A Deadly Venture by Chris Laing

Author:Chris Laing
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chris Laing / Michèle LaRose
Published: 2019-11-20T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Vincent was bouncing the tennis ball again when I heard the front door open and turned to see Isabel and Grace stepping onto the porch.

“Well, here’s Vincent,” Isabel said. “No more hockey today?”

“No, Ma’am.” We both stood up and joined them.

I shook Grace’s hand. “Thanks for agreeing to see us on short notice. Vincent has told me something about the day Mr. Sherman –” I almost said ‘was murdered’, but I remembered how Grace had explained it to Vincent and I said, “about the day Mr. Sherman had his heart attack.”

She gave me a sharp look, which I read as a warning that I’d better be careful if I was going to talk about her son. Vincent was looking at me intently too, worried I might betray him.

“Why don’t we go in and sit down for a few minutes?” I suggested. “Vincent can tell us again what he saw that day.”

We grouped ourselves around the table in the kitchen as we’d done before. Grace sat beside her son, one arm protectively around his shoulder. Her voice was crisp – sharp. “Go ahead, Vincent. Tell us what you said to Mr. Dexter.”

I could see Vincent fidgeting, no doubt worried that he’d spoken out of turn to me. His eyes darted to mine and I felt like I’d betrayed the poor kid. But he soldiered on. “I was playing hockey with Howard at his place.” He spoke directly to his mother, repeating what he’d told me, but carefully leaving out the smoking business.

When he finished, Grace took a deep breath and patted him on the back. “Why didn’t you tell me this before, Honey? Were you afraid I’d be angry with you?”

“I don’t know. I guess I wasn’t sure.”

Grace turned in her chair and wrapped her other arm around Vincent, clasping him tightly to her breast. “Oh, my baby,” she murmured as tears streamed down her cheeks. Then she released her son and kissed him on the forehead. “You’re a good boy,” she said in a whisper. “Now go upstairs and wash up. I’ll be up in a few minutes.”

After Vincent left Grace went to the kitchen sink, where she wiped her face with a cloth before resuming her seat. And now she wore a determined look on her smooth dark face. “I believe my son,” she said in a firm voice. “I’m sure he saw another man come and go after your artist friend left the house. And, yes, I suppose that man could have been Thomas Sherman, but I didn’t see him myself.”

I opened my mouth to speak but she held up her hand. “Stop right there. I know you’ll want Vincent to tell the police what he saw because it could lead them to another suspect and maybe your friend’s release from jail. But I can’t put a nine-year-old boy through that kind of ordeal. And you heard him; he said he couldn’t be sure it was Thomas.”

I tried again to speak, but this time Isabel placed her hand on my arm and leaned toward Grace.

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.