Free Haunted Fixer-Upper, The by Rose Pressey Page A

have to deal with another hostile officer. Reed and I were standing at the foot of the steps when the officers approached.
    “ The body’s in there.” I motioned, hoping to avoid conversation. Yeah, fat chance of that.
    The uniformed men eyed us suspiciously, then the beefy one said, “Stay there.”
    I watched as the y ascended the steps and entered the building. This wasn’t how I’d thought the day would turn out. I imagined it wasn’t how Gordon had thought it would turn out either. Reed seemed to still be in a state of shock. I wanted to grab his arms and shake him out of it. Now was not the time to become catatonic.
    The paramedics weren’t far behind. The only thing they’d be doing was removing Gordon’s body. The poor man. One officer emerged from the building and brushed past us. Within seconds he returned and an influx of other uniformed men followed him. Another officer stood beside us, but didn’t say a word. It was as if he was standing guard over us. Probably so we wouldn’t take off.
    There was nothing we could do but stand around and wait. I hoped I could be away from there before they brought out the body. My mind wasn’t ready to remember such a horrific scene again. I’d try my best to push it to the back of my mind.
    When I spotted the officer headed our way, I cringed and wanted to run in the opposite direction. Unfortunately, running from law enforcement was not the best of ideas. Orange was not my color and I’d never looked good in jumpsuits. My experience with the police back in my hometown while they investigated the murder of the last person I’d purchased a home from hadn’t gone well. I imagined the Bay Point police department probably wouldn’t understand that I’d been involved in two murder investigations in the past year.
    When the officer approached, he said, “I’m Officer Morgan, can you tell me what happened here?” He looked from me to Reed. “As a matter of fact, why don’t you go with Officer McAdams.” He gestured toward Reed.
    Oh no, they were splitting us up. This was where things always took a turn for the worse in the movies. I wished I’d reminded Reed not to talk about anything without a lawyer. He had nothing to worry about, right?
    Officer Morgan cleared his throat to catch my attention. “Now, why don’t you tell me what happened.”
    It wasn’t a question but more of a demand. I’d give him the basics and let him figure out the rest. I didn’t want to accidentally say anything incriminating. I slowly explained what had happened. He listened but seemed somewhat uninterested. How could he be so nonchalant about the whole thing?
    When telling my version of what had happened, I omitted the part about seeing Reed holding a hammer. I didn’t know why he was holding it, but there was no need to give that info to the police. Besides, what Reed had been doing when I walked in could’ve been completely irrelevant. After all, I had no idea how Gordon had been murdered. I assumed he had been murdered by the amount of blood underneath his body, but I had no way of knowing for sure.
    The coppery scent flooded back to my mind as a flash of Gordon’s body came to me. I just wanted to get this interview over and get out of there.
    “ Is there anything else?” Officer Morgan asked. “Maybe something you forgot. Any little detail is important.”
    “ Well, there is one thing…” I let my words trail off while I debated whether I should really divulge the information.
    Why did I feel like a rat for doing this?
    He looked at me suspiciously. “Yes?”
    “There was a guy here when we first met Mr. Millerton. His name is Stan Kern. They were fighting over money.”
    There. I’d done it. The police needed to know. I wanted them to find Gordon’s killer.
    Officer Morgan stared for a couple seconds. “We’ll take that into consideration,” he said stiffly. “Thank you for the information. We’ll be in touch.”
    He seemed oddly detached from this dire