Moonlight Can Be Murder: A Ned McNeil Mystery by Blanche Day Manos

Author:Blanche Day Manos [Manos, Blanche Day]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pen-L Publishing
Published: 2015-10-26T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

Maybe Cade Morris and Gerald Mills were right—I did need a dog, preferably an Irish wolfhound. Someone riding with me as I drove out of Ednalee into the wilds of the countryside would have been comforting. Pat or Jackie might have been willing to come with me on my pursuit of the dreaded Deckers but I did not want to put my friends into a prickly situation, and I had a niggling suspicion they would not have approved of my plan. They would have tried to talk me out of going, as would Cade. So, after Dink Renfroe left, I took action. The service station attendant at the corner of Lee and Jones Streets gave me directions on how to reach the Decker homestead, and, with my cell phone fully charged and ready, I set off in search of Moe and Vermouth. Simply engaging in a civilized conversation surely couldn’t be considered confrontational. It was amazing what could be learned in a polite chitchat.

The man at the service station, Tub Ginnis, said that the Decker brothers lived on the same forty acres, in houses that were nearly side by side. Vermouth was married but Moe remained a bachelor. I would try talking to one brother at a time.

Thankfully, the sun shone and the temperature was above freezing. Snow lay mounded under trees but it was melting fast. The sky, arching above stark hills gray with leafless trees, shone an azure blue. Gradually, Ednalee was awakening childhood memories of open spaces, the fragrance of fresh air, and the quiet of country living. It was beginning to feel a little more like home.

After I turned off a paved county road, my Escape bounced along a deeply rutted lane. The limbs of scrub oak and persimmon trees scraped the sides of my car. I only hoped scratches did not show up in its shiny finish.

At last, a small, frame house appeared ahead of me. I rounded a curve, and saw another house. Both were painted green and both sat in a cleared area devoid of trees or any kind of shrubs. An old truck that once had been white sat close to the house. I glanced down at my notebook with the scribbled directions. This must be the Decker compound, and now that I was here, my heart pounded and my hands gripping the steering wheel were slippery with sweat.

The phrase, “bearding a lion in his den” came to mind. But this was silly, I told myself. All I wanted to do was have a polite conversation and guide the topic around to the night my uncle died. Maybe either Moe or Vermouth would slip and tell me where they actually were on December 1. Cade said a neighbor swore the brothers were helping him track down a runaway steer at that time. Would one of the brothers say something that would destroy their alibi?

I got out of my car. The place looked deserted, but as I approached the nearer house, a tall, bony dog appeared around the corner.

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.