An Old Faithful Murder by Valerie Wolzien

Author:Valerie Wolzien [Wolzien, Valerie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Endeavour Media
Published: 2019-08-28T22:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-FOUR

It was Beth who made Susan realize how little the Ericksens were affected by Randy’s death.

“I keep thinking about Randy” was the way she put it. “It must be terrible to die among strangers.”

Susan wondered if Beth was thinking that she was also among strangers. Beth’s next comment, that “Randy and Darcy hadn’t been together long,” gave Susan an opening.

“Had you met him before this trip?”

“Once. In New York City. Jon and I were there after Christmas. He was visiting me. I grew up in New Jersey, and my family still lives there,” she explained. “Jon has been living in the city since last fall. He was on some sort of work-study semester. I don’t think he knew Randy before then. Randy just graduated from NYU last year, and he’s been working for an ad agency since then. By Christmas they were sharing an apartment.”

“Randy’s?”

“I don’t think so.” She stopped for a minute. “Now that I think about it, I’m really not sure. But I do know that Phyllis had done a lot of the decorating.”

“Really?” Susan didn’t know many grown-up children whose mothers had decorated their first apartments. Not that she didn’t know a lot of mothers who were dying to try. In her own home, her children had insisted on displaying their own taste in their individual abodes. The results were interesting: Chad was living in the middle of a montage of long-haired rock musicians. It would have given her nightmares, but he loved it. Chrissy’s room was covered with posters of her favorite artists’ work and piles of books; Susan actually enjoyed putting away laundry in there.

“Yes, and she did an incredible job. It’s just a tiny fourth-floor walk-up in the Village—two rooms only, but she turned the bedroom into a fantasy, fabric on the walls, pillows everywhere. She even bought them an antique sleigh bed.…”

Susan didn’t listen too carefully to Beth’s description of the wonders of Darcy’s apartment. She was beginning to tire of the works of Phyllis Ericksen. Actually, she was beginning to get tired of everything here. She was hungry again and could use a cup of coffee. She had suggested to Beth that they talk in the restaurant, but Beth had explained that she was waiting for Jon.

“Even in Jon’s dorm room …” Beth was saying when Susan returned to the conversation. “You should see it.”

“I’d like to. What do you think about the murders?” she asked, trying to return to the subject that really interested her.

“I … I really don’t know,” Beth said. “It all seems a little unreal somehow. First the fake body turning up in that pool, and then George dying, and now finding Randy’s body—it’s almost too much.”

“It’s not the vacation you planned.”

“No, it certainly isn’t. I’ll admit I was worried about this trip. I’d never met Jon’s parents, and I didn’t know how they would feel about me or the fact that we’re living together.…”

“And how did they feel?”

Beth looked surprised. “I don’t think they cared one way or the other.

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.