A Star-Spangled Murder by Valerie Wolzien

Author:Valerie Wolzien [Wolzien, Valerie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Endeavour Media
Published: 2019-09-11T22:00:00+00:00

TEN

“I thought I was going to have a heart attack.”

“I wondered why you had stopped complaining about your bug bites,” Susan said, refilling her friend’s coffee cup.

“Don’t remind me. I’m trying not to scratch,” Kathleen said, clasping her hands around the beverage.

“There’s some stuff that’s supposed to stop itching in a tube in the medicine cabinet—Jed bought it last year. I don’t know whether it works or not, but—”

“I already tried it. In fact, I think maybe I’m allergic to the stuff. If anything, I feel worse. Maybe Tylenol would help,” Kathleen said.

“I sure wish I knew who was wandering around the woods last night—besides us,” Susan said a little impatiently. She liked Kathleen, but she had listened to her hunger pains and car sickness all the way to Maine; she hoped she wasn’t going to have to hear about her skin for the rest of the trip.

“Did Halsey have any idea who it was?”

“None. She says she didn’t even know there was anyone outside, besides herself, until she almost tripped over us.”

“Then she probably scared away whoever else was there.” Kathleen picked up the last piece of French toast, swirled it around in the syrup on her plate, and popped it in her mouth.

“I wonder when the girls are going to get up,” Susan said.

“Theresa and Tierney? They’ve been up for hours. I’m glad you convinced Halsey to spend the night. I heard her feeding them sometime before six this morning. They’re out on the porch with that cage they’re building. They tried to put Karma in it and discovered that they needed to do some readjustments—or find a smaller dog.”

“A smaller dog is a good idea. That animal’s awfully big,” Susan commented, sitting down to her tiny bowl of cereal and wondering, not for the first time, where Kathleen hid all the calories that she consumed daily. Certainly not anyplace that showed.

“Apparently Ted Taylor had a golden retriever when he was a boy, and he loved it so much that he just automatically assumed it was the perfect breed for his children. At least, that’s what Theresa said.

“Do you have any plans for today?” Kathleen continued. “Tierney said that you had promised to take the girls to a dance tonight. They were anxious to ask their mother, but I told them to wait. I thought she might be mistaken.…”

“It’s a tradition,” Susan interrupted.

“A Fourth of July sock hop? Or maybe a formal ball?” Kathleen joked.

“Square dancing. On top of Cadillac Mountain. In Acadia National Park. It starts at midnight.”

Kathleen opened her mouth and closed it again without saying anything. It was absurd enough to be true.

“But that’s not until tonight,” Susan continued. “There’s a baked-bean supper down at the community church that we always go to, and we should check out the finish line of the marathon around the island and the kayaking races, but that still leaves us a lot of time, doesn’t it?”

“To do what? Go to Humphrey’s funeral?”

“That’s going to have to be put off until after the autopsy.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.