Whiskey Rebellion (Romantic Mystery/Comedy) Book 1 (Addison Holmes Mysteries)

escort you to your car, and then I want you to drive straight to Kate’s. Nowhere else. Do you understand?”
    “I’m not going to Kate’s looking like this,” I said. “Why can’t I go home?”
    “Because you’ve been receiving photographs and threatening phone calls and a man you were supposed to meet is lying dead at your feet. Call me crazy, but I think you might be in a little bit of danger, and I don’t feel comfortable sending you home while I’m occupied with a homicide just to have some whacko waiting for you once you open the door. Just do what I ask for once.”
    “Fine. ” I squished my way over to a bench so I could wait for my babysitter to arrive.

    I sat in my car with a white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel and watched the rain pound against the windshield. I was soaked to the skin, my skirt was ripped, and blood seeped from both knees. There were scratches on my arms and neck, and my face was blotchy and red from crying. Along with the external wounds, I’d lost a good deal of my sensibilities, most of my faith in mankind, and all of my underwear somewhere between a graveyard and a church parking lot.
    I hadn’t yet found the courage to get out of the car and go into the McClean Detective Agency. I was working my way up to it, but the last time I’d tried to open the door it started to hail and hurricane force winds slammed my door shut. Not to mention the fact that the mud in my crevices was drying at an alarming rate and I might be stuck in this position forever.
    I guess I’d been sitting out front too long because I could see several faces inside peeping out the windows at me, and my cell phone rang in the seat beside me.
    “Are you coming in or are you just going to sit out there looking pitiful all day?” Kate asked.
    “I haven’t decided yet. I’m not allowed to go home, but I’m not sure I have the energy to come inside and explain.”
    “Nick already called and explained, so if you come in I’ll give you some clean clothes and the use of our shower with minimal questions.”
    I sighed into the phone. “That’s the second best proposition I’ve had all day.”
    I disconnected and put on my raincoat just so it would hide the fact that I wasn’t wearing a bra. I slogged my way up to the entrance and pushed against the glass doors.
    Lucy Kim came from behind her desk with a stack of gray warm-ups and a bar of soap. Her legs scissored quickly on black spiked heels as she headed in my direction. Her face was expressionless and her lips were freshly painted red. If the mud hadn’t stuck my shoes to the floor I would have backed up because she looked like she wanted to kill someone. Probably me for dripping on the carpet.
    She walked past me without saying a word and stopped in front of a white door with an old-fashioned knob. She held the door open and stared at me with black eyes so intense that I wouldn’t have been the least bit surprised if they shot lasers or set things on fire.
    I dripped my way over and took the clothes from her. She gave me a firm push with the tip of her finger and slammed the door behind me.
    “It was nice talking to you too,” I yelled through the door.
    The bathroom was spacious and old fashioned. It was obviously for employee use as there were little cubbies that lined one wall with names taped to them. I stood on the cold tile and peeled the clothes from my body and then put them in the trash. They were a lost cause—much like my life.
    I enjoyed a luxurious half hour under the hot spray and borrowed shampoo from a woman named Susan. I was pretty sure she wouldn’t mind. I dried off and dug around in the cabinets until I found a first aid kit. The skin on my palms and knees was rubbed raw from my fall and my arms had scratches on them, so I rubbed on some antibacterial cream so I wouldn’t get graveyard germs.
    I put on the sweats and decided I was getting much too comfortable going places without underwear. I tried not to think about how I ended up without it, or when Nick was going to try to make me go without it again.
    I tidied the bathroom and walked in my sock feet down to Kate’s office, feeling like a new woman.
    “I was about to come down and make sure you hadn’t drowned,” Kate said as I plopped face down on the couch in her office.
    “It took a while considering some of the places I had mud.”
    “You’ve also got a nasty case of whisker burn on your neck. I don’t suppose you want to explain that?” Kate