Read Online Fatal Inheritance by Sandra Orchard - Free Book Online Page A

wasn’t fair. He sounded sincere...unfortunately. Becki threw Josh a desperate look, but he was absorbed in a conversation on his cell phone. “Uh, sorry, Neil, I’ve got to run. My neighbor just came to the door.”
    Neil’s snort and terse goodbye left no doubt as to his opinion of Josh.
    Good. Maybe that would stave off any more surprise visits.
    “You’re certain?” Josh clutched his phone with white-knuckled fingers, piquing Becki’s curiosity. He glanced her way and quickly ended the call.
    “Who was that?” she asked.
    “It’s not important.”
    “It sounded important.”
    He tucked his phone into his pocket. “Nothing for you to worry about. So what did Neil say?”
    “Since he was home, I didn’t want to mention what happened. Would only fuel his arguments against my moving here.”
    Josh nodded, but he looked as if he wanted to say more.
    “Maybe that officer is right about the shots.” Catching herself nervously twisting her necklace, she pressed her palms to her thighs. “I was so worked up with everything that happened yesterday and then the phone calls that I freaked. Obviously a car thief isn’t going to start shooting at the house and draw attention to himself. He’d just wait until I’m out.”
    Josh squeezed her hand. “It’s always better to call for help than regret it later. And don’t forget one of those pellets winged Tripod.”
    The dog whimpered at his name.
    Becki slipped her hand free from Josh’s reassuring grasp and stood. She couldn’t let herself start leaning on him. “I’d better finish unpacking.”
    Josh scraped his hand over his jaw. “How about I leave Tripod here with you tonight?”
    She tilted her head and squinted at him, but she couldn’t read his expression. “What aren’t you telling me?”
    “Bec, I don’t want you to worry unnecessarily.”
    “O-kay...”
    “Does Neil have call forwarding?”
    “I don’t know.” A lump balled in her throat. “Why?”
    “Because he’s not answering his door.”
    * * *
    You don’t belong here.
    Becki surged from her bed and paced the bedroom floor for the umpteenth time.
    Tripod whined at being disturbed yet again. Josh had left him with her—for company, he’d said, but more likely so the dog would bark if anyone tried to break in.
    Becki scratched his ears. “I’m sorry, boy, but your master has my stomach in knots. First he convinces me it’s got to be Neil who’s terrorizing me. Then he tells me not to worry even though Neil never showed up at his apartment tonight.”
    She inched aside the curtains and peered at the yard bathed in moonlight. Leafy shadows danced on the barn wall. It doesn’t scare you to be out the back of nowhere? With next to no neighbors? And who knows what kind of wild animals stalking those woods?
    She took a deep breath and slowly released it. Neil had just been trying to manipulate her. No one was out there.
    She wasn’t going to let Neil, or her sister, coerce her into leaving. First thing Monday morning, she’d call her old boss and tell him not to bother holding her job as Neil had suggested, and then she’d call Gramps’s lawyer to find out if Sarah had any chance of challenging the will. Relieved to have a plan of action, she crawled back into bed and mashed her pillow into a new shape.
    Something creaked.
    Her eyes flew open. The wispy white sheers fluttered at the window, looking ghostlike with the moonlight shimmering through them. Becki slanted a peek at Tripod. Still sleeping.
    She reined in her galloping heart. If the noise had been an intruder, the dog would have been alerted. Surely.
    The creak sounded again.
    Only, it was more of a whistle. The wind sneaking through the eaves?
    Fixing her gaze on the fluttering curtains, she listened more closely. How had she not noticed the peepers chirruping like a rock concert gone wild outside, punctuated by the bullfrog’s occasional owooga?
    She huffed onto her side and tried to ignore them. Then just as she’d