Connecting Rooms Read Online Free

lucky. Hit the building boom in Phoenix.Always thought I’d retire there, but after my wife died I felt restless. Did some traveling and then, on a whim, I decided to see what had happened to my hometown.”
    “We met in the library,” Bernice said with a rueful laugh. “So I suppose one could say that we owe the Villantrys.”
    Arthur paused with the fork halfway to his mouth. “Speaking of Villantrys,” he murmured, “here comes the lady of the manor herself, and Junior. He runs the business now, you know. Took over when his old man died three years ago.”
    Owen glanced up to see a handsome woman in her fifties moving regally down the aisle between a row of tables. She was followed by a man in his early thirties who looked as if he was on the wrong coast. He wore a pale yellow sweater tied around his neck and a bored look that spoke of having grown up with a sense of entitlement.
    The dining room hostess trotted deferentially ahead of the pair, as though to make certain no rude serfs lumbered into their path. Madeline paused briefly at various tables to greet people with heavy-handed graciousness. Raymond Junior paused with her. He was not so gracious, however. He appeared impatient.
    A moment later the entourage halted beside the table where Owen and the others sat. Owen and Arthur got to their feet. Madeline acknowledged their chivalry with an aloof inclination of her head. The nod said more plainly than words could have that such good manners were only to be expected.
    “Do sit down, both of you.” Madeline’s smile was polite, but her voice was laced with a certain pinched quality. Her gaze touched Arthur briefly before sliding away. “Bernice, Arthur, I’m so glad we ran into each other here tonight. I heard about your engagement, and I want to congratulate both of you.”
    “Thank you, Madeline.” Bernice gestured toward Owen and Amy. “I’d like you tomeet my niece, Amy Comfort, and her fiancé, Owen Sweet. They’re visiting.”
    “How do you do,” Madeline said. “This is my son, Raymond.”
    Raymond gave Owen a curt nod. “Our table’s ready, Mother.”
    A fleeting frown of disapproval flickered across Madeline’s noble features, and then it was gone. “Yes, of course. You will excuse us?”
    “Enjoy your dinner,” Bernice said cheerfully.
    “Thank you.” Madeline glanced once more at Arthur and then she was gone.
    Something in Arthur Crabshaw’s gaze caught Owen’s attention. In spite of his opinion of the crazy case and the fact that he had more important things on his mind at that moment than solving it, his instincts went on yellow alert.
    Not red alert, Owen noticed, just yellow. But a warning light had definitely flashed. He felt Amy go very still beside him. He wondered if she had sensed the same thing he had.
    No doubt about it: Arthur Crabshaw and Madeline Villantry had a history.
    •  •  •
    Two hours later Owen sat in a chair near the window of his darkened room and contemplated the closed door that stood between him and Amy.
    He had been studying the door for nearly twenty minutes, ever since he and Amy had returned from dinner and coffee in the lounge.
    After due consideration, Owen had finally concluded that the logical approach was the obvious one. He would simply knock on the connecting door. When Amy opened it from her side, he would tell her that he wanted to discuss the case. It was as clever an excuse as any.
    Having considered and determined upon a course of action, he gripped the paddedarms of the chair and started to get to his feet. An authoritative knock from Amy’s side of the door stopped him in midrise.
    “Owen? Are you in there?” Her voice was muffled, but the excited urgency in it was unmistakable. She knocked again, this time with a bit more insistence.
    Owen told himself not to get his hopes up. The odds were against the likelihood that Amy had fallen for him sometime during dinner and now wanted to share a passionate good-night