Case Closed Read Online Free

Tears don’t freak me out.”
    She laughed at that, and sighed gustily. “Oh, thank you. I guess I did need that cry. Lord, I’m tired of living like this.”
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œAfraid. Locks and alarms and all that. I might as well have gone missing. In some ways, I have—I’ve gone missing inside this house. I’m alone too much. I know it, but I just can’t seem to make myself do anything.” She looked down at her dress. “Look at me. I used to take great care with my appearance. Now, I’m just a fright. I go nowhere, see no one. I leave boxes in the living room and I haven’t gone into my own garage in years. A mouse has more nerve than I do. I’m a frightened recluse, cowering in my own home.”
    â€œMaybe that can change.”
    She didn’t say anything for a while. He stayed quiet.
    Finally she said, “To go back to that night, Halloween, Derek left here at about five. You’ve probably noticed that we’re off the beaten path for trick-or-treaters, so that night, when I unexpectedly got a call from a friend inviting me out to dinner, I accepted. I was tempted to tell her about my problems, but instead I listened to hers. It was a good distraction, but after a couple of hours I tired of it and—over her protests—I told her I was going home.
    â€œWhen I got back here, it was about ten o’clock, and I was surprised to find one of the company trucks parked in the driveway, back open, ramp down, and empty. The lights were on in the garage. At first, I thought it was Derek, delivering another load of documents to the garage, but then I saw a man wearing dark clothing. It was Harold. He had one of the big fifty-five-gallon drums on a dolly. I realized that I had come home just in time to see Harold breaking into the garage. He was trying to steal things back. And Evelyn was with him. She was carrying a stack of boxes.”
    â€œHow did they respond to being caught?”
    â€œOh, I scared Harold half to death. He was so startled to see me, he actually gave a little scream. And he looked very shaken. I mean, he really couldn’t explain himself, could he? He moved it back in—which wasn’t all that easy, the garage was packed with Derek’s things and all the stuff he had brought home from the company. But Harold managed to do it, then he tried to tell me that he and his father had talked things out and that all was fine, and he was just going to take back all of the things his dad had brought out here.
    â€œEvelyn has always been bold and brassy, and while I was telling him that I’d have to hear from his father before I could let them take anything, she acted as if she’d just as soon clobber me with those boxes.
    â€œHarold stepped between us and told her to let him handle things, that she had caused enough problems. I stopped her from taking the boxes with her—she was unhappy about that. But she set the boxes down on the drum and went out to the van.
    â€œHarold argued with me some more, then I explained to him that I separately owned most of the company and could sell it out from under him—something that seemed to surprise him, so I suppose Derek hadn’t let him in on that little detail. So he gave up. I made him lock up the garage and give me the keys he had used to get into it. I told him to leave.”
    â€œDid he?”
    â€œYes, but not before he hinted threats. I told him that I had already arranged things so that if anything happened to me, the company would be sold and the proceeds donated to the United Negro College Fund, and everything in my trust would go to it as well. He was a bit of a racist, so that cooked his goose.”
    â€œHad you made that arrangement?”
    â€œYes. It’s an excellent cause. Besides, you don’t think I’d lie to my own son, do you?”
    â€œNo, ma’am, I don’t. Did you ever reconcile with