Murder by Artifact (Five Star Mystery Series) Read Free

of town, Theo urged her minivan up the hill to the back of Nina’s house. Unlike Theo’s ancient home in town, Nina’s beautiful house was spacious and constructed to take advantage of the spectacular view. It sat on a ten-acre lot. Built on part of the old family farm her father converted to high-priced lots when he realized selling real estate paid better than farming in poor soil; the modern brown brick house had an unobstructed view of the Smoky Mountains. Today the distinctive haze did make them appear mysteriously smoke-blue.
     
    Nina’s copper-red hair glowed like fire. She stood near her driveway, examining something in the flowerbed. The way her fists rested on her hips and the line of her spine said someone was in trouble. Deep trouble. Theo assumed it must be one of Nina’s children.

    Across the road was McMahon Park, the center of the loosely constructed subdivision. More nature preserve than park, it was beautiful and wild. Only a small section of it had been tamed into a playground area. Theo had been looking for wildflowers when she wandered in there a few months ago. Instead of flowers, she had discovered the bones of a hand. Every time she visited Nina, she wondered about them. Tony hadn’t mentioned anything about them in weeks.

    “The damned deer ate all the buds.” Nina jumped into the minivan. “What’s this all about?”

    “Jane wouldn’t say much. It sounds like someone may give the new museum a quilt labeled ‘the murder quilt.’ ”

    “Well, no wonder she called you.” Nina laughed. “Either one of those words would drag you out of your studio. Using both magic words in one phrase—wow, I’m surprised you slowed down to pick me up.”

    With a laugh, Theo stuck her tongue out. “One of your old neighbors came into the shop this morning.”

    “Who?”

    “Vicky Parker.”

    “Icky?” Nina’s eyes twinkled. “I see her uncle from time to time but I haven’t seen her in ages. She only lived up there off and on. Never for longer than a couple of months at a time.” Nina pointed to a small white house on the next hill over. “Since the county built the new road, Nelson doesn’t drive past here anymore.”

    Theo frowned. “If she calls me for lunch, you have to come, too.”

    Much later, Wade came back into Tony’s office waving the envelope. “No one, not even you, Sheriff, left a clear print on the paper.”

    The information didn’t surprise Tony. The day didn’t feel like one during which anything was going to come easily.

    “I could send it off to the FBI. In the class you sent me to, they trained me to do fingerprint analysis on reasonably normal surfaces.” He leaned forward over Tony’s desk and tapped the bag holding the card. “They might be able to raise a print where I failed, although it won’t be fast.”

    Tony doubted anything would come of sending the envelope to the FBI. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try. Let’s wait until we decide if there is something to this or it’s just some prankster.”

    He leaned back in his chair. “Speaking of pranks, someone has stolen a large yard ornament from in front of the Flowers’ house. I’m going over now, and I want you to follow me for backup.”

    “Backup?” Wade’s dark blue eyes sparkled. “Are you expecting trouble? Should I call the TBI? FBI? Maybe Blossom and the rest of the Flowers are terrorists using the lawn ornament as an excuse to lure you out of your office.”

    “Very funny.”

    Still stewing over the newspaper clipping and the note, Tony drove past the Flowers home. Set back from the road, the rambling structure was a lot like the family that lived inside. There were lots of Flowers, and each was a petal or two off in Tony’s opinion.
     
    The center of the large yard was a well-manicured grass lawn. Around the perimeter of the grass grew a small forest of crape myrtles and rhododendron. Blossom kept her collection of yard ornaments in plain view. Tony was not a