Fall Girl (Garden Girls Christian Cozy Mystery Book 9) Read online

  Fall Girl

  Garden Girls

  Cozy Mystery Series Book 9

  Hope Callaghan

  http://hopecallaghan.com

  Copyright © 2015

  All rights reserved.

  This book is a work of fiction. Although places mentioned may be real, the characters, names and incidents and all other details are products of the author’s imagination and are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events or actual persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.

  No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced in any format, by any means, electronic or otherwise, without prior consent from the copyright owner and publisher of this book. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

  ______________________________

  Visit my website for new releases and special offers: http://hopecallaghan.com

  Thank you, Peggy Hyndman, for taking the time to preview Fall Girl, for the sharp eyes that catch my mistakes.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  About The Author

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Free Books and More!

  Margaret’s Magnificent Meatloaf

  Easy Cheesy Hash Brown Casserole

  About The Author

  Hope Callaghan is an author who loves to write Christian books, especially Christian Mystery and Cozy Mystery books. Born and raised in a small town in West Michigan, she now lives in Florida with her husband.

  She is the proud mother of one daughter and a stepdaughter and stepson. When she's not doing the thing she loves best - writing books - she enjoys cooking, traveling and reading books.

  Hope loves to connect with her readers!

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  Email: [email protected]

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  Other Series Books by Author, Hope Callaghan:

  DECEPTION CHRISTIAN MYSTERY SERIES: (Samantha Rite)

  Samantha Rite is in desperate need of a vacation. Her life is shattered when after 21 years of marriage her husband walks out on her, leaving her for another woman.

  As Sam is trying to pick up the pieces and start over, her family decides now would be the perfect time for her to take a relaxing vacation. Before she can change her mind, she and her older sister are booked on a week-long Caribbean cruise.

  Just days before the trip, her sister is involved in a horrible accident and is unable to go. Persuaded to take this trip alone, Sam finds herself caught in the middle of a deadly adventure of a lifetime. Will she make it out alive?

  Waves of Deception is the first book in the Samantha Rite Adventure Series and offers a perfect blend of blossoming romance and action-packed adventure and suspense.

  GARDEN GIRLS CHRISTIAN COZY MYSTERIES SERIES: (Gloria Rutherford)

  Nothing exciting ever happens in the small town of Belhaven. Nothing that is, until a body is found in the woods behind the local elementary school.

  With the entire town in an uproar, "Garden Girl," Gloria Rutherford makes it her personal mission to find the killer or killers and solve the mystery with some help from her friends.

  With a little amateur detective work, Gloria is able to uncover enough clues that point right to the murderer. She's about to discover, however, things aren't always as clear-cut as they appear.

  CRUISE SHIP CHRISTIAN COZY MYSTERIES SERIES: (Millie Sanders)

  What do you get when you combine a recently divorced and heartbroken senior female, with the most exciting job on the high seas? Millie Sanders, of course! She is the new assistant cruise director for the mega cruise ship, "Siren of the Seas."

  Within minutes of stepping on board the ship, Millie finds herself right in the middle of a murder investigation.

  With a little help from her new friends, this amateur senior sleuth begins to discover clues and secrets that could possibly turn the ship upside down!

  Will the old saying..."Loose lips sink ships" hold true or will Millie survive her first week onboard?

  SWEET SOUTHERN SLEUTHS: (Short Stories) (Loretta and Lacy Sweet)

  Loretta Sweet and her identical twin sister, Lacy, have recently inherited a home in Misery, Mississippi, from their distant relative, (Aunt) Tess McCoy.

  Their aunt's attorney insists that the girls meet him at the property to discuss the specifics of the will. When the sisters arrive for the meeting, they discover that there is more...much more to the will than just inheriting a home.

  As the attorney prepares to go over the details of the will, one of the "stipulations" makes a dramatic appearance, along with a body that is discovered in the bathtub.

  Will the Sweet sisters turn tail and run or will they stick around to help solve the murder?

  Chapter 1

  Gloria Rutherford peered into the mirror that hung over the buffet table in her dining room. She turned her head from side to side, as she surveyed the camouflage face paint. “Lucy! I look like I’m ready to crawl through the trenches of the back 40!”

  Gloria had to wonder how in the world she had ever let her best friend, Lucy, talk her into deer hunting in the first place. She vaguely remembered agreeing to think about it. Next thing she knew, Lucy was on her doorstep with camo gear, face paint and a hunting rifle that weighed almost as much as she did.

  “I’m hot.” Gloria pulled on the collar of her jacket as a trickle of perspiration inched down her back.

  “You don’t want the deer to see you,” Lucy patiently explained. She knew that once Gloria got used to the idea that she was going to try hunting, at least once, she would settle down.

  Lucy patted her jacket pocket to make sure she still had the deer lure. If Gloria was putting up this kind of fuss over the face paint, she wondered how she would react when she got a whiff of the deer lure…

  Lucy knew she had to take baby steps with the whole hunting thing. Once Gloria got accustomed to the rifle, the camo gear and the face paint, she would slip in the deer lure.

  Maybe she should wait until they were out in the woods to spring that one on her friend.

  The girls trudged through the kitchen as they made their way out onto the back porch.

  Mally, Gloria’s springer spaniel, met them at the door. “Sorry girl,” Gloria reached down and patted her head. “You can’t go this time.”

  Visions of someone accidentally shooting Mally filled Gloria’s head. It wasn’t that Gloria thought she would shoot her, or even Lucy, but there would be other hunters out in the fields and Mally liked to wander off.

  They stepped out onto the porch and into the cool morning air. It was still early and the first rays of daylight peeked over the top of the barn across the street.

  Lucy’s eyes shifted to the old farmhouse across the road. Crime scene vans and police cars filled the drive. “What’s going on over there?”

  Gloria frowned. She had noticed the same vehicles across the street
when she’d come home the night before. Her plan was to run over there this morning to try to find out what had happened but all that was forgotten when Lucy arrived on her doorstep with the hunting gear.

  Gloria’s husband, James, and his family had owned the old farmhouse across the road for decades.

  James’ brother had lived in the house for years until one day he up and moved out. After he moved, the siblings decided to sell the house. A local farmer bought the property, lock, stock and barrel solely for the farmland. The house had stood vacant for many years.

  A young couple had recently purchased the home and were in the midst of completing some much-needed major renovations before they moved in.

  “I have no idea,” Gloria replied. “The crime scene van was there last night.”

  Judging by the yellow police tape that wound around the trees and the front porch, Gloria could only guess that someone had died. She hoped it wasn’t the Fowlers, the nice young couple who had purchased the place.

  Gloria pulled the collar of her jacket around the nape of her neck as a brisk November gust of wind whipped strands of hair across her face. She stepped onto the sidewalk and started down the drive. There was only one way to find out what was going on.

  Lucy picked up the pace and fell into step with Gloria. She knew her friend well enough to know that her curiosity had gotten the best of her.

  Gloria looked both ways and darted across the road. She hoped that Officer Nelson, or better yet, Gloria’s fiancé, Paul, was on the scene and that they would fill her in on what had happened.

  Her heart sank when two investigators stepped out onto the narrow front porch. One looked vaguely familiar. She had never seen the other one before.

  Gloria came to a halt at the bottom of the steps. “Hello. I’m Gloria Rutherford. I live across the street and was wondering what was going on.”

  The officer on the left, a burly man with a solemn expression, stepped forward. “Yes, ma’am. It appears there was a homicide. We are in the midst of a preliminary investigation.”

  He pulled a notepad from his front pocket, along with an ink pen. He flipped the lid of the pad. “You said you live across the street?”

  Gloria nodded. “Yes. I’m Gloria Rutherford.” She pointed toward the house. “The person who was found…dead. W-was it one of the new owners?”

  The officer shifted his gaze and studied Gloria. “We are not releasing information about the victim at this time.”

  He went on. “We…err…aren’t able to make a positive ID, yet. That may take some time. It doesn’t appear to be the current owners.”

  Gloria wasn’t sure if she should feel relieved.

  “Can you at least tell us if you think it’s a local resident?” Lucy piped up. The Town of Belhaven, where both Gloria and Lucy lived, was small. Everyone knew everyone else. If the victim was a local, there was a good chance the girls would know who it was.

  “Sorry ma’am. I can’t give out any other information.” He turned back to Gloria and began to ask her if she’d seen anything unusual. Then he asked her where she’d been the night before.

  “I can vouch for her,” Lucy defended. “She was at a party. In fact, several others can vouch for her, too!”

  That was true. The girls had just celebrated Gloria’s recent windfall, along with their other close friends: Ruth, Margaret, Dot and Andrea.

  The cop shifted his stance and rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. “She was with you all night?”

  Gloria swallowed hard. Did the officer think she was somehow involved? Surely, they wouldn’t try to pin a murder on an innocent woman if they couldn’t find the killer!

  The officer asked a few more questions and Gloria had a hunch he was trying to incriminate her. He flipped the pad of paper shut and shoved it in his front pocket. “My name is Officer Fred Burnett. I have your information and will be in touch with you in the next day or so.”

  With the sweep of his hand, he dismissed the women, turned on his heel and walked back inside the house.

  “What a jerk,” Lucy hissed. She patted Gloria’s arm. “Don’t worry about it, Gloria. All of us girls can vouch for you!”

  The girls strode across the road as they made their way back to Gloria’s farm. Gloria wasn’t in the mood to hunt now. Not that she had been in the first place but now she wanted to go even less.

  The corners of her lips turned down as she stalked to the backyard.

  “Hunting will take your mind off this whole thing,” Lucy promised her. “Maybe after we’re out of the woods, we can run into town to see if Dot has heard anything.” Dot was one of the girls’ close friends. She owned Dot’s Restaurant, the only restaurant in the small Town of Belhaven.

  “Good idea,” Gloria agreed.

  The walk helped clear Gloria’s head and by the time they reached the deer stand at the edge of the woods, she had almost forgotten about the entire incident.

  Gloria owned more property than Lucy did and she had allowed her friend to build her tree stand on the edge of her favorite wooded area near the back.

  It was not far from the spot where Gloria and Mally often came to spend quiet time. Gloria visited the special place when she needed to be alone.

  Lucy stopped abruptly in front of a large oak tree. “We’re here.”

  Gloria’s eyes traveled up the tree, past the crude, wooden steps Lucy had constructed, to a small platform a good fifteen feet up in the air. “We…we’re going to go up there?”

  “Yep.” Lucy grasped the first rung. “Trust me. It’s not so bad once you get up there.” Lucy scampered up the tree. When she got to the top, she turned around and looked down at Gloria. “C’mon.”

  Gloria sucked in a breath. “I don’t know about this.” She placed both hands on the first rung and began to climb. Her heavy farm boots scraped roughly against the tree bark as she ascended the rungs. The rungs were sturdy and even she was surprised at how easy it was to navigate.

  Gloria took a quick glance at the ground below. Maybe now she could venture into the tree fort her grandsons had built in her front yard. When she reached the top, she crawled onto the platform and plopped down on her rear. “That wasn’t so bad.”

  “See?” Lucy said. “I told you.” She settled in next to Gloria, reached into her pocket and pulled out the small plastic container of deer lure. She flipped the top and squeezed a small amount into the palm of her hand.

  The overpowering smell of urine filled the air and Gloria’s nose. She gasped for fresh air as she frantically waved her hand across her face. “Good heavens. What in the world…”

  Lucy calmly rubbed her hands together and then wiped the palms of her hands on the sleeves of her hunting jacket. “It’s deer lure. It masks the human scent so the deer won’t know that we’re here,” she explained.

  Lucy poured another dose into her hand and began to wipe it on Gloria’s pant legs.

  Gloria jerked her leg back. “Stop! That smell makes me want to throw up!” She pushed Lucy’s hand away.

  Lucy stopped wiping. “Okay.” She lowered her head and slowly closed the lid of the lure. Her expression was so crestfallen that Gloria felt bad. She had hurt Lucy’s feelings. “Okay. Wipe away!” she groaned.

  The smile returned and Lucy quickly began swiping the stinky substance on Gloria’s jacket in an attempt to finish before Gloria had time to change her mind.

  When she finished, she closed the lid on the bottle and slipped it back inside her jacket.

  “Now what?” Gloria asked.

  “We wait,” Lucy said.

  ***

  The girls sat as quiet as church mice. The woods were peaceful. The only sound was an occasional gunshot off in the distance. After the third time of hearing gunshots, Lucy set her rifle on the wooden deck and dropped her chin in her hands. “I wish that was me.”

  Gloria didn’t. She had only come on this merry little hunting excursion for Lucy’s sake. On top of that, she had no idea how the two of them would manage to drag a de
er from the woods if Lucy did shoot one.

  They stayed in the same spot for what seemed like eternity, although according to Gloria’s watch, it had only been a couple hours.

  Gloria shifted onto her knees and groaned. They hadn’t seen hide nor hair of a deer.

  Lucy could see that Gloria had reached her limit. “Wanna head back?”

  Gloria opened her mouth to reply when Lucy whacked her in the arm. “Wait! There’s a buck!”

  Lucy lifted her rifle. She stuck the butt of the gun on her shoulder and pointed the barrel at the buck, which lifted his head and looked around.

  Gloria braced herself for the gunshot but dared not make a move lest she scare the deer.

  “Pow!”

  Lucy fired off a shot and then lowered the rifle as she tilted her head forward. “Darn! I missed! That was a five point buck!” she sighed.

  “We can stay a little longer,” Gloria relaxed her body, her ears still ringing from the sound of the gun firing. She hadn’t realized how much of a fanatic her friend was over deer hunting. Maybe if she stayed long enough, she would be off the hook for the next time.

  “Nah!” Lucy flipped the safety lever in place and slipped the gun into the carrying case. “It’s a lost cause. Now that I fired a shot, all the deer in the area will be spooked. I won’t get another shot in today.”

  Gloria followed her friend out of the tree. When she reached the bottom rung, she hopped onto the ground. “Well, that was interesting.” She lifted the sleeve of her jacket and sniffed the surface. “Pee-yew!” If anything, the smell had intensified.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll take the jacket home and store it in the shed for next time.” The jacket belonged to Lucy and Gloria was relieved she wouldn’t have to worry about getting the stinky smell out.

  The girls wandered out of the woods and made their way down the strip of grass that ran between the empty farm fields as they walked back to Gloria’s place.