Free Pinned for Murder by Elizabeth Lynn Casey

Autumn Harvest.”
    “Okay. I’ll look into it. . . .” His words trailed off as a police siren echoed its way through the windows, the sudden and unexpected sound making them jump. “I wonder what’s going on.”
    “There’s only one way to find out.” Margaret Louise pulled her cell phone from her pants pocket and flipped it open, her finger pushing a few buttons before bringing the contraption to her ear. “Georgina? It’s me. Everything okay?”
    Tori took the opportunity her friend’s phone call afforded to sidle up alongside Milo for a hug, the feel of his lips on her forehead warming her from the inside out. “Thank you for the flowers, they really are beautiful.”
    “Like you,” he mumbled against her skin.
    “I’m glad you stopped by.”
    “So am I.” He reached down, hooked a finger beneath her chin, and lifted it until their eyes met. “How’s the sewing going?”
    She exhaled a whoosh of air from her lungs. “It’s not. But it’ll be okay. Having help from Margaret Louise and Dixie will make a big difference.”
    “I’d help if I knew how to sew.”
    “I know you would. But you need to concentrate on this booth. It’s every bit as important as what I’m doing.”
    A gasp from Margaret Louise brought them up short. “Margaret Louise? Are you okay?” Tori asked.
    The woman lowered the phone to her side, her face ashen.
    In an instant Tori was at her side, pulling the phone from her friend’s hand and snapping it closed. “Margaret Louise? What is it? Are Jake and Melissa okay? The kids? Leona?”
    Margaret Louise nodded, her hand waving off the notion. “Fine. They’re all fine. But Martha Jane . . .”
    “What about Martha Jane?” Milo asked, his deep voice cutting through the hushed tones.
    “She’s . . . she’s been strangled.”

Chapter 6

    It was official. The library had replaced the backyard fence when it came to the members of the Sweet Briar Ladies Society Sewing Circle and their penchant for gossip. And it made sense.
    Unlike its clichéd counterpart, the library was far less prone to weather constraints, was void of flying insects and their constant competition for attention, and sported a more favorable proximity to bathroom facilities—all plusses when half the members were looking at sixty-five in their rearview mirror.
    The only snafu, really, was the presence of other people—people who came to the library looking for quiet only to find five women huddled around the information desk shaking their heads, clutching their throats, and peppering their not-so-quiet conversation with loud gasps of shock.
    “Ladies, we really need to keep this down. My patrons are trying to read,” Tori pleaded as she caught not one but two disapproving looks from the research corner of the library.
    “Perhaps they should find somewhere else to read, dear,” Leona drawled as she brought a freshly manicured hand to rest at the base of her throat. “We have things to discuss.”
    Rubbing her eyes free of the sleep that threatened to overtake them, she lowered her voice still further. “This is a library, Leona. Its main purpose is reading.”
    “And research,” Dixie said. “Just as many people come to the library to research as they do to read for pleasure.”
    Tori considered spouting a few statistics for discussion purposes but opted, instead, to let the former librarian have her moment in the sun. Besides, in many cases, she was right.
    “Research,” Leona repeated in a quieter-than-normal voice.
    Leaning forward, Margaret Louise rested her forearms on the counter and grinned. “Here we go . . .”
    “Go? Go where?” Tori asked.
    “Not me . . . her,” Margaret Louise said as she pointed at her sister on the other side of the counter.
    Tori turned to find Leona’s eyebrows furrowed together in a dramatic show of confusion. Removing her hand from her throat, the woman—who had taken Tori under her bossy and somewhat ornery wing from the start—gestured toward the