Murder on Marble Row Read Online Free PDF

you separately, if you wouldn’t mind, Miss Van Dyke.”
    Alberta looked at him, her red-rimmed eyes full of misery. “Creighton didn’t do this,” she repeated. “No matter what she says, you must believe me.”
    â€œIf he’s innocent, he has nothing to fear,” Frank assured her.
    Mrs. Decker gave him a look of astonishment that he didn’t quite understand, but then she was leading Alberta away.
    â€œPlease come back, Elizabeth!” Mrs. Van Dyke cried. “Alberta’s maid can take care of her, and I need you with me!”
    Frank caught the slightest flicker of impatience on Mrs. Decker’s face this time, but she covered it instantly. “I will, my dear,” she said and went out with Alberta.
    When the door had closed behind them, Mrs. Van Dyke sighed dramatically. “That girl is such a nuisance. I don’t know why she won’t marry. It’s unnatural, if you ask me, for a girl that old to still be at home.”
    It did seem strange. Frank had guessed her to be the same age as her stepmother, around thirty. She was no beauty, but surely her father could have bought her a husband with a large dowry, even if no eligible man had volunteered. Before this was over, he would probably know exactly why Miss Alberta Van Dyke was a spinster, though, along with a lot of other things that should have been none of his business.
    â€œDo you mind if I sit down, Mrs. Van Dyke?” he asked.
    She looked startled, as if the thought had never occurred to her. “I suppose you might as well,” she conceded ungraciously, motioning to the chair Alberta had just vacated.
    Frank retrieved the notebook he’d dropped when he’d rushed to rescue Alberta and took the offered chair. “I gather you are Mr. Van Dyke’s second wife,” he began.
    She looked a little mollified. “Yes. His first wife died years ago, long before I met him.”
    â€œIt must be strange having stepchildren older than you are,” he observed. He didn’t know if this was true, but he figured she was the type of woman to respond to flattery. He was right.
    â€œWhy, yes, it is strange,” she replied, quite pleased. “Of course, Tad is younger than I, if only by a few years.”
    â€œHow is the young man doing? He said he was coming straight home.”
    Mrs. Van Dyke frowned slightly. “He was quite upset, of course. He went straight up to his room, and I’m afraid he took some liquor with him. He wouldn’t even tell us about what happened. I’m sure he’ll be fine, though. Men don’t feel tragedy the way women do, after all.”
    Frank wondered where she’d gotten an idea like that, but he didn’t challenge it. “Tad said your husband was in an exceptionally good mood this morning. Can you think of any reason why he would have been?”
    She looked startled. “Why, no, I can’t. I didn’t see my husband this morning. I never do, because he leaves so early, you see.”
    Frank didn’t think nine or ten o’clock was particularly early, but he wasn’t going to argue. The Van Dykes probably had separate bedrooms—rich people often did—so her not seeing him was understandable. “Then you aren’t aware of any recent success he might have had or any particularly good fortune?”
    â€œMy husband was always successful,” she assured him. “I can’t think why that would be a cause for him to be unusually cheerful. What exactly did Tad say?”
    â€œThat his father greeted him by his nickname and said it was a fine day or something like that. Since the weather is so bad today, I found that odd. I assume he must have had some other reason than the weather to think it was a fine day.”
    â€œI’m sure I couldn’t say,” she said with a puzzled frown. “Unless he was thinking about the present he was going to give me.”
    Frank was fairly