Read Online A Knife to Remember by Jill Churchill - Free Book Online Page B

Jake would be mad at him for leaving his job, so Mel volunteered to pass the message along to Jake for him. Mel was going to go out back anyway and ask people if anyone had seen somebody coming in my house. Anyhow, Mel found Jake’s body in the props truck.”
    Shelley shivered. “God, that’s awful! How was he killed?“
    “I don’t know. Mel didn’t say.“
    “So, while I was frittering away my time at the library, you unearthed a nasty family secret,“ she said, ticking off her fingers, “had your house vandalized, invited in a guest with a bloody hand, and sent another visitor out to discover a dead body? Jane, sometimes you amaze me.“
    “But I had nothing to do with any of it, except that I live here. It’s not as if I pried the information out of Harwell—God knows I didn’t want to hear about her and Steve—or went out searching for somebody to wreck my kitchen!“
    “Mel’s not going to see it that way,“ Shelley warned. “Especially if you’re backing out on the romantic weekend.“
    “I don’t know that I am yet. I still haven’t had a chance to talk to Mike. I just don’t want him to feel that I’m abandoning him at a bad time in his life. For him, this must be like losing his father all over again. First Steve died, and now even Mike’s memory of him has to be drastically revised. That’s tough, especially when you’re still so young. Shelley, I told him about Steve leaving us the night he died. I didn’t want him to ever know, but I heard myself telling him and I was appalled.“
    “Jane, he’s a tough kid. He’ll survive it and I’ve always thought you should have told him. He was bound to find out sooner or later. Better that it came from you. Where are your kids anyway?“
    “As soon as Katie and Todd got home from school, Mike took my side about them not going out in the yard. Of course, he’s just afraid they’ll somehow find out what he learned. He took Todd to a movie, after getting into a screaming match with Katie. She’s in the back bedroom watching out the window—and no doubt plotting revenge on Mike and me both. I could have used her help cleaning up the kitchen. It was an unholy mess, but I didn’t want to have one more thing to fight about. With anybody.”
    Both women fell silent for a while, watching the activities outside and thinking.
    In the kitchen, the police officer questioned a hippy-dippy individual who was expounding on why she never wore a watch and couldn’t possibly tell him what time anybody did anything because time was an artificial concept that had caused most of the misery in the world and ought to be outlawed so that the fascist pigs couldn’t try to trip people up by asking about it. To his credit, the officer just went on to the next question without any comment.
    “Oh, Jane—what a lot you have to sort out,“ Shelley said quietly.
    Jane sighed. “Oh, I don’t know. The police have to sort out Jake’s murder, and Mike has to sort himself out. All I have to do is stand by and be available if needed. In both cases.”
    Shelley nodded. “But aren’t you curious? About Jake?“
    “Madly!“ Jane said, relieved to be talking about the one aspect of the hectic afternoon that least involved her. “I’m still trying to figure out whether the blackmailer I overheard was Jake. I’m inclined to think so, but I know that’s partly because Maisie suggested it was the kind of nasty thing he’d do, and partly because he’s dead and it would be a good motive. But I really had no good reason to think so. It might not have even been a man speaking. Maybe a woman with a low voice.“
    “Like Lynette Harwell?“ Shelley suggested.
    “That crossed my mind,“ Jane admitted. “But I know that’s because I want to think badly of her. I mean, I already do, but I’d like to pile on the sins, so to speak. I don’t honestly believe it could have been her voice, however.“
    “Just who was at this lunch?“
    “Jake, Lynette Harwell, that