Suspicious Minds (Squeaky Clean Series, Book 2) Read Free

of death.
    Nausea rose in me, choking me. Fighting it, I pulled my mask back in place and went all GI Jane, using my elbows to pull myself forward. One inch, then two, then a foot. I could see around the corner of the crawl space. The light at the end of the tunnel shone ahead. I could reach it. I had to reach that blessed freedom.
    I dragged myself a few more feet. Almost there.
    Something slithered into my path.
    A snake in front of me, Elvis behind me. I felt like Clint Eastwood in an old Western. The good, the bad, and the slimy.
    I didn't care if I was bigger; this little sucker had all the power as far as I was concerned.
    I stared into his beady gaze, wondering what the creature was thinking. Would he strike? Was he poisonous? Would the Doughboy look for me if I didn't emerge within the hour?
    Talk about a dilemma-die a slow painful death from poisoning or let Doughboy touch me with his lips to suck the venom from my blood.
    Was this what Eve felt like when the serpent approached her in the Garden of Eden? So scared that she agreed to do whatever he said? Anything, just don't bite me. Even if it means sentencing the rest of humanity to toil the earth and have great pain during childbirth.
    I had two choices: Elvis or the snake. Leather Face wasn't backing down, and I feared he might strike at any moment.
    "Are you okay under there?" Bob's face appeared in the crawl-space opening.
    I gasped as the snake slithered away, deeper into the abyss surrounding me. But away from my precious, life-carrying veins. I let out my breath.

    Yeah, I showed you ... you, you-future designer shoe. That will teach you to face off with me.
    "I thought I heard a scream"
    I reached my hands forward so Mr. Happy Home Owner could help me out. As soon as the sunlight hit my face, I pulled off my mask and tried to pace my breathing.
    "Ma'am?"
    I looked up at the man, at the concern etching his pasty face. I'd never been so happy to see anyone in my life. How would he take the news? As a great marketing pitch to sell his parents' home? Elvis Slept Here.
    I rolled onto my back in the grass, loving the light and the breeze and the grass, now that I had something really disgusting to compare it with. I dropped my head onto the ground and closed my eyes, picturing the King's lifeless body.
    Once I'd gathered mywits enough to speak, I looked up at the Doughboy to give him a really bad estimate of the damages. "Let's just say that Elvis has not left the building"

    I perched myself on an algae-covered picnic table, elbows to my knees, and watched as police officers swarmed the house. I saw a couple of cops start through the hole under the house. I resisted the urge to grab them and save them from entering that pit. The smell of death clung to me. It didn't matter if I pulled my shirt over my nose, I couldn't get away from it.
    Now that I was safely out from under the house, I started asking myself questions. How had Elvis turned up dead in a crawl space? How had he died? Why, oh why couldn't he and Priscilla have worked things out?
    Though I didn't see any signs of violence, chances were pretty stinkin' good that he hadn't checked into the Heartbreak Hotel by himself.
    Obviously, I knew the man wasn't really Elvis. So who was he? And why was he dressed like the King of Rock'n' Roll? Did that have something to do with his death? Did he step on someone's blue suede shoes?
    "If it isn't Gabby St. Claire," a deep voice said.

    I looked up to see Detective Adams, still looking like the same balding, stocky man I'd first met during a bomb threat a few months earlier.
    "Detective" Just the guy to make a bad situation worse.
    "For some reason, I'm not surprised you're here."
    Well, that was him. Honestly, I was really surprised I'd crawled up to a dead man. "What can I say? Gabby St. Claire, crime-scene cleaner and first-class snoop extraordinaire"
    He offered a tired grin. "I'm going to need you to tell me what happened"
    I ran through the details.
    "Mold