P'town Murders: A Bradford Fairfax Murder Mystery by Jeffrey Round

Author:Jeffrey Round
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781560236627
Publisher: Haworth Press
Published: 2007-08-30T04:00:00+00:00

18

Brad woke to the phone's steely ring. Before he could open his eyes, it cut short.

"Fairfax House."

He rolled over to see Zach sitting naked on the floor, receiver in hand.

"Who may I say is calling?"

There was a pause. Zach stood, his muscles rippling coltishly as he passed the receiver up into Brad's extended hand.

"It's your grandmother," he whispered.

Brad groaned.

"Good morning, Red," came Grace's resonant voice. She'd returned as mysteriously as she'd disappeared. "Cat caught you napping?"

"Well, you caught me, that's for sure."

He slid down the ladder, wrapping a sheet around himself as he took the phone out onto the balcony. Dawn was just touching the tops of the dunes.

He gave Grace a synopsis of the events of the previous two days, including the news that the young man who'd answered the phone had rescued him from what would in all likelihood have been a nasty fate.

"Glad to know someone's looking out for you," she said. "Any idea who did it?"

"Not for certain. But I'm pretty sure it was Rosengarten or possibly one of his clients who murdered Ross," he said. "The man's got a propensity for taking out his anger on his houseboys. I got the impression he'd be capable of almost anything, if you pushed him."

"Keep that in mind while you're looking into things down there. We don't need him taking anything out on you. Have you managed to uncover a motive?"

"Rosengarten deals in fulfilling personal desires, which includes anything money can buy and maybe a few things it can't. It's possible the boys who work there are up for sale—dead or alive. It's also possible Ross spotted a closeted celebrity or politician who wants his identity kept secret at any cost. When I talked to him, Rosengarten seemed pretty concerned about discretion. Apparently he does a good job of providing it. The night I was there I saw a certain Senator Freeman of the Republican persuasion..."

Grace let out a low whistle.

"Though why Rosengarten would kill one of his own just to keep up someone's reputation..."

"Maybe it wasn't Rosengarten," Grace spoke up.

"I'll be surprised if it isn't," Bradford said. "He just feels like a killer to me."

"He may be a killer, but that doesn't make him Ross's killer."

"True."

"In the meantime, I'll run a check on him and Freeman, but your houseboy's story about his boss's background sounds credible. Anybody else we should check on, while we're at it?"

"Tall, thin fellow named Jeremiah Jones and an Asian bodyguard called Johnny K."

"I'll see what I can do with that."

"When am I leaving for New York?"

"Not until you find out what's going on there. Upstairs thinks there's a connection to the New York problem somewhere on the Cape. So get out there and dig."

"Any clues as to where I should start?"

"Just sniff around for anything to do with His Holiness and you'll be on the way."

"Sniff around? I can't seem to avoid stepping in it. Did you know every other person in this place is a dyed-in-the-wool Buddhist?"

"The better to find your way home again, Red.

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.