Throw a Monkey Wrench (an Emma Cassidy Mystery Book 1) Read Online Free Page B

Barnet?” Emma broke in before
she could help herself.
    “ Si , Mr. Barnet, the man who owns
the big new house on the other side of the bay.” She nodded in the direction of
the French doors that led out onto the terrace. Following the direction of the
housekeeper’s gesture, Emma realized that Tony’s new house could be seen from
the Whites’ place. Mature trees shaded the outdoor terrace, but beyond them lay
the blue waters of the lake, and on the far side of Wineglass Bay sat Tony’s
house, sparkling like a sugar cube under the sun. Maria pressed a hand to her
chest as she continued in a breathless tone, “Stanley says the police are
there. Lots of police, Chief Putnam, too.”
    Emma tensed in her chair. Had they found
the source of the poison? After the mass poisoning, samples of all the food,
drink, and utensils had been taken away for testing, but as far as she knew no
results had come back. Maybe now they had, and something was pointing them back
to Tony Barnet’s house. Oh dear. She had a terrible feeling about this. Somehow
Tony would find a way of putting the blame on her.
    Before she could help herself, she uttered
a groan, causing everyone to look at her. “The food poisoning,” she sighed
gloomily. “I’m sure you’ve all heard about it by now.” Although none of them
had alluded to it.
    “Poisoning?” Maria shook her head in
confusion. “No, no, no poisoning. He was hit over the head.”
    Hit over the head? What was she talking
about?
    Maria sat up and stared at the people
around her. Her voice dropped to a harsh whisper. “He is lying in the garage
with a big dent in the back of his skull.”
    Madison gasped. “You mean he’s—”
    “Yes.” Maria nodded solemnly. “Mr. Barnet
is dead. Someone murdered him, God rest his soul.”
    ***
    Confusion reigned
in the library as everyone reacted differently to the news. Emma sat in stunned
silence, while Sean cried out “No!” and jumped to his feet to stride away to
the farthest corner in the library. Madison hurried over to him, her face pale
and puzzled. She tried to talk to him, but he barely seemed to listen as he
paced back and forth in that far corner, his face strained, lines of worry
pulling at his eyes and mouth.
    As Emma recovered from the shock of the
news, she was puzzled by Sean’s reaction. She couldn’t help wondering what the
connection was between Sean and Tony Barnet, except for Sean’s auto repair
shop. Perhaps Tony had had a car fixed there, but that hardly accounted for
Sean’s extreme reaction.
    She glanced at Cynthia, whose reaction was
the polar opposite of Sean’s. Instead of exclaiming and pacing, she had grown quite
still in her armchair, her profile Sphinx-like, barely even breathing as she
gazed through the French doors in the direction of Tony’s house, her eyes heavy
and shuttered. But her emotions were betrayed by her hands digging into the
padded armrests, her fingers like claws, and the slight, barely perceptible
flexing of a muscle in her jaw. She looked like a woman who refused to be ruled
by her emotions, no matter what the cost.
    But why was Cynthia upset over the news of Tony
Barnet’s death? Emma was pretty sure the Whites weren’t counted among Tony’s
friends, because anyone who was friends with the Whites would have invited them
to a housewarming, surely. And Emma couldn’t see the refined and socially
superior Cynthia feeling friendly toward the brusque, Johnny-come-lately Tony.
    Maria, the housekeeper, was still babbling
on about the incident, undeterred that Emma was her only audience. According to
her source, the police had arrived early this morning before seven, Maria said.
Crime scene tape surrounded the garage where the evil deed had taken place.
Someone had been wailing in the house, possibly Miss Kozlowski, Mr. Barnet’s
lady friend. It was not known exactly when the killer had struck, but it was a
fact that a cold-blooded murderer was on the loose, most likely in the
Greenville