Murder at the Bellamy Mansion Read Online Free PDF Page A

discuss an ongoing investigation with you.”
    But Nick ignored her. After all, we had been husband and wife. I assumed he still trusted me. “The front desk had the keys. But when we got there the door to the apartment was unlocked. The desk clerk admits the painting crew could have left the door unlocked for the carpet people.”
    “ Paint crew? Meaning all the surfaces were newly painted,” I said. “And that means that any fingerprints you found were either those of the painters or the shooter.”
    Diane Sherwood gave me a withering look. Diane likes to pretend that I am dumb.
    “ I hope the apartment’s management and the PD are taking measures to secure the place,” I said.
    “ Don’t worry about what the PD is doing,” Diane said.
    “ Of course, we’re taking measures,” Nick said. “We’ve got a large uniform presence in the area, very visible, at the apartments and around the Bellamy Mansion. The Carolina Apartments has been secured, the doors to vacant apartments locked, a security officer in the lobby. A forensic team is out too. We still have not found the spent bullet.”
    “ Don’t you think the chief knows how important tourism is to this town?” Diane asked.
    Jon had had enough. “OK. That’s enough. We’ve got ice cream melting in the car and groceries to unload.”
    “ How domestic,” Sherwood commented under her breath but I heard her.
    I wanted to shout: Scoot. Scram. Like I did to the squirrel that invaded our birdfeeder.
    My good friend Kiki would have said: Be gone or I’ll put a curse on you and turn you into a toad. But then Kiki is a witch. And I am not. If only.
     
    “ Do we really have to go to that party?” Jon asked, after we had put away the groceries and were settled at the kitchen table with Swiss cheese and turkey Panini sandwiches and iced tea.
    “ Oh, sweetie, I’m so sorry. I promised Melanie. You could see how discouraged she was.”
    “ But what good will it do her for us to be there?”
    “ Just moral support, darling. She likes having us in her corner. Melanie is not nearly as confident as she puts on.”
    He leaned across the table and kissed the tip of my nose. “You’re a softie, you know that? OK, except for my Granny Campbell and your Aunt Ruby and Binkie, Melanie and Cam are our only family. And we do have to take care of family.”
    “ I love you for that,” I said, and checked the wall clock. “Visiting hours at the medical center start soon. I hope Willie is awake. And that he knows us.”
     

 
     
     
     
    4
     
    The surgeon was leaving Willie’s room as we entered. He was dressed in a suit and tie, and did not look anywhere near as weary as he had the day of the surgery. He seemed to recognize Jon and me because he said, “He’s coming along nicely.” He glanced across the room to Esther Hudson. “Mrs. Hudson is right. Sometimes miracles do happen. And I need all the help I can get, so I’m very grateful for this one.”
    Esther Hudson gave him a big smile, then welcomed us with, “Come on in, y’all. Don’t be shy.” Jon and I approached Willie’s bed hesitantly. His head was swathed in bandages. And there were cuts on his face and arms from the flying glass. For someone who had just had head surgery on Thursday, he was remarkably alert.
    “ Hey, big guy,” Jon said with a cheerfulness he could not possibly feel.
    Willie is anything but big. He is in his seventies, small and wizened, and in the hospital bed he looked even smaller and very frail.
    “ Hey there, Ashley. Jon,” Willie said. “They’re telling me I’m a wonder. Gonna be the poster boy for head injuries.”
    “ Oh Willie, you remember us,” I murmured, taking his hand in my own. “We are so sorry this happened to you. We don’t understand anything that has happened. Why would someone shoot you?”
    “ Did you see anything?” Jon asked. “Anything at all?”
    “ I still don’t have my memory back ‘bout being up there in that belvedere. Last thing