The Murder of Twelve by Jessica Fletcher & Jon Land

Author:Jessica Fletcher & Jon Land [Fletcher, Jessica & Land, Jon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2020-05-26T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

* * *

That left me considering in an entirely new light what we were facing here tonight. I had wanted to get to the lobby before any of the wedding guests arrived, in order to study their reactions even as they emerged from the elevator. But I had to process what Mort’s news meant before proceeding upstairs.

First off, obviously I needed to view the Lexus that had been abandoned on the road with its front doors still open in the context I’d originally feared. While Mort still hadn’t received confirmation that this particular Hertz vehicle had been rented at the Portland Jetport, it was difficult not to consider the obvious. And with the obvious came the connection, through that distinctive gravel left on the SUV’s backseat floor mat, with the murder of Loomis Winslow. That left me considering the worst-case, and now most likely, scenario.

First, the private investigator had been murdered, though not by Bigfoot as our lone witness claimed.

Then, the Lexus SUV had turned up, its driver and passenger having fled and the presence of that gravel in the backseat indicating the same killer might have been responsible.

Next, Constance Mulroy had somehow been poisoned at dinner, and then her son Mark was murdered in the hotel gym.

That, of course, raised the question of why exactly Mark had lied about his brother having contacted him. I wanted to believe it had been to assuage his mother’s fears, to give her and everyone else one less thing to worry about, given the promise of an already-frightful night. But what if his intentions had been more nefarious? And did those intentions explain why his cell phone was missing from the hotel gym? Surely he wouldn’t have ventured down there without it, under the circumstances. Without it, meanwhile, we’d be unable to ascertain whether he’d actually spoken to his brother Daniel at all or learn the identity of anyone else with whom he might have been in contact.

I remembered in that moment that, while upstairs with Constance Mulroy, I’d texted Harry McGraw the names of all members of the wedding party, the late Mark Mulroy included. I still had no idea what he needed them for and resolved to call him for an update after the meeting upstairs in the lobby with the remainder of the wedding party was concluded. I now had Constable Seamus McGilray to serve as my deputy, and I fully expected to receive a call from Mort Metzger fairly soon that he was about to set off for Hill House via snowmobile.

Just as I was finally heading for the elevator, my caller ID lit up with SETH at the top of the screen.

“You didn’t call to tell me,” he snapped angrily.

“Tell you what?”

“That there’s been another murder there.”

“The first victim’s still alive—remember?”

“All the same, I have to learn such news from Mort?”

“He called you?”

“I called him. In case you’ve forgotten, I am chief emergency medical official of Cabot Cove. I just thought I should check in, and what do I learn? That Jessica Fletcher is stranded at Hill House alone with a killer.

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