Murder by Mushroom Read Online Free Page A

it.”
    She felt foolish when the doctor’s eyebrows rose. It was an experience she’d had many times in her life. Why did she always manage to say something stupid?

THREE
    J ackie backed away from the dresser, trying to get a look at her feet. She really should buy a full-length mirror. The image stopped at her knees, leaving her to guess at how her flat pumps looked with the narrow black skirt. She’d bought the skirt and blouse two days ago when an inventory of her closet revealed nothing even remotely appropriate for a funeral. Her coworkers at the State’s division for child-support enforcement would probably fall right out of their chairs when she walked into the office in a skirt, but slacks seemed disrespectful somehow.
    Yesterday, she’d shuffled all her Friday afternoon clients off onto other caseworkers, so she planned to work through her lunch break and leave at one o’clock. Plenty of time to get from the state office building in Frankfort to the funeral home here in Versailles before the two o’clock service.
    She gave up on seeing her feet in the reflection and turned to examine the side view. Not bad. Maybe she should wear skirts more often.
    The doorbell sounded. Linus, who did not like visitors, leaped from his perch on her pillow to rush to his habitual hiding place beneath the bed. Jackie glanced at the clock. Who in the world would come to her apartment at seven-forty in the morning?
    She swiped a brush through her curly hair a couple of times and snatched a black scrunchie off the top of the dresser as she left the room. Twisting it around her hair at the base of her neck, she peeked through the peephole in the front door. The telescopic image of two men stared back at her. One wore a uniform.
    The police? Jackie’s pulse picked up tempo. A visit from the police before eight o’clock in the morning couldn’t be good news.
    She unlocked the dead bolt and opened the door. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the uniformed officer. He stood slightly behind the other man, his young face freshly shaved beneath short-cropped hair. Strong, well-muscled shoulders filled out his shirt above a trim waist, and when Jackie looked into his face she found herself gazing at the most gorgeous gray eyes she had ever seen. A tickly sensation in her belly made her look away with a shiver. She focused instead on his left hand, which held a canvas messenger bag. No ring on that all-important finger.
    Focus, Jackie!
    In front of Mr. Good-Looking Cop, the other man held up a black wallet with a shiny badge. He, too, was clean shaven except for a short mustache, in his late forties or early fifties. He wore a neat gray suit, white shirt, and the ugliest tie Jackie had ever seen.
    The older man spoke. “Miss Hoffner, I’m Detective Conner with the Kentucky State Police. And this is Trooper Walsh.” The handsome officer nodded a silent greeting. “We’re here to talk to you about Mrs. Alice Farmer.”
    Jackie’s tension lessened as the detective flashed an easy smile. He didn’t look as if he was about to deliver bad news. She opened the door wider. They probably just wanted to follow up on her statement. “Oh, sure. Would you like to come in?”
    “If you don’t mind.”
    She stepped back, closing the door behind them as they walked into the apartment to stand in her tiny living room. As Trooper Walsh brushed by her, she caught a faint whiff of his aftershave. The tickle in her stomach returned. If only she had taken the time to fix her hair this morning.
    “Please sit down. Uh…” A pile of newspapers littered one end of her couch, and cat hairs clung to the cushion on the other end. She pointed toward the dinette table. “Maybe there?”
    Detective Conner smiled. “That will be fine. I hope we aren’t interrupting anything important.”
    “Actually, I was just getting ready to leave for work.”
    “This shouldn’t take too long.” Detective Conner’s pleasant green eyes looked into hers, the