Mad Money Murder by Leslie Langtry

Author:Leslie Langtry
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Maplethorpe's Funeral Home and Crematory was, like Pete said, just outside of town. And unlike the other buildings that were rotting away on the outside, this one looked like it was brand-new. A tall, white home with large columns, it gave the appearance of Tara from Gone With The Wind.

A chime went off when I opened the door, and I was immediately greeted by a short, very somber man in a three-piece suit. He bowed deeply.

"Mrs. Ferguson. I'm so glad you stopped by. Coroner Oroner called," he said without a trace of irony.

Of course he did. I was getting kind of tired of the network in this place. Everyone knew where I was and where I was going.

"Thank you. I apologize for not coming sooner. You see, I just found out about"—my voice hitched as if snagged on grief—"Aunt June's death when the urn was delivered."

Tommy Maplethorpe nodded as if he expected this. "There were no services." He sighed. "I suggested to Mr. Hickenlooper that everyone deserved a farewell, but he said her will was resolute on the matter. Please, do come back to my office where we can talk."

I felt a surge of excitement thinking it meant he had something to tell me. As we walked through the tastefully dour funeral home, he nodded at a woman about his same age. She nodded back and scurried for the door.

"My sister," he explained. "I always have someone in the foyer ready to greet anyone who comes by."

I didn't respond because that practice seemed like an idiotic thing to do. Didn't most people call the funeral home to pick up the deceased? Did people around here just show up with a body? Then again, my experiences in this county over the last couple of days did make that seem less laughable.

We sat down in a well-appointed office decorated in dove gray.

I started. "You collected her from her home?"

"Yes. After Coroner Oroner examined her at the site."

It took all I had not to giggle.

"Was there an online guest book?" I asked as somberly as possible.

"You know…" He frowned. "There must be, because our website creates one when we enter the deceased's name. It never occurred to me to look it up because we weren't having services."

Tommy typed on his keyboard and turned the monitor away from him, toward me. Then he got to his feet and bowed again. "Please, take your time." And with that, he left.

Too bad the coroner and sheriff hadn't left me alone with their files.

I was shocked but not terribly surprised to see only one notice. What about all of her celebrity and society friends? They must not have known. But surely someone in Behold would write something. The print was tiny, and I got up and snagged the keyboard.

It must be something from Basil. Apart from Pete and the two mystery suitors, he was the only one who seemed to like her.

I looked behind me to see that the door remained shut. After a few clicks, the screen enlarged.

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