Valentine Candy Murder by Leslie Meier
Author:Leslie Meier [Meier, Leslie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington Books
Published: 2018-10-04T00:00:00+00:00
Chapter Two
âYeah,â said Barney, shaking his head sadly. âIt was Max Fraser.â
That was the trouble with living in a small town, thought Lucy. All the victims of horrible accidents were your neighbors and sometimes your friends, or your friendsâ kids. So were the petty criminals, for that matter. The police blotter, which was printed in the Pennysaver every week, was full of familiar names involved in minor tragedies: family quarrels that got out of control, drunk driving arrests, even petty thefts in these tough times. And drugs, always drugsâmarijuana, OxyContin, and even heroin.
Of course, everyone knew Max. He was the divorced husband of Fernâs granddaughter, Dora, and the father of their only child, Lily. But it wasnât simply the fact that she was acquainted with the victim and even owed him a debt of gratitude that was bothering Lucy.
âHe was all tangled up in fishline,â said Lucy. âAnd there was a lure . . .â
âA silver jigging spoon,â said Barney.
âIt was in his mouth,â said Lucy. Max was gone, but she couldnât erase the image of the glittering silver lure dangling from his blue lips and nestled in his ice-coated beard. She remembered how glad sheâd been to see his smiling face in her car window just last night.
âHe was hooked like a walleye,â said Barney. âWhat a way to go.â
Lucy thought of Maxâs blue eyes, wide open and crusted with ice, and for a moment felt the earth spin beneath her.
âWhoa, there,â said Barney, grabbing her arm and steadying her. She took a couple of deep breaths and focused on the snow-covered mountain rising behind the frozen pond, as if the picture-postcard scene could erase the gruesome image of Maxâs death mask from her mind.
âHe probably didnât feel a thing,â said one of the bystanders.
Lucy turned and recognized Tony Menard, who sheâd interviewed last winter when he won the Lake Winnipesaukee ice fishing tournament in New Hampshire. He was a short, slight man with a French-Canadian accent.
âThe cold? Is that what you mean?â asked Lucy.
âMore like the booze,â said Tony, with a knowing nod. âHe mustâve been blind drunk, eh? To get tangled up like that in his own line.â
Lucy knew that drinking often went right along with ice fishing. You had to keep warm somehow and alcohol gave the illusion of warmth, for a while, anyway. âEven so,â she said, âhowâd he manage to fall through the ice?â She waved her arm. âThose shacks are standing, weâre all out here. The ice must be a couple of feet thick.â
Tony shrugged. âThe current, maybe. You have to be careful and watch for thin spots.â
âSnow ice,â said Steve Houle, with a knowing nod toward the place where Maxâs body had been found. Lucy knew he was a volunteer fireman who organized the Toys for Tots campaign at Christmas. âSee how itâs white over there, not clear?â
Lucy looked and saw what he meant. âYeah.â
âWell, that happens when the ice melts and refreezes. Itâs not good.â
Tonyâs head bobbed in agreement. âPunk ice. Itâs real dangerous.
Download
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.
Mystery | Thrillers & Suspense |
Writing |
Spare by Prince Harry The Duke of Sussex(4177)
Never by Ken Follett(2840)
The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman(2273)
Machine Learning at Scale with H2O by Gregory Keys | David Whiting(2185)
Fairy Tale by Stephen King(2035)
Win by Harlan Coben(2025)
Will by Will Smith(1989)
Reminders of Him: A Novel by Colleen Hoover(1843)
The Dark Hours by Michael Connelly(1549)
The Stranger in the Lifeboat by Mitch Albom(1513)
Ellery Queen - 1965 - The Fourth Side of the Triangle by Ellery Queen(1499)
The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner(1443)
When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole(1422)
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr(1413)
Undercover Threat by Sharon Dunn(1397)
The Searcher by Tana French;(1318)
The Becoming by Nora Roberts(1306)
A Short History of War by Jeremy Black(1287)
Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry(1285)