Mahjonged (An Alex Harris Mystery) Read Online Free PDF Page B

basket of bread and cups of butter down and surveyed the room. Everyone was there. Huddled in their little groups. Did this have any significance, I wondered? Maybe whoever killed Penelope had help. Maybe it was a group effort. I shook the thought from my head.
    People slowly made their way to the table for some warm food. The fire blazed and we had a good supply of wood left. No sign of the police, but so far everyone was behaving.
    I took a bowl of soup off the table and reached for a spoon. I guess it was kind of ghoulish, all sitting around and eating with a body in the next room, but what were we supposed to do? And it was cold and the soup was hot. It also smelled wonderful. I lifted the spoon to my mouth for a much needed taste when out of the corner of my eye I saw something that made me scream bloody murder and spill the entire bowl of hot soup onto my white tablecloth.

 
     
     

CHAPTER ELEVEN
     
     
    “What the heck hell?” my sister said, taking a quick step back before any soup got on her. “You scared me half to death. Alex? Alex? What’s the matter with you?”
    I pointed a shaky finger toward the darkened staircase and screamed again. Everyone turned and then there was pandemonium as thirteen women scrambled to get behind me where, presumably, they thought they’d be safe. Ha! It was every man for herself, and I ducked under the table, first grabbing a fork for protection.
    From my position I saw the soggy, boot-clad feet of a man come into the living room. The feet stopped for a few seconds and then proceeded to enter the dining area coming directly to where I hid. I took firm hold of the fork and inched myself closer to where I could get a good jab into his leg if I suddenly heard gun shots fired.
    “Bert? For the love of God, what the hell are you doing here? You’re dripping all over Alex’s new rug.”
    I had just raised my arm, ready to strike, when I heard Connie’s voice. Did she call the man by his first name? Could that be? Did Connie, sweet Connie from my health club, know this Neanderthal who had come into my house and plunged a knife into Penelope’s back?
    I poked my head out from under the table and looked up at the man. “What the heck hell?”
    “Alex, I am so sorry,” Connie said, coming around the table and standing next to Bert.
    From somewhere behind me I could hear Meme saying, “This just keeps getting better.” Did I hear glee in my grandmother’s voice? Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.
    I crawled out from my hiding place and stood up smoothing down my sweater and running my hand through my hair. “Well, I guess introductions are in order.”
    “Alex, this is my husband, my estranged husband, Bert.”
    “Nice to meet you, Bert,” I said, as I extended my hand taking a quick glance at the dining room table to make sure there was no cutlery within Bert’s reach. I thought it best to make friends with a murderer just in case he got the impulse to kill again.
    “Bert? What are you doing here?” Connie had her hands on her slim hips. She turned and looked at me. “Alex, Bert hasn’t seemed to comprehend the fact that we are over. OVER!” she emphasized looking back at Bert. “You need to get out of my life, you, you miscreant!”
    “Ah, exactly how did you get in here?” Sam asked, coming to stand next to me.
    “I climbed up the tree on the side of the house and crawled in the window. I just wanted to make sure Connie wasn’t in here with some guy.”
    “How long have you been up there?” I asked, wondering if Bert had been hiding up there when I first went up to close the window and if he had been up there watching when I went to get blankets. A chill went through me at the thought.
    “About an hour. I peaked over the staircase and all I could hear was women’s voices. I tried to leave but the tree branch broke when I climbed up and I couldn’t get back down.”
    “Well, that explains the air I felt on my legs earlier and the broken branch in the room