Melody of Murder by BV Lawson

Author:BV Lawson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Crimetime Press

Chapter 24

Wednesday, December 1

Drayco woke up the next morning wondering if the concert audition had all been a dream. But when the full reality hit him, he let out a groan. He should have listened to his instincts and canceled the audition months ago.

Humiliation, rejection—he’d experienced those feelings many times, just not with the piano. But that wasn’t quite right, was it? At home, it was a daily occurrence thanks to his injured arm—he just didn’t have an audience to witness it. Hopefully, the compromise he’d worked out with the committee would suffice.

Time for the best therapy he knew, to get back to work. He wasn’t hungry but grabbed some Manhattan Special espresso sodas from the fridge. As fortification went, they were as good as anything else. Caffeine, sugar, carbonation—what more did you need?

After a short drive, Drayco parked beside LS Metals. Once inside, he waved at the clerk near the door and pointed at a man in the rear of the shop. As Drayco headed toward Leon Sable, his target looked up with an exasperated frown. Drayco handed over a chai latte he’d snagged from a drive-through coffee shop.

Sable stared at it for a moment before accepting it with a nod of his head. “Thanks. I could really use this right now.”

“Leon, I’ve recently learned that despite the denials of Johnny Burdell, he did know Graham from their involvement in an environmental group.”

Sable slurped some of the latte, then said, “And you want to know if I’m lying, too?”

“Just wondering if the three of you hung out together.”

“As I told you before, I don’t know the guy. But when I read the obit in the paper again, a day or so ago, well . . . ”

He paused and took another sip of his drink. “It finally sank in about where Graham was hit. And then I recalled Graham talking about Burdell once. It wasn’t about puzzles. Had something to do with recycling or some such thing. I guess that’s the treehugger group you mentioned.”

“Burdell never visited your store before the fire?”

“Not that I recall. Well, while I was there, anyway. I did have some days off. And no, we never ‘hung out’ together.”

“You weren’t part of that environmental group?”

“Nope. Doubt they’d want me. Metals create a lot of pollution. Leaching of metals in the water and soil and such. I’m not proud of that, but there’s worse out there. Plastics that never decompose, toxic chemicals, radioactive crap.”

“So you don’t know how long or how well Graham and Johnny Burdell knew each other?”

“You should ask Burdell about that.”

“I did, but now Burdell has disappeared. Or left his store behind, anyway.”

“Maybe it’s built on some sacred Indian burial ground. Who knows? Bad luck? Cursed? Maybe he’s just ready to retire. Hell, I’m almost there, myself.”

“What about Ezra Layton? Did he ever mention Burdell? Or the same environmental group?”

Sable coughed, then cleared his throat. “I don’t recall. Ezra and I had little personal interaction outside work. I liked Ezra enough, despite his laziness.

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