Free Accused: (Mystery Series) (My Murder Mysteries #3) by H. B. Rae Page B

stepped around his sister.
    "Let's get going." He said.
    Jessica nodded her head and piled the cookies that had cooled off into a festive blue tin with white snowflakes all over it.
    "Shaky Hands will still eat them, even without the frosting." she said, smiling up at Devin.
    "What have you got? I want a cookie." Kelly said, walking over to the kitchen. Jessica reached into the tin, took one out and handed it to Kelly. She stood there with the cookie in her hand like she had just been handed poop.
    "Oh, I didn't know you were that stingy . Sure you can spare a crumb?"
    "They're for the people at the retirement home." Jessica said, not flinching. "You know, people less fortunate than us."
    "Sure. I'd hate to make all the old farts your taking these to go without, considering half of them don't even know they are alive anymore." Kelly hissed with her mouth full of cookie. "These taste like crap."
    Devin took the tin from Jessica then grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the kitchen away from his sister.
    Suddenly there was a knock on the door.
    "I'll get it!" Kelly yelled, violently pushing her way past both Devin and Jessica. Standing in the doorway was a man, easily in his early twenties who mumbled a salutation to Kelly who grabbed her coat from the floor and walked out the door without uttering another word.
    Jessica smiled.
    Devin handed the cookies back to her and they headed back to the kitchen.
    "She'll be gone for hours."
    "Good. Put the ballgame back on."
    "How about some Christmas music?"
    "Yes, please!" Jessica said, bumping Devin with her hip as she headed back to the kitchen. The disruption from Kelly was already lost like the snowflakes that blew past the window.

    Chapter 2

    It was early the next morning when Devin met Jessica at the corner of Burr Oak Lane and Bald Eagle Street. It was the halfway point between their houses. The sun had just crept over the horizon pushing its way through clouds that looked like pillows across the sky. On one side they were dark gray and along the bottoms they were bright yellow and pink as the sun reflected off them. The fresh layer of snow was completely smooth across all the lawns with the exception of a few squirrel tracks. It crunched under their feet. They smiled their good morning and just started walking in the direction of a forest preserve they had been going to since they were old enough to leave the streets they lived on.
    Devin wore a bright yellow cap that Jessica had knitted for him when he was in eighth grade. She had improved on her craft since then and had made him other caps and scarves that weren’t so lumpy and lopsided. But he insisted on wearing the uneven, bulging yellow cap. It had become part of his winter ensemble for the past five years.
    Jessica had made herself a lovely cap with a knitted flower on the side, matching mittens and a scarf in a vintage pink color that was barely visible underneath her heavy winter coat.
    “What time did you go to sleep last night?” Devin asked.
    “Well, you called after I left around eleven, right? So after we got off the phone. Around twelve-thirty.”
    Devin nodded.
    “Did your sister come home last night?” Jessica asked, more as a courtesy not because she was actually interested.
    “No.” Devin answered matter-of-factly.
    Silence wrapped around them except for the innocent chirping of the birds in the trees and the squawking of squirrels that chased each other up and around the trees as the pair passed.
    “How come you’re so quiet this morning?” Jessica asked, peeking up at Devin as they walked. She wiped her nose and sniffled as her body became warmer from trudging along. She thought Devin looked cute when his cheeks were all red and he was bundled up. Even the slightest grin made dimples in his cheeks that were irresistible. But she’d never tell him that. Not to his face.
    Devin shook his head.
    “Is it Kelly?” Jessica asked, knowing the answer would be yes. “Don’t worry about her. You