into her house and returned seconds later. She handed me a bat similar to the one I own. “Take this.”

I didn’t hesitate, grabbing the bat and jogging the same route I’d taken before. I pulled out my phone and sent a text to Keaton and Jimbo, giving them Patricia’s name and telling them she was probably in my house. At the end of the sentence I put several 911’s to let them know this was an emergency.

Slipping around the back of the house, I peered into the kitchen. Brandon was still sitting at the table, holding his hands in the air. Reggie was nowhere to be seen.

“Crap,” I whispered. “It isn’t an angel-of-death doctor, it’s a psychotic paramedic from hell.”

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