Lyndsey Cole - Lily Bloom 05 - Hidden by the Hydrangeas Read Online Free

his strong chest, enjoying the feel of his heart pounding against her cheek.
    “Walter told me about your adventure. How was the balloon ride?”
    That triggered her memory. She reluctantly pulled out of his arms and slid a stool out for Ryan to sit on. “You won’t believe this. Daisy and I saw someone carrying a body out of one of the cottages behind the Stone House Inn.”
    Ryan stood up as soon as his butt hit the stool, as if it had burned him. “Are you sure?”
    “Positive. Walter said you w ere called away on an emergency, was that about finding a body?”
    He laughed, “Nothing that interesting. Tamara Biothchi locked her keys in her car. But you know how she is, everything is an emergency.” He sat back down on the stool. “Tell me exactly what you saw.”
    “It happened quickly. Mom had just pointed out the Stone House Inn before Daisy and I saw someone come out of one of the cottages in the back with a body dangling over their shoulder, head and arms in the back and legs in the front. Flopping lifelessly as far as I could tell.”
    “Anything else? Was it a man or a woman? Did you see a car? What time was it?”
    “The body had long hair hanging down. I couldn’t tell about the person carrying the body. Kind of tall, I guess, but I couldn’t see any features. Dark jacket or sweatshirt with a hood on. I was so focused on the lifeless body, I don’t remember seeing a car.” Lily paused, trying to recall anything else, mad that she couldn’t remember more. “I think it must have been around eight o’clock. Oh yeah, and the person looked up at the balloon.”

Chapter 3
     
    That got Ryan’s attention , and not in a good way. “Great. If there was a murder, whoever it is, saw you and Daisy.”
    Lily shrugged. “Maybe he just got a glimpse of the balloon. I’m sure he had his mind on other things.”
    “He?”
    “ He. She. I don’t know.”
    Ryan absentmindedly reached down and patted Sweet Pea who was rubbing against his leg. Lily didn’t know when she’d come back in but the cat door made it easy for Sweet Pea to come and go as she pleased. Ryan picked up the kitty who got comfortable in his lap. “Maybe this is connected to a different phone call I got.”
    ”What do you mean?”
    “Now don’t go off sticking your nose into this, it may be nothing, but I got a call from the house manager at the Black Horse Farm, Anna Sparks. She said her daughter, Kari, never came home last night.”
    “Are you looking for her?”
    Ryan shook his head. “She’s not a little kid, she’s twenty one and hasn’t been gone for long enough. And her mother admitted it’s not the first time this has happened.”
    Lily was excited about this information. She was sure this missing girl was the body she had seen. “Do you know what she looks like? Long hair? Probably not too big?”
    “No, I thought it was just a mother being a little overprotective. I’ll talk to her and the owner of the Stone House Inn to see if there’s any connection to what you saw. Just a friendly chat.”
    Lily’s phone started to ring and a customer walked in. Ryan stood up and set Sweet Pea down. “I’ll let you get back to work.” He winked and told her he’d be in touch later in the day.
    Emma Turner, Lance’s wife from the Black Horse Farm, was on the phone. There was small talk about how nice the wedding was and Emma wished she had had more time to chat with Lily. She asked how the hot air balloon ride went. With the chit chat out of the way, she finally told Lily that she was planning a baby shower and wanted Lily to come to the farm to talk about flower arrangements for the party. Lily smiled slyly to herself and thought, It shouldn’t be too hard to chat with the house manager about her missing daughter at the same time. No need to let Ryan know either, this is strictly business.
    Lily told Emma, “I’ll stop over later this afternoon, around four, if that works for you.”
    “That will be fine. Just come to the