Read Online Murder on Sagebrush Lane by Patricia Smith Wood - Free Book Online Page A

get upstairs while the coast is clear. I have to see the bedrooms.” Harrie moved out to the hall and started up the stairs.
    Ginger stopped short and whispered, “Wait!”
    “No,” Harrie called back down to her in an equally soft whisper. “I’m not leaving here without seeing Katie’s room. Besides, I have to get her things.”
    Harrie disappeared up the stairs. Ginger said, “Okay, okay. Wait up.” She grumbled to herself, “Why do I let her talk me into stuff like this?”
    Harrie already stood in the doorway of Katie’s room when Ginger got to the top of the landing. She stopped to catch her breath, and made one last try. “Let’s make this quick,” she said, knowing full well it would take as long as it took.
    But Harrie paid no attention to Ginger. She moved around the child’s bedroom in a trance, taking in the decorations so perfect for a little girl like Katie. She ran her fingers over the child-size furniture, and smiled at the shelves populated with stuffed animals, toys and a beautiful doll. She stooped down to the little round table, with its matching toddler-sized chairs. A few picture books were spread out, obviously well worn and loved. What a perfect room for a little girl to grow up in. But now, of course, she wouldn’t grow up here. Harrie’s heart ached when she thought about the magnitude of the disruption to this little girl’s life. Unless she and DJ could stop it, Katie would end up in foster care, or more likely a series of foster care homes. She shook her head. “That just can’t happen!”
    Ginger looked over at Harrie, who still stood by the little table. “What can’t happen?”
    Harrie stood up, her chin raised in stubborn defiance. “Katie can not be sent to foster care. I just won’t allow it.”
    “I agree with you, Sweetie. We’ll do everything possible to keep her safe until a member of her family can be located.”
    “No, that’s not what I mean. I know we’ll take care of her for now. I’m talking about the long haul. I don’t want any further disruption in her life—no shuffling her from one place to another. We should be the ones who keep her.”
    Ginger studied her friend. “Harrie, please don’t get your hopes up too high. You open yourself up to terrible disappointment. It’s too early to tell what will happen with Katie.”
    Harrie looked down at the books on the table, and selected three of them to take with her. “I know exactly what you mean. Normally, I would agree with you, but right now, I hope we get the chance to keep her.”
    She turned to Ginger and saw the concern on her friend’s face. Harrie smiled. “Please don’t worry. I know the odds, but I also know this feeling is important. I have the strongest sense that this is the beginning of a new and wonderful adventure for DJ and me, and for Katie, too.” She brightened. “Come on, let’s find a suitcase or a box to put these clothes and toys in. We need to get back and find out what’s going on with that awful woman.”
    Ginger opened the closet door and spied a small suitcase on the shelf. She got it down, and they gathered up clothes to take with them. Harrie found a large canvas bag in the corner of the closet. She gathered up the toys she felt most drawn to, and filled the bag.
    When they finished, Harrie said, “Let’s take a look in the other bedrooms. There’s more here we need to figure out.”
    Ginger nodded. She knew from long experience that her friend, once she had her mind set on a thing, wasn’t easily convinced to abandon her quest. Instead, she picked up the suitcase with Katie’s clothes and followed Harrie out the door.
    Harrie was already in the master bedroom when Ginger got there. She set the suitcase down beside the canvas bag of toys outside the door. She looked around the room and noted the unmade bed.
    “Do you suppose he was in bed when the intruder arrived?” Ginger asked.
    “It’s my guess he wasn’t turned in for the night. The bed doesn’t