The Stranger in the Attic by Agnes Makoczy

Author:Agnes Makoczy [Makoczy, Agnes]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-04-17T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 46. Rosalie Found

Celia left for school, leaving a void behind. Henrietta—who always said that she didn’t like hugs—missed them already. Alfred moved back to Celia’s room, and things went back to normal. The new normal.

Sunday morning, she and Alfred were getting ready to go to church, when two terrible things happened at the same time. The doorbell rang, and right at that moment, they heard the Sunday Newsboy yelling under their window that there had been another murder.

The perfume bottle in Henrietta’s hand fell on the tile and broke into smithereens. A chill went through her body as a wave of premonition rushed through her. Rosalie, she thought. They’ve found Rosalie. Then she remembered Peter who had vanished at the same time, and she wondered if they had found his body as well.

She watched in a daze how Alfred opened the front door and greeted Charlie and then shoved him aside as he rushed down the slippery steps. She stared at Charlie who stared back at her. Charlie shrugged, pretending nonchalance, but you could tell he knew something.

“Come in, Charlie, and close the door. Don’t just stand there. You’re letting the cold air in.”

“But Mr. Jones?”

“He’ll be right back. I have a feeling that he rushed out for the paper. It’s his obsession.”

“The new murder,” he said.

“Yes. Do you have any news?”

“Just that. They found a new body this morning at dawn.”

“In the park?”

“Yes.”

“Is it Rosalie?” Henrietta walked slowly toward Charlie, looking into his eyes. Rosalie was very dear to Celia. Her heart beat wildly as she prayed in silence, knowing that it was too late to be heard. Charlie lowered his eyes, and she knew.

“It’s not official yet, but I was there with my friend Jeff, the one from the police, helping. You know they’re always shorthanded, especially now with all these murders, so they gave me a temporary job there to help out.”

“And you saw her?”

“Yes, Mrs. Jones. I saw her. There’s no mistaking her. I’ve known her for as long as I’ve known Celia, and that’s too many years to count.”

Henrietta nodded and looked away. Suddenly too weak in the knees, she went and sat down on the sofa.

“Another redhead,” she said, sadly.

“Yes. I noticed that she had cut her hair and dyed it red.”

“Foolish girl. She was pregnant.”

“I know. Celia told me.”

“What about Peter?”

“Peter’s not dead, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“I thought they might have been kidnapped together,” Henrietta said. She was baffled. For the briefest moment, she had sensed the image of the young man, lying in a ditch alongside a nondescript country road outside of town, face bashed in, head lying in a puddle of dried blood. Nothing more than her imagination, then.

“The police think that it’s Peter who killed her.”

“That makes no sense. Did he kill those other women as well?”

“The police are considering that option.”

“But Charlie, you know him. Do you think he would be capable of murder?”

“I don’t know, Mrs. Jones. He’s not such a nice guy. Rosalie always preferred bad boys.

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.