Music and Murder by Jeanne M. Dams

Author:Jeanne M. Dams [Dams, Jeanne M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Severn House
Published: 2023-05-29T00:00:00+00:00

TWENTY

They lay on blankets, watching the waves of the lake lapping at the sand a few yards away. Lucy sat a little removed from them under a beach umbrella, reading a book. The air, cooled by lake breezes, was pleasant, the sun warm. The only noises were the soothing water sounds and the occasional cry of a gull.

‘I could stay here forever,’ said Elizabeth dreamily. ‘This was a wonderful idea.’

Fred nodded. ‘So lucky that this place was available.’

Elizabeth’s unmarried Great-Aunt Emily, her father’s aunt, had died many years before. The bequest of most of her vast estate had made Elizabeth a very wealthy young girl. The beach property in Michigan had been rented out to various families over the years, but this summer the renters had been unable to come. Caretakers had kept the cabin in good shape, so when the newlyweds needed a place to escape to, it was a godsend.

On the Monday, their marriage had been solemnized by a Justice of the Peace, and they had driven north, arriving late in the evening.

There was no telephone. No electricity. Mail delivery was sporadic, as the dirt road wasn’t in good condition. Their nearest neighbors, two miles away, had dropped by in their horse-drawn cart with gifts of corn and tomatoes and the offer of fetching supplies from town. They were happy to take them up on it, to spare the suspension of Fred’s car on the uncertain road. Elizabeth had given them the letter to mail to her parents, telling them where she was and stressing that no one else was to know. She had not said when they might return.

But the question had begun to loom in her mind. She sighed. ‘We can’t stay forever, though, can we? We have to get back to the real world eventually.’

‘Sadly. Not yet, though. Come here.’

Lucy looked over, smiled and moved a little farther away.

Fred was a powerful distraction, but Elizabeth couldn’t stop worrying for long. ‘Seriously, what are we going to do?

‘I’ve already done a couple of things. I wrote to Alice to tell her to find us a house to rent. Out of Oak Park, maybe Forest Park or farther west. And to keep the matter confidential. There’s no reason anyone has to know where we are.’

‘I know it’s safer that way,’ Elizabeth said dubiously, ‘but what about my parents? Mother will—’

‘I’m not afraid of your mother, my dear. And you needn’t be anymore. She’s controlled you all your life, and you’ve danced to her piping because it was simpler than fighting, but I’m the piper now. Or rather, we are, jointly. We make decisions together. She isn’t in the picture.’

‘Sounds easy, but—’

‘It is easy. She can’t do anything but rant and rave. And you don’t have to stay and listen. You’ll have a home elsewhere. Several miles away.’

She gave him a long look. Then a gradual smile turned into a broad grin and then a laugh, the carefree laugh of a child. ‘I’m free!’ Then her face darkened. ‘At least, free of my mother.

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