Murder Carries a Torch by Anne George

Author:Anne George
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2000-04-12T22:00:00+00:00

Needless to say, I woke up with a headache. I downed a couple of aspirin and looked out at a world of light. Ice still coated everything, and a bright sun was bouncing off every crystal of that ice. Bouncing, ping, right between my eyes.

I groaned, crawled back into bed, and pulled the quilt over my head.

“You all right?” Fred asked. I could hear the whir of his electric shaver and knew he was doing his morning routine of wandering around the house while he shaved.

“Headache.”

“You want some aspirin?”

“Just took some.” I drifted back into a deep sleep.

Two hours later I woke up again, this time feeling much better. A look through the window rewarded me with bright sunshine, melting ice, and no pain.

Muffin was stretched out on the kitchen table in the sun. She answered with a yawn when I told her good morning.

“Lazy cat,” I said.

She narrowed her eyes. Who was I to call her lazy? Hadn’t I just crawled out of bed?

I glanced at the clock. Almost ten. I poured a cup of the coffee that Fred had made, went into the den, and called Luke at the Blount County Medical Center.

He had been dressed and waiting for me for an hour. Where was I?

“I’ll be there at one o’clock,” I said. Damned if I was going to hurry.

“But I told them I’d be gone before lunch.”

“One o’clock,” I repeated. “Are you still seeing double?”

“Just sometimes. Most of the time not. I’ve got to get out of here, though. I ran into a man who knows Virginia, who saw her up there at that church.”

“What do you mean he saw her up there? Is he one of the snake handlers?”

“I don’t know. He just came in and said he saw my wife.”

“How did he know you were looking for her?”

“Hell, Patricia Anne. I didn’t ask him that. He said she was all right, though. Said his name was Thomas Benson. Old man. Here for dialysis.”

Probably blew his kidneys on strychnine and snake venom.

“Did you ask him if he knew where she is now?”

“He said he didn’t. He said some other folks up there might know, though. He said a lot of them were going to a big meeting up in West Virginia this weekend, so we need to get up there real quick, Patricia Anne, and ask around.”

“Did he give you any names, Luke? We can’t just go up to a door and knock and ask if they saw Virginia or if they’re snake handlers. It’s against the law you know.”

“Asking about your wife?”

“Snake-handling, Luke.” He wasn’t being too quick here.

“Then how come they don’t arrest them?”

“I think they have to be endangering others.”

“Well, hell, Patricia Anne. That’s what they’re doing carrying those copper-tailed-rattle-mouthed-moccasins around.”

“One o’clock, Luke.” I hung up and went to take a shower.

I hadn’t checked my messages the night before, so as soon as I dried my hair, I turned them on. An invitation to join the Angel Sighting Society, a reminder of a dental appointment (damn, I’d forgotten that), and Mitzi from next door.

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