Death on Demand by Carolyn G. Hart

Author:Carolyn G. Hart [Hart, Carolyn G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 1987-06-12T06:00:00+00:00

Emma Clyde wore a pink-and-white seersucker skirt and blouse and looked like summer candy. She was surprised to see Annie but gracious. Her lips, carefully painted a bright coral, parted in a smile, but the smile didn’t reach her cornflower blue eyes.

“How nice of you to drop by, dear.” A pause. “You know, I do write in the mornings.”

They stood in the main entryway. The green and gilt terrazzo floor glinted in the flood of morning sunshine through the roof-high glass pane. Water fell musically from a corner fountain, artfully constructed to look like a miniature Hawaiian waterfall. Sprays of orchids filled crimson-and-gold Chinese vases. Annie remembered reading about Emma’s prize collection of orchids. Shades of Nero Wolfe.

“I’m sorry to intrude, but I had to see you.”

It was like being a kid and going up to the top of a slide that rivaled the Empire State Building. She felt that same mixture of utter exhilaration laced with fear. Was this how The Saint felt when he began an exploit?

“You had to see me?”

“You see, I really don’t know what to do,” Annie began.

Emma waited, blue eyes alert and calculating.

“Elliot sent me the material he was going to use Sunday night.”

Emma continued to wait. She might look like summer candy, but she emanated an unyielding, icy solidity. The entryway had seemed warm and sunny when Annie first began. Now she felt as if she’d stepped into a deep freezer.

“I don’t know what to do about it.”

“Why ask me?”

“Some of the information concerns you.” Did she intend to stand there like a sphinx all morning? Damn the woman, why didn’t she react?

Emma’s face looked like a mud mask in a beauty salon.

One more try. “Look, Emma, I don’t want to go to the police with this. I thought if you could explain it to me, I wouldn’t reveal the information about you. After all, surely what Elliot wrote can’t be true.”

“Of course, it isn’t true,” Emma responded. “The Coast Guard ruled it was an accidental drowning.”

So that was it, the death of her second husband. What was it Max had picked up from the man who ran the bait shop? Rumor had it that Enrique Morales was secretly meeting a Cuban girl.

“Did the Coast Guard know about the Cuban girl?”

If it seemed chilly before, the atmosphere dropped to glacial in the elegant foyer. The soft splash of the waterfall was the only sound for a long moment.

Emma asked harshly, “How much do you want?”

“Want? Oh no, Emma, I don’t want money. I’m just trying to understand what happened.”

“It’s all in the Coast Guard report.” Emma’s voice was clipped. “Ricky and I had a few drinks after dinner at the Sans Souci Club. When we came back to the boat, he said he wanted to stay on deck for some fresh air. I went below to bed.”

“You didn’t hear anything? A splash? A cry for help?”

“As I said, we’d had a few drinks, and I’d worked hard that day. I was tired. I

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