Page 69 of Little Dark Deeds

Not three hours ago, I’d seen Queenie.I’d talked to her.

To be told she was dead was almost inconceivable.

“Where are you?”I asked.“And what happened?”

“I ...we’re ...”

The call disconnected, and I hunched over my desk, burying my head in my hands as Simone and Hunter rushed to my side.

“What’s going on?”Simone asked.

I looked up, shaking my head as a thought came to mind.“It’s Queenie.I’m sorry to say she won’t be solving the case before we do.”

“Why not?”

“Turns out, she’s dead.”

CHAPTER 25

As I drove to Queenie’shouse, questions filtered in and out of my mind, my nerves getting the best of me as I thought about the abrupt end to my phone call with Janice.If it turned out Queenie had been murdered, I worried the killer might still be lingering around, putting Janice and Martha’s lives in imminent danger.

My fears turned to relief when I turned on Tiffany’s street and saw both women standing in front of Queenie’s house, consoling each other.

I parked and walked over.

“I apologize about our call getting cut short,” Janice said.“A couple of police officers arrived while we were on the phone, and the first thing they did was to escort us out of Queenie’s house.They said something about it being necessary for our own safety, but we weren’t harming anything by being there.And I would have liked to stay.”

Janice failed to see the bigger picture.

“What happened to Queenie?”I asked.“Did someone kill her?”

Janice nodded.

“The reason the police wanted you out of the house was so they could clear it,” I said, “and make sure no one else is in there.If the killer was still around when you got here ...”

I stopped myself from saying:You two could have been next.