Lethal Letters by Ellery Adams

Author:Ellery Adams
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2014-11-03T16:00:00+00:00

* * *

Rawlings stayed in town again, and when Olivia woke the next morning with a fuzzy head and stiff limbs, she felt like she’d barely slept. After letting Haviland out, she flopped on the sofa and stared at the ceiling fan, too tired to brew coffee.

Michel’s reception had gone on until well after midnight. Olivia suspected the open bar had something to do with the revelers’ reluctance to go home, but it was more than that. The atmosphere of gaiety permeating the party continued to renew itself as the hours passed. Even after the music wound down from a pulsating dance beat to the jazzy instrumental tunes played in coffee shops and bookstores, the energy levels remained high. Guests clustered in small groups and shared stories and soft laughter while the newlyweds moved from table to table, sharing their happiness with everyone.

Leaving Gabe in charge of the restaurant, Olivia had finally bade the couple good night and slipped away. She hadn’t crawled into bed until after one in the morning and then, as tired as she was, hadn’t been able to quiet her mind.

“Did Cheryl kill herself?” she asked Haviland, who was stretched across Rawlings’s side of the bed. “Did she know something about Ruthie’s death that she couldn’t bear? Or that someone else couldn’t risk having her know? Are either of these deaths connected to Beauford and Bellamy’s bribe?” She stared at the shadows on her ceiling. “No matter what, I do think Cheryl Holcomb loved her daughter.”

There was no one to argue this point. Haviland had fallen asleep almost instantly and was chasing his dream quarry—a sandpiper or a squirrel perhaps. His paws twitched and he moaned longingly, making Olivia wonder if his prey had gotten away. She watched him, his face bathed in moonlight, and wished she could escape as easily.

Now, lying on the sofa, Olivia closed her eyes and gave herself permission to doze off for a little while. The morning sun streamed through the windows, and like a cat, she felt relaxed and comforted by its warmth. She was on the verge of sleep when the ringing of a phone shattered the peace.

“You sound like I feel,” Rawlings said when she picked up.

“It was a late night, but a good one for Michel and Shelley. How are you?”

“As confused as I was during our last conversation,” Rawlings said. “Ruthie’s tox screen results came in first thing this morning. She had drugs in her system—Oxycontin to be precise—but not enough to kill her. Not even enough to make her sick. I’m currently waiting on the full blood panel report. There was a powerful toxin in her body, but we couldn’t identify it using the standard tox screen.”

“Some sort of poison?”

“The ME believes it might be venom. We’re all confounded, to say the least.” Another voice mumbled in the background and Rawlings said, “I have to go. I sent a pair of officers to meet Luke Holcomb’s flight and they’ve just arrived at the station.”

Olivia closed her eyes and groaned softly.

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