Inherit the Wool by Betty Hechtman

Author:Betty Hechtman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mysteries & Thrillers
Publisher: Beyond the Page
Published: 2018-10-01T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

The lunch bell had stopped ringing by the time I headed to the dining hall. I never worried when Lucinda was part of my retreat because it was natural for her to play host. In fact, it seemed like it was uncomfortable for her not to play host.

As expected, my group was at the same table they’d been at before and Lucinda was refilling glasses from a pitcher of ice tea. As I glanced around the table it sunk in once again that they were all suspects. Something was getting to Courtney and she appeared frazzled. Her usually sleek dark brown hair had a little frizzy puff on the top, as if she’d been grasping at her hair in frustration. She had papers on the table in front of her and I wondered about the case she was working on. I also wondered if Lieutenant Borgnine had found out anything interesting in their talk. But I knew he’d never tell me anyway.

Zak was eyeing the room with interest. Was he trying to see if the big story he was promised was somewhere in the dining hall? His presence at the retreat seemed very contrived and I had the thought again that the whole mystery invitation was really just a cover-up and he’d planned it himself.

I thought back to him in college. He had always been adventurous and fun, but also illusive. I recognized that it was part of his charm. It was easy to fill in the blanks about him with my imagination. One quality that was real was that he’d been set on a journalism career and had tunnel vision when it came to getting ahead. I pictured him living out of a suitcase with no ties to bind him. I fast-forwarded to the day before and tried to remember if there had seemed to be any special connection between him and Vanessa. If anything it seemed like she was annoyed about something.

Lauren seemed intent on her food. Being such a do-gooder, I could see where she might have some differences with Vanessa. But would she kill her over them?

Elizabeth was sitting with her head in her hands, which I assumed had more to do with Michael than Vanessa. By the time I reached the table, Elizabeth had lifted her head and was looking at her fellow diners. “Okay, who knew that Vanessa was married to my old boyfriend?”

Lauren put down her forkful of baby lettuces. “Where did that come from?”

Elizabeth told them about running into him in the café and then she looked at me.

“You must have known. You were sitting with him.”

I had to explain that I’d just met him for the first time. I turned to the others. “The hospital called him last night and he flew up here.” I turned back to Elizabeth. “I didn’t realize who he was until I saw you sitting there and then I got the connection.”

Lauren shrugged. “Well, I didn’t know until this moment, but what’s the difference anyway?”

Courtney looked up from her papers and shrugged.

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.