ILL-TIMED ENTANGLEMENTS (The Kate Huntington mystery series #2) Read Online Free PDF

finger against her upper lip in thought.
    Kate stared at her, then shook her head and grinned. “All things are grist for the mill, huh?”
    “You betcha,” Betty said, smiling back at her.
    •   •   •
    After going over the same questions several more times, Detective Lindstrom did ask to search Betty’s apartment. They drove back across the retirement community’s campus in silence.
    Once inside, the detective pulled a small electronic device from his suit jacket’s inside pocket and placed it on the breakfast bar that separated the apartment’s kitchen from the living room and dining areas. “Mrs. Franklin, I need to take your fingerprints.” As he had Betty place her fingers in the device, Kate watched in fascination.
    Lindstrom glanced over at her. “Clever little gadget, isn’t it? Takes a digital image of the print. We only have two of them. Testing them out to see if it’s worth getting more.”
    And this was the very kind of situation where such a device was extremely handy, he was thinking. This way he did not have to expose his elderly suspect to the stress of taking her to the police station. If she had a coronary, the lawyer nephew would no doubt sue the department, and his superiors would eat him for lunch.
    After taking Betty’s prints, the detective and one of his uniformed officers began to methodically search the apartment. Betty went into the small den off of the living room to call her agent.
    A few minutes later, Detective Lindstrom came out of the bedroom with a hairbrush in his gloved hand. “I’d like to take a hair sample from this brush,” he said to Kate. She nodded and he removed several hairs, slipped them into an evidence bag, labeled the bag and then put it in his coat pocket.
    “I also need to take the computer,” the detective was saying, as Betty entered the room. She went pale and turned to Kate.
    “I’m not going to allow that, Detective,” Kate said firmly. “That computer contains Mrs. Franklin’s books. It’s the main tool of her trade.”
    “I can get a warrant for it,” Lindstrom pointed out.
    “You do that then,” Kate answered evenly.
    Once he was gone, Kate turned to Betty. “If you don’t have your computer files backed up, do it now.”
    “I do. Everything’s on disks.”
    “Get them then. We’re going to put them in my car, because he
will
be back for the computer. I’d say by tomorrow at the latest.”
    “I’d already gathered them up for the meeting. I’ll get them. Would you put the kettle on, dear? I need a cup of tea.”
    After stashing the box of disks in the back seat of her car, Kate and Betty settled down in the living room with their tea. Having scalded her tongue with the first sip, Kate was blowing gently on the hot liquid in the china cup as Betty talked about the writers’ club and how it would probably never be the same again.
    Kate’s mind wandered. The whole morning was starting to feel surreal. It felt like she had taken a wrong turn and landed in a British mystery novel, with Miss Marple sitting across from her, sipping tea and calmly discussing suspects.
    Kate’s attention returned to Betty’s words and she realized the older woman was now talking about the victim. “Doris could be rather difficult at times,” Betty was saying. “But she didn’t deserve to be murdered.”
    Glancing up, Kate noticed unshed tears in the elderly woman’s eyes. Jolted back to reality, her own throat tightened. This was not an Agatha Christie novel. A woman was dead and Rob’s aunt was the prime suspect.
    “Betty, tell me everything you can think of about Doris and the others in the writers’ club.”
    Betty looked a bit startled. “Why, dear?”
    “Because maybe something will pop out at us that would explain why someone would kill her.”
    “Shouldn’t we leave that to the police detective? His manners aren’t always what they should be, but he seems competent enough.”
    “No doubt he is, but you have the most