Teetotaled: A Mystery (Discreet Retrieval Agency Mysteries) by Maia Chance

Author:Maia Chance [Chance, Maia]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2016-10-04T00:00:00+00:00

20

Once Hermie went inside, I made for the hedge maze into which Nurse Beaulah had gone. Cedric dawdled, sniffing the grass. I stepped inside the maze and turned right. There was Beaulah, all alone on a bench. Legs crossed, smoking, a tin of Lucky Strikes beside her and a magazine propped on her knee.

She looked up and lifted a penciled eyebrow. “Whatcha lookin for?” she asked, spouting smoke. “The butler said you can’t use the lav in the house, didn’t he? Well, this isn’t a good spot. I think I saw some poison ivy, plus there are all these danged golf balls.”

It was true: dozens of golf balls littered the maze path. “Um,” I said.

“It’s the next-door neighbor,” Beaulah said. “Always whacking golf balls over the property line. Butler said he comes over to get the ones on the lawn, but I guess he doesn’t know about all these in the maze. Anyway, if you gotta go, try the bushes out behind the garage. Lotsa privacy there.”

“Actually, I wished to speak with you,” I said.

“Me? Wait. You do look kinda familiar.”

“I was briefly booked into Willow Acres. When Muffy Morris was killed. My name is Lola.” I left out my surname since I have the misfortune of sharing it with Chisholm—i.e., Beaulah’s boss. No need to put her hackles up.

“Okay, Lola … so whatcha doing in the Inchbalds’ hedge maze?”

“I am investigating the death of Muffy Morris—”

“A lady detective? Well, ain’t that something!”

“—and I’d like to ask you a few questions.”

“I already talked to the cops about a hundred times, but okay.…” Beaulah closed her magazine. The brand-new issue of Thrilling Romance. Lucky duck.

“Perhaps there is something you could tell me that the police won’t listen to,” I said. “I am familiar with the way the police pooh-pooh a lady’s version of things.”

“And how!” Beaulah said. “They kept trying to make it out like I gave Mrs. Morris that rum or something.” Beaulah’s eyes bubbled with tears. “Like me, Beaulah Starr, would try to hurt some lady I didn’t really know.”

My breath caught. “You were on duty in the East Ward the night Muffy Morris died?”

“Yep.”

Finally.

Beaulah met my eyes steadily. “And I didn’t see nothing funny. Did my job the way I always do. Exactly. Didn’t see a single thing outa place.”

Why was Beaulah so adamant? Was she hiding something, or was she merely defensive as a result of having been roasted over the coals? “Why did the police think you did it?” I asked. “What motive could you possibly have?”

“That’s what I said!” Beaulah spread her scarlet-tipped fingers. “Police are just lookin’ for someone to blame.”

“Someone to blame? Then you believe Mrs. Morris was murdered?”

Beaulah’s expression closed. “No, I don’t—I just meant that if a rich lady like that dies, even if it’s an accident, people want to have a scapesheep or whatever it’s called.”

“I happen to know the vial of medicine wasn’t what killed Mrs. Morris. There was another vial. A vial given to Muffy by someone inside the East Ward.

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.