Free Dead Women Tell No Lies by Nora LeDuc Page A

remembered the motto she’d told Lennox. “Smart-on.”
    Back in the hallway, the quiet hummed in her ears. She tightened her grip on the weapon and sprinted to the top of the stairs. Below, the main door stood wide open. She was right.
    Sounds of a vehicle passing on the street drifted inside. She hesitated. An uneasy feeling tempted her to retreat. No, she could do this in two minutes, and she was armed. She hustled down, keeping the entryway as her finish line. Putting on a burst of speed, she reached the door, slammed and locked it. Done! Lennox had no reason to worry about her.
    She turned to find the door to the abandoned restaurant open.
    What was going on? She crept forward. The outside streetlight lit the room. In the puddle of light on the floor, lay a severed hand holding a rose.

 
    Chapter 6
     
    Rose hovered near the stairs to her apartment. She gestured toward the empty restaurant. “I can retrace my steps and show you how I found the hand and flower.”
    “Stay where you are.” Lennox crossed the hall and stopped at the open doorway. He reached inside and the click of a switch echoed in the empty room. “Electricity’s not working. I doubt Dean would shut the service off. It’s not good for showing a space to prospective renters.” Lennox entered the adjacent room. “Someone removed the light bulbs. Answers the power question.”
    She climbed a couple of steps and stretched up on tiptoes to spy through the open doorway. What was he doing in there? Were more body pieces scattered across the floor? She pressed her fingers to her mouth and fought the urge to run upstairs. Buck up, Blue.
    She drew her gun and crept into the restaurant. Lennox was shining the beam of his flashlight over the severed hand. Somewhere a handless person must be spouting a pool of blood. She gulped a deep breath and prayed everything would stay put in her stomach.
    He turned around and crossed the floor to her. “You were to stay near the stairs.” He extracted the weapon from her hand. “We’ll head up to your place.”
    They walked in silence to the staircase where she couldn’t wait any longer “What did you find?”
    “Rubber hand, the type you can buy at a costume store.”
    “What? A sick-o left the body part as a joke?” She couldn’t believe it. “I’m not laughing.” At least her queasiness disappeared. “How about the flower?”
    “Fake too.”
    She cleared her throat. “You shot over to my apartment for nothing. I apologize.” She pivoted around to go upstairs.
    He cut in front of her, blocking her escape. “You’re missing the big picture. Whoever left the presents wanted to scare you or worse. The perpetrator painted the fingernails blue along with choosing a blue rose for you. He was sending a message and not a friendly one, Miss Blue .”
    Nerves jangled in her stomach. “You think it’s the same person who left the newspaper clipping?” She chewed on her last remaining fingernail. Had someone hidden in the defunct restaurant, left the gifts and watched her discover them? She glanced into the corner shadows, and her hand slid toward her empty pocket. She should retrieve her gun.
    “I can’t rule it out. Whoever dropped off your newest presents is at the least, a sadist who gets off on scaring women. Listen, I’ve a guest room at my house. You’ll have plenty of privacy, and no one will bother you. I live alone, and I’m not home much. You can lay low until you find another place.”
    No, she wouldn’t leave Dahlia. She had to try and talk to her and learn who’d killed her. “I’m sure it’s all a sick joke. Maybe a teenager left me the hand and flower. My sister’s story was in all the papers and on TV.” Yes, that was reasonable. She felt better already.
    “Does your answer mean you’re rejecting my offer?”
    “I am. I’m not giving that creepy person the satisfaction of thinking he scared me over a couple of pieces of plastic. Besides, this type of gag sounds like a