I'll Protect You (Clueless Resolutions Book 1) by W B Garalt Page A

suburban area.  He knew from his own experience that these could be noisy, smoky, affairs with the power mowers, chippers, clippers and blowers all churning away at the same time.  It was customary to suggest that the occupants be away at the time.
    Based on the suggestion from the constable, and since the area had been taped off with the yellow police tape, the landscapers had canceled the operation and left
    The chief, the inspector and the first selectman walked slowly down and through a shallow valley, crunching along on a 200 ft. long crushed-stone driveway. It was lined with overgrown shrubbery that practically hid the house from view.
    At fifty feet from the house and garage another line of police tape had been staked around the area.  A quick scan of the scene showed a late model Jaguar coupe bearing the Connecticut Vanity license plate MINE, parked on an angle in a turn-around space off to the left side of the driveway.  The driver’s door was open and a set of car keys were on the crushed stone driveway, approximately eight feet away, toward the street.
    The matted-down, crushed stone surface around the car and around the tarp where the body had been found was scuffed up and strewn about, indicative of a probable scuffle.
    On the breezeway connecting the house to the garage a yellow insect-resistant outdoor light was lit, as was the bronze-caged white door light at the main entrance of the house.
    The neat, south facing, one-story ranch style house had gray vinyl siding.  The front door and the imitation shutters were painted rust red.  A row of slightly overgrown shrubbery lined the front side foundation.
    The canvass tarp at the spot where the victim had been was approximately six feet from the car, between it and the breezeway door.  Once lifted, it revealed the remains of a cigarette which had been dropped in the driveway.  As evidenced by the ashes, the cigarette had burned almost its entire length, down to the filter, there on the driveway surface.
    As the inspector walked back to Chief Devaro’s cruiser to retrieve his leather carrying case, the siren on the vehicle of Constable Bill’s relief could be heard approaching from the southwest.
    Inspector Chace returned and was soon busily dusting for fingerprints on the car and portions of the exterior of the house and garage.  He had snapped photos of where the body had been found, the auto keys and the cigarette remains.  He had collected the cigarette butt and keys and placed them, with tweezers, into plastic bags and sealed them.
    A call to the Realty Company for access keys to the lock-box on the breezeway door had been made and the license plate on the Jaguar was being run for ownership identification.  A call to the medical examiner’s office had been placed with its answering service.  A state police courier had been dispatched to the hospital to retrieve the deceased’s personal effects and ID.
    All this was completed within twenty two minutes!  Chief Devaro was impressed by the display of professionalism.

Chapter 15
    In the meantime, approximately 130 miles to the east, at a bed and breakfast just two blocks in from the Falmouth Massachusetts coastline, the Monday holiday had begun with a gloomy, chilly fog.
    Maggie and Max had awakened a little late and, having showered, were dodging each other as they moved around their suite getting dressed.  The breakfast had begun at 7:00 AM sharp and, according to the plastic encased direction sheet, would end at 9:30.  They had 10 minutes to go downstairs and put in the order.  It was too chilly to eat out on the observation deck overhead on the roof so they were going to have their coffee and food in the snug little dining room with the enormous old fireplace.
    As the rested couple had just selected breakfast from the choice of two items, a bright sunbeam came streaming in through the wrinkled antique window beside their table.
    “Man, what a view!’ commented Max as the pair looked out