Death on the River Walk by Carolyn Hart

Author:Carolyn Hart
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Tags: Detective, Mystery & Detective - Women Sleuths, Paseo del Rio (San Antonio, Contemporary Women, Mystery & Detective, Tex.), American Mystery & Suspense Fiction, Fiction - Mystery, San Antonia (Tex.), General, Mystery & Detective - Series, Mystery Fiction, Women Sleuths, Henrie O (Fictitious character), San Antonio (Tex.), Women journalists, Fiction
ISBN: 9780380974153
Publisher: New York : Avon Twilight, c1999.
Published: 1999-03-31T23:00:00+00:00

1.

Manuel Garza lived above the store

.

2.

Manuel was incapable of speech, communicating through shadows on a wall or floor created by hand gestures in front of a light source

.

The police would have these questions:

1.

Who was the victim ?

2.

Why was he inside Tesoros ?

3.

Did Manuel know the dead man ?

4.

Did Manuel move the body ?

5.

Why did Manuel mop away traces of that removal ?

Following hard on these questions would come this conclusion: Manuel committed the murder and was trying to get rid of the body and erase all traces of the crime.

It all made perfect sense-if you'd never had any contact with Manuel. Certainly I could not pretend I knew him, but his gentleness appeared to be so genuine and so pervasive that it seemed absurd to suspect him of violence.

But as the police well know, many murders occur with no prior history of violence. Moreover, the police deal with facts, and the facts were damming. The police could suggest various scenarios: Manuel surprised an intruder in the store, struggled with him and chased him, perhaps in self-defense in his own mind, battering the man from behind long past any necessity for submission but perhaps not possessing the judgment to recognize when the threat was over. That was the most innocent explanation. There could be other, uglier suggestions. If the police linked Manuel and the victim, they could posit a personal grudge, a late-night meeting, a quarrel, murder.

I opened my eyes.

Officer Wagner stood in an easy stance with his hands behind his back, feet apart, but his blue eyes moved constantly, keeping his charges in view.

Manuel was on his knees in front of the fireplace, assiduously polishing the bottom line of tiles. Despite the gray in his hair, he looked young and supple and he continued the steady work without apparent effort. His jeans were old and soft, faded lighter than robin's egg blue. That made the bloody smear on the left pant leg highly visible. His athletic shoes had white honeycomb soles. These, too, had traces of dark stains.

Frank still stood on the balcony. From the back, with his heavy shoulders curved, he looked like a bear, still and intent, hunched forward for a better view. Muted sounds of activity drifted through the open windows-low voices and the scrape of shoes on the flagstones. Occasionally a bright light flickered. Still photographs, too?

Iris and Rick sat close together on a sofa opposite me. Rick held Iris tight in the crook of his arm. His cheek was pressed against the top of her head.

The only sounds were the faint scuff as Manuel's cloth made its endless circles on the tiles and the noises drifting up from the River Walk.

Officer Wagner was near the chili-cart desk. His gaze constantly circled the room as he tracked Manuel at the fireplace, Frank on the balcony, me in my wicker chair, and Rick and Iris huddled on the sofa. He had a side view of Rick and Iris. They sat opposite me.

I looked casually at them, snuggled so close together.

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