Beverly Barton 3 Book Bundle. BEVERLY BARTON

father came toward her, stepped outside into the hallway and closed the door behind him. “If I don’t get out of there for a few minutes, I’m going to have to shoot somebody and I don’t want it to be your mother or your sister.”

      Bernie chuckled, then rose on tiptoe and kissed her father’s cheek. “Rough day, Dad?”

      “If your sister ever wants to move again, I’ll hire professionals to move her.” He motioned to the apartment. “There are half a dozen men in there and each one of them is showing off for Robyn. Hell, they’re like a bunch of little boys wanting to be chosen for a team. They might as well be screaming, ‘Choose me! Choose me!’”

      “Robyn has that effect on men.” Bernie shrugged. “She can’t help it because she’s beautiful like Mama and men find her irresistible.”

      “Yeah, but she could put a stop to all of that nonsense if she’d narrow the field down to one man at a time. Your mother never dated half a dozen guys at the same time, I’ll tell you that.”

      “Things were different when Mama was dating.”

      “If you’re about to tell me anything about your sister’s love life, don’t.”

      Bernie put her arm around her father’s waist and hugged him. “She’ll eventually settle down, find herself a husband and give you and Mama some grandkids.”

      Her dad hugged her. “What about you, honey?”

      “What about me?”

      “When are you going to find yourself a nice guy, get married and have some kids? You’re not getting any younger, you know.”

      Bernie sighed. “I’m thirty-two, Dad, not fifty-two.”

      “What do you think of Jim Norton?” R.B. asked.

      Bernie eyed her father skeptically. “What’s Jim Norton got to do with—”

      “I like him, Bernie. Don’t you?”

      “Well, yes, I like him. But I’ve only known him for a week.”

      “So, get to know him better. Ask him out. Women do the asking now, don’t they?”

      “He’s not interested in me. Besides, Robyn already asked him out. They went to dinner at River’s End this past Monday.”

      Brenda Granger opened the door from inside Robyn’s apartment, stuck her head out and called to them. “There you are, R.B. And Bernie … when did you get here? You two come on in. We’ve just about got everything finished and I’ve unloaded all three picnic baskets and put out paper plates so everybody can start eating.”

      “We’ll be there in a minute,” R.B. said. “I’m sure you won’t run out of food. You brought enough to feed a small army.”

      “Well, we are feeding a bunch of strapping young men and I’m sure they all have healthy appetites.” Brenda slipped out into the hall and pulled the door almost closed. “Bernie, Raymond is here. He was asking about you. You should go in and make a point of talking to him.”

      Bernie groaned. “Mama, Raymond Long did not come here tonight to see me or talk to me. He’s here for the same reason all those other men are here—because of Robyn.”

      “Nonsense. I’ve told Robyn quite specifically that Raymond is yours and she’s to keep her hands off him.”

      “Mother, you didn’t!” Bernie wished a hole would open up in the floor and swallow her.

      “Brenda, for goodness’ sake.” R.B. glanced sympathetically at Bernie.

      “I have two unmarried daughters and no grandchildren,” Brenda said. “Robyn has too many men in her life and Bernie has none. I have to do something, don’t I?”

      “You can stop playing matchmaker,” Bernie told her mother. “Stop interfering in our lives. Robyn likes being single and playing the field. She loves being the belle of the ball and keeping half a dozen guys dangling on a string. And I like my life just the way it is, too, so butt out!”

      Bernie turned around and headed down the hall.

      “Bernadette Granger, you come back here,” her mother called after her.

      Bernie paused when she reached the stairs, glanced over her shoulder and said, “Tell Robyn I’ll stop by this weekend and see her new place.”

      As she headed down the stairs, she heard her mother say, “R.B., go after her. Talk to her.”

      When Bernie reached the bottom of the stairs, she heard her father’s footsteps behind her. She opened the door, walked outside and waited for him on the sidewalk. When he caught up with her, he grinned sheepishly.

      “I guess I’m as guilty as your mama, aren’t I? I was trying to hook you up with Jim Norton.”

      “It’s okay, Dad. And you can tell Mama later that I’m sorry I lost my temper with her.”

      “It’s this Stephanie Preston murder case, isn’t it? It’s got you all tied in knots.”

      “It’s bad,” Bernie said. “It’s not just having no real leads in the Preston case that has me so concerned, it’s the fact that I’m worried sick the murderer will kill again.”

      R.B. glanced up and down the sidewalk, then said, “Let’s go into the bookstore and sit in the coffee shop and get ourselves something to drink.”

      Bernie glanced upward toward the second story of the building. “You’ll be missed.”

      “Your mother told me to come talk to you and that’s what I’m doing, aren’t I?”

      “She meant talk sense to me about Raymond Long, not discuss business with me.”

      “I won’t tell her if you won’t.” R.B. put his arm around Bernie and led her to the front entrance of the bookstore.

      Once they were seated at a table in the back, they ordered two decaf coffees and a couple of cheese Danishes. The coffee shop was empty except for the cashier cum waiter, so they had plenty of privacy.

      “Want to tell me what’s going on?” R.B. asked. “Why are you concerned there will be another murder?”

      “Because Jim thinks we may have a serial rapist/murderer on our hands.”

      “And he thinks this because…”

      “Because we found out that there was another woman, Jacque Reeves, over in DeKalb County who was raped and murdered about three months ago.”

      “And?”

      “And her physical description was similar to Stephanie Preston’s. Long dark hair, slender, young, pretty. She came up missing and sixteen days later, her body was found out on a lonely country road. Her throat had been slit and her body posed, with one hand covering her … down there … and her other arm draped over her breasts.”

      “What about sketches, photos, gifts, notes?”

      Bernie shook her head. “If there were any, they weren’t found.”

      “So maybe it’s just a coincidence that there are some similarities. Maybe it was two different guys who killed Stephanie and the Reeves woman.”

      “And what if it’s the same guy? He could kill again and soon. How am I going to stop him if I have no idea who he is?”

      “What does Jim think? And what about Charlie Patterson’s opinion?”

      “Charlie is going to look into the case over in DeKalb, check all the records, interview Jacque Reeves’s parents and siblings and ex-husband,” Bernie said. “And Jim thinks we need to start treating our case as a potential serial killer case.”

      “And you don’t?”

      “I do not want to jump the gun and create panic in town.