MURDER at CRAWFORD HOUSE (Allie Griffin Mysteries Book 3) by Leslie Leigh Read Free Book Online Page A

window. "I'm going to say something very strange."
                  Del looked up from her phone. "How is this different than any other time?"             
                  "I'm serious. I want to ask you something: Why do you think Bertie was in the bathroom?"
                  "This is a serious question?"
                  "It is."
                  Del rolled her eyes and sighed. "I would say to do what most of us civilized folks do in the bathroom."
                  "Uh huh. And did you hear the toilet flush?"
                  "Would I have?"
                  "Um, yeah. The entire house hears it. It's this ancient plumbing. You flush the toilets here and Richter scales in New Hampshire go off. So I'm going to ask you again: Why was Bertie in the bathroom?"
                  "Oh jeez, Allie, give it a rest."
                  "Answer the question."
                  "I don’t know, ok? How's that for an answer?"
                  "'I don’t know' is the perfect answer, actually."
                  "Gold star for me."
                  Allie stood up and began to pace. "It's been bothering me." She stopped and looked at Del. "Why would he have locked the door if he wasn't there to use the bathroom?"
                  "Maybe he was doing something else. Washing his face? Brushing his teeth? Straightening himself out somehow? Lots of people lock the bathroom door for any old reason."
                  "The sink was dry. I mean, bone dry."
                  "Maybe Bertie wiped it clean. He seems like the type."
                  "Exactly! Just follow me here for a second. He washes his face or brushes his teeth, right?"
                  "Right."
                  "And he feels this pain in his chest like a heart attack, and so he goes into the medicine cabinet to grab some aspirin, right?"
                  "Right."
                  "The toothpaste was unopened. I saw it there right on the sink still in the box. So Bertie didn’t brush his teeth. If he washed his face, then why were his glasses on ?"
                  "His glasses were on?"
                  "They were."
                  "Maybe he put them on after he washed."
                  "And stood there long enough for his angina pain to get so bad as to warrant grabbing aspirin?"
                  "I'm not following you, babe."
                  "Picture it. He goes and washes his face. He feels this pain. Maybe he felt it before he went in to wash and it finally got so bad that he needed to take the aspirin. Or maybe it came on suddenly. In either case, why would he finish washing up and wipe down the sink? Or let's say he finished and the pain came on suddenly. Why would he stop to put on his glasses?"
                  "You're making something out of this. This is Allie Griffin having fun with murder again."
                  "Excuse me!"
                  "I mean that in the nicest way, my darling. I think you want this to be a case of murder so you won’t have to spend a weekend in total boredom. Bertie could have washed, wiped down the sink, put his glasses on, fixed his hair, and kissed the mirror, and then felt his chest pain and then reached for the aspirin."
                  Allie went and sank back into the chair by the windows and rested her head on her hand. "You're right. I'm looking for murder where there is none."
                  She sat for several minutes, lost in thought, trying to clear her mind of the slow descent into trauma that the weekend had taken. If there was ever a time during this whole trip where she just wanted to be home with her cat, it was now. She pictured Dinah, her stubby little