Free The Easter Egg Murder by Patricia Smith Wood

call me as soon as he gets back. They hung up before I could ask for more information, not that it would have done any good. I’m sorry, Harrie. I can’t think of anything else we can do until he calls me back.”
    Harrie’s shoulders slumped. “That’s okay, Steve. You tried. Thanks for agreeing to take this unpleasant task off my plate. I just hope he calls you back rather than calling me again. I’m not going to talk to him. Not without knowing what’s going on.”
    “Look. If he’s out of town until tonight, and he can’t be reached by phone, it’s unlikely he’ll call back until then. Does he have your home number?”
    “I can’t think of any way he could possibly know my home number.”
    Steve thought a moment. “You know, there’s someone else I can contact to see if Nick’s been in touch. I’ll try to locate this guy and see if he knows anything. Let’s not worry until we know what’s going on, okay? Just make sure someone else answers the phone the rest of the day. Then, tonight after work, why don’t you come to our house for dinner? I can pick up some hamburgers or something. If he calls me back, you’ll be right there, and we can make a plan. In fact you could stay with us tonight.”
    “Thanks, Steve,” Harrie said. “I don’t think tonight will be a problem. I feel much better just knowing you’re dealing with this instead of me. And thanks for the dinner invitation. Next time maybe I’ll cook for you.”
    They laughed, and Harrie ended the call. Ginger sat down and looked at Harrie.
    “Okay, now that we have Nick under control for the time being, let’s discuss something else. Do you want to tell me why you went all Greta Garbo on us earlier?”
    Harrie leaned back in her chair. How to explain the unexplainable? “I’ve been thinking about what Philip said to us yesterday. He gave you those keys and went on about us possibly being in danger. All this talk about black SUVs and watching out for strangers, and then I walked in this morning and the first thing I see is Sunglasses standing in our offices making himself right at home. It was freaky. Why was he here, and why did you and Caroline act like you knew him?”
    “Well, it’s really funny when you think about it. I mean, what are the odds he would turn up again after the conversation we had about him and the possibility of you two going on a date.”
    “Yeah, it’s hysterical. Is that why he was here?”
    “No, he just happened to arrive, saw Caroline unloading the boxes from her car, and he offered to help a lady in need.”
    “Yes, but why did he arrive here , at our office?”
    “He never said. He just happened to park next to Caroline and saw she needed help.”
    “But it looked like both you and Caroline knew him. You were being pretty chummy with him.”
    “It turns out that he’s the son of a friend of Caroline’s or something like that. So, naturally, when he recognized her in the parking lot struggling with those boxes, he offered to carry them. He seems very nice. I would have introduced you to him if you had joined us. But no, you ran away and hid.”
    Harrie protested, “I wasn’t hiding —exactly. It just threw me, seeing him standing there like that.”
    “Well if you’re really nice to me, maybe I’ll introduce you to DJ next time.”
    “DJ? What kind of name is DJ? And what do you mean ‘next time’?”
    “That’s what they call him, DJ – DJ Scott. He seems like a very respectable person. Anyway, Caroline has known him since he was a baby, so he must be okay.”
    “If you don’t mind, I’ll wait before I pick out my silver pattern. Honestly, you really are the limit. You’re ready to set me up with this guy, and all you know about him is that he was once a baby, and he’s kind to his mother’s friends. I’ll bet Ted Bundy was occasionally nice to his mom’s friends, too.”
    They heard the front door open and close. Caroline stuck her head into Harrie’s office and said,