Family Skeletons: A Spunky Missouri Genealogist Traces A Family's Roots...And Digs Up A Deadly Secret Read Online Free PDF Page B

door.”
    â€œThe knob?”
    â€œNo, I just pushed it open.”
    â€œNotice anything unusual?” he asked.
    â€œBesides the dead body and all of the blood? No, not a thing.”
    He glared at me as he stuck a piece of gum in his mouth. “You know, I think that every time I have ever spoken with you, you’ve had tons of attitude. I think that maybe you’re too big for your britches.”
    â€œWell what kind of question was that?” I said angrily. “What do you mean did I notice anything unusual? I noticed lots and lots of blood, and that’s about as unusual as I get to see in a given day.”
    He must have decided that, considering what I had just seen, I was allowed some attitude, because he didn’t say anything back to me.
    â€œAny unusual cars?” he asked finally. “Anything out of place?”
    â€œI told you, I wouldn’t know. I didn’t know her well enough to know if anything was out of the ordinary.”
    â€œAny idea who she was talking to on the phone?”
    I swallowed hard and hugged myself. Was it possible that she was still holding the phone from when she had spoken to me last night? “Me,” I suggested.
    He stopped chewing for a minute and swallowed. It would have come as no surprise to me if he had swallowed his gum.
    Deputy Newsome came in the front door then. His face looked as if it belonged to a thirteen-year-old. Pudgy red cheeks showed no trace of any facial hair.
    â€œHey, Torie,” he said to me.
    â€œHey, Willie.”
    â€œMy mom really appreciated the lilac cuttings.”
    â€œGood. Tell her if she needs some more to let me know.”
    â€œNewsome,” Sheriff Brooke spat, “did you come in here to talk to Mrs. O’Shea about botany or was there some official matter that you needed to discuss?”
    â€œOh, yes sir. The victim hasn’t been dead long, and—”
    â€œHow do you know?” I asked.
    Without hesitation he turned to me to elaborate. “The blood is too fresh, hasn’t begun to dry or anything. No rigor … I overheard the ME—”
    â€œExcuse me!” the sheriff barked. “This is a witness, not a cop.”
    â€œOh, sorry. Sheriff, the ME wants to speak with you. Says the perp could have been here as little as an hour ago.”
    â€œTell me you’ve got people scanning the subdivision.”
    â€œYeah,” he said. “But Ms. Langsdorf here is about the only person home on the whole block.”
    â€œWhatever. I don’t care if it’s a block away. I want everybody questioned.”
    Brooke held up a finger to tell me to wait a minute, then went outside to speak with the ME. The thoughts of being on the other end of the phone when Norah’s assailant arrived really made me sick. Then I remembered Deputy Newsome saying she hadn’t been dead very long. That made me even more sick. I could have actually walked in on that!
    I could have possibly even saved her if I had gotten there in time.
    Brooke came back in the door, pinching the bridge of his nose. He wrote down everything while we talked this time, which made me extremely nervous.
    â€œWhy do you think she was on the phone to you when she was killed?” he asked.
    â€œWell, I don’t think that anymore.”
    â€œOh, and why not?” he asked. “In five minutes’ time you just change your mind?”
    â€œI called her yesterday, Thursday, and she hung up quickly. She said somebody was at her door. I haven’t talked to her today. If she died this morning, it couldn’t have been me on the phone.”
    â€œDo you know who was at the door?”
    â€œI couldn’t tell.”
    â€œWho do you think killed her?” he asked me.
    â€œI wouldn’t have any idea,” I said. “I didn’t know her well enough to know who would have motive or anything else,” I said.
    The sheriff watched me closely over the top