Bodies & Buried Secrets: A Rosewood Place Mystery (Rosewood Place Mysteries Book 1) by Ruby Blaylock Page A

She’d been as quiet as a mouse, at least until Delbert accused Rory of having something to do with the bodies on the property. “Now, don’t you be going around here slandering Rory’s name like that. Until you have some proof in your hands, you’d better keep such talk from your lips!” Bessie grabbed her daughter by the elbow, trying to slow her down. The old woman was a little out of breath, but she was spry for her age. “Annie, I just came out here to tell you that I’m holding off on supper until the police are finished with their investigation.”
    Annie knew that her mother hadn’t come outside to tell her about supper. Bessie’s curiosity was bigger than she was, and Annie knew that her mother was probably dying to go into the barn and get a look at the grim discovery.
    “Thanks, Mama. Now you go on back into the house. Rory unpacked your favorite sitting room chair, you go put your feet up for a little while. I’ll come in when the police are finished talking to me.”
    Bessie eyed Delbert with one slanted, squinty eye. “You’d best wait til after they talk to Rory, too, Annie. I wouldn’t want them grilling him over something he had nothing to do with.”
    Annie suppressed a grin as her mother walked back to the house. She had to hand it to her, Bessie was never afraid to speak her mind, especially if she thought someone was being picked on. “Now, Delbert, there’s no light in the barn, and it’s pretty dark up in the loft, that’s where the body is. Be careful, because I don’t want anybody else dying on my property today, thank you very much.”
    Annie and Rory waited outside the barn while Delbert went up in the loft to have a look. “Do you think he even knows what he’s doing?” Rory whispered, shaking his head. “I hope they send somebody else to help him out fast because he seems pretty clueless.”
    Annie agreed. “I just hope that’s the last nasty surprise this place has for us. I mean, come on! Two bodies in one day--does that sound like the universe is trying to tell me something?” Annie worried briefly that her dream of opening a bed and breakfast here at the plantation was beginning to become unlikely to ever come true.
    “No, but I think there has to be a good explanation for why those bodies were here. Suzy was here for a reason, and so was whoever killed her. Maybe the person in the barn was here for a reason, too. You just need to find out what that reason is. My guess is that when you find out the reason, you’ll find out who killed Suzy.”
    Just then, Delbert emerged from the barn, sneezing repeatedly and sending up great puffs of dust as he walked. “Well, that’s definitely a dead body you have in there.” He wiped his nose with the back of his sleeve. “It looks like it’s been there a while, too.”
    The body was little more than a skeleton wearing clothes, but Annie hoped that its clothing would help police identify the person. If they were really lucky, there may even be some form of identification like a driver’s license or social security card tucked away in one of its pockets.
    Delbert took Annie’s and Rory’s statements and sent them back to the house while he waited for the coroner to come out to the property for the second time that day.
    “Well, I guess you can say one thing,” Rory began, “this property may have been empty for the past ten years, but it’s seen more than enough action in the past twenty-four hours to more than make up for it.”
    Annie shook her head. “I should have asked for a discount on the price of the house. I mean, cleaning out dusty old rooms is one thing, but clearing dead bodies out is just a little bit more work than I like.” She paused at the back steps leading into the kitchen. “Who do you think that was in the barn? How did they get there?” She didn’t say it out loud, but in her mind, the body in the barn had to have been someone who was murdered. If her son had been able to get in and out of