Crime Before Christmas by Harper Lin

Author:Harper Lin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harper Lin Books

Chapter 13

Once she was locked safely inside her home, Maggie took a deep breath and let the warmth chase the chills of the entire night out of her bones. It was just a matter of seconds before she had a pot bubbling on the stove, her coat off, a packet of hot cocoa at the ready, and David Thornson’s diary on her kitchen table.

As she sat and flipped through the pages, she realized there wasn’t anything particularly incriminating in it. It was more like a testament to what kind of man he had been: a jerk.

“Being a jerk isn’t against the law,” Maggie muttered as she dumped the cocoa powder into a cup in the shape of a snowman. “He might have been a grade-A heel, but that didn’t give anyone the right to shoot him.”

After adding the hot water to her cocoa and watching the little marshmallows float to the top, Maggie sat back down and continued reading the diary. It was rather boring except for the notes David had made about the fights with his wife. Why would he do that? Who would want to document fights and arguments with the person they were supposed to love?

“Kylie argument. Another Kylie argument. Kylie arguing about money. Kylie arguing about party. Kylie arguing after party. Kylie arguing for birthday. Kylie has a fit. Kylie left the house. Kylie back.” That last one was after two days. Maggie shook her head and shut the book. The arguments hadn’t occurred every day, but they had happened with enough frequency. Maggie turned to the night when they had been in the bookstore and saw that David had catalogued that as well. It read, “Kylie had fit in bookstore.”

Maggie sat back, closed the book, and wrapped her hands around the warm mug of cocoa. “It didn’t happen that way. He was the one acting up. I could smell the alcohol.”

Scribbled in between the entries about Kylie were enough appointments with G.A. that Maggie had no doubt there was a full-scale affair going on.

“Wait a minute. What is this?” Maggie’s eyes caught a familiar name written in the sixth square of the month of September.

Submission – fishing fees and location. No to J. Campbell.

That was all it said. Had David had an issue going on with Jim Campbell? Maggie scoured the diary for any other mention of his name, but there was nothing. If David had logged every fight he had with his wife, there had to be something that tied him to Jim Campbell. But even when she looked a second time, there was nothing there. It wasn’t as if the entire fishing community of Fair Haven hadn’t known there was a problem between them after their behavior that night at the lake.

“Heck, the Thornsons were new to Fair Haven. How many other people could David have annoyed to that extent in the six months or so that he lived here?” Maggie huffed.

Suddenly, she felt the urge to wash her hands. It was as

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.