Free Saints and Sinners: (A Geeks and Things Cozy Mystery Novella #5) (Geeks and Things Cozy Mysteries) by Sarah Biglow

 
    CHAPTER ONE
     
    The sun shone hot overhead as Kalina picked her way through the gravestones in the cemetery beside the church. Halfway to her destination she stopped and pressed a hand to her side, letting the muscle cramp work itself out. Her other hand supported her swollen belly. Pregnancy and summer heat were not a good combination but it would soon be over. With her due date fast approaching, she wouldn’t have to worry about the swollen ankles much longer. Gaining her second wind, she trudged forward over damp grass—recently doused by the sprinklers—finally stopping at the grave in question: her father’s. He’d been gone over a year but it still felt like she was saying her last goodbye at the funeral. Tears welled in her eyes and she let them fall. So much had happened in that year. She’d found her way back home to Ellesworth, MA and her family’s comic book shop. It sated her need to be nerdy and gave her a purpose. And she’d found love again with her first love: Christian Harper. They’d been through betrayals and loss together but he’d also risen from detective to captain. And now they were married and about to become parents.
    A few weeds poked up around the base of her father’s headstone and she did her best to pluck them without being able to bend over properly. “Hi, Dad.” She wiped at her cheeks with her free hand. “I know it’s been a while since I visited and I’m sorry for that. I’ve just had a lot going on. Chris and I got married in January. You would have loved it. And you’re about to be a grandfather again. It’s a girl.
    “I’ve kept the shop running just as you had it. Well, with a few technology upgrades. We’re doing great business and it’s reminded me how much I missed being there. It feels like home and when I’m there, I’m a little closer to you.”
    Fresh tears stained her cheeks and a breath caught in her throat. She hadn’t expected this visit to be quite as emotional. But she was moving forward in her life without him and it hit her that there were so many things she’d longed to ask him that she’d never get answered. Sure, she had her mother and sister for support but sometimes a girl just needed her father.
    Beads of sweat trickled down her neck in the summer warmth but she stayed where she was, hands resting at her sides, one still gripping the scraggly weeds. The silence of the cemetery pressed in around her and what should have been a comfort carried a sense of foreboding. The moisture on her next turned chilly in the summer air and butterflies danced in her stomach. Something had disturbed her peaceful, if teary, visit.
    Casting the weeds aside, she made her way deeper into the cemetery. Simple headstone and ground-level plaques gave way to taller monuments to those who had passed on. Some had seen their fair share of rough weather. Engravings had worn down and were only partially legible. Some had seen their edges eroded over time. She stopped to study some of them, curious to see who lay beneath them. She recognized a few names from town history. There was an entire row of Finnegan family members, which only served to turn her stomach. Shortly before the wedding, Kalina and Chris had solved a series of deaths linked to a career-ladder climbing journalist and her love-struck cousin. Beth had been the latest generation of Finnegans in town. Kalina hurried past the rows and stopped when she spotted something sticking out between a couple of the tallest headstones. Shadows cast by the trees overhead obscured the area, forcing her to get closer to investigate.
    She rubbed her belly as the baby kicked a time or two, landing solid shots to her ribs. The movement winded her temporarily and she had to stop and catch her breath again. “Thanks for that, baby girl.” She massaged the left side of her ribs until the pain lessened and she could continue forward.
    The object that had caught her eye was a designer pump, dark brown and sharply pointed at