Paradise, Passion, Murder by Terry Ambrose

Author:Terry Ambrose [America, Read Aloud]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Hawaiian Anthology, Amateur Sleuth, Cozy Mystery, Thriller, Hawaii Mystery, Murder Mystery, Mystery and Detective, Crime Fiction
Publisher: readaloud
Published: 2016-01-26T08:00:00+00:00

Day Six

It was appalling to think someone I knew, even just by sight, had been brutally murdered so close to my home. After Charlie’s arrest, the neighborhood remained peaceful. The public seemed satisfied that he had raped and strangled Patricia Vargas. In a way, I wanted to believe it too. He’d always seemed like such a gentle soul. An innocent. But as Henry had pointed out, the innocents have the same physical urges as the rest of us. The difference is, they don’t always have the capacity to grasp the social complexities of man/woman relationships. They may never learn to keep their biological impulses under control.

Believing in Charlie’s guilt made life easier. But in the back of my mind there was still a niggling doubt. The killer had been too organized. I couldn’t see Charlie doing such meticulous planning to avoid leaving trace evidence at the scene. I couldn’t see him engaging with another person in any way. Certainly not in an aggressive, much less violent, manner. One part of me was sure the police had the wrong man. If that was true, it meant a killer was walking free.

In the evenings, I stayed home. Any time Freddy was out, I kept the doors locked. Sage went into a deep funk, spending most of her hours with her nose wedged against the bottom of the screen door. I tried to interest her in indoor games, but she missed her walks.

Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. I snapped the leash to Sage’s collar and we headed out.

Freddy looked up from his laptop. “You aren’t going back to the park, are you?”

“I’m tired of being locked up in this house, and so is Sage. Wanna go with us?”

“I would, but I’ve got a deadline. You got your pepper spray?”

I held up the little canister.

“Your phone?”

“Yeah.”

“Be careful.”

“I’ll be back before dark.”

The basketball court was filled with boys, some shooting hoops, some smoking. Girls clustered on the sidelines, eyeing them. Were they even aware a woman had been murdered right here just a few days ago, or did their raging teenage hormones make them completely oblivious to the world around them?

The park was noticeably empty of children and young families. Dog walkers had either stayed home or taken a different route. The only other dog in sight was a Chihuahua named Roscoe, chasing a ball in the field.

“Want to play with Roscoe?” I asked Sage in my most enthusiastic voice.

She tilted her head and sniffed the air. When she caught Roscoe’s scent, she gave a happy woof and wagged her tail so hard her whole body wagged with it. I unsnapped her leash and she took off after him.

I stood by Roscoe’s owner, hands on my hips, watching the dogs. “It’s so good to see her play like this. She doesn’t usually get the chance to have an all-out romp.”

“I figured with no other dogs around, it was okay to let Roscoe off the leash.”

Roscoe’s owner, a petite Japanese woman in her sixties, was one of my favorite people to talk to in the park.

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