"A Murder In Milburn", Book 3: Death In The Library Read Online Free PDF

incapable of it. Besides, don’t you see, it’s all wrong.”
    “All I see is that Petyr was the one who took the tray of mushroom toast from me,” Nora said. “He served it on each person’s plate, too.”
    “I know,” Katya said miserably. “The police asked me about it. I wanted to lie, but I knew I had to tell them the truth. He was the one who placed the mushroom toast on Reynold’s plate. Thing is, though, Petyr had no motive for killing Reynold!”
    “You just told me he hated his father. From the way you made it sound, I’d say he had plenty!”  
    “He hated his father, but he wanted to show off for his father,” Katya said. “You see? He’s finally become successful. He’s finally started earning good money. He wanted to show his father that he had done it. That despite his father’s attempts to control him, he was living a happy life on his own terms, with his own chosen life partner and his own chosen business. He wanted to show off his success more than anything, and he needed his father alive for that.”
    Nora nodded, seeing her point.  
    “And you?” she asked. “Didn’t you have the slightest of anger towards Reynold?”
    “I had a lot of hate for Reynold for the way he treated Petyr,” Katya said. “But why would I want to kill him? I had no need to. Petyr had chosen me. Petyr would stand by my side. That’s all I need in life.”
    Was it? Nora wondered, looking at her friend’s unhappy face.  
    She hadn’t met Katya in a very long time, but Katya was an expert with food. She’d worked in the restaurant business, and she could easily have tampered with the mushrooms. Couldn’t she?

    *****

Chapter 5
    Maria lay on the sofa with her eyes closed, while Johann massaged her legs in an attempt to help her relax. When Nora and Katya entered, they both sat up.
    “It’s been a horrible day,” Johann said with a sigh. “I could use some iced tea. Or maybe even something stronger. Lila’s away being interviewed. She always makes the best iced tea. Oh look at me, babbling about stupid things while my father… my father...”  
    His lower lip began trembling.
    “Come on,” Katya said gently, raising him up. “You do need a drink, Johann. I’ll help you out.”
    “I can’t bear that he’s gone,” Johann said with a sob. “I don’t know what’s harder, the fact that he’s gone.. Or… or the fact that part of me feels relieved! ”
    “Johann!” Maria said sharply. “Shut your mouth. There’s other people in this house who don’t know you as well as I do. They might believe you!”
    “But I mean it, Mother,” Johann said. “I’m glad he’s gone, Part of me is happy I’ll never have to deal with him again!”
    “Katya, take him away,” Maria said, waving her hands. “Nora, come sit by me.”
    Katya led Johann away, squeezing his hand affectionately.  
    Nora sat next to Maria, who said coldly, “I suppose to you, this is just dramatic and maybe even fun?”
    “A death is never any fun,” Nora said quietly. “Especially if it’s a murder.”
    “Murder! Oh! I hate that word!” Maria said. “People throw it about, never knowing the kind of everlasting doubt it can create. My uncle Joseph was poisoned when I was 13, you know. This was when I still lived in Italy, in my village. It was a lovely place, and once we village-folk all made up our minds about something, well, we’d never be persuaded that we were wrong.  
    “We all thought it was his wife. For years, she was ostracized. We smiled at her and were polite, but the children, they would happily say what their parents said behind closed doors. They’d throw rocks at her windows, and sing nonsense-poems calling her names. The rest of us, we gossiped behind her back. And one day, she killed herself! She decided she’d rather face punishment in heaven than hell on earth.”  
    Maria took a deep breath.  
    “We all took this as proof of her guilt at first. Surely, we said, it was a guilty heart