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Authors: Melodie Campbell,Cynthia St-Pierre

Tags: #Mystery

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BOOK: A Purse to Die For
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"
Of course.
"

She pointed.
"
That
'
s a picture of the lady you found outside?
"

"
Yes.
"

In a voice that sounded wavery, even to her, she asked,
"
She
'
s dead?
"

 

 

 

Chapter 11

 

The room grew thick with tension. Nellie pretended to concentrate. She frowned for effect
.
"
I think she came to the house once. I saw her ring the doorbell, but nobody else was home, so I didn
'
t answer.
"

"
How long ago was this?
"
the big man asked.

Nellie shrugged.
"
Maybe two weeks ago?
"

"
Hon, you never told me,
"
Carla scolded.

"
Wasn
'
t nothing to tell. You told me to never answer the door. So I didn
'
t.
"

"
What time of day was this?
"

"
Right after school.
"
The fibbing was getting easier.
"
You were with Grandma at the stores
.
I don
'
t know where Father was.
"

"
Was she carrying anything?
"
the detective asked.

"
Can
'
t remember. I only saw her from the upstairs window.
"
She tried to act disinterested.

"
What day of the week was this, Nellie?
"

"
Can
'
t remember.
"

"
If it was two weeks ago, that must have been Thursday,
"
Carla
said
.
"
I took Mom to the dentist
. We
were away longer than usual.
"

"
Was it Thursday, Nellie?
"

"
Maybe. Don
'
t know.
"
Nellie looked down at the floor.
"
Can I go now?
"

 

"
Rob Dumont. Who would believe it?
"
Tony
said as he
sat with Gina in the kitchen, waiting to be interviewed.

"
Is that a good thing?
"
She had a good reason for asking.

"
It should be
.
I
'
ve known him for years, although I haven
'
t seen him in about five. He
'
s smart and level-headed, which is a blessing in a cop. Don
'
t you remember playing Beckon with him and the other local kids in the summer?
"

Gina nodded. Those early days were wonderful times. The older boys taking control like they were minor gods. Everyone playing together outside until the streetlights came on.

Tony smiled. His eyes had a dreamy look, as if they
were sifting back through long-ago visions.

"
He was about a year older than me. So
,
yeah, you would have been a little squirt at the time. He was a big, good-natured kid and I hung with him for years. He taught me how to smoke behind the garage.
"
Tony smiled
at the
memory.

They sat quietly for a moment.

"
I remember when he got accepted into the force
,
"
Tony said
.
"
I was here for spring break and we had one hell of a whoop-up at the Tap Room in town. I had to get three guys to help me carry him home.
"

"
I remember him. I think he used to like me a little.
"
Gina twisted a napkin around her fingers.

"
You
'
re kidding!
"

Gina looked away.
"
You weren
'
t always here when I was.
"

Tony frowned.
"
He didn
'
t try anything, did he?
"

"
He never asked me out, per se. But sometimes when I was fourteen or fifteen, he would show up with wildflowers and take me for walks.
"
Silly thing to say
.
I sound like a dog, being taken for walks.

"
Bloody hell.
Good thing I didn
'
t know. I would have knocked his block off.
"

"
He was rather sweet about it
.
"
Until he wasn
'
t.

"
Well, he never told me.
"
Tony sounded like he
'
d been betrayed.
"
He was too damn scared to tell me.
"

Or maybe just careful,
Gina concluded. Darned if she could ever comprehend why males acted the way they did. Surely, if she had dated a friend of Tony
'
s, it would be a good thing.

The clock ticked. Gina forced herself to the present. She hated what was next to come. Soon they would all be interviewed individually and she
'
d have to go in without Tony.

She shivered.
"
You say he
'
s smart. Will he be kind?
"

"
He
'
ll be fair
.
He
'
ll want evidence and he won
'
t jump to conclusions. And that
'
s what we need now.
"

A tall, lanky policeman came to the doorway and signalled for Tony.

"
Back in a few minutes,
"
he said. Then suddenly, as if compelled—as if taking a giant step toward something unknown—he reached down and kissed her. Then he was gone.

Gina sat, nursing her coffee. She felt as if the air had been sucked out of the room. Everything was moving forward, and she was being sucked along in the wake, helpless.

She remembered Rob Dumont. She remembered him very well, indeed. And she certainly hadn
'
t told Tony everything.

 

"
Tony. Long time, no see.
"
Rob Dumont reached forward to shake hands
, hoping his old friend wasn
'
t involved.
Tony
'
s grasp was firm.

"
Sorry it took something like this to get us together
,
Dumont
. And congratulations on the promotion.
"
Tony sat down.

"
Thanks
.
"
Dumont
'
s
eyebrow lifted in appraisal.
"
You still work out, I see.
"

Tony laughed.
"
Remember those comic book ads we used to mull over? How to become a He-man—Atlas, something?
"

Dumont grinned.
"
Yeah, I remember. Never worked for me, but I guess you have to keep at it.
"
He was quiet for a minute.
"
Tony, what do you know about this?
"

"
Not much. Gina—you remember Gina, of course?
"

Dumont nodded. He would never forget Gina. That was his curse. The years seemed to melt away as he visualized a pretty young girl with brown curls and hazel-green eyes. His heart heaved a bit.

"
Gina was out for a run,
"
Tony continued,
"
and I went out to wait for her in the garden. I got as far as the woods and found my mother sitting on a bench in shock. You
'
ve seen the site. The body was on the ground about ten feet away. Didn
'
t look like it
'
d been moved.
"

Dumont frowned.
To trust, or not?
He made up his mind.
"
It wasn
'
t.
"

"
Body was cold
, Dumont
. Rigor was over far as I could tell. I checked that to be sure. Didn
'
t want to disturb the scene.
"

"
This isn
'
t anything to do with you, is it
, Tony
?
"

Tony
'
s head snapped up.
"
No.
"

Dumont stared at him.
"
Are you still working for—?
"

Tony leaned forward
.
"
I
'
m an architect. You know that. It allows me to do a lot of travel.
"

So that
'
s how things were.
Dumont
had expected as much.
"
Gotcha. So, it
'
s not about anything you
'
re doing now.
"

Tony shook his head.
"
Never seen the woman before. She wasn
'
t carrying. And the fact she was killed by a whack on the head…
"

"
You mean if it had been a gunshot or a ligature

"

"
Yeah. Not premeditated.
"
Tony leaned back in the chair.

Therefore, not an assassin
.
That
'
s what Tony was trying to tell him. And that was good. It meant the case was still his
,
instead of the Fed
'
s.

"
So
…w
hy on your property, do you think?
"

Tony shrugged.
"
I don
'
t know if it
'
s connected to the family or not
, b
ut there
'
s something you might want to look into.
"

Dumont
sat up
.

"
You know we
'
re all here for the funeral. My grandmother
'
s death was a bit of a shock. She had recently inherited eight million dollars
. A
nd yes, I knew about it. I
'
m not entirely satisfied she went as the doctor claims. I suggest you check into it.
"

Dumont
scratched his chin
.
"
You think
she was

"

"
B
efore you ask, I don
'
t know what this woman had to do wi
th the family
,
if anything
. But we
'
ve always been straight with each other before. I
'
ll help you as much as I can. That goes without saying.
"

"
That means you don
'
t suspect your mother or Gina.
"
Dumont smiled.

"
Mom has arthritis. You
'
ll find that out soon. She can hardly walk with a cane, let alone wield a bat. And Gina…
"
Tony
'
s voice soft
ened, though
there was an edge to it. A threat.

Dumont rose from behind the desk.
"
I understand. There
'
s a murderer loose. You
'
re here to protect her. We
'
ll do our best.
"

Tony gave a curt nod.
"
Come get me after you interview the others. I think it
'
s best you get your own picture first. Then we can talk. I
'
ll be around.
"

BOOK: A Purse to Die For
4.18Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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