Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 92668 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92668 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
“I dunno,” Ash finally said, sinking back into the booth with a regretful expression. “We’ll just have to hope we get lucky, I guess.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Eight days after I stumbled on Declan Tierney’s dead body, I had the key to the bed and breakfast back in my hands.
I was both annoyed it’d taken this long and happy it hadn’t taken too much longer. I was, after all, now officially paying for electricity and water in this place, and the standing charge for electricity was a punchline short of a joke.
At least I had the place back in my hands. That could only be a good thing, right? The police wouldn’t have let me back in here if they thought I was responsible for Declan’s murder, surely.
It just didn’t make sense.
The only thing I really was happy about was the fact the badger was now gone. The officer who’d called me to return the key had informed me they’d had its carcass removed during the investigation, and honestly, I’d kind of wanted to kiss her.
That was just the best news she could have given me.
Outside of me not being a suspect anymore, of course, but I didn’t think anyone was going to offer me that little nugget anytime soon, so I’d take it.
It was overwhelming, though.
I’d been standing here for ages. I wasn’t sure about going inside. Declan Tierney’s body had haunted me every single day since I’d discovered it, and I wasn’t sure I was in a place to go into the main part of the bed and breakfast right now.
I scooted around to the side and to the annexe veranda. The annexe didn’t have quite the trauma attached as the main part of the building, so I would start there for now.
I needed a plan.
Something to focus on that wasn’t this whole murder situation.
I unlocked the door and poked my head inside. There didn’t appear to be any sign of anything inside—dead or alive, thankfully—so I took myself in there and looked around.
It was a mess. A thick layer of dust and grime coated almost every surface, but at least none of the windows were broken. It didn’t look like it would take too much to get the annexe into a liveable state, just a bit of elbow grease.
And living here was something I wanted more than anything.
Or I had wanted it. Until I’d found a dead body. I was still trying to figure out how and why he’d died here, and until that happened, I wasn’t sure I was safe here.
Sure, now I could get all the safety checks and stuff done that needed to besorted, but that didn’t mean it was safe for me to be here.
Didn’t murderers return to the scene of the crime?
Ugh.
I crept over to the front door and closed it behind me.
Yeah, that’ll do it.
Everyone knew a closed door was the way to stop a murderer getting into your house.
I pulled a dust sheet from a small table in the corner and coughed as a cloud of dust erupted into the air.
That was a terrible idea.
Why did I do that?
I left the sheet to fall to the floor and eyed the table. It was nothing but a plastic outdoor table, so why the heck had it been covered? There was next to no furniture in here, and it looked like the few bits that were, were outdoor pieces.
I put my bag on the table and went on a hunt, removing all the other dirty sheets with a bit more finesse than I had the first one. Thankfully, I didn’t almost choke myself on clouds of dust, so that was a plus.
I was right. It was the white, classic plastic outdoor seating set, but the only two chairs were cracked. There was no doubt they’d break the moment I sat my arse on them, so I dragged them outside with a sigh.
Great.
I had an unusable kitchen, one plastic table, and not a lot else.
At least there was some furniture inside the main bed and breakfast. Maybe Dad would be able to help me carry some of it in here so I had something to sit on.
Not that it was a priority.
No.
I needed to clean.
Actually, I needed to make a list. If I had a list, I’d be able to tick things off. I’d also be able to add the things I did do that weren’t on the list.
There was nothing more satisfying than adding something that wasn’t there only to cross it off later.
You know—for all those days you got distracted.
Not that I was familiar with such a thing. Ahem.
I had come prepared, so I pulled out the notebook and pen from my bag and opened it, then looked around.
Jesus Christ, where did I even begin listing the things to do?
I knew.
I started with writing down that I needed to open the electric and water accounts in my name, then scratched a very satisfying line through them.