A Murderous Glaze by Melissa Glazer Read Free Book Online

night and bought him a few drinks. I swear, that’s all that happened.”
    “Does he have an alibi for the night she was murdered?”
    Butch looked a little sheepish as he admitted, “To tell you the truth, he got drunk too fast for me to ask him about that. That guy shouldn’t go to bars if he can’t hold his liquor better than he was managing when I left.”
    The telephone rang, and I reached for it. “Hang on one second,” I told Butch before I answered, “Fire at Will.”
    “Carolyn, this is Sandy. Have you got a minute? I might have something for you.”
    “Hang on a second, Sandy.” I covered the phone with my hand. “Butch, Sandy’s on the line. Was there anything else?”
    He shook his head. “No, not yet. Don’t worry, though. I’ll come up with something.”
    “Don’t try too hard, if you know what I mean.”
    He chuckled. “Now that all depends on how reluctant the folks I talk to are about having a conversation with me. Don’t you worry about me.”
    He wasn’t the one I was worried about, but before I could add any more admonitions, Butch was gone.
    “Sorry about that. I’m back,” I told Sandy.
    “That’s fine. I’ve been doing some digging on the Internet and I’ve come up with a few things on Betty. Did you know she was getting a huge alimony check every month from her ex-husband? That might be enough of a motive for murder.”
    “Butch already told me that. But how did you find out so quickly?”
    “Public records for our county are online. How about this, then? You know how Betty liked to flaunt her nice things around town?”
    I knew it only too well. She always had to have the latest model car and wear all the newest fashions. Her superior attitude toward the rest of us commoners had been one of the things I’d disliked so much about her. “She could be too much to take sometimes, couldn’t she?”
    “Well, it turns out she wasn’t nearly as well off as she wanted everyone to think. Betty was living way beyond her income. All she had was alimony, and while it probably felt like gouging to her husband, she had to live entirely off of it, since she didn’t have any other income. The thing is, she never seemed to be short on cash, and I can’t find out where the rest of her money came from.”
    “Perhaps she inherited it,” I said.
    “No, I checked her parents’ wills, and there wasn’t much left after their funeral expenses were paid off.”
    “Now how on earth did you discover that?” It amazed me how much Sandy had been able to find out in such a short period of time without ever leaving the library.
    “Please, it’s simple if you know where to look. Wills are a matter of public record, and so are final dispositions. Give me something hard.”
    “So where was she getting her money?”
    “I wish I could tell you,” Sandy said. “From what I can see so far, I’m having a hard time believing it’s from a legitimate source. At least not one I’ve been able to track down. Don’t worry, though. I’ll keep digging.”
    “I’m amazed how much you’ve been able to find out so far.”
    “Believe me, with the Internet, there aren’t nearly as many secrets as there once were.”
    That was a scary thought, one I wasn’t all that eager to contemplate.
    I wondered if any of the rest of my crew would check in. No doubt Martha had her hands full with her lively brood, but I knew she’d have the best chance of uncovering something about Betty’s life that might be useful. The Mommy network was amazing in our small town. Martha had connections, through her children, to the most diverse group of people. It might take her some time to come up with something, but if she did, I was sure it would be gold. Jenna could help from the legal end of our impromptu investigation, but she had an ethical streak in her that might hinder her effectiveness in aiding me. Still, if Betty had ever been involved in the criminal justice system, Jenna would know it.
    To my surprise and