A Fatal Slip Read Online Free PDF Page B

secured a place close to the fire, and, with Brian’s arms around her, Emma didn’t mind the cold. The fireworks display was magnificent—splayed against the black, star-studded sky. She leaned against Brian’s broad chest and watched as the colored lights streaked by overhead. They could hear the band playing in the background, and Emma thought it was one of the most enchanting evenings she could remember.
    She glanced over toward Arabella, but her aunt wasn’t there. Emma raised a questioning brow at Francis, but he just shrugged and gestured toward the ballroom. Emma supposed Arabella had become cold or had taken the opportunity to powder her nose. She imagined that Arabella had already seen any number of incredible things in her life, and she wasn’t averse to missing a few fireworks.
    Emma noticed a woman who had been sitting at Hugh’s table make her way through the crowd, back to the ballroom, her orange dress bright against the black of the men’s evening wear.
    The finale had the crowd oohing and aahing, their heads tilted back, necks stretched, as they watched the brilliant lights illuminating the sky. Finally, the last rocket streaked silver and gold plumes, lighting up the darkness, the final boom sounded, and the crowd began to drift back toward the open doors to the ballroom.
    Emma and Brian followed suit, Brian’s arm lingering around Emma’s bare shoulders. They were just stepping through the French doors into the candlelit ballroom when a woman’s high-pitched scream sounded above the low murmur of voices. It rose to a crescendo, trailed away and was replaced by abrupt silence that seemed to pulse in the room like a living thing.
    Emma and Brian froze, glancing at each other in horror.
    “Something’s happened.” Brian tightened his arm around Emma.
    “What the—” Francis, who was behind them, muttered. “Excuse me, perhaps I’d better see to this.” He rushed past Emma and Brian and strode toward the point from which the scream had emanated.
    Emma grabbed Brian by the hand. “Should we go see what’s going on?”
    “I don’t—” Brian began, but Emma tugged him inside the room. The crowd was rushing toward the far corner of the ballroom, and Emma followed suit, Brian in tow.
    Several women in the crowd screamed, some of the men groaned and the people at the back of the crowd jostled each other to see what was going on.
    Emma managed to wiggle her way through the crowd to the front. “Oh,” was all she could say when she got there. She put a hand to her mouth to stifle the scream that threatened to erupt. She heard Brian’s sharp intake of breath behind her.
    Hugh Granger’s lifeless body lay sprawled on the floor at the foot of the balcony that encircled the room, his elegant dinner jacket barely ruffled, his starched shirt as pristine as ever. His blue eyes were open but sightless, his body motionless on the polished parquet floor.
    Francis had already made his way through the crowd, which fell back slightly in response to his air of authority. He knelt and felt Hugh’s neck with one hand while he dug his phone from his pocket with the other. He shook his head. “No pulse, I’m afraid.” He quickly punched in 9-1-1 on his cell.
    Emma stepped forward and touched Francis on the arm. “He fell?” She asked looking up at the narrow balcony that encircled the room.
    Francis shrugged. “I don’t know. He must have.”

Chapter 4
     
    “EVERYONE, go back to your seats,” Francis commanded the crowd that had gathered around the body. He stuffed his cell phone back in his pocket. “An ambulance is on the way.”
    A fussy-looking man in a dark suit and shiny black hair in a comb-over hastened to where Francis was standing.
    “Must be the hotel manager,” Brian said, as he put his arm around Emma’s waist and began to steer her away from the scene. “I imagine he’ll know what to do.”
    People continued to mill around, the men shaking their heads, the women uttering small