Sugar Coated Sins by Jessica Beck Read Free Book Online Page A

of digging into our town’s
past.   The mere thought of it nearly put me
to sleep, so he was more than welcome to that line of investigation as far as I
was concerned.   “I’d be happy to help.”
    “Good.   Here’s what we know so far.   Gabby was able to give us three suspects, and
Suzanne suggested that we include her in our list as well.   After all, if she was dating Benjamin Port
when he was murdered, then she might have motive of her own that she didn’t
share with us.”
    “It makes sense,” Phillip said as
he nodded his acknowledgment in my direction.   When I’d first started sleuthing, he hadn’t been all that impressed with
my instincts or my abilities, but over time, he’d learned that I could
contribute to an investigation as well.   “Who else made your list?”
    “So far we have: Lisa Port Smith,
the victim’s sister; Hilda Fremont, from the Boxcar Grill; and Judge Hurley,”
Jake explained.
    Phillip whistled softly.   “That’s quite an eclectic selection of
suspects,” he said.   “I’m dying to hear
their motives.”
    Jake nodded at me, and I
spoke.   “Lisa inherited Benjamin’s
estate, supposedly Hilda was a scorned lover, and we still haven’t determined
the judge’s motives yet.   Gabby’s would
most likely be jealousy, but again, we need to dig deeper into her real
relationship with him as well.”
    “It’s not exactly clear cut, and
the fact that this murder happened fifteen years ago isn’t helping our cause
any.   When I think about the advances in
forensics alone, it makes me shudder.   We
don’t even have a cause of death,” Phillip said wearily.
    “I’m still guessing that it was
poison, though I seriously doubt that it was from the canned chicken,” Jake
said.   “The symptoms still seem to fit,
unless Doc Nance is completely incompetent.”
    “He might have realized too late
that it wasn’t an accident, but I’m willing to vouch for his ability.   You can take the fact that it was poison as
rock solid,” the former sheriff said.
    “The real question, then, is who
gave the poison to him, and why did they write that note afterward?” I
asked.   “Is remorse enough to motivate
someone to confess like that?”
    “Remember, the killer never
believed that the note would be discovered in their lifetime,” Phillip said.
    “Well, we’re not going to solve it
sitting around here,” Jake said as he began to stuff the contents of the time
capsule back into the container.   “Phillip, how soon can you get started on your research?”
    “I’m already on it,” he said with
a grin as he stood.   “I’ll let you know
what I find.”
    “Thanks,” Jake said, and after he
was gone, I asked my husband, “What do the two of us do now?”
    My husband shrugged.   “I don’t know about you, but I’m calling
Stephen Grant in here so I can explain what we’ve been up to.   After that, he and I are going to start
digging into Benjamin Port’s life a little harder.”
    “That sounds like a good plan, but
where does that leave Grace and me?”
    “I don’t suppose there’s the
slightest chance that you two will just leave this to me and my investigators,
is there?” Jake asked me with a grin.
    “Do I really even need to bother
answering that question?” I asked with a hint of laughter in my voice.
    “Probably not.   Tell you what.   If you and Grace could stay out on the edges
of this case and look for things that my people and I might miss, that would be
great.”
    “You’re not just asking me to do
that to keep me safe, are you?”
    “Would it be all that wrong if I
were?” Jake asked me.
    “I’ve done this before, remember?”
    “Not on my watch, you haven’t,” he
answered.
    I knew that my husband had a lot
more to worry about than me.   Was I being
selfish insisting on digging into Benjamin Port’s murder, too?   Maybe, but I couldn’t help myself.   I’d been involved since the beginning, and
there was no way I could