Mayhem in the Mountains by Kelly Oliver

Author:Kelly Oliver [Oliver, Kelly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Boldwood Books

I enlisted Mrs. Capri’s help once again. With the proprietress and her keyring leading the way, our party set off for Mr. Mussolini’s room.

Mrs. Capri sorted through the keys and inserted one into the lock. She pushed the door open. Instead of entering, we all just stood there for a few seconds.

I glanced around the room. These heavy stone walls had absorbed a lot of death. No wonder local folks thought it was haunted.

Mrs. Capri stood on the threshold shaking her head and tutting her tongue. “Omicidio a casa mia.” She wrung her hands and kept repeating the same phrase over and over. “Omicidio a casa mia.” Like a shaman chanting to remove a curse, she closed her eyes and swayed from foot to foot.

Kitty showed up carrying a small leather pouch and a larger cloth sack.

Scooting around Mrs. Capri, I stepped inside the dead man’s room. Kitty and Marie followed me in. Clifford stopped to chat with the proprietress. He regaled her in English and wasn’t in the least bit deterred by her dumbfounded look.

I led Kitty to the windowsill where the used whiskey glasses sat abandoned. Less than twenty-four hours ago, the lips that had drank from them were warm and alive. I might have thought Mr. Mussolini had simply shared a nightcap with his wife, except for the fact that he’d whisked her away and hadn’t brought her back.

While his wife had been tending to their sick son, who knew where, Mr. Mussolini had played cards and then met another woman in his room.

Despicable man. My grandmother told me never to think ill of the dead. But really.

Who visited him here last night? A current or former mistress? A political rival?

Obviously, someone who wanted him dead.

Alma. She hated him. Or so she said. The way she’d used his Christian name, just the way she whispered it, made me wonder.

Nurse Gabriella. She was one of the only people who didn’t come to his room to see what had happened this morning. But why? Why would she kill Mr. Mussolini? She had been arguing with him yesterday. Demanding he make amends for her sister, her twin sister. Could that be her motive? She’d killed him to avenge her sister?

Other than me and Kitty, who were the other lipstick-wearing women trapped in the hotel last night? Marie Marvingt? I glanced over at Marie. Goodness. Her lipstick. It was red. Could she have? Was that why she seemed so distracted just now? What color red was she wearing? It was faded. Hard to tell. On the pretext of brushing lint off her shoulder, I took a closer look.

A deep shade of red. Burgundy. Not apricot red.

Still, I kept a close eye on her as she paced the room, seemingly aimlessly. Something was on her mind. She kept glancing over at Kitty as if she expected something from the girl.

Mrs. Capri poked her nose into the room as Clifford walked in.

Clifford dumped the contents of the wastepaper bin onto the bed.

Mrs. Capri cried out in protest.

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