Escrowbar Holder (The Lily Sprayberry Cozy Mystery Series Book 1) by Carolyn Ridder Aspenson

Author:Carolyn Ridder Aspenson [Ridder Aspenson, Carolyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Magnum Grace Publishing
Published: 2023-10-09T16:00:00+00:00

12

Mr. Goodson answered his door with a smile. “Lily, twice in a few days? What a pleasure.” He stepped onto his porch and closed the door behind him. “The missus is having a rough time of it today. Best we visit out here.”

We sat in two rocking chairs on his porch.

“Now,” he said. “What can I do for you?”

There were two ways I could handle things. I could be direct or manipulative. I’d never been good at manipulation, so I went with direct. “It was awful, seeing Mr. Franklin dead like that.”

“I can only imagine,” he said.

I tapped my foot on the porch floor. “I feel I have a vested interest in finding out the truth.”

“I’d probably feel the same way. Give myself some closure.”

I turned my head his direction and clutched my purse close to my body. “Mr. Franklin’s body was cold.”

“He’d been dead a while then.”

I nodded. “I read it takes about twelve hours for a dead body to feel cold. Deputy Willard implied I was one of their suspects, but I was at home with my parents twelve hours before I found Mr. Franklin.”

“Can’t imagine why someone would think you could kill a man.”

I shrugged. “I heard Mr. Franklin was a poker player, and that you are too.”

He exhaled. “That’s true, but that doesn’t mean I killed the man.”

“He cheated, didn’t he?”

He nodded once.

“And you lost a lot of money.”

He nodded again.

“Where were you between seven and nine the night before I found Mr. Franklin’s body?

Mr. Goodson chuckled, but when he saw my tight jaw and furrowed brow, he stopped. “I was home with my wife. She’s been ill. We had the paramedics out at around 6:30, and then her doctor sent over a nurse to watch her. Billy Ray Brownlee and Nurse Sanders can confirm that.”

My face flushed. “I’m sorry.” I blinked and a few rebel tears betrayed me. I didn’t want to cry in front of him. “I don’t think you killed him.”

He smiled, then leaned forward and patted my knee. “Lily, it’s alright to want to know the truth. To do that, you’ve got to have some uncomfortable conversations. It’s okay.”

“Do you think Earl Ellison or Bevis Morton did it?”

He stared off down the street. “I can’t say. Now, I know they lost a lot of money to Franklin, and they’ve said some things they shouldn’t have, but that’s how men get sometimes. They get angry and shoot off at the mouth, but they didn’t follow through with what they said.”

“Did they threaten Mr. Franklin?”

He turned toward me. “Why is this so important to you?”

“Like I said, I have a vested interest.”

He studied me for a moment. “I don’t think that’s the reason.”

“It is,” I said.

He leaned back in his chair and rocked. We were silent for a bit before he piped up. “Sometimes, justice comes with a price, Lily. That price isn’t always paid by who you’d expect.”

I watched his neighbor walk to his mailbox. “I think I’m willing to take that risk.”

He turned to me again with a sigh.

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