Honeymoon With Murder by Carolyn G. Hart Read Free Book Online Page A

regretfully. “Now, Duane, I’m sorry to say it, and no one knows better than I what a dear, sweet person Ingrid is, and I’m really very worried about her, wandering around out there”—the beringed fingers fluttered in the direction of the salt marsh—“but we all must tell the truth, or be shamed, mustn’t we? And Mr. Posey just wants to know what happened, and I can say, because I was right here, and I saw every bit of it.”
    “Tell us—in your own words—just what you saw,” Posey urged.
    Despite Webb’s frequent outbursts and Ophelia’s difficulty in describing anything without copious references tospirits, portents, vibrations, and currents, her response left Posey delighted and Ingrid’s friends distraught. The way Ophelia painted it, Annie thought furiously, Ingrid had done everything short of threatening Jesse’s life in their unfortunate morning altercation.
    “Now”—Posey all but smacked his lips—“you heard Mrs. Jones say, ‘Jesse, you’re nastier than the Marquis de Sade on a bad day. I’d like to slice you up for the alligators—and I’m warning you, I’ve had all I can take!”
    Annie’d heard enough. “Mr. Posey!”
    His eyes slid toward her with all the enthusiasm of Hamilton Burger sighting Della Street. “Ah, Miss Laurance.”
    “Mrs. Darling,” Max interjected immediately.
    How dear, his bride thought, then she focused on her old and present enemy, and, with a good deal of effort, addressed him in a voice of sweet reason. There was no point in antagonizing him.
    “Mr. Posey, I can assure you that Ingrid was not in a murderous frame of mind at all concerning Mr. Penrick. Actually, we talked about her little disagreement with him, and she dismissed it as one of those annoyances that crop up in the life of a property manager.” Annie knew she was being rather creative over a very small exchange with Ingrid, but Posey didn’t deserve any better.
    Henny joined in. “As usual, Posey, you’re going to miss the forest for the trees. Clearly, Ingrid Jones has been abducted. Any fool should be able to study the crime scene and deduce that.”
    Annie appreciated Henny’s support, but devoutly wished for a smidgeon more tact.
    “Ingrid’s quite incapable of violence,” Webb snorted. “Damn fool idea.”
    “Portents of death,” Ophelia said huskily to the stars overhead. “I
told
them.”
    Max moved restively. “Posey, let it go for now. What matters is that Ingrid called for help—and we haven’t found her!”
    It was too little, too late.
    Posey’s face had the shine of the true believer. “As an accomplished and experienced investigator, I’ve learned totrust my instincts and to explore fully the contributions that can be made by witnesses, and, further, I avoid the temptation that besets
inexperienced
investigators to look beyond the obvious in a self-gratifying attempt to produce rabbits out of hats.”
    “Not
attractive,” Ophelia murmured. “Poor dear little rabbits squashed in boxes …”
    An ugly red flush suffused Webb’s face and neck. “Goddammit, she’s missing!”
    “Of course she is,” Posey said complacently. “She has motive, opportunity—and she’s missing.” He flicked off each on three fat fingers. “What does that add up to?” He overrode the growing babble of dissent. “Guilt,” he intoned happily. “Well, she won’t get away from me. I’m going to issue an all-points bulletin for her arrest. That woman will never get off this island.”
    Webb lunged toward the circuit solicitor. “Do you mean you aren’t going to put out search parties?”
    “You’ve already searched,” Posey pointed out silkily. “You didn’t find a trace, did you?”
    “That’s right, for God’s sake,” Webb agreed. “We’ve looked everywhere within a radius of a couple of miles, and there’s no trace of her, none at all—”
    “So you would have found her body—if it was out there!” Posey thundered triumphantly. “No, you didn’t