Raisin the Dead Read Online Free PDF

stop way short of murder.
    â€œI’ll give you a little background,” my mother continued. “Although the town supports the library expansion, which was supposed to be starting any day now, the Library Advisory Board is having a hard time raising all the funds. The bachelor auction we had helped a lot, then Philip promised to provide us with an extremely generous, extremely large monetary gift, which meant no tax increase to the town to pay for the expansion.
    â€œDestiny’s residents will pitch a fit if taxes are raised, but without Philip’s help, there’s no other way. We’ve already borrowed as much as we can, so Philip’s gift was a true blessing for us. It would mean we could go ahead without any money worries.”
    â€œWhy was he being so generous?”
    â€œSince he obviously couldn’t take it with him and he’d never been married, so he had no immediate family to leave it to, he said it might as well go to something worthwhile before he died. We’d decided to name one of the new meeting rooms after him. He was thrilled.”
    â€œWhy wouldn’t he have left it to Jill, since they were engaged?”
    My mother nodded. “I asked him the exact same thing. He said he planned to leave Jill ‘a little something,’ as he put it.”
    â€œSo he hadn’t given any money towards the expansion before he died?”
    â€œNo.” She looked crestfallen. “He was about to, then all of a sudden we were having this heated argument about him possibly changing his mind—that’s what I started explaining on the phone to you—and not supporting the expansion at all. When he announced his misgivings at our last meeting, we were speechless. We couldn’t fathom why he’d pull out.
    â€œI requested to meet him alone, hence us being at Mia’s. He finally confessed someone was threatening him with harm if he gave us any money. Calling him on the phone, he said. He didn’t want the other members to know. He was afraid it would scare us all.” She worried her bottom lip between her teeth. “I hope it wasn’t Daniel Bixby. He’s my senior reference librarian, but unfortunately, he’s dead set against the expansion because of its effect on the Westley House.”
    I went on alert, like a dog that just got a whiff of bacon frying. Vegetarian bacon, of course. “Harm? What kind of harm?” Harm covers a whole lot of ground.
    Her face clouded over. “Philip wasn’t specific. I didn’t believe him. I thought he was trying to renege. Now he’s dead. I feel awful. How could I have thought that of him? What if someone really was threatening him? Like Daniel?”
    I squeezed her hand. “It’s not your fault. You didn’t kill him. I’m sure no one did.” I wanted to assure her, so I didn’t dare wonder aloud if someone didn’t want the expansion bad enough to target all the board members with harm, and hadn’t gotten around to her, or the other members, yet. “Once his autopsy confirms that, you’ll feel better. I’m sure we will all feel better. If you don’t want to keep talking about it . . .”
    She waved her tissue at me. “No, honey, it’s okay. Go ahead.”
    â€œWhen you called me about Philip’s death, you said the expansion was becoming problematic, something about frogs, and the Westley House, which I take it has something to do with Daniel Bixby.”
    â€œOh yes. The expansion is supposed to go on the land behind the library parking lot. It also happens to be home to the endangered Yellow Spikey Tree Frog. We had no idea. The Oleandra County Preservation Society is concerned our new building will disrupt their habitat. They want us to build somewhere else, which makes absolutely no sense.”
    â€œThey’re worried about a frog? Really? That sounds over the top. I love animals, but aren’t