The Heart of Murder Read online

  “No,” she said. “I hope he’s doing all right. I’ve driven by a few times, and the for-sale sign is still up in the window. I’m worried it might be a while before someone buys it.”

  “I don’t envy the man. That’s a hard position that he’s in, especially in the middle of winter when property sales slow down.”

  “Yeah.” Autumn frowned. She didn’t like thinking about Jed and the Green River Grocery. Her career there had ended suddenly the month before when one of her coworkers had been killed in the store. The grocery store had already been going out of business, but Grace’s death had been the tipping point. Jed, the store’s owner, had decided to close the store permanently after her death, and she knew he had lost a lot of money in the process.

  “Sorry,” Nick said. “Here we are, talking about work again. We can change the subject. Do you have any travel plans this summer?”

  Grateful to him for picking up on her discomfort, she was glad to start talking about the new subject. It was wonderful to think about the coming summer, when the snow would be gone, and she would be able to enjoy the sun once more. They managed to avoid the topic of work for the rest of their meal, and Autumn was able to focus on happier thoughts, like the way her skin tingled whenever Nick’s fingers brushed her arm.

  After dinner, they went to a movie that was showing at the small theater just down the road. By the time it got out, she was tired, but happy. It had been a perfect evening, and she still had a whole day tomorrow to kick back and relax.

  “Thank you,” she said as Nick pulled up in front of her house. “I had a great time.”

  “Me too,” he said. “Here, I’ll walk you to the door.”

  “No, it’s fine. I can find my way from here.”

  He laughed, then fell silent, gazing at her for a long moment before closing the distance between them and kissing her. Autumn got out of the car feeling buzzed and heady from the wonderful evening that she had just had. She waved to him when she got to her porch, and heard him pull away as she inserted the key into the lock.

  She opened the door and slipped inside, shutting it behind her before reaching for the light. After she flicked it on, she stood there for a moment, blinking. Her house was a wreck. Dishes were strewn about, and some had been shattered on the floor. The bowl of mail, full of all of the bills that she had to pay that month, had been spilled into the sink. A cold breeze sneaked in from somewhere ruffling the paper napkins that were strewn across the counter. Someone had broken into her house while she was gone.

  CHAPTER THREE

  * * *

  “Oh, my goodness,” she breathed, looking around at the mess in horror. A second sliver of fear stabbed through her as she belatedly realized how silent the house was. “Frankie? Frankie!”

  She hurried into the living room, calling for her dog. The little terrier was nowhere to be seen. Frankie always met her at the door when she got home. The fact that she hadn’t appeared now meant that she had either gotten out somehow, or worse. Autumn stood in the middle of the living room, turning slowly in place as she looked around, terrified that her gaze was going to fall on a small, furry, limp body. The fact that she didn’t see her dog gave her only a small amount of hope. The living room was just as much of a mess as the kitchen had been, and she had no doubt that the other rooms would be just as bad. There were still plenty of places the little dog could be.

  “Frankie?” she returned to the kitchen and made her way down the hall toward the laundry room. The cold breeze was getting stronger. The laundry room door was part of the way open, and Autumn gingerly pushed it open the rest of the way. The first thing she saw was the shattered glass in the rarely used back door’s window. The back door was wide open, as was the screen door, which was odd because the screen door was on a spring.

  Autumn looked down and felt her blood run cold when she saw what was blocking the screen door. It was a body. The body of a woman.

  She didn’t know how long she stood there, frozen in place. Her mind was completely blank. She couldn’t stop staring at the woman who was lying across the threshold of her house, her brown hair covered with fresh snowflakes, and one hand outstretched. It was a surreal nightmare, something out of a movie or a book, and something that surely wasn’t happening to her, right now in real life.

  A gust of wind pushed at the screen door, making it creak. The sound was enough to jolt her out of her daze, and she rushed forward to kneel by the woman. Gently, she rolled her over, pushing aside the kitchen knife that was lying next to the body, her eyes widening when she saw the dark blotches of blood on the front of her shirt. She pressed shaking fingers to the woman’s neck, searching for a pulse. Nothing. As she pulled away, she realized belatedly that she knew the woman. It was Amelia, Brandon’s ex-fiancé.

  “Oh, no,” she moaned. “What were you doing here? What happened to you?”

  She smoothed the woman’s hair back from her face and then stood up, backing slowly away from the body. When she bumped into the laundry room door, she turned and hurried back into the kitchen, where she dug through her purse to find her phone. It took her two tries to dial the three digits that every child memorized. When the dispatcher answered, she explained what she had come home to, her voice sounding oddly calm and like it came from someone else.

  Half an hour later, Autumn was standing in the same place in her kitchen, though now she was surrounded by police and emergency workers. She had repeated her story more times than she could count, and it was beginning to feel real to her. Amelia’s body was gone from the laundry room; she was being taken to the morgue in the ambulance that was pulling away from her house now, its sirens off and its lights dim.

  “Who else has a key to your home?”

  “Why? Whoever broke in obviously didn’t use a key. The window was broken.”

  “Please, just answer the question, ma’am.”

  Autumn sighed. She appreciated how quickly the police had responded, and was glad that they were doing their jobs, but she didn’t see how most of the questions that they had asked her would help them catch whoever had killed Amelia.

  “My best friend, Alicia, is the only other one with a key.”

  “Thank you. Where were you tonight, before you got home and discovered the body?”

  “On a date,” she replied.

  “I’ll need the name and number of the person you were out with.”

  “Nicholas Holt,” she said. She pulled up his contact information on her phone and gave the officer his number.

  “Do you have anyone else who can confirm your alibi?”

  Autumn frowned. “My alibi? Am I… a suspect?”

  “I just need to confirm where you were.”

  “I’m sure the wait staff at the restaurant will be able to confirm that,” she said, trying to remind herself that this was his job. She probably wasn’t a real suspect, but they had to cover all of the bases. “My neighbor saw me leaving this evening as well.”

  “Thank you.” He made a note in his notepad. “And how did you know the victim?”

  “She used to be engaged to someone I used to date. I really didn’t know her that well. I had only met her twice.”

  “Were you aware that she was coming over tonight?”

  “No, I was supposed to call her, but I never did. I don’t even know how she found out where I live.” She took a deep breath, feeling a warning prickle in her eyes. She didn’t want to cry, not yet. “I don’t know how or why any of this happened, all I know is that someone got killed in my home, and my dog is missing, and I’m terrified.”

  “I know this must be difficult for you,” the officer said. He gave her a different look than he had before, this one filled with pity. “I’m sorry, but I have just a few more questions. It’s better if we get through them now, but we could do it at the station tomorrow if that’s what you would prefer. This is part of a long string of unsolved burglaries in the area, and now that the perpetrator has escalated to murder, this has just become the
top case in the county.”

  She shook her head. “Now is fine. Ask me anything. Whatever will help you catch the person who did this as soon as possible.”

  She didn’t feel any better by the time the police left, but at least the worst of the shock seemed to have passed. Everything felt far too real now. Her house was still a mess, but she couldn’t even think about getting started on cleaning it, not with Frankie missing. She desperately wanted to find the little dog. Frankie had been there for her through so much, and now it was Autumn’s turn to put everything else aside for her furry companion. She could pay attention to everything else once the terrier was safely in her arms.

  She was still wearing her coat and shoes from the date, but heels weren’t the best for tromping through the ice and snow, she paused just long enough to change into her warmest snow boots before grabbing her keys and her phone and leaving. She locked the front door behind her out of habit, even though she knew it was pointless; anyone could come in through the back.

  “Frankie!” Her voice echoed through the dark neighborhood. It was quiet, now that the police had gone. She had forgotten how late it was, but realized now that almost everyone would be asleep.

  Where would she have gone? She wondered. She didn’t know if the little dog had slipped out the back, or if the killer had taken her for some reason. All she knew for sure was that Frankie wasn’t in the house. The police had searched every room thoroughly. It was a relief that Frankie hadn’t been found dead or injured somewhere, but now she was worried about what the dog would do if she was out in the cold all night long on her own.

  She decided to start in the backyard. While the snow immediately around the door had been thoroughly trampled by the police, she might be able to pick up Frankie’s prints further out. It had been snowing lightly for the better part of an hour, but any tracks the dog had left wouldn’t have been completely covered.

  For the next two hours, Autumn wandered around outside, searching desperately for her dog. She found Frankie’s tracks, but they looped back and forth, and eventually disappeared on the road. Heartbroken, cold, and exhausted, she finally returned to her house, not giving up, but putting the search off until tomorrow.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  * * *

  Even though it was well past midnight and she had just spent hours walking all over the neighborhood, Autumn couldn’t close her eyes for more than a few seconds at a time that night. Every time she did so, she saw Amelia’s body. She hadn’t known the woman well, and hadn’t been particularly fond of her, thanks to that wine incident, but never once had she wished her dead. Death had never been something that she had handled well, especially not when confronted with it like this.

  Nick, she thought suddenly, sitting bolt upright in her bed. I have to tell him what happened. If the police call him first, he’ll be worried. She reached for the nightstand automatically, before remembering that she was in a motel room and it was on the other side of the bed. Even if the police had allowed her to stay in her home, she wouldn’t have wanted to be there alone, not tonight. There was still a gaping hole in the back door, her house was a mess, and whoever had broken in was still out there somewhere. After looking for Frankie, she had retired to the only motel in town with nothing more than her purse and the clothes on her back.

  I just don’t understand why Amelia was there, she thought. Why had the woman been in her house? She couldn’t think of anything that might explain it, unless… unless she had been with whoever had broken in. Autumn knew that there had to have been a second person at her house that evening. Amelia hadn’t stabbed herself in the chest, after all. With a chill, she realized that there was only one person Amelia might have been with. Brandon.

  Had the two of them broken into her house for some reason? She should have thought of it while the police were there, but it hadn’t even occurred to her to suspect Brandon. He was so… Brandon. He wasn’t perfect, but he wasn’t spiteful or violent, and this just didn’t feel like something he would do. At the same time, it was the only thing that made any sort of sense. Maybe he had left something of his at her house, something important enough for him to break-in, though she couldn’t imagine what that would have been. One thing might have led to another, and it had all ended with Amelia getting stabbed.

  “No,” she said out loud, shaking her head. “He wouldn’t do something like that.”

  But why was she there? The little voice in her brain just wouldn’t shut up. What was she doing at my house? Not just at my house, but inside it? She had been so worried about Frankie, that this was the first she had really stopped to think about everything else that had happened. None of it added up. None of it made sense. She wanted to call Nick, but she didn’t know what she would tell him. There was just too much, and she knew he would come over, especially when he found out she was at the motel with nothing, and then she would be up the rest of the night talking about it and reliving it all over again.

  It wasn’t Brandon, she thought, settling back down into the strange bed. I dated the man for a year. I know he’s not a killer. She pulled the blankets up, then turned on her side, staring at the outline of the curtains. Frankie was out there somewhere, lost, scared, and alone. If she came back during the night, she would find an empty house. There was crime scene tape up in the door to the laundry room, and every single one of her possessions seemed to have been tossed and thrown about the house during the break-in. She didn’t know if she would ever be able to sleep soundly in her bed again.

  The next time she opened her eyes, the light peeking in around the edges of the faded curtains had grown brighter. She blinked a couple of times, wondering why she had such a cold feeling in the pit of her stomach, and wondering why she didn’t feel Frankie curled up beside her legs like she normally did. The memory of the night before hit her with a jolt. She got out of bed, stumbling into the bathroom where she ran the water and washed her face. She eyed the tiny bottle of shampoo on the counter and decided it would do for the time being, but basic toiletries would be high on her list of things to pick up.

  Once she had showered and was feeling marginally better, even though she was still wearing the same clothes from the night before, she hurried back to her house. She couldn’t go inside, but no one had said anything about her parking in the driveway, so that was what she did. She had been half expecting to see Frankie sitting by the front door, but the porch was empty.

  Getting out of the car, she called for Frankie, hoping against hope that the little dog would run around the side of the house, her stubby tail wagging. She waited a few moments before calling again, but no dog appeared, and the cold feeling in her stomach worsened.

  She hurried around to the backyard, and continued calling for the dog, pausing every once in a while to listen for the jingle of tags. When her eyes caught the gaping hole in the glass of the back door, she fell silent. The damage looked so much worse in the daylight. The snow around the house had been trampled by countless footprints, and yellow crime scene tape barred the entrance.

  With a shiver, she pulled her coat more tightly around herself and continued searching for her dog.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  * * *

  “Oh, Autumn.” Nick tightened his arms around her. “Are you sure you’re all right? When you told me what happened, I never imagined it was this bad.”

  “I’ll be okay,” she said. “It’s hard seeing the house like this, but at the same time, it’s good to be back. I’m lucky I only had to stay out of the house for a few days. I don’t know what I would have done if it had been any longer. I can only borrow so many clothes from Alicia. I’m sorry I missed so much work.” They were standing just inside the front door. Nick had rushed over as soon as she had given him the news, and had been horror-struck when he saw the mess inside.

  “You’re welcome to take as much time as you need,” he said as she pulled away to shut the door behind him. “This isn’t something that anyone can plan for.”

  “Thanks. I
’m planning on coming in tomorrow, though. I’ve been looking for Frankie every spare second of the last few days, and I just can’t do it anymore. Every minute that passes while I’m out there looking for her just breaks my heart.”

  “I’m sorry. Let me know if there’s anything I can do.” He hesitated. “The woman… the one who was killed… was she a friend?”

  “I didn’t know her well, no, and our one meeting prior to that didn’t exactly go smoothly, but I still feel terrible.” Autumn leaned against the counter, avoiding a broken pie dish, and buried her face in her hands. “She was a person, with hopes and dreams, and a whole future waiting for her. Now all of that is just… gone.”

  “Hey.” Nick pulled her hands gently away from her face and held them in his. “It’s going to be okay. The police will find the person that did this. It’s not the first robbery that’s happened around here lately. Whoever’s responsible has to slip up sometime.”