The wall behind the door shimmered before bringing to life the apple orchard. The sun had almost set, and long shadows splayed across the ground, casting most of the orchard in darkness. The same was happening inside the barn. It would be pitch black soon.
“Cool, huh,” I said to Rufus.
His eyes filled with desire as he strode toward me. “Yes, it is very cool.”
The air charged with electricity, and he leaned down to kiss me as a voice filled the room.
“What are you doing here?”
I jumped back, looking behind Rufus, who casually pointed to the apple orchard. “It came from there.”
A pair of high-heeled feet came into view and I groaned. “Why can’t I get away from Crystal Darsey?”
He smiled. “Just turn it off and you can.”
I was about to when Crystal kept talking. “I said—what are you doing here?”
I didn’t see who she was talking to and her face was cast in shadow, but the tone in her voice struck me as odd.
Crystal sounded scared.
“What do you want?” Crystal demanded.
The person mumbled something that I couldn’t hear.
“Leave me alone,” she said.
Then suddenly, her arms were in front of her, and she screamed, “No!”
Something sliced through the air, and the next thing I knew, Crystal had fallen. She lay on the ground, eyes closed, with a knife sticking out of her chest.
Someone had killed Crystal Darsey.
Chapter 13
Rufus and I raced to his truck. I grabbed Lady on the way.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“Crystal Darsey’s been murdered.”
“That hussy?”
“Yes, come on!”
As soon as we were in the vehicle and rumbling down the road, I called Earl Granger, Tuney Sluggs’s deputy.
“Earl, it’s Clementine Cooke.”
“Hey, Clem,” he said. “Everything all right?”
“No, Crystal Darsey’s just been murdered.”
He paused. “Say that again?”
I exhaled. “She’s been murdered.”
“Are you with her body?”
