The Rotary Club Murder Mystery Read Online Free

that?” Lona was quick to ask.
    â€œAt the beauty parlor.”
    Beauty parlor information can sometimes be pretty accurate. And if what Daisy Beth had just said was true, that would explain why the Banner - Democrat had not run the second story until the third day.
    â€œWell, it looks like we have a real mystery on our hands,” Lona said. “And if anybody can find out just what happened, Harriet can.”
    Then Daisy Beth said, “Oh, Harriet, you just must do it.”
    I knew then that I should have kept my mouth shut, but I never was one to be quiet.
    Fred was in rare form—went on quite a while teasing me the way he does. But pretty soon, he got just as serious as could be and said, “Would you really take the case?”
    Well, just because I happened to figure out who killed that Mr. Garcia in the DAR Mystery, nobody needs to suppose I am a real detective. I am eighty-eight years old. Most folks think I am just an inquisitive old woman, and they may be right.
    Fred would have none of that. He said, “Don’t knock yourself. I have more confidence in your intelligence than I have in all the police in Virginia or Tennessee.”
    Now wasn’t that sweet of him!
    Then all of them began to get at me about looking into the case to see if I could solve it.
    â€œWell, you know there’s not much that a nosy old woman can’t find out if she just keeps asking questions long enough,” I said. And I must say that I’m pretty good at asking questions.
    Fred became a bit reflective and said, “I honestly think there is something fishy about that suicide. I think the club ought to look into it. And, Harriet, I think you are the ideal person to do the snooping.”

    Then Lona and Daisy Beth got into it and said it would be the very thing to do.
    I had no idea anything would come of it. But with my big mouth, I said I bet a woman could find the culprit sooner than a man could. It was just in fun, and I didn’t mean a bit of it. Even though I worked out that DAR Mystery, that was the kind of thing that would happen just once in a lifetime.
    But the more I carried on, the more I thought Fred was really serious. And yet you know how it is with things that are talked about over the bridge table—nothing ever comes of them. So I thought very little about Hollonbrook and all that until Sunday morning at church, when Fred Middleton came up to me and said, “Harriet, get your detective kit ready and start working on that case.”
    â€œWhat are you talking about?” I said. “Don’t you know I would have to go to that town in North Carolina where that poor man came from?” But then I thought—and smiled. “You know one of my dearest friends lives in that town. If you’ll pay my way down there, I promise you I’ll sleuth till the cows come home.” Then I laughed and said, “I’ll send you the bill, Fred Middleton.”
    â€œIt’s a deal.” Fred smiled. “We have already put together ten Rotarians who are willing to take care of the expenses if you’ll lend us your brain.”
    Now that was just ridiculous. Of course, there was the DAR Mystery, but I had no idea of ever doing such a thing again. Besides, everything about the DAR case took place right here in Borderville, and that meant that Margaret and Lizzie and Helen, three other ladies in our DAR chapter, were all working on it. And then Helen had those contacts on the West Coast. So it wasn’t as if I solved the mystery by myself.
    But this case was bound to be different. You see there wasn’t anybody around here that knew this Mr. Hollonbrook at all. And that seemed to say that the answer was all down there in North Carolina. I just didn’t know whether I could do it.

    But here they were offering to pay my expenses!
    I said, “Fred, you rascal, what have you gotten me into?”
    â€œBut you are going to do it,” he said.
    I