Maria Hudgins - Lacy Glass 01 - Scorpion House by Maria Hudgins

Author:Maria Hudgins [Hudgins, Maria]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery: Cozy - Botanist - Egypt
Publisher: Maria Hudgins
Published: 2012-03-25T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Lacy awoke to breakfast smells and wondered if Bay knew anything about the events of last night. She listened for sounds from her end of the building, heard nothing, and got up. Graham’s, Shelley’s, Lanier’s, and Susan’s doors were all closed. Only Paul’s door was open. She was certain Susan couldn’t have returned from the hospital last night. Even if they had revived and stabilized her, they’d surely keep her a few days. But she had to check.

Opening Susan’s door, gently, she peeked in. The room, as she expected, was exactly as they had left it last night. The luggage tag Dave had used as a tongue depressor still lay on the floor. Her gaze swung around to the built-in bench and stopped on the dyed linen swatches she had left there yesterday. She would need them today. But Graham said nothing should be touched because this might be a crime scene and it should be left exactly as it was.

But that wouldn’t apply to her linen swatches, would it? It wouldn’t matter if she took those back. She picked up the swatches, then found another one, a stray, on the floor. She grabbed it, shook it out. Did a double take.

It looked as if it had been tie-dyed, with purple streaks on a tomato-red background. Nothing she had given Susan yesterday looked like this. By process of elimination, she determined this was the sample from the acidified cochineal solution, but when she’d given it to Susan it had been a uniform tomato red. Where had this purple come from? It was in haphazard streaks, as if someone had swiped the cloth across … what? The color of cochineal, she recalled, was pH dependent and it turned purple in a base. Someone had rubbed this swatch against something alkaline, but what?

As she was closing Susan’s door Shelley Clark ran past, one hand over her mouth. Graham stepped out from the door adjacent to Shelley’s, yawning and scratching his stomach. “What’s up with Shelley? Is she barfing again?” he mumbled, then yawned again.

* * *

“This is very difficult for me, but I must tell you. Susan died last night. She was pronounced dead about four this morning.” Roxanne had called them together and they all sat around the computer table in the antika room.

Bay, who had overheard the talk around the sparsely populated breakfast table, threw her knotty hands in the air and called out in a shivery voice, “Selket! I told you someone was going to die. Now, two people are dead! Selket will have her way!”

“Who?” Shelley asked.

“The scorpion goddess,” Roxanne muttered. “Pay no attention.” She cleared her throat and went on. “Do any of you know Susan’s family? We were fortunate that Lacy took care of notifying Joel’s wife, but unless one of you knows Susan’s parents—I know her parents are still alive. I’ve heard her mention them—the job will fall to me.”

No one said anything.

Roxanne heaved a sigh. “All right. I’ll do it. Now. There will be an autopsy to determine what happened.

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