Where There's a Will by Elizabeth Spann Craig

Author:Elizabeth Spann Craig
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Elizabeth Spann Craig
Published: 2021-05-26T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

“Justine!” I called, fumbling for my phone to call Burton. I doubted very much that Pearl would have jumped off the deck herself, so the house was a crime scene. Plus, there was a chance that Pearl was still alive.

Justine snapped from behind me, “Well?”

I turned around in irritation although Justine couldn’t have known what had happened. “Pearl is lying on the ground below.”

Justine became silent and followed me as we hurried down the exterior stairs from the deck to the ground. I gently felt for a pulse, but couldn’t find one. Her skin was cool to the touch. She was lying face-down on the ground and I could see there was some sort of injury on the back of her head. “I think she’s dead,” I said soberly.

I called Burton. Justine walked away from Pearl’s body toward our cars, whether in shock or from a desire to keep a crime scene untouched, I wasn’t sure. A minute later, I joined her.

Justine said in a stilted tone, “It seems unlikely she jumped.”

I nodded. “There was also an injury to the back of her head.”

We were quiet for a few moments. It seemed hard to believe that this beautiful, peaceful setting would have another victim on its property.

“What do you think she was doing here?” I asked.

Justine held out her hands. “How would I know? I assume she was doing what everyone else was doing the past few days—taking things from the house before Cornelius’s will is even read.”

I raised my eyebrows. “The family was doing that?”

“Of course they were,” said Justine briskly. Some of the color she’d lost was starting to return to her face. “Possession is nine-tenths of the law, after all.”

We were quiet until Burton arrived. Justine’s tight expression made it clear she wasn’t in the mood for conversation and I was feeling slightly sick at the horrible sense of déjà vu I was experiencing. Burton drove quickly up minutes later, lights going but no siren. He got out of the police car and gave us a grim look.

“You both okay?” he asked gruffly.

We nodded mutely and I pointed out the direction he’d need to go in to find Pearl.

Justine walked silently away to sit in her car and stare blankly out the window. I leaned against my Subaru, waiting for Burton to return.

He came back around and stretched out crime scene tape. Then he made a phone call. Finally, he came back over to speak with us. He spotted Justine sitting in her car and motioned me over so that he could speak with both of us at the same time.

Burton spoke with me first. “Since you’re here, Ann, I’m guessing this visit to the house had to do with the books again.”

I cleared my throat. “That’s right. Justine called me yesterday at the library and asked if I could meet her here to remove the books Cornelius had set aside and some additional ones she’d wanted to send along.”

“Were you planning on meeting Pearl here?” asked Burton.

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