Death Wore Brown Shorts (Happy Holloway Mystery Book 1) Read Online Free

backward, almost tumbling down the stairs. She caught herself in time on the banister and sagged against the wall, heart pounding. Her legs turned to jelly, and her calves ached.
    Wait. That’s because of the climb up the steps. Good grief, I need to exercise.
    At last, she found the string and pulled it. The bulb didn’t do much, but she saw the mess she’d made. The boxes must have been topped with old curtains. Her mother changed out the curtains from winter to spring and back again. These heavy drapes were what brushed her foot, and they lay in a heap on the floor along with the contents of the box.
    Spotting pictures scattered about, Annie swung away toward the opposite end of the attic. Farther on, a small window let the light of dawn in through four panes.
    Nope, no bears here.
    She moved that direction anyway to be sure a smaller animal hadn’t found a way to open the window.
    The lock held fast, and she stooped to see if there were any holes in the floorboards or gaps in the walls that would lead outside. When she stood straight, she glanced out at her back yard. If she leaned to the side, she could get a view of the side of the property. A smaller street led that way, but Annie’s home sat on one of the most generous plots of land with so many trees and bushes she enjoyed tons of privacy and shade.
    Through a tiny sliver of space among the foliage, she spotted the color brown. Just three families lived on that street, and none owned a brown vehicle. For that matter, they each included driveways. The owners had no reason to park alongside her house unless one of them entertained guests. Annie didn’t mind. She didn’t own the street. Yet, curiosity got the better of her, as it usually did.
    She turned back to the attic and surveyed the mess of pictures from afar. The same old feelings washed over her as she observed them—reluctance, fear, panic, and so on. There came a time when a person needed to let go of the past and live for the now and the future. Annie believed she did so, but pictures brought back memories and picked at old wounds.
    Like the little coward she was in this situation, she bypassed the photos and moved down the steps. Maybe she would set aside some extra money next month and have someone come in and clean the attic for her.
    Most of the junk could be thrown away, but she would ask Jane if she’d like to take a look for what she might like to keep. No, Jane was the more put together of the two of them. Annie didn’t want to stir up pain for her sister.
    Since Jane had signed over any rights she had to the house, she probably wanted nothing to do with any item within its walls. Annie was convinced Jane lived two doors away for no other reason than to be closer to her. Otherwise, she might have left the state to forget the past. Annie didn’t blame her. She wished she could forget.
    Annie puttered around in her kitchen, debating whether to cook the chicken from the day before or eat the leftovers from Jane’s party. The doorbell delayed the decision, and she walked to the side door. No one used the front door except those who didn’t know her.
    She pulled open the door without checking through the closed blinds. A small round face with a determined expression met her gaze. “Who are you?”
    A bottom lip poked out. “Aunt Annie, this is serious!”
    She laughed and stooped. Five-year old Ben wore shorts showing off his knobby knees and a T-shirt that said Snack Attack and included a picture of a hungry shark. On his back he had slung his favorite teddy bear pack, and he clutched the straps in tights fists, one of which also held a plastic grocery bag.
    Annie brushed the bangs from his eyes that looked so much like Jane’s. “Why is it serious?”
    He raised his chin. “Because I’ve run away from home.”
    “Oh. Well, come in then. That does sound serious.”
    She suppressed another laugh and guided him into the house. Once they were in her kitchen, she offered him a seat at the