Flossed (Alex Harris Mystery Series) by Elaine Macko Read Free Book Online

marrying and well, it was just different.
    “Of course our parents pressured us into marrying,” Paul continued, shaking me out of my own thoughts.
    “So this is why you wanted to talk with your wife today?”
    “Yes, Inspector. I wanted to settle this baby thing once and for all. It was driving me crazy!”
    “Yes, I can see it was. I just hope for your sake Monsieur Cassé it didn’t drive you to kill.”
    The next person to be interviewed was Bill Westlake. By the sound of his voice on the tape he was clearly nervous at having to talk with a police officer, but said he was relieved to find the interview would be in English. His French wasn’t good and he had been worried about saying something which lost in translation might incriminate him in some way.
    “So Martine worked for you and Monsieur Parmalee.”
    “Yes. Correct. She was our secretary,” Bill said.
    “How did you feel about Madam Cassé?”
    “How did I feel about her? I don’t know. I guess she was good at her job. Always on time. Is that what you mean? She came, she did her job, and went home. Other than a few get-togethers, I didn’t see her outside of the office.”
    After Bill, the inspector asked that Tom Mulberry be brought in. Tom told him he had initially met Martine at the first summer cookout a few years ago. Martine had been very interested in the church and had attended services for some time. Tom also told the inspector he had been providing marriage counseling for Martine for a while, though was not at liberty to divulge the nature of these sessions.
    Jobeth Mulberry came next. She didn’t mention the fact her husband had been counseling Martine, and John told us he suspected she didn’t know. She didn’t have any idea who would have killed the young woman but assured the inspector it would not prove to be a member of the church. All their members were of good moral standing and besides, other than herself and Tom and the victim, no one else present could count themselves as a member of the congregation. She had plans to correct this, and maybe now, with society crumbling down around them, in their very own backyard, literally, maybe now they would realize the Church of Renewed Hope was the only way to fight off evil. Or at the very least, a very good start.
    Doug Parmelee was next followed by Donna. Doug didn’t contribute anything new about Martine other than what Bill had already said. Donna’s testimony was suspect due more to what wasn’t said than was. She made no mention of the fact something was wrong between herself and the murdered woman. It wasn’t until we had finished the tape I would point out to John that Donna had something to hide.
     
    *****
     
    “Do you mind if I leave this door open all night?” I pulled the curtain back and opened the door leading to the small terrace off our bedroom.
    “No. It feels good. After being cooped up in that small room all evening I could use the fresh air.”
    “John, do you think Paul killed his wife?”
    “I don’t know. There was quite a bit of time between when he first went to look for Martine and the time that he found her and came running out of the house. Long enough to kill her, I would imagine. But I don’t know any of these people well and I’m having a hard time reading them. Also, the fact that a lot of them are of different nationalities makes it more difficult to judge. The inflection of their words and mannerisms are different than ours and sometimes I think they’re not telling the truth but that’s not necessarily so. They just have a completely different way of expressing themselves. Though I must admit I wish you had mentioned what you overheard Donna saying in the kitchen.”
    “I’m sorry, John. But I thought it best to let her be the one to bring it up. The fact she didn’t could mean maybe it wasn’t important. Maybe she was mad at Martine for not giving her a copy of a dip recipe or something equally as innocent.” I turned out the light