Free Deadly Fall by Susan Calder

saw him, she felt like reporting him to his disability insurer.
    â€œAny more news about the murder?” Jarrett said. “Aside from what’s in the papers, I mean. Any inside scoop?”
    She had purposely avoided the subject at lunch, enjoying the eggplant casserole and Leah’s and Jarrett’s patter about their young lives. It had been a wonderful break.
    Jarrett raised the barbell again; sweat matted his underarm hair. “Everyone thinks it’s suspicious Callie’s husband didn’t know she went jogging every morning. I say he was treating her with respect, letting her do her own thing.”
    If anyone other than Jarrett were saying this, Paula might agree.
    â€œLeah walks to work at worse hours than that,” Jarrett said. “I don’t insist on going with her.”
    â€œMaybe you should, for awhile.”
    â€œI’m not a baby or babe.” Leah stuck out her jaw.
    â€œYou could, at least, stop taking the back lane home at 3:00 AM .”
    â€œIt’s a short-cut,” Leah said.
    Children’s squeals emanated from the lane. Kids were playing street hockey, but this wasn’t the safest neighborhood. More than once, Leah had found discarded needles in the lane. Leah and Jarrett liked their neighborhood’s “edginess.” Paula would have thought the same when she was their age. Maybe she still did. Several friends, including Hayden, had questioned her decision to move to Ramsay, Calgary’s former red-light district and now the location of Callie’s murder.
    Leah laid the paper on the dresser top, next to Jarrett’s boxer shorts. “Skye invited me to a private service at her place tomorrow night. I think I’ll go to that instead of the church service. Is Hayden going with you?”
    â€œHe can’t get away from work.”
    â€œWhat about Erin?”
    â€œShe has a class she can’t miss.” That might be an excuse. Her younger daughter was sensitive about death. Erin had cried for days after Gary’s father’s funeral.
    If Gary were in town, Paula would like his company at the service, even more than her daughters’ or Hayden’s. Gary had known Callie better than they had and had liked her a lot. With Gary not here, maybe it was better for her to go alone and sit by herself in the church, so she could totally focus.

Chapter Seven
    Organ music wafted from the sanctuary. The church was about half full. An inverse pyramid of spectators tapered to loners seated by the aisles. The front pews below the pulpit stood empty, reserved for family members. Kenneth Unsworth’s balding head bobbed above a group in front of the altar. He leaned forward to speak with Sam. A woman in a red dress wove between them. From Paula’s position at the sanctuary entrance, the woman looked the image of Callie in her twenties and could only be Skye, her grown-up daughter.
    The back rows were already claimed by those wanting an overview or distance. Paula took her place in the second-to-last pew, in front of two women about her age. For the moment, she had a clear view past the empty rows in front of her. The pulpit stood on a stage-like platform. Behind it, a pianist played a classical piece on an electric piano that mimicked the sound of an organ. A small choir sat in front of stained glass windows portraying Jesus with a group of children and a cross draped with flowers. It had been several years since Paula had been inside a church. Since high school, she had limited her attendance to the rituals: christenings, weddings, funerals. She looked at the memorial card she had been handed after signing the guest book. The front page featured Callie’s newspaper portrait, with her name, Calandra (Callie) Lansing Moss, her dates, and the caption “In loving memory.” A lump formed in Paula’s throat.
    â€œBev,” called one of the women behind her.
    â€œJanice. It’s been ages.” Bev towered