Untimely Death by Elizabeth J. Duncan Read Free Book Online Page A

mashed potatoes on his fork.
    “Do you know if her room is locked now?” he asked.
    “It wasn’t locked this morning when I found her, but I don’t know if someone locked the door after she was taken to hospital.”
    He helped himself to a few more buttered carrots.
    *
    “This is her room, number fifteen here on the right,” Charlotte said in a stage whisper as the two made their way along the hotel’s second-floor corridor. They tried the door, and it opened. After closing it softly behind them and locking it, Ray flicked on the light switch by the door and then pulled a small a flashlight out of his pocket and shone it around the room.
    “You’d be surprised how much better you can see with one of these, even with overhead lighting,” he saidin response to Charlotte’s quizzical look. The beam picked out the details of small things on the dresser: a little cut-glass dish containing a couple of pairs of dangly silver earrings and two quarters, a photo of a dark-haired woman holding a small dog, and several hair clips.
    “It’s just the bedroom, is it?” he asked. “No bathroom?”
    “She’d have used the communal one down the hall,” Charlotte said. She opened a bureau drawer and flipped through a few neatly folded sweaters and selected one.
    She picked up a cell phone on the bedside table and showed it to Ray, who nodded.
    “I’m sure she’d be glad to have that. What else do you think she’d like?”
    “Probably some underclothes, sleepwear, toiletries, makeup. When she’s feeling better, she’ll definitely want to tidy herself up a bit. Oh, and we’d better send some street clothes so she’ll have something clean to wear home. Jeans and a sweater. And maybe a—”
    “Where’s her purse?” Ray interrupted. “We haven’t seen her purse. Where would she be likely to keep it?”
    “Could the ambulance people have picked it up and taken it with them?”
    “Possibly, if there was time. Though I expect the paramedics’ priority was preparing her for transport and getting her on her way as soon as possible.”
    Charlotte opened the door of the small closet and checked the floor. “It’s not here. Usually a woman sets it down someplace where it’s easy to get at, so you’d expectit to be beside the little table or maybe by the bed or on the table.” She pointed to a small table, painted white, with a straight-backed, uncomfortable-looking chair in front of it.
    “I’ll call the hospital and ask the nurse to check for it. Her room’s been left unlocked, so we want to make sure her bag hasn’t been stolen,” said Ray.
    He surveyed the room with an experienced eye.
    “Well, I don’t think there’s anything more to see here. Doesn’t look as if anything’s out of place. Let’s just gather up a few things for her and be on our way.”
    Charlotte took a closer look at the rumpled bed where she had found Lauren. The bedding gave off a sour smell, and she thought she saw a damp patch on the coverlet.
    “Ray, this bed needs changing. We can’t leave it like that. It should be nice for her when she returns. I’ll ask the housekeeper to take care of it tomorrow.”
    Charlotte lifted the pillow to reveal a pair of pajama bottoms printed with a pink sheep pattern and a pink T-shirt.
    “There’s a bag on the floor of her closet that’s probably for laundry. We’ll put these in there and see if we can find another bag to use for the things we want to bring to the hospital.” As she picked up the nightclothes, something fell to the floor. She bent over and retrieved a bright red box with the name “Garrard” on it.
    “Oh my,” she said, turning to Ray and showing him the box. “Look at this.”
    “What is it?”
    “It’s a Garrard jewelry box.” She snapped the lid open to reveal a ring set with a large blue stone surrounded by what looked like diamonds. She held it out to him, and he shone his flashlight on it as he peered at it. “If this is real, it’s worth thousands,”