Free Deadly Fall by Ann Bruce

attested by the gleaming dark oak of the dresser that matched that of the bed frame and headboard. The sheets and pillowcases were all complimenting shades of white and navy blue and green. Like the living room, it felt open and light.
     
    Standing behind her, he looked down at her questioningly. “In what way?”
     
    “In a good way. This is beautiful. If you ever decide to quit the force, you have a career in interior decorating waiting for you.”
     
    “Confession time. My sister’s the interior decorator.”
     
    She tilted her head back and peered up at him, one brow arched. “Should’ve known.”
     
    The hands she hadn’t even noticed about her waist squeezed. Augusta yelped and jumped away from him.
     
    “Ticklish, are you?”
     
    She pinned him with a warning glare. “Don’t get any ideas.”
     
    “Sweetheart, ideas have been running through my head since you opened your front door yesterday morning.”
     
    For the second time in her life, Augusta blushed, speechless in the face of such bald-faced honesty. She turned her back on him and latched onto the first thing she saw to change the subject.
     
    The first thing she saw was the toy box. A snicker escaped her.
     
    “What?” Nick asked.
     
    “You have a toy box in your bedroom.”
     
    “Huh?”
     
    She glanced at him over her shoulder and gleefully repeated herself, earning a scowl.
     
    “The hell it is.”
     
    “The wooden box at the foot of your bed is a toy box,” she insisted, enjoying herself. “I used to have one like it when I was younger. When we played hide-and-seek, I hid in it. The big, bad homicide detective has a toy box in his bedroom.”
     
    The growl coming from behind her only made her snicker louder. Then suddenly her world was upside down.
     
    “Nick!” He had slung her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “What are you doing? Put me down this instant!”
     
    He lightly smacked her bottom, but that only made her squirm harder to get free. “We’re going to see if you still fit in the toy box.”
     
    * * * * *
     
    It took about two seconds for Augusta to decide that she didn’t see the yellow police tape stretched from one side of the door frame to the other. Quickly, with a nonchalance she was far from feeling, she unlocked the front door, ducked under the yellow tape and closed and locked the door behind her with barely a sound.
     
    Nick hadn’t actually tried to stuff her inside the wooden toy box. Instead, after she’d laughingly began pleading, he’d deemed that she’d suffered enough, set her on her feet and announced that he had to go back to the precinct.
     
    Shortly after he’d left, Augusta had curled up on the sofa. Without distractions, however, she’d wandered into his kitchen, having decided to raid his refrigerator. Only there had been very little to raid. That was the excuse she’d needed. Augusta had grabbed her keys, the spare condo key and the extra proximity card to access the parkade, got into her car and started driving. Somehow, instead of stopping at the bakery she’d discovered just up a couple of blocks, she’d found herself driving right past it. And now she was trespassing on a police crime scene.
     
    She wasn’t, however, worried about getting caught. Burt, the concierge on duty, believed she wanted to grab a few things from the penthouse. She would tell the NYPD the same thing on the off chance they came calling.
     
    Her gaze swept through the rooms she could see from the foyer. If she disregarded the faint tracks on the floors, the white powder that dusted everything, from the counter tops to the remaining glass terrace doors, and—she paled—the dark rust-colored stains on walls, the condo she had shared with Drew for four years was pretty much the same as when she’d left all those months ago.
     
    There were memories in every room, from the kitchen they’d nearly set fire to one summer afternoon to the living room floor where they’d had many