Murder in the Wind Read Online Free PDF

attractive. She was too heavy. She was very shy of him. She knew how to play tennis because she had been given lessons ever since she was a small child. Lessons in tennis, swimming, golf, riding, dancing, fencing, conversational French, painting, sculpting, creative writing. She was the product of private schools in Switzerland, France and Philadelphia. And of innumerable tutors. She did many things competently, and none of them with grace or style. She had few friends, and quite a few relatives, all elderly.
    And the name was Oldbern as in Oldbern Shipping Lines and Oldbern Chemicals.
    She was nineteen and living on a generous allowance and in two more years she would be twenty-one and on that birthday she would receive something like three million. She had had the most sophisticated education in the world, yet she was almost entirely naive. She still wore her baby fat. She could blush like a sunset. Within a month she was deeply, hopelessly in love with him. It had not been hard to manage. The hard thing was to get her to keep her mouth shut and wait. He explained that she had to be of age first, or all the relatives would cause trouble. He kept his hands off her. That was not a great chore.
    Four days after her twenty-first birthday, Bunny made an appointment with Harrison Oldbern, Betty’s father. He did not state his business. Harrison Oldbern was on the Board of Governors of the Oswando Club, a thin alert tanned man, sportsman, deep-water sailor, shrewd businessman.
    “Sit down, Bunny. First time you’ve seen the office, isn’t it?”
    “Yes sir. Pretty impressive.”
    “Drink? I’m afraid I’m only going to be able to give you about ten minutes.”
    “I’d like a Scotch and water, thanks.”
    As Oldbern mixed the drinks he said, “What’s on your mind, Bunny? Contract for next year? I think I can personally assure you that the membership wants you to stay. You’re doing a marvelous job with the kids. In fact we’re going to raise the ante a little. We don’t want to lose you.”
    He brought the drinks over and handed Bunny his. Bunny looked up at him and said, “It isn’t anything like that, Mr. Oldbern. Betty and I want to get married.”
    Oldbern’s face stiffened. He stared at Bunny. “Betty? She’s just a kid.”
    “She’s over twenty-one, sir.”
    “How old are you, Hollis?”
    “Thirty-five, sir.”
    Oldbern went behind his desk and sat down slowly. “What kind of nonsense are you trying to pull? What the hell is going on?”
    “The usual thing, I guess. Love.”
    “How long has this been going on?”
    “Nearly two years. But we thought it would be best to wait until we were both sure.”
    “You mean wait until she reached twenty-one.”
    “It happened to come out that way.”
    “Yes, it happened that way. Hollis, you’re a dirty conniving back-stabbing son of a bitch.”
    Bunny looked down at his drink. “I’m sorry to hear you talk that way, sir. Betty and I have been hoping there wouldn’t be too much friction.”
    “I’ll never permit it.”
    “Betty says we’re going to get married no matter what anybody says. Being twenty-one, I guess she’s her own boss on that. I’m not married and I never have been. She’s certainly in her right mind. I just don’t understand how anybody would go about stopping it.”
    Oldbern waited long moments. He leaned back in his chair. “Betty is not a pretty girl, Hollis. She is not even close to being pretty. She happens to have three million dollars.”
    “She knows I wouldn’t marry her for her money. She knows me better than that. We’ve gotten well acquainted over the past two years. She knows I have ideals, Mr. Oldbern.”
    “You haven’t any more ideals than a mink.”
    “I just hoped it could be handled without friction.”
    “I’ll put a firm of investigators on you. I’ll have a report on your past that’ll make Betty’s eyes stand out on stalks.”
    “You know, Mr. Oldbern, I haven’t looked at another woman for