Shattered Angel by Baird Nuckolls & James R Sands

Author:Baird Nuckolls & James R Sands [Nuckolls, Baird & Sands, James R]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780999458457
Publisher: The Wives of Bath Press
Published: 2019-05-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Two

Two Mrs. Harts

Sunday

Morelli walked a dozen blocks down Fifth Avenue, just to calm his breathing, and then slowed down, looking for a pay phone. He needed to clear his head and he needed to talk to Danny. Although Morelli worried that he might be in church, Danny answered on the third ring.

“Petucci here.”

“Danny, it’s Morelli. I got some bad news. She’s dead. My client, Mrs. Hart.”

“Wait, wait. Hold on. What happened?”

“I don’t know. After I talked to you last night, I decided I needed to have a talk with Mrs. Hart. Update her on what I’d found, but I also had some questions. So, I walked up here this morning.”

“Where did you find her?”

“In her apartment. No one answered the door when I knocked, and then when I knocked harder, the door opened, so I went in.”

“Of course you did. Couldn’t leave well enough alone, could ya?” Danny’s laugh turned into a cough.

“I thought it was strange that there was no maid to answer the door, not with a dame like that. But there was no answer in the apartment. When I got to the back, to the fancy parlor, I found her lying on the floor, her head caved in.”

“Did you just leave her there?”

“I checked to see if she was still breathing, but she wasn’t. Cold as ice. I checked where I’d walked to make sure I didn’t leave any marks, wiped down the doorknob on my way out and took the back stairs.” Morelli paused. “The doorman and the elevator boy both saw me, but I didn’t give ‘em a name. And they didn’t see me leave.”

“That might not have been such a good idea, Morelli.”

“What’s done is done.” Morelli wanted a drink so badly, he had to bite his tongue.

“So, did you see anything that would give a clue who did it? Do you really know anything about this dame?”

“Not really. There was a lot of broken glass around her, like a vase or something broke when she fell. She might have hit her head on the marble mantel.”

“Could it have been an accident?”

“She had a bruise on her cheek and the blood was all over the back of her head. Somebody hit her. Although they might not have meant to kill her. She could have stumbled back and knocked her head by accident. Or they could have broken the crystal vase over her head. Somebody wanted to hurt her, that’s for sure.”

There was silence as both men considered the situation. Danny finally broke the silence. “The best thing you can do now is go home and stay out of it.”

“But she was my client. I can’t just sit and do nothing.”

“What do you think is gonna happen if you go to the police? What if they decide you wanted money from her and killed her when she wouldn’t cooperate?”

“I know, I thought of that already. No, I need to find out who killed her my own way, without talking to the police. I bet if I figure out what was going on with that redhead and Mr.

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