Staged 4 Murder by J.C. Eaton

Author:J.C. Eaton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2018-04-29T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

I all but accosted Marshall when I burst into the office the next morning. He was waiting for his cup of coffee to brew and had probably had the same idea I did—arrive really early to get some work done. So early that Nate and Augusta hadn’t yet walked in.

“Marshall, you’re not going to believe this, so I’ll get right to the point. Sue Ellen knew Cliff at least a year and a half ago. It’s not a rumor. It’s true. She was cast in one of his plays in Peoria. The Odd Couple. Myrna saw that play and kept the playbill. She forgot all about it until she started cleaning out her file cabinet. That was last night. She called my mother and well, um, there you go.”

“Whoa. I’ll try to absorb all of that without my morning coffee.”

“I think it’s ready. The light stopped flashing on the machine.”

Marshall removed his cup and asked if I wanted one. After he placed the flavor I selected into the Keurig, he lifted his cup and took a sip. “Hmm. How about that. I suppose neither of them said anything because the subject never came up. Heck, there’s nothing suspicious about it. It wasn’t as if Cliff cast her in the part of Mollie Ralston. He didn’t come on the scene until after Ellowina got food poisoning and couldn’t direct the play. At least that’s what my notes say.”

“That’s right. But think about the timing. And think about Sue Ellen. She’s awfully cute and comes across as very sweet.” What the hell am I saying? I’ll sabotage my own chances with him.

“Okay, so?”

“So, if what Paula Darren told me was true, Cliff and Miranda got divorced around the same time as that play. Maybe Sue Ellen was the temptation that split them up.”

“If that was the case, wouldn’t she be dating him or something? I think you’re going out on a limb, because, up until now, no one knew they had any kind of relationship, professional or otherwise.”

“Will you look into it? Speak with Cliff. I have a hunch Sue Ellen might be behind Miranda’s murder.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Two coincidences too many. I think she’s trying to make it look as if she’s a victim when the opposite may be true. First the tungsten lamp that conveniently fell near her, then the trapdoor that Gordon fell through. Sue Ellen was insistent it was meant for her. So will you do it? Talk to Cliff, I mean?”

“Why not? It’ll put your mind at ease if nothing else. The sheriff’s department, by the way, isn’t getting any further with the investigation either. I’m on the phone at least every other day with Bowman or Ranston. The only thing they’ve managed to pull up, which we’ve overlooked, is a rather interesting connection between Miranda and Sue Ellen.”

“Connection? What connection? That day in the theater when Sue Ellen was crying her eyes out, I asked my mother if Sue Ellen knew Miranda, and the answer was no.

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