Suspicion of Madness Read Online Free

growing in the cracks. Gail heard the wheels of the suitcases rattling behind her, then thumping up the steps to the porch.
    They went through a door of beveled glass, then into a decorator's dream of a seaside mansion, with antique fishing rods up one wall, paintings of sea birds on another, and a staircase to a second floor. Sofas and chairs were grouped in congenial arrangement around a coral-rock fireplace for that one week of winter when warmth was needed.
    "This is lovely," she said, looking around.
    "I've put you upstairs. You should find it comfortable. There's a view of the ocean."
    The stairs were carpeted with a pattern of palm fronds. At the top, a hall ran left and right, with doors set at intervals in floral wallpaper and white woodwork. Lois Greenwald unlocked a door to a room with a four-poster bed and wicker furniture. French doors opposite revealed a small terrace, the tops of palm trees, the moonlit ocean.
    Gail noticed that Arnel had come upstairs with only her bag. She ventured to ask, "Have you put us in separate rooms?"
    "Mr. Quintana asked for a cottage. I assumed…"
    "No. We're together."
    "I apologize. Obviously there's been a misunderstanding. Arnel, take Ms. Connor's bag to Mr. Quintana's cottage, will you?"
    Gail smiled at her. "Thanks. Sorry for the inconvenience." She turned toward the door, but heard Lois Greenwald ask her to wait.
    The sound of the wheels faded down the corridor.
    Resting one hand in the other at the waist of her dark-blue skirt, Ms. Greenwald stood for several seconds without moving. Her deep-set eyes were that indistinct color between green and gray. She was not quite as tall as Gail, but her bearing belonged to a woman accustomed to delivering orders.
    "I would like to know something," she said. "Is Billy a suspect in Sandra McCoy's death?"
    Surprised to be asked about the case, Gail could only reply, "I... I'm sure he isn't. They're just gathering information."
    "Are they?" The rise of Ms. Greenwald's brows made fine lines across her forehead. "When Martin told me he'd contacted Anthony Quintana again, I knew it had to be serious. He wouldn't bring him here for nothing. You don't find it all just a little strange, what happened tonight?"
    "Excuse me?"
    "Billy trying to kill himself the day before he's supposed to give a statement to the police? You don't find that interesting?"
    Confused, Gail managed to ask, "Are you saying... you think he murdered Sandra McCoy?"
    After a moment, Lois Greenwald sighed. "I'm asking what the police think. On Sunday we reopen for business. We have thirty- two guests checking in, and the following weekend we'll have fifty-six. Do you have any idea what would happen if people start saying there's a killer running loose at The Buttonwood Inn? We'd see it all over the news. The phone would start ringing with cancellations. Suspicion is enough, never mind guilt. If you know something, I'd appreciate hearing it."
    "No, I— Look. Why would they suspect Billy? He was here at the hotel at the time the girl was killed."
    "He wasn't here, he was at Joan Sinclair's house."
    "The famous movie actress," Gail remembered.
    "Famous?" Lois Greenwald smiled. "In her own mind. She was washed up thirty years ago. Billy was supposedly over there watching Alfred Hitchcock movies. I hope it's true, but who knows? Joan would lie for him if he needed an alibi."
    Finally Gail's mind registered what this woman had said before. "What did you mean... Martin contacted Anthony again? What was the first time?"
    "The arson case."
    "Excuse me?"
    "You don't know? When Billy was fifteen he set fire to a waterfront house on Plantation Key, a total loss. He said it was an accident, but he told a friend of his that he did it on purpose. The police arrested him for arson. Teri insisted on hiring Anthony Quintana, never mind that his fees cost us a fortune. But he got the job done, didn't he? By the time he finished, Billy's friend couldn't remember his own name. We had to pay off