Organized for Murder Read Online Free PDF Page A

person least likely to gain from her murder."
    "Like all the other witnesses in the case, we needed you here to take your fingerprints," he explained. "Get a hair sample to eliminate trace evidence."
    "So, everyone else has come in?"
    "Well, most." His expression changed, admitting he was telling her more than he wanted. "This is just a first step in the investigation. And since your story follows a logical path and you clearly have no inheritance motive—"
    "Then, I'm not under arrest?"
    "You are a lead we needed to question," he said. "Not to say we won't have more questions for you later, but you've satisfied what we need to know at the present time."
    Kate almost congratulated herself, thinking all misunderstanding was cleared away, until she remembered the ride in the police cruiser and wondered whether HPD had offered chauffeur services to any of the other 'leads.' She didn't want to ask. "Am I free to leave?"
    "Yes." Lieutenant Johnson put the fingerprint card atop his notes and closed the folder. Rising, he added, "But don't leave the area."
    "That sounds like I'm still a suspect."
    "Everyone who was in that house remains a suspect." Johnson tapped the file twice on the tabletop, then turned and signaled Constable Banks, concluding the interview.
    Keith enveloped her in a hug as soon as she entered the vacant lobby, and Kate found herself tearing up. "Honey, it's okay. It's over." He stroked her hair.
    She nodded, unable to answer, still worried about the suspect label hanging like neon over her head. Nevertheless, this wasn't the place to discuss it. She whispered, "Let's go home."
    The Jeep's dashboard gave off a comforting glow as they drove down Main Street. The two-hundred-year-old First Episcopal Church stood stately white in the moonlight, its steeple pointing the way to heaven, with the darkened maple trees behind creating a perfect, inky backdrop. They passed Tucker's Hardware and the Country Store, alive during the day to serve residents' needs and now shut tight. Only the dozen or so streetlights fought the darkness. Midnight was fast approaching, and Kate wanted to be home, snuggled under the down comforter in the couple's king-sized bed.
    "Did Meg take the girls home with her?"
    Keith shook his dark head in the dim light. "They didn't want to go, and dug in their heels to be home whenever we came back. Meg promised to either get a sitter or stay up and trek between the two houses."
    "Poor Meg." There was plenty of room in their house for the boys to sleep over, but the youngest Berman refused to bed down anywhere but his own bunk.
    Yet, as much as she trusted her neighbor with the twins, she was glad the girls were snug in their own room. The Berman place was a bit of a madhouse with two large dogs, an equal number of cats, a snake, a bearded dragon, an ant farm, two rambunctious boys, and an entirely different household routine. Besides reawakening the pleadings for a pet of their own, something Kate continued to fend off as long as possible, the change in bedtime venue would likely have been too much for Samantha and Suzanne. Especially after watching their mother escorted away by the local constabulary. In a Berman bed, the girls would have no doubt been lying awake in the darkness, worried and wired, set to be tired and cranky the next evening—when Keith could escape to the radio station.
    Kate didn't want her kids cranky; she'd reserved that emotion for herself.
    Her exhausted mind still labored through roller-coaster feelings evoked from the grief of learning her client had been killed, followed by the nerves of being interrogated about the murder.
    Keith reached across the center console and laced his fingers with hers. She felt huge tears swell and fall. One hit the back of his hand, and he looked over. Wordlessly, he pulled to the shoulder of the road in front of the Winstons' small apple farm and wrapped his arms around her.
    "I'm okay. Angry more than anything." She sniffed, and counted off