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Or worse.
And sadly, there are worse things I can think of.
That’s something I bet Everett and Noah have never concerned themselves with even when they’re getting out of their car in the middle of the night—in the armpit of Leeds no less.
That’s the price women have to pay in this upside-down world. And it makes me sick to think it’s not going to change for Evie or Lyla Nell.
“Marlena?” I call out again as I note she’s not moved a muscle. Come to think of it, her head looks a little slumped to her right.
Maybe she’s on the phone?
I take a few steps in that direction and note her body looks limp as if she were asleep.
An entire litany of dark thoughts take over.
“Stop,” I say out loud. The poor woman probably just wanted to sneak in a nap.
Right? Right?
I’ve never felt more wrong in all my life.
“Oh no.” I put the babka down on her porch and head over to the car. “Marlena?” I call out as I get closer then stop short once I see a wet crimson stain blooming across her chest.
Marlena isn’t sneaking in a nap.
Marlena Mills is dead.
NOAH
Another homicide.
I pull up to Pine Ridge Road and nearly rear-end Lottie’s minivan as I kill my ignition and hop out in haste.
Thank goodness I picked up when she called. I had just pulled into my driveway, all set to watch the basketball playoffs, but apparently far more pressing and deadly things are in need of my attention.
“What the heck happened?” I bark without meaning to as Lottie jumps off the porch of the modest home behind her. “Where’s Lyla Nell?”
“Oh, Noah, she’s safe with my mother back on Main Street. This is just terrible. I called Forest at the fire department after I hung up with you.” No sooner does she get the words out than the sawing of sirens fills the air.
“I called for backup.” I pull her in tight for a moment. “Lottie, you should have left the scene as soon as you saw there was trouble. The killer could have been hanging around.”
I speed past her and head to the blue sedan parked in the driveway and, sure enough, there lies Marlena Mills with a bullet through her chest, her eyes rolled back into her head.
The door is slightly ajar so I quickly put on a pair of gloves and check the woman for a pulse, but there isn’t any.
“She’s gone.” The words come out with a hard sigh. “Lottie, I need you to tell me everything that happened once you arrived.”
“She was at the bakery, and she was upset. They were all upset. And…” Her voice trails off for a moment before she dives for the rear door and yanks a small navy duffle bag off the back seat.
“Lottie,” I shout her name like a reprimand. “What the heck do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m sorry, Noah,” she pants as she scuttles down the driveway with it before I can catch her. “I need to move my van for the fire department.” She tosses the evidence she just stole, and most likely destroyed, for the most part into her minivan and moves the vehicle across the street.
Soon, the fire department swarms the scene as does a small army of cruisers from the sheriff’s department along with the coroner.
I scan the scene one more time as Forest and a couple of the guys from the fire department cordon off the area.
“Do you see any clues?” Lottie asks while diving under the yellow caution tape and making her way over.
