Murder on Sisters' Row by Victoria Thompson

Author:Victoria Thompson
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: PENGUIN group
Published: 2011-05-12T22:00:00+00:00

FRANK HAD READ THREE NEWSPAPERS AND FELT NO BETTER informed than he had been before. He looked up automatically when the coffee shop door opened and was surprised to see Sarah. For a minute, he thought she might have brought someone for him to question, but she was alone. He rose from his chair and pulled out another at his table for her. “That didn’t take long.”

“There was a bottle of laudanum at the house, but it’s empty. Miss Biafore is certain it was nearly full the last time she noticed it. She would have bought more if she knew someone had used the last of it.”

“So that could be what killed her. Did you find out where her purse was?”

“Not for certain, but Miss Biafore said she usually just laid it on the table in the hallway. She wanted the women who lived there to think she trusted them.”

“But you don’t know for sure?”

“No. I’ll have to ask Miss Yingling and Mrs. Spratt-Williams if they remember.”

“Either of them could be the killer, you know.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Miss Yingling is the one who convinced Mr. Van Orner to let you investigate, and I can’t think of any possible reason why Mrs. Spratt-Williams would want to kill her friend.”

“Just because you can’t think of it doesn’t mean it isn’t there. What did that girl Amy have to say for herself?”

“I didn’t see her. She’s gone.”

“What do you mean, she’s gone?”

“I mean she packed up herself and her baby and left this morning.”

“Where did she go?”

“They don’t know. She didn’t even tell anyone she was leaving. Lisa—Miss Biafore—thinks she may have gone back to Mrs. Walker’s house.”

“Why would she go there? Mrs. Walker was going to give her baby away.”

“I didn’t say she did. I said that’s all Lisa could think of. I don’t think Amy had any money of her own, and if she had family, why didn’t she go there before? Nothing else makes sense.”

“What about the other women in the house?”

“I talked to both of them, but they’re too frightened to be much help. They don’t remember anything that happened yesterday or even who was in the house. They never noticed Mrs. Van Orner’s purse or who she talked to. I can’t imagine either of them would want to kill her. Without her, they don’t have any hope at all.”

“You’re probably right, and Amy running away doesn’t look good for her,” Frank said.

“But we still don’t know any reason why she’d want Mrs. Van Orner dead, and if she did have one, wouldn’t she stay around to benefit from it?”

“Maybe she’s afraid of getting caught.”

“When Miss Yingling came over last night to tell them the news, she didn’t say Mrs. Van Orner was murdered, only that she’d died suddenly. It’s possible nobody would have ever figured out she was poisoned. Why run away until there was real danger?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t think we’ll figure out the answer until we find Amy.”

“And if she killed Mrs. Van Orner, we may never find her.

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