When Fall Fades (The Girl Next Door Series Book 1) Read Online Free

lips, she blew lightly over her brew. “Was I right?”
    “Pardon me?”
    “About your coffee. I figured you to be a straight-black kinda guy, but if not, there’s cream and—”
    “Black’s perfect, thank you.” Archer took a scalding swig of the velvety dark roast. “Wow, this is really good … and hot.” Smooth move, genius . Clearing his throat of the blazing shrapnel, he blinked his eyes to obliterate the choking moisture and strove for a friendly tone. “Sure beats the coffee at the bureau.”
    This time he was rewarded with a slight smile. “It’s the French press, makes great coffee.”
    A few uncommonly peaceful moments passed while they sipped their drinks. “Umm, mind if we get started, Miss Carson?”
    “Sure. And Sadie’s fine.”
    “The police report said that you were out jogging, saw Mr. Westwick’s car on the shoulder ahead, and went to go check it out. What time was this?”
    “About ten till nine. Since I didn’t have to work today I slept in a bit and started my run at about eight.”
    “When you left did you notice Mr. Westwick’s car in the lot outside?”
    “No, I wasn’t paying attention. He doesn’t drive anymore since he lost his license.”
    “Do you know anything about that?”
    She seemed to reminisce for a brief moment before a small lyrical chuckle slipped from her lips. “Actually, yes. He uh, repeatedly backed his car into another neighbor’s Mustang and drove off. Of course, that might seem harmless enough for a little old man, but it was the confession to the cops about the ‘dag-gum garbage bin’ in the street that he’d hit shouldn’t warrant police involvement that got the authorities questioning his competence on the road—and perhaps his bifocal prescription.”
    She flashed a real smile—bright white, even teeth, faint dimples in each cheek, pale gold freckles dusting the bridge of her nose, aquamarine eyes glittering like sunlit water. Despite the Irish tongue-lashing she’d given him, her smile was innocence, light, and all-American beautiful. The full force of it slammed him in the gut. Dang, if it wasn’t infectious. It was almost impossible to smother his answering grin. Saving himself the struggle, he raised his mug and took another blistering sip.
    Sadie continued before he could ask the next question. “So I didn’t notice the car, but I did hear him rummaging around this morning before I left, which was a little odd. This wall here separating our condos—like paper—but every morning he quietly dissects his newspapers from seven to nine-ish. He likes to know what’s going on in the world so he can worry more about everything, and he’s not big on television.”
    “Can you describe the types of sounds you heard?”
    “Uhh, yeah I think so … kinda sounded like a lot of drawers being opened and closed, and not gently. Maybe some papers rustling, but like I said, he was big into the morning paper—other than the entertainment section, the classifieds, and the funnies.”
    “You seem to know him pretty well. What was the nature of your relationship?”
    Her eyes narrowed and her lips firmed. For such a little thing she had the intimidation act down. “We’ve been neighbors for the past six years and friends for most of those. If you’d ever met Charlie you’d understand there was just something special about him.”
    As if lost in a memory of him, her eyes drifted to something unseen. “He was hard not to like. People can get pretty morose as they age and their minds and bodies start to fail them. Sure he had his quirks, but he was lonely after the loss of his wife and needed a friend.” She came back, their gazes colliding. “At the time I wasn’t, but a year after I moved here I became a hospice house nurse, and even though Charlie wasn’t one of my patients, I’d help him out from time to time with errands and chores and reading the tiny print on his prescription bottles—yada yada yada. Does that satisfy your question,