And One to Die On by Jane Haddam Read Free Book Online Page B

cut off.”
    “Not exactly,” Geraldine said slowly. She stirred milk and sugar into her coffee and frowned. “You want to know the truth, I’ve been lying to people all day. I’ve been saying I had to come into town and do some errands, but I didn’t really. That’s not it.”
    “What is it?”
    Geraldine had put her purse down beside her on the bench. She picked it up and rummaged around in it until she found a piece of photocopy paper, folded in quarters. She handed it over to Jason Rand.
    “Look at that,” she said. “That’s the guest list for this weekend. Look at the names.”
    “Is there supposed to be someone on here I recognize?”
    “Look at the name on the bottom.”
    “Bennis Hannaford,” Jason read. “Isn’t that that guy that writes the books about the knights and the unicorns that they’ve always got all over the front of the B. Dalton’s down in Portland?”
    “It’s a woman, actually,” Geraldine told him. “But that’s the same one. Look at the name next to hers. In the parentheses.”
    “Gregor Demarkian.” Jason blinked. “That’s familiar, isn’t it? I wonder why.”
    “Why is because of all that fuss that happened in Bethlehem, Vermont, a while ago. Don’t you remember that? Somebody was running around knocking people off with shotguns and this Gregor Demarkian came in and found out who. That’s what he does. He specializes in murder investigations.”
    “You mean he’s some kind of a policeman?”
    “I think he’s more like a private detective. People call him in when they have a problem they can’t solve. Which is what worries me.”
    “What is?”
    “What is he doing here? This Bennis Hannaford is some kind of family connection of Cavender Marsh’s. He’s her mother’s cousin or something, I don’t remember. But Demarkian isn’t anything to anybody. He isn’t even married to Bennis Hannaford. So why is he coming along?”
    “Did Kent and Marsh invite him along?” Jason asked.
    Geraldine shook her head. “Bennis Hannaford insisted on bringing him. From what I hear, she didn’t even give an explanation. She just said that if they wanted her here, they’d have to have him, and that was that.”
    “Well, Geraldine, an awful lot of people don’t get on so well with their relations. Maybe this Bennis Hannaford didn’t want to spend a weekend with her mother’s cousin without having a little protection along.”
    “That’s what Cavender Marsh thinks. And I would think it too, except that it’s Gregor Demarkian we’re talking about. I mean, everybody says that Cavender Marsh murdered his wife so that he could marry Tasheba Kent. Some people even say Miss Kent helped him do it.”
    “Cavender Marsh never did marry Tasheba Kent,” Jason pointed out.
    “That’s true,” Geraldine said. “But they did go away together after it all happened. And they’ve been living together out on the island ever since. They might as well have been married.”
    “It was all a long time ago. What good would a private detective do anybody now? It didn’t even happen in this country.”
    “I know. But I’ve been thinking about this, Jason, and I’ve got an idea that might make sense. It’s about Hannah Graham.”
    “Cavender Marsh’s daughter? What about her?”
    “Well,” Geraldine said, “after her mother died, she got dumped on some aunt or something out in California, while Miss Kent and Mr. Marsh came out here to the island. I don’t think she’s seen her father since, except in his old movies. I know he doesn’t write to her now. Anyway, she’s coming for the weekend.”
    “And?”
    “And the lawyer, Lydia Acken, is very upset about the whole thing, because she’s convinced that Hannah Graham is out for blood. I heard her talking to Mr. Marsh about it, over the phone. Not that she was getting anywhere with Mr. Marsh. He’s one of those people who doesn’t hear anything he doesn’t want to hear. But you see what could be happening.”
    Jason