Mabel Gets The Ax by Susan Kimmel Wright

Author:Susan Kimmel Wright [Wright, Susan Kimmel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mountain Brook Ink
Published: 2021-07-04T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Four

Mabel stared at Nanette, slack jawed. “Helen died of…a heart attack?”

“That’s what Linnea said. Though she did have that…wound. Whatever occurred may well have precipitated the heart issue.”

“Indeed.” Mabel gently set her cup down, trying to imagine a scenario that would have resulted in an ax-like wound and a heart attack. “Does that mean the police aren’t treating Helen’s death as a homicide?”

“That, I haven’t heard, one way or another. But one would presume….”

What Nanette would presume, Mabel didn’t know. She herself would presume that an ax wound meant homicide. Even if the ax blow turned out not to be the closest proximate cause of Helen’s death, that injury would, as Nanette said, surely have precipitated it. However inexperienced the Medicine Spring PD might be with homicides, that much should be a no-brainer.

“Nanette, excuse my asking. I’ve been puzzling over this since the night I found her. I didn’t have a chance to examine the room. Even if I had, I didn’t know the room’s contents, so I wouldn’t have known if anything was missing or out of place.”

“You’re wondering what I observed when the police called me in to look at the parlor?”

Mabel nodded, grateful not to have to ask.

“That was interesting. Even though Helen hated that room, and never wanted it opened, she was in there. The display case had been opened.”

“Unlocked?” Mabel asked.

Nanette nodded again. “As opposed to broken into. And the hatchet was missing, so I’d think that’s the presumed weapon?”

This was what Mabel had believed all along.

“There’s a back door in the corner. Have you seen it? It leads into the garden. I don’t think it’s been used in years.”

Mabel shook her head. Having only been inside the room once, she hadn’t had a chance to notice much more than the body on the carpet.

“Maybe the killer left the case open and ran out that way,” Nanette said. “I’m sure if I had bumped someone off, and people came into the building, I’d bolt.”

“Same here.” Mabel grinned, hearing Nanette talk about bumping people off.

“Was there anything else?”

Nanette slowly shook her head. “I told the police everything looked about the same, except for the missing hatchet. A few pieces in the case appeared to have been moved a bit. It appeared as if Helen had been dusting. There was a microfiber cloth on the floor under her.”

“Did it look like there was a struggle?”

Nanette shrugged. “A chair was out of place—it might have been jarred. A rug was crumpled. But nothing knocked over, or anything like that.”

“That’s all I saw, in my quick glance. But enough, wouldn’t you think, to say the scene suggested some sort of struggle? Given Helen’s orderly nature?”

Nanette rubbed her chin. “Well…yes. But it could have been a result of her reeling about.”

Mabel glanced at the time. “I’d better get going. I have my animals with me, and I need to get them home. Thank you for the tea.”

“Thank you for coming. I hope you’ll continue with the society. We’ll never survive without younger members like yourself.

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.