The Pot Thief Who Studied D. H. Lawrence by J. Michael Orenduff

Author:J. Michael Orenduff
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Mystery & Detective, Amateur Sleuth, Cozy, Humour, Fiction
ISBN: 9781480458826
Publisher: Open Road Media Mystery & Thriller
Published: 2014-01-28T00:00:00+00:00

31

“Benthrop’s right, Hubie. Someone’s killing them off one at a time.”

“Who is them?”

“The Ten Little Indians.”

Susannah was in the bed. I had positioned my pallet on the floor so my feet were against the door. It was locked, of course, but who said the killer couldn’t have a key?

“There are only two Indians here, Maria and Srini, and neither one of them has been killed.”

“Ten Little Indians doesn’t refer to the victims, Hubert. It was a mystery novel based on a poem. You’ve probably heard the poem. ‘Ten little Indian boys went out to dine. One choked to death and then there were nine’.”

“I think I have heard it, but I don’t know the mystery novel.”

“It was originally published as Ten Little N-words.”

“Ten Little N-words? That’s a strange – oh. The book actually had the N-word in the title?”

“Well, it was back about the time when Lawrence was here, so I guess people still used that word.”

“But to put it in the title of a book? That’s shocking even for back then.”

“I guess someone agreed with you, because they changed it to Ten Little Indians.”

“I don’t know it by that title either. I’m not a fan of murder mysteries, Suze.”

“But you are a fan of old movies, so I bet you know And Then There Were None.”

“I love that film. After the people are stranded on the island, one of the women says, ‘The boat won't come until Monday’. Then the character played by C. Aubrey Smith says, in his best stiff-upper-lip fashion, ‘No boat will ever come. We're here forever’.”

“That’s scary, Hubert. You don’t think we’ll be here forever, do you?”

“I think the Smith character was right – no boat will ever come.”

“This is not the time for jokes. What’s happening here is exactly what happened in the movie, except the ways they’re dying are different. But you’d expect that since this is New Mexico and not England.”

“But there are more than ten people here.”

“Right. But there are only ten dignitaries. Or were. Now we’re down to eight.” She furrowed her brow for a moment and then said, “Oh my God! I remember the line for number eight. It goes, ‘one overslept and then there were eight’. Remember, Hubie? Winant overslept this morning.”

“I’m sure that’s just a coincidence, Suze. And he died from freezing, not oversleeping.”

I certainly didn’t think we were trapped in an English whodunit, and I don’t suppose Susannah did either, but it did seem to me there might be an important point in her ramblings. “Saunders said if we knew what the victims had in common, we might be able to figure out why someone might want them dead. Did you pick up any connections between the attendees from talking with them?”

“No. I assumed they were all donors, but we didn’t talk about that.”

“Did anyone say anything that struck you as surprising or odd?”

She mulled it over for a few seconds. “I was surprised when Srini told me had had been invited at the last minute.”

I shrugged.

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