Blackvine Manor Mystery Read Online Free PDF

helped his father move and never spoke of the apartment building again. When Maxwell took over its management, David only ever called it “the property.”
    “A lifetime achievement award ceremony and you couldn’t be bothered to show up. After all your grandfather has done for you.” David moves stiffly from one foot to the other.
    “After he’s given me a few decades worth of nightmares and last night’s horror, I thought I could take a day off.”
    Maxwell’s mother, Maria, can’t listen quietly from the foyer anymore and pushes past David into the small office. “Despite your childish assumptions, your grandfather is a great man and you should have been there to honor him today.”
    Maxwell stands up, towering over his 5’ 2” mother on the other side of the desk. “When are we going to talk about my ‘childhood assumptions’? I think Otto killed my grandmother and I found her skeleton in the laundry room last night.”
    Maria hisses at him to be quiet while David stands pale and silent in the doorway. She takes a quick minute to smooth down the front of her Chanel suit before holding out her hands to Maxwell.
    When he doesn’t take them she comes around the desk. “What a horrible discovery. Why on Earth did you let that woman go digging around?”
    Maxwell evades her. “I should have called the police.”
    David speaks up. “You did the right thing. Your grandfather promoted Arbuckle to county coroner and it was only right for him to come and … ah … collect what you found quietly.”
    “That’s right, it was quiet. Almost as if your mother was never murdered.”
    “Sometimes the past should stay buried,” David says before turning sharply and leaving.
    “Maxwell, honestly, think of your father. His campaign is just getting off the ground and he doesn’t need a scandal.”
    Maxwell slumps against the old filing cabinet in the corner. “Yes, of course, we should focus on father’s political career. What about Ms. Cole’s career?”
    “It has simply come to light that Ms. Cole has a drug problem. That explains her visions and her wild stories.”
    “You bribed her H. R. Department and then paid some doctor to trump up drug tests just to keep her quiet. She found Delia; she gave us all a chance to face the truth. Doesn’t Delia deserve that much?”
    “I know you loved her, we all did.” Maria pulls herself up tall. “Remember that Otto loved her more than anyone. In fact, he spoke to the press about it this morning. If you’d been there you would have heard him.”
    “Heard another cover up? No thank you.”
    Maria blinks back tears of frustration, gives him a kiss on the cheek and leaves. As the front doors swing closed and their town car drives away, Maxwell leaps up the stairs two at a time.

    * * *
    A lexis hears Maxwell coming before he pounds on the door but she stays on the floor where she’s been lying all morning. She spent the entire night reading the chapters in her mother’s book about shielding herself from unwanted psychic encounters. She didn’t experience anything more than the nightmare replay of finding Delia’s skeleton. Then her phone started ringing at six a. m. with friends calling out of concern mixed with co-workers assuring her they knew it was lies and the occasional journalist trying to get the scoop.
    “Alexis, please open up. I’m done covering up for them and they know it. I want to help, please!”
    She stays prone on the floor but reaches up to her steamer trunk coffee table and fumbles for the television remote control. In less than twelve hours she’s gone from an unemployed but employable straight-laced worker to a budding psychic and a drug-addled liar. Alexis clicks on the television, intending to drown out Maxwell’s pleading voice.
    He hears the television and increases his volume so the entire floor can hear. “They lied and they paid people to lie about you. I can make them tell the truth. They have to this time!”
    Alexis sits bolt