Tears of the Dragon by Holly Baxter

Author:Holly Baxter [Baxter, Holly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FICTION, Mystery & Detective, General
ISBN: 978-1-61595-265-6
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press, Inc.
Published: 2011-12-08T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

After church on Sundays was Alyce’s favorite time. There was nice music on the radio, and the Sunday papers had all the comic strips she loved. She lay on the floor with the colorful pages spread out before her. Skeezix, Captain Katzenjammer and the Kids, Caspar Milquetoast, Jiggs and Maggie—they were all there for her. And, especially, Little Orphan Annie. After that, if she was very lucky, Mrs. Browne would have allowed her to buy a copy of The American Weekly, if the cover photo wasn’t too lurid. Mrs. Browne didn’t really approve of Mr. Hearst or the contents of his publication, but she occasionally indulged her youngest daughter’s fascination with crime and the doings and romances of the rich and famous.

Today was one such day.

After absorbing all the comics, Alyce turned to The American Weekly and immediately announced to Elodie that Barbara Hutton was going to Europe.

“Oh, really?” Elodie asked.

“Yes. It says here that her father doesn’t approve of her boyfriend Phil Morgan Plant and is sending her away to get over him.” Alyce looked up, round-eyed. “Was he with her at the party?”

“Oh, yes.” Elodie was filing her nails. She thought back to the rather louche Mr. Plant. If she were Miss Hutton’s father, she would have recommended the same trip. “Does it say when she is leaving?”

“No, not exactly.” Alyce giggled. “But it says that rumor has it Plant has booked a ticket on the same liner. Boy, I bet that makes her father wild.”

“Plant has a lot of money of his own.” Maybelle was on the other side of the room where she was reading a new book called The Good Earth, which someone at work had lent her. As she read she kept twisting her hair into little tendrils. Beside her on the table was a bowl of her favorite dill pickles. “He can’t be after her inheritance.” She plucked up a pickle and began to gnaw the end. Sometimes she ate so many her lips turned quite white, greatly alarming her mother.

“He drinks and gambles and used to be married to Constance Bennett but now he goes out with all kinds of movie actresses,” Alyce said. “Is Miss Hutton Catholic?”

“I don’t think so. Why?”

“Well, then she couldn’t marry this Plant man because he’s divorced,” Alyce seemed to think that explained everything. “So I don’t know what her father is so upset about.”

“Bad influence,” Elodie suggested. “Miss Hutton is pretty young, you know.”

“Was she nice?” Being “nice” came high on Alyce’s list of values.

“Actually, she was.” Elodie thought back. “She was very…gracious.”

There was an unlovely snort from Maybelle. “With her money she can afford to be gracious.”

“Well, she could also afford to be obnoxious, and she wasn’t.” Elodie wondered why on earth she was defending Barbara Hutton of all people. “Did it say anything else about her in there?”

Alyce turned a page. “No. But they found three bodies out in Cicero.”

“Nothing new there, then.” Maybelle helped herself to another pickle and turned a page of her book.

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.