Framed for Murder Read online

Framed for Murder

  An Anna Nolan Mystery

  Winner of the 2014 Bony Blithe Mystery Award

  by Cathy Spencer

  Copyright 2012 Cathy Spencer

  This book is also available in print.

  Other titles in the Anna Nolan series:

  Town Haunts (Book 2)

  Tidings of Murder and Woe (Book 3)

  Discover other titles by Cathy Spencer:

  The Affairs of Harriet Walters, Spinster

  The Dating Do-Over

  Tall Tales Twin-Pack, Mysteries

  Tall Tales Twin-Pack, Science Fiction and Fantasy

  Thank you for downloading this ebook. This book remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes.

  To Reid, for all those nights when pillow talk

  was about this book.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Town Haunts Preview

  About the Author

  Connect with Cathy Spencer

  Chapter 1

  It was dark. The road was slick from an earlier rain, and damp leaves squelched underfoot. Wendy, my three-year-old, shepherd/labrador cross, trotted ahead of me down Wistler Road. I would have worried about walking alone on a dark country street almost anywhere else, but Crane was a small town and its crime rate was practically non-existent, so I felt safe. Still, it wouldn’t do to take a tumble on this moonless night, so I was being careful.

  I heard Wendy snuffling and digging at something up ahead in the bush. Removing the slim flashlight that I always carried on our evening walks, I shone the beam in her direction, afraid that she had found something disgusting to roll in just before bed. Nothing like having to deal with a stinking, soaking-wet pet when all you wanted to do was crawl under the covers.

  “What did you find, girl?” I called. The noise stopped, and I waited for her to pop out of the trees and trot back to me, but she didn’t appear.

  “Come here, Wendy,” I called. All was still, and then I heard a piercing howl that made my hair stand on end and my breath catch in my throat. It was a primitive, uncanny sound, and it unnerved me on this lonely stretch of road.

  “What’s gotten into you?” I muttered. Stepping up to the trees, I peered into the dense shadows.

  “Wendy?” She whined softly, and I sidled between the trees, picking my way through last year’s undergrowth. She was up ahead in a small clearing.

  “Come on, girl,” I commanded. Instead, Wendy lowered her head and nosed at something on the ground. I trained my beam downward, and jumped. It was a man. He was lying facedown, dressed in jeans and a black leather jacket, his arms lying straight beside his body. He wasn’t moving.

  “Hello?” I called, “are you alright, mister?” There was no response. I wanted to turn and run, but forced myself to creep closer for a better look. Taking a deep breath, I crouched down beside him. His hair was dark and wavy with silver flecks in it, but I couldn’t see his face. Wendy leaned against me and nudged my neck with her wet nose. All I could hear was my own pulse roaring in my ears. I reached out to touch the man’s hand and snatched my own back again. His skin was cold, too cold. I knew that I should check to see if he was still breathing, but the thought of turning him over repulsed me. Sick with dread, I reached for his shoulder and rolled him over anyway.

  I gasped and sprang back a few steps, horrified when his eyes seemed to stare straight up into mine. Wendy barked and shot past me into the trees. I took a few deep breaths and shone the light full into his face.

  “Holy shit,” I whispered. Sculpted cheek bones, blue eyes, generous mouth. It was Jack.

  I stared down at him. My ex-husband, whom I hadn’t seen for four years, was lying dead beside this country street in the middle of the Alberta Foothills, and I didn’t have a clue how he had come to be here.

  Looking past his face, I spotted a hole in the front of his jacket, right over the chest. I pulled the jacket open with hands that wouldn’t stop trembling. The grey shirt beneath it had a big patch of dried blood spread across the front. I stumbled back a step, a wave of nausea overwhelming me.

  Something crackled in the undergrowth behind me, and I whirled around. A brilliant light flashed in my face and blinded me. I threw up an arm to shield my eyes, but the light dropped and inched along the ground, coming to rest over Jack’s body. I pointed my own light at the black shape advancing toward me. Wendy crept toward him with a menacing growl, her jowls dragged back over her teeth, but the man didn’t budge an inch.

  “Anna Nolan, what the hell did you do?” he asked.