The Case of the Lady in Apartment 308 Read Online Free PDF

their own choice, but she’d always considered Ed as her own child.
    In the continuing effort of his acquaintances even she had touted several good, staunch, true women. But he’d never taken them out on a date singly. He’d had several other couples along, every time.
    But he had dated singly. When he’d gone with the women of his choice, he’d never allowed anyone else along.
    Ed was now thirty-seven years old and still unmarried. His observant mother had quite comfortably come into the idea that if his dad died before she did, Ed would move in and take care of her and the house…the yard, the errands. The grocery shopping…
    It was something of a jolt for Mrs. Hollingsworth to find her son was probably thinking in another line entirely. Ed was concerned with some female’s diet. That was very serious.
    Ed wasn’t aware of “serious.” He was curious about the woman and feeding her was a way to observe her. She was a strange person. He couldn’t figure her out.
    In all of Ed’s life, there hadn’t been too many women who didn’t wiggle around for his observation. Marcia didn’t wiggle. She looked at him as if she knew more than he did.
    How rude of her.
    She had the ears of a cat. He’d come to the open door of the apartment she was painting, and she’d bepicking up her brush. She wasn’t just dipping it into the paint, she was picking up the brush and then she dipped it.
    Instead of interrupting her painting, he was interrupting something else. It was a good thing he was paying by the apartment instead of by the hour.
    But what was distracting her? And there were those discreet binoculars. Was she a lookout?
    Was she nosy? Was she watching some other man? For whom? For…what? Why?
    And Ed figured Marcia was in some sort of trouble and needed a strong male to take care of her. Somebody like Ed Hollingsworth.
    He said, “You’re still in this room?”
    She cast a brief, patient glance his way and replied, “I’m careful.”
    He thought she’d be a lot quicker if he stood around and watched her. She wouldn’t need to wander around and hurry back to the painting when she heard him coming down the hall.
    She didn’t seem to act guilty when he caught her that way. She just didn’t want any questions? What distracted her? Who?
    Since he did pay her by the apartment and not the hour, why did he care?
    Well, after all, he was a time and motion expert. Many and many a time, he’d gone and studied how people could do a job more efficiently.
    This female painter needed more concentration. But then…He wasn’t anxious for her to get through withthe painting. Although it took a good deal of his time to keep check on her safety, he didn’t even notice how much time it took for him to monitor her. His time and motion checking her didn’t count.
    The most intrusive part of his life was the constant meetings and telephone calls trying to find a place that would hire him. He was very marketable. But he was getting pickier and pickier about what jobs were being offered.
    He’d turned down three positions since Marcia had begun working for him. His conscience touched on that briefly, but he didn’t examine the illogic of the blue-eyed reason.
    It wasn’t the woman who’d influenced his choice, it was—the apartments. He didn’t want to leave town and leave the supervision of the apartments to a stranger.
    Right.
    He said to the aloof woman, “I’ll bring your lunch today. Can you eat about twelve?”
    She looked at him with a weighing sobriety. Then she said grudgingly, “Okay.”
    No surprise, no smile, just that reluctant “Okay.” The woman had no idea how to treat a man. She needed lessons. For her own life, she needed to know how to handle a man. He could help her in learning such skills.
    He smiled just a tad.
    She gave him a glance that a woman would give to a spider.
    She probably didn’t know about black widow spiders who ate the male after they’d mated.
    He considered her. He wouldn’t