Read Online Honeysuckle Homicide (Trash-to-Treasure Crafting Mystery) by Rose Pressey - Free Book Online Page B

make out exactly where the sound had come from. Was it upstairs or downstairs? It was definitely inside the house. As far as I knew, the place wasn’t haunted, so that left only one option. Someone was in the house.
    My heart rate spiked. What would I do? Should I run outside away from the intruder? No, I had to protect my property. I had to find out who was in my home. This wasn’t an invited guest.
    Instead of a bang outside the house in the middle of the night, it had come from inside. I had to remain calm so that I could handle the situation without panicking. My cell phone was in my purse, but I’d let it die so now I had no way to call. I would be forced to check it out on my own.
    I could handle this. I’d have to toughen up and take care of it. So far I was frozen on the spot though. It was time for me to move forward.
    I tiptoed across the living room floor, trying to avoid the board that creaked. Good thing I was wearing my flip flops because they didn’t make a lot of noise. I decided to check upstairs because that was where I thought the noise had come from. What would I do if I found someone in the house? I didn’t have a weapon. I’d left the bat in my bedroom closet. I paused and scanned the room for something to use for defense. The only thing I saw was a lamp. Better than nothing, I guessed. I took the shade off and grasped the base in my hand.
    Wi th my new weapon firmly in my hand, I inched up the stairs. To my surprise, I was successfully being stealthy with my footsteps so the person in my house hadn’t heard me as far as I knew. I could sneak up on them and ask them what the heck they were doing. They had a lot of explaining to do. Once upstairs, I checked every room, but didn’t find anything. I was beginning to think that maybe I had imagined the noise. After not finding anyone, I headed back down the stairs. I’d almost convinced myself that I was safe.
    The floor creaked again and this time I was sure that I’d heard i t. Panic really set in now. I still had the lamp base so I eased the rest of the way down the stairs and through the hallway. No one was in the dining room as I went through on my way to the kitchen. That room was empty too. So that left only my bedroom and the bathroom downstairs. I sucked in a deep breath and headed for the remaining room. I couldn’t believe that this was happening. Then I started thinking of the fact that there was a murderer somewhere out there in Honeysuckle.
    When I reached the bedroom door, I paused. Sucking in a deep breath, I placed my hand on the knob and twisted. I eased the door open and peeked inside.
    Darcy Parish was st anding in my bedroom with a tape measure in her hand. She looked up at me and flashed a wide smile. Once again her hair was perfectly styled without a strand out of place.
    “What are you doing in here?” I asked. My voice had reached a new level of shock.
    She retracted the tape measure. “Oh, hello. You’re home. I was just measuring for square footage.”
    “Who asked you to come in here and do that?” I still held the lamp.
    She looked at my weapon . “Oh, honey. I’m sorry. Julian said you wanted to put the house up for sale. The door was unlocked.”
    I frowned. “I didn’t say for sure that I wanted to s ell the house. And I accidentally left the door open.”
    She closed the distance between us, coming just a little too close. “I am truly sorry. Please forgive me.”
    I stared at her and then said, “I suppose it was an honest mistake.”
    She flashed her bright white smile. “So do you want to list the house? I can get you top dollar for it. I would think you would love to get out of Honeysuckle.”
    I couldn’t lie and say that I hadn’t thought about getting out of town. But Claire Ann was here and this was home for me now. “ No, I don’t think I want to sell the house.”
    Darcy released a sigh. “Well, I guess you’ll call me if you change your mind. After all I am the top agent in