The Easter Egg Murder by Patricia Smith Wood Read Free Book Online Page A

will start honking if you don’t go now.”
    “Okay, okay. Lecture is over, but you get my drift, right?” She eased her foot onto the gas pedal.
    “I do indeed. You want me to stop the pity party and get a spine, and ” she held up her hand, “you want me to give the next poor sucker a break.”
    “Well, that’s not the way I would have put it, but, yeah, that’s pretty much it.”
    “Okay, if I promise to at least meet one of your bachelor buddies, will you give it a rest? Honestly, you’re worse than my mother.”
    “Fine. Insult me all you want, but you know I’m right. And what do you mean ‘one of my bachelor buddies ’? Do you think I have them stashed in a closet somewhere?”
    “ I wouldn’t doubt it. You always seem to have one who needs an escort for some party. I’m surprised you haven’t tried to fix me up with Senator Lawrence!”
    “Now there’s an idea worth exploring ,” Ginger teased.
    “Please tell me you aren’t serious .” Harrie looked alarmed.
    “Oh, get over yourself. What would a famous, distinguished man like Philip Lawrence want with a skinny kid like you? Besides, he has his own tragic love story.”
    Harrie’s eyes widened. “You never told me anything about a tragic love story. What happened?”
    “Some other time. It’ll take too long. One night soon, come over for dinner and I’ll fill you in.”
    “This is a trick, right? You lure me to your house with the promise of good food and wine. Then, when I least expect it, you bring him out.”
    “Bring out who?”
    “One of your closet bachelors, of course.”
    “No, I think I’ll watch the parking lot in our complex. Eventually the tall, dark and handsome guy will show up again, and when he does, I’ll be ready for him. I’ll march out there, introduce myself, and tell him you are too shy to approach him yourself.”
    “Oh, my God, I’ll bet you would. Well, you better pray he doesn’t show up again, because he’ll think you are a lunatic, and he’ll have you arrested for stalking him. Then I’ll have to call Steve to get you out of jail.”
    They were both laughing so hard they almost missed the turn into Canyon Estates. The mood in the car had definitely lightened . Harrie felt better than she had all day and was ready to get back to work. Maybe tonight she would sleep without the dreams.

11
     
     
    Tarnished silver clouds hung over the Sandia Mountains as Harrie and Ginger drove through the gate of Canyon Estates. The smell of moisture hung heavy in the air.
    Harrie craned her head to get a better look at the sky. “Do you think it’s really going to rain this time?”
    Ginger laughed. “Get serious. You know I haven’t had my car washed yet. It can’t possibly rain until I do that.”
    A s they parked, a dust devil passed over the car like a ghostly apparition. Ramona answered the door and led them to the library.
    Philip read and approved the edited pages of his book. Then he asked Harrie, “Did you read those articles?”
    Harrie shifted in her chair. His directness and commanding presence were unsettling. “Most of them, but I s ort of skimmed through the rest. There’s one thing we wondered about. What did the sheriff and his buddies do to Manny Salinas? It didn’t say specifically in the news articles.”
    Philip sighed. “ What they did to poor old Manny was really horrible. They took him out in the desert, stripped his clothes and put a bicycle lock on his testicles. They thought that would force a confession out of him.”
    Harrie gasped. “ That’s awful! How did they get away with it?”
    “T hey didn’t. Manny told his mother what happened, and she went straight to the FBI. They discovered the corruption that had been going on here for years. As I told you, gambling was rampant during that time, and officials were bribed to look the other way. It went all the way to the state government in Santa Fe. It was said that some of our congressional delegation were also bought and