Murder at the Bellamy Mansion Read Online Free Page B

with passion; passion for me. Now I hoped they were smoldering with resentment – and jealousy. Can’t help it. I’m only human.
    The man was hot, there was no denying that. He was lean waisted and broad shouldered, with crisp light brown hair. A beautifully shaped face. But whatever love I had felt for him, whatever passion once burned within me for him, was definitely a thing of the past. Dead and buried. The flames doused. In all truthfulness, he had killed the tender feelings I once felt for him. And my love for Jon had buried them. Finished. Finito.
    “ We tried to talk to Hudson this morning,” Nick said. “But he’s on pain meds plus experiencing short-term memory loss. He doesn’t remember why he was in the observatory at the Bellamy Mansion or even that he was there.”
    “ Did you talk to his family?” Jon asked.
    “ Yes. And they said he was working on a job for you two,” Nick replied.
    Jon moved closer to me and wrapped an arm around my waist protectively. “That’s correct,” he said, again managing to remain agreeable and cooperative. “Our firm has volunteered to restore the mansion’s belvedere. Willie was getting a jump start on evaluating what has to be done. Now we’re all taking some time off to show our respect for him and his family.”
    Nick pulled off his sunglasses, looked from Jon to me with a frown. When Nick smiles, he has adorable dimples in his cheeks. But Nick rarely smiles. That, in itself, should have been a warning sign that he was not the man for me. I love to laugh.
    “ We want to know what he was doing up there. And more importantly, we want to know who knew he’d be there at that hour. Eight o’clock on New Year’s Day isn’t your usual time for a contractor to be on a job.”
    I wrapped my arm around Jon’s waist, feeling the tension this hostile cross examination was causing both of us, on top of Willie’s near death. “Willie was up in the belvedere because we are going to be restoring the windows there,” I said evenly. “And any number of people could have known that he’d be there. It wasn’t a secret that we had volunteered to do the job. There was an item in the Star-News. And an announcement in Preservation North Carolina’s newsletter. Most everyone in the historic district knew.”
    “ And why that hour and that day?” Jon interjected defensively. “Because, as you well know, the mansion is a museum, open to the public, and we have to work around the hours and days they are open. Until recently, the belvedere was on the tour.”
    “ Did Hudson have any enemies?” Sherwood asked.
    “ No,” Jon said emphatically. “Willie Hudson is a respected leader in his church and in the African-American community. Everyone thought the world of him.”
    “ Obviously, not everyone,” Nick said.
    Jon and I said nothing.
    “ The bullet could have been intended for one of his crew,” Sherwood speculated.
    “ Who was working with him?” I asked. In all the excitement and worry I had never thought to ask that question.
    Nick pulled out a small notebook and searched the pages. “Dwayne Hudson and Lonnie Hudson were scheduled to meet him, but he was alone when shot. The others found him when they arrived minutes later.”
    “ Oh,” I said. “Lonnie is his son.”
    “ And Dwayne is his grandson, son of Willie’s son Mason,” Jon added. “What a shock for them.”
    “ We know about the intricate family relationships,” Sherwood said testily.
    Honestly, I wanted to slap that woman so badly my palm itched and I took a second to scratch it.
    “ Those two got any enemies?” Nick asked.
    “ I wouldn’t know,” Jon answered, taking a step toward our front door, keys in his outstretched hand.
    “ You tell us something,” I said. “Whose apartment was the shot fired from?”
    “ No tenant,” Nick replied. “Up for rent. Unoccupied.”
    “ Well, who had the keys?” I asked the obvious.
    Diane Sherwood got all huffy. “You know we can’t