Murder in New York: A High Desert Cozy Mystery (High Desert Cozy Mystery Series Book 19) by Dianne Harman

Author:Dianne Harman [Harman, Dianne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2022-01-14T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 11

Finished with their detective work for the day, Jeff decided to take Marty out to a restaurant that had been recommended to him. It was a popular Thai restaurant in the Upper East Side of town and they began talking about the case over a bowl of fresh mussels soaked in red curry paste and coconut milk.

“I’m sorry that we’ve been sucked into this BBC murder mess with Hank while we’re here, but I know if anybody can help him get some insight into the world of antiques, it’s you,” Jeff said as he sat across the table from Marty.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence. I’ll do what I can, but it’s going to be difficult to find out what really happened to Alan Woolsham that night. From what I can see, after the filming was finished for the day, Alan had a massive argument with his director, Dave Cooper. Then we’ve been told he went to St. Patrick’s Cathedral’s underground night-time catacombs tour to cool down.

“From there he went back to the set where the film crew was still working to sort things out with Dave, and it appears they made some sort of amends. Then Alan disappeared into one of the rear cubicles that had been set up for private appraisals of antiques belonging to the public. That’s where he was murdered, but his body wasn’t discovered until the next morning by the museum security guard,” Marty said.

“That’s right. So who have we got and what do we know?” Jeff asked.

“Well, going backward, we finally met Alan’s stalker, Doreen Maude. She’s clearly very high-strung, and apparently, she was totally obsessed with him. She admitted sending the two letters to him, as well as the abusive letter to his assistant, Alex Wagner. Those letters were found by Alan and Alex on their respective hotel pillows,” Marty said.

“She was at the Whitney Museum on the first day of filming for the Antiques Spotlight, and she is a local resident, so she would have been familiar with the building layout. She got rejected by Alan when she invited him for a coffee date after talking to him before the show started, and she showed no remorse for sending the nasty letter to Alex. She also doesn’t have a solid alibi for the time when Alan was murdered,” Jeff said gravely.

Marty sighed as she took another mussel and dipped it into the curry sauce. “I’m sure Hank will check with her neighbors to corroborate her version of the events, but those letters she wrote sure don’t make Doreen look all that innocent. I mean, how did she find out what rooms Alan and Alex would be staying in, let alone get in them to put the letters on their pillows? That’s a whole lot of intent right there,” Jeff said.

“Yeah, I know. And what did you think of Christopher Pryce?” Marty asked.

“Apart from him being a superficial snob? Doreen’s claims of him handling stolen goods are very serious, but if I were Hank, I’d definitely be looking into them.

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