Carolyn G. Hart_Henrie O_02 Read Online Free PDF Page A

rose.
    “Don’t borrow trouble, Margaret. Craig’s on his way tosee a lawyer right now. Perhaps the crime will be quickly solved. Don’t worry, I’ll keep on top of it.”
    After I hung up, I didn’t take the leisurely ramble in the woods I’d anticipated with such pleasure. Instead, I drove to a gas station/convenience store on the highway. I picked up the Sunday newspaper.
    Back at the cabin, I poured another cup of coffee and opened the paper. I looked first at the two-column photograph of Craig Matthews and a strikingly attractive woman in her late thirties. She was slender and athletic, dark-haired with a vivacious smile and a bright, challenging look. Behind her was a pavilion and a lake.
    The cutline read: IN HAPPIER DAYS—
Craig Matthews and his wife, Patty Kay, are pictured at the annual Walden School fall picnic last September. Mrs. Matthews, 38, was found slain in their exclusive Fair Haven home on Saturday
.
    This story was circumspect:
    SOCIALITE DEAD
IN POSH MANSION;
HUSBAND MISSING
    Mrs. Craig Matthews, the former Patty Kay Prentiss, was found dead at shortly after 5 p.m. Saturday in her Tudor mansion in Fair Haven.
    Alerted by an anonymous phone call, Fair Haven police found the body of the thirty-eight-year-old socialite in a pool of blood in the estate playhouse, well known as the scene of many charitable functions.
    Police Chief J. T. Walsh declined to describe the cause of death. An autopsy is scheduled Monday by the state medical examiner.
    Police said repeated efforts to contact Mrs.Matthews’s husband were unsuccessful. A clerk at Books, Books, Books, the bookstore owned by Mrs. Matthews, said that Mr. Matthews left the store Saturday afternoon, reportedly to pick up a fruit basket to take to the Matthews home. The couple apparently had planned to host a dinner party at their home that evening. Police said the dining room table was set and preparations for the dinner were under way by Mrs. Matthews when she was slain. Some guests arrived to be greeted by the police.
    Mrs. Matthews was the eldest daughter of a well-respected and long-established Tennessee family. The first Prentiss arrived in Fair Haven in 1843. Family members have included judges, lawyers, physicians, and legislators. Her father, the late Merriwether Prentiss, served as mayor of Fair Haven for three terms in the 1970s.
    Mrs. Matthews’s first marriage, to Stuart Pierce, ended in divorce. In addition to her husband, Craig Matthews, she is survived by her daughter, Brigit Pierce, and her sister, Mrs. Willis Guthrie, both of Fair Haven.
    Hmm. Craig hadn’t mentioned his stepdaughter, Brigit. Where was Patty Kay’s daughter on a Saturday afternoon? Had Craig run away, perhaps leaving the girl to discover her mother’s corpse? But no, an anonymous phone call summoned the police. Why hadn’t Craig mentioned Brigit?
    It would be interesting to know what the anonymous caller said to the police.
    The Monday-morning update showed a change in tone:
    MATTHEWS TELLS POLICE
WIFE WAS ALREADY DEAD
    Craig Matthews admitted to police in a Sunday interview that he discovered the body of his wife, Patty Kay Matthews, in their Fair Haven home Saturday afternoon but made no effort to contact authorities.
    Desmond Marino, Matthews’s attorney, said his client was distraught by the gruesome discovery and he left the home in a daze and went directly to the vacation residence of an aunt, seeking family support. “His aunt urged him to call me and he did so at once. Mr. Matthews was completely shaken and unable to cope with the tragedy. It came as a complete surprise to him that he was being sought by the police. As soon as he realized the situation, he agreed at once to return for an interview and did so Sunday morning. I have here a brief statement from him for the press.”
    Statement to the press by Craig Matthews: “I came home Saturday afternoon with a fruit basket I thought my wife had ordered. I entered the house. Patty Kay didn’t answer