Murder by Arrangement (Edna Davies mysteries Book 5) by Suzanne Young Read Free Book Online Page B

she didn’t already know the answer.
    Edna scowled,
taking what she knew to be bait but rising to it anyway. “You’re perfectly
aware that I haven’t, nor do I intend to. What’s past is past, and there’s no
need to stir up old troubles unnecessarily. Besides, it would be much too
complicated to explain everything to him at this late date. He’d only worry.”
     

 
     
     
     
    Chapter 6
     
     
    Saturday morning
dawned cold and windy, but sunny. There was no sign of the predicted storm
until Edna stepped outside to fetch the newspaper from the front stoop.
Decidedly, there was a smell of snow in the frigid air. Starling and Amanda
clattered downstairs as Edna poured her first cup of coffee. The consensus was
for a waffle breakfast with bacon, after which Edna settled at the kitchen
table with a final cup of coffee and the daily crossword while Amanda and
Starling went next door to visit Mary and her menagerie.
    But Edna
couldn’t keep her mind on the puzzle this morning. She’d slept restlessly. At
one point, she dreamed she was wandering from room to room in a maze. She was
trying to find her way out into the open air, but each door she passed through
only led to an increasingly dark and stuffy interior. Suddenly, she found
herself in the center of a crowd. Wherever she looked, people were glaring at
her, pointing and shouting words she couldn’t make out. One woman picked
something up from the ground and threw it at her. Others followed suit until
everyone seemed to be hurling objects at her. She found herself backing against
a wall. Stones banged against the surface, barely missing her. Her feet stuck
to the floor, so she could only bob and weave, dodging the flying debris. She
finally awoke with a start, struggling against the sheets she’d gotten wrapped
around herself. The hammering was caused by something, probably a tree branch,
hitting the side of the house as a fierce wind picked up outside. That had been
at four in the morning, and, heart racing, she’d been unable to get back to
sleep. Now, in the bright morning light, she restlessly set aside the newspaper
and took her coffee into the office.
    At her desk, she
turned on the computer, but instead of opening her e-mail messages, the way she
usually began her morning, she resumed her search for articles having to do
with “Haverstrum.” Probably because she’d refreshed her memory of Rosie’s tale
by retelling it to Starling the night before, Edna hadn’t been able to get the
drama out of her dreams or off her mind. Too many questions tumbled over each
other in her head.
    Why had the
police narrowed in on Rosie? Because she was the murdered man’s wife and,
therefore, the most obvious? Edna knew from her television programs, the
victim’s spouse usually had the most to gain and was, therefore, the prime
suspect. In the Haverstrum case, the police apparently hadn’t found strong
enough proof of Rosie’s guilt or they would have arrested her instead of only
bringing her in for questioning.
    Edna thought
back to her own situation and wondered if the townsfolk would still be shunning
her, had Tom Greene’s killer not been found. What would her life be like with
an unsolved murder hanging over her? She could only imagine what Rosie Beck and
her daughter were suffering. Before Edna questioned Charlie or Mary about what
they knew of the case, she wanted to read everything she could about the
personalities involved.
    What about other
suspects? Had there been sufficient evidence to suspect someone else? Farren
McCree, for instance. Edna entered Rosie’s former best friend’s name into the
Google search box and began a new hunt.
    The
thirty-nine-year-old McCree worked at the nursery that had hired Rosie. They
had been working side-by-side for over a year and had developed a social
friendship when Farren began her affair with Gregory. Less trusting than
Gregory’s wife, when the affair began to cool, Farren had followed Haverstrum
and caught him