How to Crash a Killer Bash by Penny Warner Read Free Book Online Page A

supposed to be his handwriting. “According to my source , Ms. Jackson actually threatened to kill Ms. Miller last night.” He read from his notes: “ ‘Bee-otch, I should have stabbed her when I had the chance.’ ” He glanced up, eyes narrowed on her. “Is that about right?”
    I leaned forward. “She didn’t mean she would really have done it! It’s just something she said, you know, like we all do during times of stress. You know, like, ‘I’m going to kill that paper boy if he doesn’t stop throwing my newspaper in the sprinkler.’ ” I sat back in my chair, wondering who had felt the need to repeat Delicia’s meaningless threat.
    Detective Melvin glanced back at his notes. “According to my source , Ms. Jackson picked up several weapons—a knife, gun, and rope, to be exact—and enacted Mary Lee’s virtual death behind her back.” He looked up at me for my reaction. He got what he wanted.
    I sat openmouthed, unable to speak. My only thought was: Who was this so-called source ? Was someone out to get Delicia?
    “I assume from your silence that this is correct? Do you want to tell me why Ms. Jackson might have wanted Ms. Miller dead?”
    “She didn’t!” I said and stood up to leave. This was getting Dee nowhere.
    The detective pushed another button. “I understand your friend was having an affair with Corbin Cosetti, Mary Lee Miller’s son. And Miller wanted him to break it off.”
    I glared down at him. “So? Delicia wouldn’t kill her for that. Ridiculous.”
    “Not really. If she were to marry Miller’s son, she’d find herself among the city’s wealthy elite, wouldn’t she?”
    I could feel the color rise in my face in fury. “Look, Detective. As a former abnormal psychology instructor, I don’t use this term loosely, but you’re nuts. Once again you’re jumping to conclusions, based on hearsay.”
    “Actually, we have motive, opportunity, and means.” He ticked off his fingers as he listed his “evidence.” “Motive: Jackson had threatened to kill Miller for trying to end her relationship with Corbin. Opportunity: She was in the room alone with the victim—and all those weapons. Means: When we find the real weapon, no doubt hidden somewhere in that room, I’m pretty sure it will have her bloody fingerprints all over it. Not exactly hearsay.”
    I thought for a moment. The Styrofoam copy of the dagger obviously couldn’t have killed Mary Lee. It wasn’t strong enough or sharp enough.
    “So you don’t have a weapon?”
    “Not yet. But we’ll find it. With all the security, no one can get in or out of the museum without something like that being discovered. Like I said, it’s most likely in that room. My officers are searching for it now.”
    I felt another wave of heat rise up from my toes. This wasn’t happening. My friend and coworker was not a murderer. But if I’d written this as a play, even an amateur sleuth would convict her on this damning evidence.
    “How do you know she was alone in there? All of my actors entered the room at some point to place their weapons. Any one of them could have done it.”
    I stopped abruptly. What was I saying! That Raj or Berkeley could have murdered Mary Lee Miller? Not a chance. That left one of the museum staff, or even Corbin . . .
    “The room is only accessible from two points,” the detective said. “From the front, where the guests were to enter. And from a side door where the suspects supposedly made their covert entrances.”
    “Yes, that’s right,” I said. “Once Delicia entered—she was supposed to be the last suspect to drop off her weapon—she was to discover the dead body and then scream to alert the guests, cueing the second act. But”—I was thinking out loud here, visualizing the possible scene—“when she discovered Mary Lee had really been stabbed . . . she must have freaked out . . . and screamed for real.”
    “That doesn’t explain why that side door was locked. Which it was, according to