Murder in the Morning by Betty Rowlands

Author:Betty Rowlands [Rowlands, Betty]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781786816580
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2018-09-19T16:00:00+00:00

Fifteen

Melissa rang Barney’s number but there was no reply. He should be home by now; there was no evening class on Monday. She tried again an hour later with the same result. After some hesitation she called Ken Harris’s home and was told by his wife that he had not yet returned. Her imagination went wild; she pictured Barney seated in a hard chair in a dingy police interview room while the detective probed and bullied and cajoled, plucking away at the outer layers of his mind, stripping it down to its sensitive core, implacable in his search for signs of weakness or guilt. He would use whatever insight into Angy’s true nature that he had gleaned from Rick and Lou to undermine the pure, unsullied image that Barney was dedicated to preserving. She spent the evening trying to work, with limited success.

At ten o’clock, Harris rang back. ‘Sorry I was out when you called,’ he said affably. ‘What can I do for you?’

‘I’ve been trying to contact Barney Willard.’ That was foolish, she thought, laying yourself wide open.

She detected some irony in Harris’s voice as he replied, ‘We haven’t arrested him, if that’s what you’re worried about.’ There were sounds of swallowing and the rattle of a cup in a saucer. ‘I did pop round for a chat with him earlier this evening and I thought he seemed a bit jumpy. Perhaps he’s gone to the pub to steady his nerves.’

‘So he’s still under suspicion?’ Melissa’s heart descended into her stomach and lay there, throbbing like a muffled drum at a funeral.

‘He’s one of several people who may be able to help us with our enquiries.’

‘Oh please, Ken, spare me the jargon. Why did you let Rick Lawrence go? He had a long-standing grudge against Angy . . . surely he’s the obvious . . . ’

‘Sometimes,’ Harris said blandly, ‘things are almost too obvious.’

Immediately, she grasped his implication and was outraged. ‘Are you suggesting that Barney made up his mind to kill Angy and cold-bloodedly chose a method that would throw suspicion on someone else? He wouldn’t do a thing like that! It’s monstrous!’

‘I’m not suggesting anything. We’re simply proceeding with our investigations.’

‘Oh please, Ken, what have you got on Barney?’

‘You know very well that I can’t give you that sort of information,’ said Harris, his gravelly voice unusually gentle. ‘But here’s something I’d like you to think about. Of all the ways to commit a murder, isn’t it a strange coincidence that Angy was stabbed in the throat, just like she was in the portrait?’

‘Not if the same man carried out both attacks.’

‘You heard the reports. We’ve eliminated Lawrence from our enquiries.’

Melissa felt as if she was falling through layer after layer of despair. ‘I won’t believe Barney killed Angy!’ she declared.

‘Now look here, Melissa!’ A note of impatience, anger almost, had entered Harris’s voice. ‘I want you to promise me you won’t see Willard alone again until this case is cleared up. Do you hear me?’ he went on as she remained silent.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.