Darlene Franklin - Dressed for Death 02 - A String of Murders Read Online Free Page B

blind—into his proposal. That touched me more than anything Shakespeare might have written.
    I leaned over and tousled his hair with my hand. Looking straight into his eyes, I said “Yes!” and met his lips in a kiss.
    During the eternal ecstasy of that moment, Audie slipped a ring on the fourth finger of my left hand. I looked at it now.
    “There’s something I should tell you.” Audie’s voice broke into my reverie. “I’m pretty sure I know who this guy is.” He sat straight in his chair, color high in his cheeks.
    “Why didn’t you say so before?” Reiner’s words came out in a huff.
    “I tried. You didn’t let me.” Audie’s level voice carried impact. “Anyhow, I’m telling you now. It’s Vic Spencer. He recently opened a janitorial service, pretty much a one man show, but occasionally others help out. Word spread, and it seems everybody uses his services. He just got the contract for the MGM.”
    Now I remembered where I had seen the victim before. Our paths had crossed at the theater a few times, but we never said anything beyond a casual greeting. He was as invisible as most janitors were, rarely seen—since he worked after hours—and never heard except for his cleaning equipment. However, members of the Grace Gulch Chamber of Commerce praised his services. His clients included private homes as well as businesses.
    “Is that Spencer with a c or with an s ?” Frances asked, looking up from her notebook.
    “With a c , I think. I can check. We have his contract on file at the MGM office.”
    Frances stared down at her notes. “Vic Spencer. That matches the name on the blackmail note. It sounds familiar, but I don’t think I’ve met him.”
    In a town the size of Grace Gulch, where everyone knew everyone else and their family’s history since the 1891 land run, that could be important.
    “I think Lauren Packer recommended him to Mrs. Mallory.” Audie mentioned the lawyer who handled Magda Grace Mallory’s many interests. He also was involved in our production of Arsenic and Old Lace . You might want to talk with him.”
    “Don’t worry, we’ll do that.”
    I could almost see the cogs in Reiner’s brain turn and mesh together. Vic Spencer and Audie Howe, both new to Grace Gulch. One dead, the other one the first to find him. It made a tidy package, one that would keep suspicion away from longstanding citizens.
    Reiner’s next words confirmed my interpretation of his facial features.
    “You know, you can be up front with us, Mr. Howe. You saw the light on in the store. You came to investigate and found Mr. Spencer in the process of a burglary. You struggled—”
    “No, no, no!” Audie’s face twisted in frustration. “He was dead when I arrived. I already told you.”
    “Audie,” Frances’s soft voice interrupted him. “We have to ask. If that’s the way it happened, it was self-defense. The law allows you to protect your property.”
    Of course, technically the property belonged to me, not Audie, but I knew what she meant.
    “No.” Audie repeated his single syllable answer as if saying it again would convince them.
    Frances looked through her notes. “You still haven’t told us where you were before you went to the theater. What were you doing, say, between five and seven?”
    Now Frances was questioning Audie? That hurt. I felt betrayed. Reiner’s suspicion did not surprise me. He tended to play the role of bad cop to her good cop. How would my fiancé answer?
    Audie stared at his hands, locked together in front of the chair, as if expecting them to answer the question for him.
    “Mr. Howe? You can answer the question here. . .”
    Audie shook his head, still not speaking. What was wrong with the man? He needed to tell them where he’d been and get this nonsense over with so they could go and check it out. As incensed as their interrogation made me, a part of me understood their need to question and verify.
    “. . .or we can take you to the station.”
    “What’s