The Twelfth Child by Bette Lee Crosby

Author:Bette Lee Crosby [Crosby, Bette Lee]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, General
ISBN: 9780983887973
Google: N1fZMQEACAAJ
Amazon: 0983887977
Publisher: Bent Pine Publishing
Published: 2012-04-26T18:30:00+00:00

Up until that point, I could have sworn Tom Nichols saw right through Elliott’s lies. I thought the detective would stuff those notes into the back of some file drawer and forget all about them the minute Elliott walked out the door, but unfortunately that’s not how it happened.

The following Monday, the detective showed up on Destiny’s doorstep unannounced. He stood there for a few moments, looking around like he was taking the measure of things, then he rang the bell. Nobody answered because by that time Destiny had gone back to work at the restaurant and she was working the day shift. He waited on the front steps for a few minutes, then walked around back of the house, which is where he spotted Mary Beth McGurke, a woman who could talk the ear off a deaf dog.

“Excuse me,” he called out, “Do you know when Miss Fairchild will be home?”

“No telling,” Mary Beth answered, “That one keeps strange hours.”

“Oh?” he said and turned to listen.

I can’t say for certain that Mary Beth disliked Destiny, but she liked to gossip more than she liked anything or anybody, so it didn’t take much to get her started. She walked over to the detective and started talking real low, like a person confiding something of the greatest secrecy. “She supposedly works at a restaurant downtown, but, no one knows for sure if that’s what she really does. Back awhile she moved in with old Missus Lannigan and didn’t bother about going to work. I ask you, would a real job let a person show up for work just whenever they feel like it?”

“Lived with Missus Lannigan? How long?”

“No telling. But even before that, I saw her hauling pieces of furniture over into her own house. Big things. A lamp, a table, a huge overstuffed chair! Cartons – way more than I could keep track of! Many a time I wondered if Abigail Anne knew the girl was doing such a thing.”

“Did you ever ask about it?”

“Heavens, no. I’m not one to pry into other people’s business!”

“Hmm.” Detective Nichols took a pad from his pocket and started to make notes. “Missus Lannigan, did she have any other friends?”

“Not a soul! I think that girl ran them all off. Abigail used to be friendly with me, not real close, mind you, but close enough that she’d stop and pass the time of day every now and again. After she got hooked up with that one,” Mary Beth waggled a finger toward Destiny’s house, “then, Abigail didn’t bother with other folks.”

Well, if that don’t beat all, I thought. Mary Beth McGurke knew exactly why I stopped bothering with her – for the same reason everyone else on the block avoided her – she’d get hold of a person’s ear and chew on it ‘till they were about ready to scream. Of course, Detective Nichols didn’t know that so he started writing down those awful things she was saying.

“By that one, you mean Destiny Fairchild?” he asked.

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.