Murder and Mega Millions: A High Desert Cozy Mystery by Dianne Harman

Author:Dianne Harman [Harman, Dianne]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2018-04-11T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 12

“Hi, Carl,” Marty said when he answered her phone call to him the following morning. “Bear with me, but I have a rather odd request for you. First of all, have you ever thought you’d like to be involved in solving a crime?”

“Of course.” Carl chuckled at the other end of the line. “I have my very own Superman cape in the closet just waiting to be called so it can be taken out and put into action. Every boy and man wants to do that, but Marty, you’re already making me nervous. I’ll never forget how your sister brought that big kitchen knife into the bedroom, sliced through the Styrofoam wig stand, and pulled out that missing diamond ring. Darling, I have to tell you if it involves Laura and that woo-woo stuff she does, the answer might very well be no. Let me ask you a question. Does this have anything to do with the death of Melissa Ross?”

Marty sighed. “You’re never going to let me forget that wig stand episode, are you? Almost every time I see you, you bring it up. No, Carl, Laura is not involved in this, although it may have something to do with Melissa’s death.”

At least Laura’s not involved in what I’m going to ask you to do, and she won’t be with us, Marty thought, internally justifying her response.

“You told me about Rhonda Taylor when I stopped by your shop the other day,” she continued, “and how she more or less defines herself as being the top art and antique collector in the Palm Springs area. I’d like to meet her. I was thinking maybe you could call her and tell her that you have a good friend who’s an appraiser, and you were telling me that she had the best art and antique collection in the area. That should feed her ego. Anyway, I’d like you to ask her if you could show me her collection, and the sooner the better.”

“I can do you one better than that, Marty. I have a perfect excuse to go there. She bought quite a few pieces at the auction Tuesday night, although your deceased client got the best of them,” he said with a catty undertone. “Unfortunately, l couldn’t attend the auction. Anyway, I can tell her I’d like to see the new additions to her collection. She and I talked last week about the auction, so it would be very natural for me to want to see what she got.”

“I was hoping you would say something like that,” Marty said with a smile. She looked out the window to where Duke and Patron were frolicking in the courtyard. As if they could sense her looking at them, they turned and approached the door.

“Knowing Rhonda, her ego is so tied up in her collections, I’m sure she’ll invite us over,” Carl was saying. “I’ll call her this morning and get back to you. I’ll see what I can do to get us in to see her collections as soon as possible.

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