Free Dead Ends (Main Street Mysteries Book 2) by Sandra Balzo Page B

home?’
    Check-out at the inn was 11 a.m. and check-in not until 4 p.m., so Sheree often took advantage of the five hours in between to run errands.
    AnnaLise checked her watch: noon.
    ‘Hello?’ James Duende's dark-haired head appeared around the stair banister.
    ‘Just me,’ AnnaLise said, setting her handbag down on the hall table next to a rust-colored potted mum plant. ‘Sorry to bother you, especially if you're working, but I was looking for Joy.’
    ‘I haven't seen her or Sheree, for that matter, but I've been tied to my computer screen all morning.’ Duende came down the steps. He was wearing jeans and a blue dress shirt, the sleeves of which he rolled down to his wrists as he descended. ‘In fact, I was just going to break for lunch. Care to join me?’
    ‘Thanks,’ AnnaLise said, thinking how he looked every inch the writer, holed away in Room 13 of a country inn. ‘But I had a late breakfast.’
    ‘At Mama Philomena's, presumably,’ Duende said, buttoning the cuffs of the shirt as he covered the last few steps. ‘You and I should move in there.’
    The smile he gave her would have been enticing, if Room 13 – the room directly above Sutherton Inn's dining room – wasn't the one Sheree reserved for eligible males she was interested in herself.
    ‘What can I say?’ she'd said, when AnnaLise had noticed the trend. ‘Thirteen's my lucky number. Besides, with the exception of breakfast, there's no one to disturb below.’ A wink. ‘These antique beds do squeak a bit.’
    How ‘lucky’ Sheree had gotten with James, AnnaLise didn't know. And didn't necessarily want to know.
    ‘I was practically brought up at Mama's,’ AnnaLise said now to James. ‘And I'm sure it's convenient for you, since there are no other restaurants within walking distance, except for Sal's Tap on the beach across the way.’
    ‘Which is where I'm headed, I think,’ Duende said, continuing to where she was standing in the front hall. ‘Sure I can't treat you to a greasy burger with matching fried onions and jalapenos?’
    ‘As enticing as that sounds, I'll have to take a rain check.’ Stepping back so he could get to the door, AnnaLise bumped into the bow-front foyer table. The mum tipped, spilling dirt, and as she tried to prevent further damage, AnnaLise managed to sweep her handbag to the floor.
    Duende bent down to retrieve the purse and set it on the table before he said, ‘Can I hold you to that?’
    AnnaLise, at barely five foot, had to look up over twelve inches to meet his brown eyes, which at this close distance she could see were flecked with gold.
    ‘To what?’ she asked as the door behind Duende opened.
    The eyes sparkled, but he didn't step back. ‘The greasy lunch.'
    ‘Sounds delightful,’ Sheree's voice said, though AnnaLise couldn't see even the statuesque blonde beyond Duende's solid frame. ‘Was that an invitation?’
    ‘Well, there you are,’ AnnaLise said, sweeping the spilled soil from the plant into her hand and stuffing it into her jeans pocket, before popping out from behind Duende. ‘I was looking for you.’
    ‘Oh, I bet you were.’ There was a predatory look on Sheree's face as she glanced between them. AnnaLise would have taken it personally, if it hadn't been Sheree's modus operandi whenever a prospective male target was in the room.
    An M.O. since AnnaLise and she were in the ninth grade and Chuck Greystone was the male in the triangle. Chuck had chosen AnnaLise back then, probably because super-sexed Sheree had scared the shit out of him.
    ‘If you two want to go to lunch, it's fine.' AnnaLise was signaling surrender before the battle – even if only in Sheree's mind – could begin. ‘I was actually looking for Joy.’
    ‘She's probably up at the spa,’ Sheree said. ‘I know she left before I did.’
    ‘I didn't hear her come back,’ Duende said. ‘Though I like to put instrumental music on when I write, so I may have missed her.’
    ‘I'll go up and knock on her