Fatal Fall by Paty Jager

Author:Paty Jager
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: murder mystery, amateur woman sleuth, Native American mystery,
Publisher: Windtree Press
Published: 2017-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

Ryan put a hand on Dr. Porter’s arm when he started to reach in and grab the oxygen canister. “Don’t touch that.” He didn’t want to believe the doctor had killed his aunt, but finding what Ryan considered key evidence in the murder in the doctor’s room was damaging.

“Miranda, take Alex down to the parlor. Shandra, go to the basement kitchen and ask Mrs. Alvarez for a garbage sack, please.”

Both women did as they were told.

“I didn’t put that there. I open that drawer maybe once a year,” Dr. Porter said as Miranda led him out of the room.

Ryan pulled out his phone and dialed Sheriff’s dispatch.

“Weippe County Sheriff’s Department,” said Charles Wyland.

“Charles, this is Ryan. I’ve discovered the missing oxygen tank. I believe the fingerprints will tell us the suspect in Mrs. Narvel’s death. I need a deputy to come to the Narvel house, pick it up, and take it to the state lab.”

“I believe Speaks is in your area. I’ll radio and let him know.”

“Thank you.” Ryan disconnected and decided to make an informal investigation of the doctor’s room.

~*~

Shandra found the stairs to the basement and hurried down, bursting through the door and into the light of the kitchen. Mrs. Alvarez and the young woman she’d spotted watching the day of the murder, jumped up from where they sat at a table.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I need a garbage bag.” She walked into the room and held her hand out to the young woman. “Shandra Higheagle, I don’t think we’ve met.”

“Dana.” The woman didn’t shake hands.

“What do you need a garbage bag for?” Mrs. Alvarez asked, pulling one out of a cupboard.

“It’s for Detective Greer. I don’t know why he wants it.” She grabbed the bag and headed to the stairs, but not before seeing a look between the two.

She huffed up the first flight, the second flight, and stopped in the doorway of the doctor’s bedroom. It was empty. She walked over to the drawer. The canister was still in the drawer.

“Ryan?” she called.

He stepped into the room. “I was next door in what appears to be Dr. Porter’s office. All his research papers are neatly bound and stacked. Nothing out of the ordinary in there.” He had on plastic gloves.

“Where did you get those?” She pointed to his hands.

“Knowing we were coming here and you would be curious, I put a pair in my pocket just in case we ran into this.” He picked up the canister. “Open the bag.”

She held the bag open and he placed the canister inside. “Do you think Dr. Porter killed his aunt?”

“I don’t know. But from marks on the victim, I believe whoever did, pulled this from the woman before she fell down the stairs. Which would mean their fingerprints could be on it. And whoever it was had to know about the hiding places in this beam.”

“People who live in this house.” Shandra thought of the two women in the kitchen. “Dana and her mother were in the kitchen just now.

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