Murder by Arrangement (Edna Davies mysteries Book 5) Read Online Free PDF Page B

knew about burns on his mouth.
Thought I might have given him something from the nursery I worked in. I guess
that, along with our having separated a month before, made them want to blame
me.” She gave Edna and Irene a crooked smile. “And isn’t it always the spouse
who’s the main suspect?”
    “Did you know he
was cheating on you?” Irene said, her expression one of disbelief that a wife
wouldn’t know her husband’s actions.
    Rosie grimaced.
“He was a financial advisor. He often met with clients in the evening. Guess
that made it easy for him to get out of the house, and for me to pretend
everything was fine between us.” She shrugged. “Things hadn’t been great with
us for months, but when I found out he was having an affair with my friend, ”
Rosie nearly spat the word, “I told him to get out. I really figured if he
thought he’d lose me, he’d straighten out and we could get back together. We’d
be happy again.”
    “And did he
straighten out?” Edna asked when Rosie fell silent.
     She shook her
head. “I’ll never know. A month after he moved out of the house, he was dead.”
    “Did they ever
find out what caused his death?”
    “For lack of
anything else, the death certificate says heart failure,” Rosie said.
    Irene’s eyes
widened. She seemed fascinated by the story, her eyes glued to Rosie’s face.
“What about the burns you mentioned? Did they ever determine if they were
related to how he died?”
    When the woman
hesitated, Edna answered for her. “I doubt it. I know from listening to Albert
that lab technicians have to have some idea of what to look for in order to run
conclusive toxicology tests. They don’t do a lot of guessing because the tests
are expensive. So, unless a symptom or a substance can be identified …”
    She stopped when
a commotion from the hallway interrupted her and two young girls bounded into
the room.
    There was no
more time to talk about Rosie’s situation, and soon the two mothers were waving
them off. Edna made certain the girls were securely settled in the back seat
before getting into the car. As she opened the driver’s door and stopped to
lift a hand in farewell, her eyes were drawn to Rosie Beck. The woman was
staring intently at the rear window, as if she were about to change her mind
and call her daughter back. Without knowing why, Edna felt a sudden shiver of
unease.

 
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 4
     
     
    Edna glanced
into her rear view mirror at the two heads huddled together over the mobile
phone in Lettie’s hands. Short auburn curls on one girl and long blond locks on
the other. Amanda had inherited Edna’s coloring and solid build. Lettie was a
young version of her thin, graceful mother.
    The girls were
chattering and giggling, softly at first, but then louder as they forgot about
their driver and lost themselves in whatever game they seemed to be playing.
Edna smiled, returning her eyes to the road and the Friday afternoon traffic
headed south on Interstate 95.
    Snow from the
night before lay like a thin, white blanket on the dirt-encrusted pack that
remained from two previous storms. The afternoon temperature had risen only
into the low forties, but Edna was cheered by the sunshine. She let her mind
drift back to the conversation with Rosie Beck. Pondering her initial reaction
to the woman, Edna thought Pleasant enough . She didn’t want to think
she’d been prejudiced by Rosie’s history with the police, not after what Edna
herself had suffered. Why then, the uncertainty about the woman?
    Edna needed to
know more about the husband’s death and why the police had concentrated their
attentions on his wife. Was it solely because law enforcement personnel always
grilled the spouse first?
    How am I to
find out? Edna wondered only briefly as she realized Mary would almost
certainly have information not reported in the news. Edna thought possibly
Charlie might also have been involved in the investigation. Those speculations
kept her