Death Wore Brown Shorts (Happy Holloway Mystery Book 1) by Audrey Claire Page A

office.
    “Sounds serious,” Annie teased.
    He neither confirmed nor denied. “Ben, go finish watching this in the other room. Wait, what is this show? Annie, a killer shark? That’s too violent.”
    “He’s not scared. Plus, we watched Jaws a couple months ago. This one is so fake, you can’t take it seriously.”
    Donovan glared at her. “If Jane found out…”
    “I’ll take the fall. All right fine. Ben, we can’t watch anymore. It’s bunny rabbits and teddy bears from now on.”
    Ben groaned but gathered his cookies and tramped out of the room. Annie returned to the couch and waited for Donovan to start the conversation. He yanked at his tie and tossed it on the couch. Then he thought better of it and folded the tie into his palm as he sat in one of the armchairs.
    “It’s about Jane,” he began.
    “She’s driving you nutsy with her strict rules?” Annie suggested.
    He colored, embarrassed. “I don’t mind the discipline of how she runs the house. I work a lot, and I come from a house where my mother drank most of the time and almost never did housework. She’s changed a lot now that she’s older. Trust me when I say Jane’s order felt refreshing for the first ten years of our marriage. I’m not saying I’m tired of it.”
    “Um, if this is about marriage, Donovan, maybe you should talk to a counselor. I don’t know anything.”
    “No, it’s about your sister.” He kept glancing toward the door as if he expected Jane to pop in at any second and catch him doing wrong. “She’s… I don’t know how to explain it. She’s changing, Annie.”
    “Can you be more descriptive?”
    “I think trying to keep us all in order is getting to her, and Paisley for one isn’t making it easier. A stubborn teen, and I guess I’m not much help because I leave everything to her. I feel guilty about it. I want to help, and at the same time I don’t. Maybe I’m not capable of helping.”
    Annie couldn’t believe what she was hearing. By no means did she think her sister was flawless, neither were her kids. Paisley made that clear on a daily basis. However, despite the trials any couple went through, Annie thought Jane and Donovan were perfect.
    “Are you saying she shouts at you or treats you badly?”
    “Sometimes.”
    Annie swallowed. “Does she abuse you or the kids?”
    His eyes rounded. “No! Of course not. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply that. Jane does everything a wife and mother could, and more. It’s the look in her eyes, and sometimes she cries when it’s a little matter we’re dealing with. I’m coming to the end of my tolerance level, Annie. Maybe you can convince her to talk to someone.”
    Annie dropped her face into her hands. Anger boiled inside. Donovan didn’t sound worried about Jane at all. He seemed more impatient over the sufferings of his wife. Jane loved them both, and she tried to imagine what it would be like to live with Jane. From the beginning, Jane treated her with kid gloves, so Annie didn’t get the brunt of Jane’s extreme ways.
    “I’ll…” she began, and her voice faltered. Jane was the one of the two of them who had it together. “I’ll talk to her when I get the chance.”
    “Thank you.” He didn’t try to touch or hug her as the two of them rose to their feet. Instead, he spun away and left the room. Annie’s fears eased with him out of sight and the conversation at an end but rose again when she thought of all he said.
    The moment she got a breather, she would talk to her sister—before her marriage fell apart.
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    S hattering glass woke Annie out of her sleep, and she sat up in bed. Heart pounding, throat dry, she pressed a hand to her chest and listened. The blood in her ears made it hard to hear. Was someone in the house, or had she dreamed the noise?
    Annie strained to listen but picked up nothing. She’d be nuts to go back to sleep without checking it out, crazier if she called the police with a false claim. She threw the sheets