Free Alone and Afraid (Rocky Mountain Home Series Book 1) by Elizabeth Sherry Page B

to the developers.  Mr. Drake, her brother knew there was a lot of money to be made by selling, but the house wasn’t his until his sister passed away.  He did hold a small percent of the house until then, but the sister had all the say so where the home was concerned.  He took the next two weeks planning.  He sent his wife to the Lonely Motel to rent a room and he drugged his sister.  He rented the room next to his wife’s.”  The sheriff stopped for a brief moment to catch his breath.
    “Then Mr. Drake went through the connecting door between the two rooms and they placed his sister in the tub tied up.  They threatened her with a pocket knife , hoping she’d sign the deed over to Mr. Drake.  When she kept refusing, Mr. Drake slapped her, which made her scream.  That’s who you heard that night.  To shut her up Mr. Drake’s wife stabbed her sister-in-law repeatedly.  They wrapped her in the shower curtain and Mr. Drake was just about to put his sister’s body in the trunk of his car, when the front desk called about the noise.  So instead, he moved his sister’s body to his room and placed her all wrapped up in the bed and covered her up.  When the sheriff came, he didn’t do a thorough check, just spoke to the wife who used her maiden name and then he spoke to Mr. Drake who used an alias.  The sheriff saw the back of a woman’s head in the bed, and since Mr. Drake said it was his wife sleeping, the sheriff left it at that.  Early the next morning, Mr. Drake placed the body in his trunk.  He heard you explain to the sheriff the night before where you were going the next day, so he decided to frame you for the murder.  It might have worked, if Chase here wouldn’t have come into the picture.  We just yesterday received the fingerprints on the note that was left on your car.  They were Mr. Drake’s.”
    “Poor Mrs. Drake.  To think Mr. Drake killed his own sister, and all for money which he will never get now,” Brooke said sadly.
    “Sheriff, why did Mr. Drake come after Brooke?” Chase asked.
    “Mr. Drake’s wife knew eventually Brooke would remember where she saw Mr. Drake and herself, and that Brooke would put the pieces together soon enough.  So they had to get rid of her too.  They wanted that to look like an accident.  Unfortunately, Chase, you were also here, so you’d have to go too,” the sheriff finished.  “That’s the entire story.  It’s over for you both and you can get on with your everyday lives.  And I can get on with the knowledge I won’t have to constantly run out here to your cottage,” the sheriff laughed as he walked towards the door.
    “Thank you, sheriff,” Brooke said.
    Chase shook the sheriff’s hand and thanked him again.  Then he returned to the sofa and whispered in Brooke’s ear.  “How would you feel about slipping back into bed for a few more hours?”
    The gleam that came to her eyes and the smile upon her lips was answer enough for him.  That was how Brooke wanted to spend all her mornings.  At home and in bed with the man she loved.

Coming November 9, 2013

Deadly White Christmas

Prologue
     
    December 2 2nd
    She hung up the cell phone and finished smoking her cigarette.  She knew Dani and Erica didn’t approve of smoking, but they were realists and knew the women who had this bad habit felt as though they needed to keep it.  Therefore, the women were provided with buckets outside the safe house and barn for their butts.  They were each cautioned on safety; not only fire safety, but also their own safety, and told to stay next to the buildings while they smoked.  They were not to wander off without a companion.
    After putting the cigarette butt in the bucket filled with sand, she went back inside the barn.  While she hung her coat back up where all the other coats hung, she secretly replaced the phone back inside Erica’s coat pocket, where she had taken it before going on break.
    For the next three hours, she worried that