06 Suspects and Surprises Read Online Free PDF

surrounded her.
    “How could this happen?” Mary asked with disbelief as she stared down at the body. “Is that the insurance man?”
    “Warren Blasser,” Suzie said softly, her voice trembling. “He was such an interesting person. So nice.”
    “What are we going to do, Suzie?” Mary asked as she looked up at the broken railing. “How could the railing have given way? Is this our fault?” she asked with a gasp.
    “Someone must have shoved him into it,” Suzie said with a slow shake of her head. “It couldn't have given way on its own. I know it couldn't. We had all of the railings and balconies inspected.”
    Sirens screamed through the early morning darkness shattering the silence that filled the space between them. Suzie shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. She wondered how this was going to be handled.
    “Mary, stay close to me,” Suzie said with some urgency in her voice. “The killer may still be in Dune House, or at the very least nearby.”
    “I'm not going anywhere,” Mary assured her. She looked warily around at the sprawling stretch of sand. It was empty for the moment, but that didn't mean that somebody hadn't been there only moments before.
    Three police cars and an ambulance skidded into the parking lot. One officer, Suzie’s cousin, Jason, climbed out and ran across the sand to reach Suzie's side.
    “Are you okay?” he asked breathlessly. The paramedics rushed past him to confirm that Warren was indeed dead.
    “I think so, Jason,” Suzie said. “I have no idea what happened. I couldn't sleep, I heard a scream, and then…”
    Jason peered up at the railing. “I thought you had those updated?” he asked with an edge to his voice. “I told you to make sure that you did.”
    “I did,” Suzie insisted. “We tried to keep the look as authentic as possible, but every balcony was updated and inspected. Someone must have pushed him off. The murderer must still be on the loose and may be nearby. You have to send officers to search the beach.”
    Jason frowned and lifted his hat off his red hair. “It doesn't look like a murder, Suzie. It looks like he leaned on the railing and it broke, allowing him to fall.”
    “That's not true,” Suzie insisted. “Like I said all of the balconies are solid.”
    Jason waved to one of the other officers who was jogging towards the entrance of Dune House. Then he glanced over at Suzie with some concern. “Maybe you missed one,” he said.
    “Excuse me?” Suzie asked defensively. “I didn't miss any balconies. When I inherited this house I knew your father had let it get run-down, I had this place inspected from top to bottom and you know that, Jason,” Suzie was really starting to get aggravated.
    Jason frowned. “I know,” he said quietly. “I know this is all very upsetting. I'm not trying to make it harder on you. But mistakes can happen, Suzie.”
    “It wasn't a mistake,” Suzie insisted with frustration. “The car!” she suddenly announced.
    “What car?” Jason asked, obviously confused.
    “I saw a car driving by the parking lot really slow earlier this evening. It parked in the brush by the driveway. It must have been the killer.”
    “The killer?” Jason frowned again. “Suzie, just take a breath, I think you're getting ahead of yourself.”
    “Jason, you can believe what you want, but this was a murder,” Suzie huffed. 
    “I'm going to take a closer look, then maybe we can figure out what happened,” Jason said and walked away from her towards Dune House. Suzie watched him step into the home that used to belong to his father. She respected Jason as a police officer, and as her cousin, but she didn't like what he was implying. If he was so quick to assume that it was an accident, which might imply that it was due to negligence on her part, then wouldn't everyone else be quick to assume the same thing?
    “What did he say?” Mary asked as she walked away from the paramedics and over to Suzie.
    “He thinks the