In Safe Hands (Search and Rescue #4)(71)
“Yes.” Since Daisy had a feeling that a conversation about home renovations could go on for hours with Natalie, she prompted, “You mentioned you had some questions about the neighborhood?”
“Oh, yes.” Turning away from studying the countertops, she gave Daisy a wide smile. Despite the realtor’s attempt at pretending to be at ease, she seemed nervous, which was strange. “As I mentioned, I showed the house to a young couple this morning. Very nice pair. They’d been looking in Connor Springs, but places in this area are a bit closer to their price range.”
Daisy nodded, still trying to figure out what was making Natalie so tense.
“Do you know why the owners are selling?”
“They moved to Florida about eight months ago,” Daisy said. “I wasn’t…um, close with them, but I heard they were sick of the cold and snow. They were travel agents, so they switched from arranging ski vacations to beach trips. There were two kids, a boy and a girl, about ten or twelve? I’m not really good at guessing kids’ ages.” She didn’t mention that it was especially difficult when you only had an oblique view of the children from an upstairs window. When they’d moved, Daisy hadn’t been too sad, since the parents hadn’t provided much entertainment, and the kids had liked to knock on her door and run away.
“Did anything…well, unusual happen there?”
Cocking her head to the side, Daisy repeated, “Unusual?”
“The husband noticed something on the ceiling of the living room.” The realtor shifted her gaze from Daisy to the sink. “Very nice fixtures, dear.”
“Um…thank you.” This was an odd conversation. “What was on the ceiling?”
“Well, it was just a few dark-colored spots, and I didn’t think anything of it. He became rather interested, since he was determined that it was…well, blood. He mentioned being an avid hunter, and said that he knew what dried blood looked like. Since it was such a small amount, just a few drops, I didn’t think it was worth focusing on, even if he was right about it being blood.”
Natalie paused, her eyes narrowing on Daisy’s face. Daisy wasn’t sure if the realtor was checking to see if she believed her story, or looking for signs of murderous guilt. Either way, Daisy kept her expression blank, and Natalie resumed her story.
“I pointed out the lovely stone fireplace and the two-year-old windows, but he wasn’t paying attention. Instead, he was checking the floor and the walls—looking for more blood. He thought he found it, just a light pink swipe on one wall and a few traces on the floor. It didn’t look like anything to get excited about to me. He kept asking what had happened, if someone had been seriously injured in that room, and if that’s why the owners were selling. I told him it had been a relocation, but he’d already made up his mind that it was…well.”
Natalie paused, looking flustered. Not breathing, Daisy waited for her to continue.
“He was talking as if it was a murder house or something equally ridiculous.”
The word “murder” made the image of the deputy carrying the tarp-wrapped, body-shaped bundle resurface, and Daisy sucked in a breath.
The realtor stared at her. “Do you know something?”
“No.” It wasn’t really a lie, since Daisy didn’t know anything for sure. “You should tell the sheriff’s department, though, so they can check it out.”
Natalie shook her head, her hands coming up as if to ward off any oncoming deputies. “Oh, no! I couldn’t bother them with something so…silly. It was such a tiny bit of blood—if it is blood—that I would look like a hysterical fool if I told them about this. The client just made me paranoid with his theories of bloodshed and murder, so I knocked on your door on a whim. Since nothing actually happened there…”
“But what if something did?” Daisy asked. The tarp-covered form wouldn’t leave her head. “Better it be a false alarm than have them miss an actual crime scene.”
Her eyes widening at the phrase “crime scene,” Natalie all but ran toward the door, skirting Daisy as if she were the killer. “It’s a small community. I can’t be known as the realtor who calls the cops on her clients. Please just forget what I told you. I’m sure it’s nothing. Have a nice day! You have a beautiful home!” As she spoke, Natalie grabbed for the door and yanked it open, diving through it as if escaping from a haunted house.
“Wait!” Daisy lunged for the inner door, trying to close it before Natalie opened the exterior door. Her fingers fumbled, and the door banged against her hip before heading back to the wall. Self-preservation peeked out from her overwhelming panic and sent her to her knees so she would be closer to the ground in case she fainted. Her position made it harder to get out of the way of the door, though, and then it was too late. Natalie shoved open the exterior door.
Daisy’s throat closed, making breathing impossible. The rectangle of light burned its image against her eyes. She could hear the strange noises coming from her throat, but she couldn’t get herself to stop making them. The usual darkness ringed her vision, shrinking her field of view until just a small circle of light remained.
That small bit of illumination disappeared. It took Daisy a few seconds to realize that she hadn’t fainted. She blinked a few times, ignoring the burn as a droplet of sweat touched the corner of her eye. The light was gone because the door had closed. Just as that thought occurred to her, the sharp click of the exterior lock made the world return in a rush.