Her Ladyship's RingBook 2 of the Oak Grove Mysteries
P.J. MacLayne
Harmony Duprie is back, and so is trouble in Oak Grove.
When a man is murdered in the back yard of the old Victorian house she is remodeling, Harmony is determined to locate his next-of-kin so he can be put to rest properly. But with her ex-boyfriend Jake out of prison, back in town and one of the suspects in the murder, she takes on the challenge of solving the crime.
With Eli, her current love interest, in Florida and Jake close by, old emotions come back to haunt her. Can Harmony clear Jake's name and solve the mystery of her own heart?
EXCERPT
We tromped up the steps and I headed to my kitchen to start another pot of coffee, my cut-back-on-caffeine resolution forgotten. Then I took my place on the loveseat next to Eli. “Have you figured out who shot the window yet?” I asked.ABOUT P.J. MacLayne
“No, but we determined that the blast that broke the window was from a shotgun.”
“Pellets?” Eli asked.
Freddie nodded. “Explains why the glass shattered so badly. A bullet from a rifle likely would have punched a solitary hole in the window, but left it otherwise intact. That means it was from a different gun than the one used to kill the victim. We don't have the results back on its make, but we can rule out a shotgun based on the wound.”
“So are you back to your theory about a dumb kid testing out the gun he got for Christmas?” I asked.
“Yes. Still trying to track down the lead we got yesterday.”
The coffeemaker beeped and I jumped up to bring out the pot and the cups. “How long until I can get back to work?”
“Don’t rush it. We’ve got the back yard marked off as a crime scene. Someone from the department will let you know when we’ve finished processing the area.”
I felt bad that I couldn’t go back right away. At least people would be nearby to keep the house company.
“Why are you in such a hurry to get back to the house?” Eli asked after Freddie had left. I was washing the dirty dishes; he was drying them and putting them back in the cupboard.
“I have a connection to it, and don't want it to be lonely,” I confessed. “Alone all these years, and it has such potential. Can’t you imagine what it will be like all fixed up? And hopefully a young couple will buy it and fill it up with kids and cats and dogs.”
Eli grinned as he put down the towel and wrapped his arms around me. “You know how they make kids, right?”
“Maybe you should show me,” I answered, my voice a breathy whisper.
Born and raised among the rolling hills of western Pennsylvania, P.J. MacLayne still finds inspiration for her books in that landscapes. She is a computer geek by day and a writer by night who currently lives in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains. When she's not in front of a computer screen, she might be found exploring the back roads of the nearby national forests and parks.
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