Horror on the Ruby X by Frances Crane

Author:Frances Crane
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MysteriousPress.com/Open Road
Published: 2022-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Patrick had a whispered consultation with the sheriff. He folded the will and put it in his inside pocket, motioned to me to come along, and led the way back to the kitchen. I carried the horror of Cousin Ada’s mangled body in my mind and I said I wished an ambulance could get here and take it away. I wasn’t the only one with that wish, Patrick said, adding that he didn’t think Trask would have any trouble now keeping people in the living room. At least those from that same wing, which meant Gina and Gloria Wyatt, since Tom Smith was already being forcibly detained. No doubt Alan and Joel and David would gladly stay in there, too, now, I said, as we again stepped through the service pantry door into the kitchen.

Patrick woke Ramon Martinez with some difficulty and the deputy yawned a couple of times before he stood up and went to the living room. Trask’s orders.

“Tom Smith is certainly having himself a ball,” I said, when we were alone together in the kitchen. Patrick was walking slowly up and down the big room, smoking, not bothering to answer anything I said. I searched out an eight-cup electric percolator, put in water and coffee, and plugged it in. The ham and the bread I’d taken from the big refrigerator were still on the table where I’d made the sandwiches. I put the ham away, and then the bread, and I said, “He’s certainly evening up things with Joel Chapman. But, honestly, everything points to the Indian. If Gloria really saw him coming out of that room he’s a gone duck. He’s had the best opportunity all along. If Gina is paying him to do murder, that’s motive enough. Maybe he hates white people so much that he enjoys killing them. And maybe he’s not so superstitious as he pretends. Do you think he could cut a throat and step quickly out of the room before death was actually complete and that way he wouldn’t think he looked on the dead person?” The perk was bubbling happily already and the heavenly coffee smell pervaded the room. “Maybe he didn’t have to look. And maybe it doesn’t bring on a sickness if Navajos kill whites. Maybe he could cut a throat without looking.”

“Nuts,” Patrick grunted.

A grunt is better than nothing so I asked, “Well, who do you think did it?”

I found clean cups and set them on the table.

Patrick made no reply. I said, “Well, I’m prejudiced. I don’t want it to be Tom Smith. And there’s something else I don’t approve of and that’s that even though Jim Trask is a fine law enforcement officer and your friend, in this case he’s got a single-track mind. An idée fixe, so to speak. He’s so intent on pinning the crime on Tom Smith that he isn’t really considering anybody else. Who did it, Pat?”

“I haven’t the foggiest idea,” he answered, pacing.

I sat down to wait for the coffee.

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.