Murder of a Sleeping Beauty Read Online Free PDF Page A

before.
    “And you.” Allen Ingels pivoted in Skye’s direction. “Did you do anything to help? Did you try CPR or mouth-to-mouth? Or did you just let her die?”
    Skye felt as if she’d been sucker-punched. Could I have done something more?
    Wally spoke before she could find an answer. “Your daughter was dead when Ms. Denison found her. She followed the correct procedure.”
    Both parents glared at Wally. Lorna Ingels, tears running down her cheeks, said, “Well, we’ll never know now, will we?”
    “The autopsy will answer many of your questions,” the chief answered. “And since we have to treat this like a suspicious death, we’ll need to search Lorelei’s room.”
    Allen Ingels drew up straighter and glowered. “Over my dead body. No search and no autopsy.” He started to leave the room. “I’m calling our attorney. I want you all out of my house now.”
    “That’s not being very cooperative, Al,” a deep voice boomed.
    All eyes turned to the huge man who filled the doorway. He wore a white shirt and gray twill pants held up by bright red suspenders. An unlit cigar was clamped between his teeth.
    Skye let out an inaudible sigh. For better or worse, Uncle Charlie had arrived. Charlie Patukas was really Skye’s godfather, not her uncle, but more importantly he was president of the school board and had his finger in a lot of Scumble River pies.
    Charlie Patukas and Allen Ingels were the two most influential men in the area, and as such, were often at odds. Charlie’s first concern was the welfare of the town, whereas Allen’s interest seemed to lie more in self-advancement.
    Homer opened his mouth, then closed it. Clearly, he couldn’t decide if he was happy or upset with Charlie’s arrival. He whispered to Wally, “The superintendent is out of town at a conference, so I had to notify Charlie.”
    Wally folded his arms, his face expressionless.
    “This is none of your business, Charlie,” Allen Ingels said, his bloodshot blue eyes locked with Charlie’s clear ones.
    “Most everything in Scumble River is my business, Al. ’Specially when it happens on school property.” Charlie leaned against the doorframe, which creaked in protest, and crossed his arms. His voice turned deadly serious. “So,” he said, “why don’t you want to cooperate with the police?”

CHAPTER 3
    Lend a Tear
     
     
     
     
    S kye sat next to Charlie as he piloted his white Cadillac Seville through the darkness, toward the cottage she rented down by the river. She tried to concentrate, to figure out what she should do next, but her thoughts kept turning to Lorelei Ingels, the Sleeping Beauty who would never wake again. It was difficult to face mortality at any age, but the death of a young woman on the verge of independence just wasn’t right. No words could comfort the family or soothe Skye’s own sense of waste. It was her time. At least she didn’t suffer , certainly didn’t work. And the old standby, Now she’s with God , didn’t cut it when the corpse was an eighteen-year-old.
    Charlie interrupted Skye’s thoughts. “She was a beautiful girl.”
    “Yes, she was.”
    “What do you think happened?” He concentrated on steering the huge car into Skye’s narrow driveway.
    “It could be just about anything.” She didn’t want to have this conversation, but she knew she had better get used to it, as everyone in town would be asking the same question. “It could be suicide, heart attack, an overdose. We may never know, if Mr. Ingels squelches the autopsy.”
    “Bob Ginardi is both the school and city attorney, and he says Al can’t do that. But he’s not sure if Al can stop the search of Lorelei’s room.”
    “So what’ll they do?”
    Charlie bit down on his unlit cigar. “Tomorrow they’ll go before a judge and try to get a search warrant, but our lawyer doesn’t think we’ll have a good case until we nail down the cause of death. It’s real touchy, the Ingels being who they are.”
    “What