Murder At Arrow Pass: An Inspector Hilary Casgrain Murder Mystery (An Elk Ridge Murder Mystery Book 2) by Anne Shillolo

Author:Anne Shillolo [Shillolo, Anne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-11-09T16:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-SEVEN

“Hi there,” I said, striving for my friendliest smile and a non-condescending tone of voice. “I’m glad to see you’re feeling better, Malin.”

The girl pushed a lock of blue hair off her forehead, picked up a set of chopsticks, and twiddled them. “I’d rather poke my eyes out with these than stay out at the farm one minute longer.”

I couldn’t help it. I laughed. “I guess you have cabin fever, as well as a flu fever. I can understand that.”

“It’s not that,” she whispered.

“Laryngitis?”

“That’s the least of my problems,” she croaked.

I had to agree with Shelley. Ruby did look a bit feverish. I had a feeling the girls were going to be banished to one of their homes in the very near future.

Ruby spoke up. “Malin said you were out at her house asking questions about Harrison. Is that what you wanted to talk to Shelley about?”

I hesitated for a moment. Was it possible the pair had something useful to tell me? They would have been preteens at the time of Andy’s death. Not witnesses. Not peers.

Also, given the fact that they were now just 15 or 16, I didn’t feel I should be speaking to them without a parent present.

At the same time, I had been at Malin’s house, and she knew very well why. There was no sense in my acting secretive. It would only annoy the two of them.

“Yes, that’s correct. I’ve been gathering some background.”

“Background,” Malin burst out. “You’ll never get anything out of anyone in this town, let alone my parents. The twins were evil. All those kids were evil. I used to sneak out at night and spy on them. If you want to know what was going on? Just ask me.”

I gave her a level gaze, trying to hide my excitement and the racing of my pulse.

I pulled out a chair and sat down. “Fine, I will.”

Malin looked over at Ruby, and Ruby spoke up. “Malin saw a lot of bad stuff. She’s never talked about it before. Well, except to me.”

“What about your parents?” I asked the girl.

She rolled her eyes. “Let’s just say my father wanted sons. The minute I said a word about anything, I’d be grounded for like a year and a half. And my mother does whatever he says.”

“What about a counselor? Or even one of the officers down at the station?”

Malin looked embarrassed. “I’m, like, always getting into trouble. I don’t want to have to see the cops if I don’t have to. Ruby convinced me to talk to you.”

Once again, I had to struggle to control my reaction. Ruby hadn’t been in trouble, officially, although I knew the constables suspected her of various shenanigans around town. I would have expected her and Malin to be in total agreement on interaction with law-enforcement.

Still, I had to think of procedures. “I’ll be straight with you, girls. I have legally binding rules I have to follow. Can I ask how old you are?”

Ruby said in a low tone, “We’re both 16 and, no, we don’t want an adult with us.

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