Bernadine Fagan - Nora Lassiter 02 - Murder in the Maine Woods by Bernadine Fagan Read Free Book Online

don’t worry about it. Everything’s okay with Nick and me.” I skipped mention of the tissues. I wasn’t ready to put that to bed yet. “What were you doing at Buster’s?”
    “I didn’t kill him. I swear I didn’t.” She g rasped my wrists. “You don’t think I killed him, do you?”
    I pulled back.
    “No,” I said, not a hundred percent sure of that. I didn’t know Vivian very well. I knew less about her relationship with Buster. But finding a cup with her fingerprints on it? The more I thought about that, the more preposterous it seemed. Vivian was in the crosshairs, the red dot flickering on her I-Love-My-Poms sweatshirt. If she were framed, and it looked like that to me, someone had gone to a lot of trouble. Amazing planning. Slick. Hard to believe it was even possible to set up such a thing.
    “Tell me what happened, every last detail.”
    Hands up, palms out, she said, “I found my sweet Nutmeg, poisoned I’m sure, just like Dora. I called Buster immediately and blasted him. That was around five-thirty in the morning. Hours later I got a phone call from him. His voice was strange, kinda fuzzy-sounding. Hoarse. He said he was coming down with laryngitis. He asked me to come over immediately. He wanted to tell me something important about the dogs.”
    “So you called him first, and then he called you back. How long between calls?”
    “A long time. I went back to bed and didn’t get up until eight. It was hours later when he called back. I remember now. It was just about the time my ten o’clock cable news show began.”
    “So, you called him at five-thirty.” I ticked off the time on my fingers and said, “And about four and a half hours later someone with laryngitis called for you to come over.”
    “It was Buster. His name came up on my Caller ID.”
    “Was there a car or truck in his driveway?”
    “No. I checked to see whether the nephews were around. Only Buster’s red truck was in the driveway.”
    “You went outside and checked? From the end of Buster’s driveway?”
    “ I went outside, but not to the end.”
    “So there’s a chance you missed seeing a vehicle in the part of the driveway not visible from your house?”
    Vivian shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
    “But it’s possible, “ I said. “Anyway, you couldn’t resist going over there?”
    “I guess not.”
    “Did you ever have a romantic relationship with Buster?”
    The quick shift took her by surprise. Her mouth dropped, and her brow wrinkled.
    Seconds later, she fired back. “How could you say such a thing? If someone paid me a million bucks I wouldn’t go near that man.”
    As soon as the words were out she saw the inconsistency. Before she could backtrack, I asked, “How long before you got to his house?”
    “About five minutes. I put my sneakers on first.” She closed her eyes and began to rock back and forth in her chair.
    “He was on the bed. I think … he was in a coma. He was so pale. There was a glass of water on his nightstand and I tried to give him a drink. He didn’t even twitch. I know CPR and I tried that. Nothing worked. I picked up the phone to call 911 but I didn’t get a dial tone. His phone was dead. Then I heard someone pull up in the driveway.”
    “Me?”
    “Yes.”
    “I panicked. Who would believe I tried to help Buster Verney? Just about everyone in town knew how I felt about him. They knew I thought he poisoned Dora. They’d think I murdered him. Wouldn’t you run?”
    “Probably. Nick mentioned fingerprints. Maybe they found DNA, too. I’ll find out.”
    She continued to rock, her chair squeaking on each forward shift. “What does it matter? They know I was there.”
    She started to sob again. “Rotten … Buster … Verney. Wasn’t enough he played me for a fool, then poisoned my dogs. Now he’s reaching out from the grave to torment me. He’s got them claiming I poisoned him. Ridiculous.”
    Played me for a fool.
    “What do you mean he played you for a