Murder Down Under (A Darcy Sweet Cozy Mystery Book 17) Read Online Free

desktop computer monitor, a beige colored phone rang.
    She picked it up, never taking her eyes off George.  Without saying a word she handed the receiver towards him.  “Maybe you should tell that to them.”
    Darcy watched the strange interplay between the two of them.  What was going on here?  George stared at the phone as if it was a live snake ready to bite him.  Then he swallowed loudly and grumbled as he took his broom and broken glass out of the room.  “Have work to do.  That window in the commons area is stuck again.”
    After he was gone, Dell softly chuckled and reset the phone on its base.  When she smiled her nose crinkled, accentuating the freckles across her cheeks.  “Now, then.  Welcome to the Pine Lake Inn.  Miss Sweet and Mister Tinker, was it?”
    “Uh, yes,” Darcy said.  “It’s Mrs. Sweet, though.  We’re married.”
    “Oh, I get it.  Kept the name, did you?  Good on ya.  Nice to see a woman keep her independence.  We don’t have to give up being ourselves to be with a man, now do we?”
    Jon coughed behind his hand.  Darcy wasn’t really sure how to answer the question, or if it even was a question.  Thankfully the phone rang again and saved her the trouble of trying to figure it out.
    With an apologetic roll of her eyes Dell picked the phone up.  “Pine Lake Inn.  Can I help you?”
    She was silent for maybe three seconds, then hung up again.
    “Problems with your phone?” Jon asked her.
    “Something like that,” Dell answered cryptically.  “Let’s get you checked in.  If you can just sign the book on the next line?  I know it’s a bit old fashioned but that’s how we do things here south of the Outback.”
    There was a big book on the desk, and she turned it around to them, open to a page near the middle where names and addresses in different handwriting filled several lines.  Darcy took the pen and wrote her name and Jon’s on the next open space.
    “Very nice.  I’m Adelle Powers, co-owner of the Pine Lake Inn.  Folks call me Dell.  Got your room all ready for you.  Room number nine, the honeymoon suite.  Think you’ll love it.”
    “I’m sure we will,” Darcy said, just as the phone rang again.
    Dell sighed and handed Jon the keys to the room.  “I need to get that.  It might be an actual person this time.  Your room is just up those stairs and to the left.”
    When she picked up the phone, Darcy could hear the static over the line.
    Bringing the bags up the narrow staircase took two trips.  Dell was gone from the front desk when they came back down.  Somewhere in another room a clock ticked away the seconds.  They went back up to the second floor, and this time Jon took the luggage that Darcy had in her hands and set them aside.
    Then he swept her up in his arms and pushed the door to their room open. 
    “What are you doing?” Darcy squealed.
    “It’s tradition to carry the bride across the threshold, you know.”  With his foot, he closed the door behind them.
    She laughed and kicked her feet as he spun her around in the middle of the room.  “Jon!  People will hear us!”
    Whether he lost his balance or threw them down on the bed on purpose, she didn’t know.  They were just suddenly on top of the fluffy lavender comforter, tangled in each other’s arms, laughing uncontrollably.  It felt good.
    The room was big for an Inn, and the bed and a dresser left enough floor space for another oval knitted rug.  A chair and a few other furnishings made the room cozy.  A door opposite the bed would lead to a private bathroom, where Darcy was looking forward to a long bath.  It felt like they were teenagers with their parents out of town, with the whole place to themselves, but she knew that wasn’t the case.
    “You’re going to get us kicked out,” Darcy protested, alternately pushing against his chest and pulling him closer.  “How thin do you think these walls are?”
    “Hmm,” he murmured, catching her hands,