Read Online A Shiver of Wonder by Daniel Kelley - Free Book Online Page B

some money he owed them!”
    “A lot of maybes and probablys in there,
Wilcott. You read your newspaper good. Except that in the Courier,
the word ‘allegedly’ was used about fifty times today. How well did
you know Heck?”
    “Heck? Not well at all. We just knew each
other to say hi or nod.”
    “Did you know he beat Janice? Had been doing
so for years, in fact?”
    David’s eyes found his mailbox. “Yeah. I
knew that. A few of us did. Their relationship was… pretty
crappy.”
    “Pretty normal, you mean, for a lot of folks who live this side of town. What’d you think about that,
about Heck beating the crap out of Janice on a regular basis?”
    David shifted so he could glare right up at
Ormsby. “It sucked. All right? I thought it sucked. But what was I
going to do, tell him?”
    The detective shrugged. “Maybe you did.
Perhaps last Wednesday, around noon or so.”
    David gritted his teeth. “I wasn’t even here
then! Which you already know, since you visited Culpepper Mills to
ask about my whereabouts that day!”
    “Don’t get tetchy. Remember, this is my job.
I’m merely serving the public interest.”
    David wasn’t tetchy, he just wanted to drill
the detective a new one to serve his own interest.
    “Did you know she had a crush on you? That
she considered you a Good Samaritan of sorts?”
    “No! How would I know that? All we did was
talk. Nothing else!”
    Yet another resident of the Rainbow Arms
strode into the lobby, and David felt himself turning red. Was he
going to be questioned and bullied in front of everyone for the
rest of the evening?
    Detective Ormsby had followed his line of
thought. “Why don’t we step into your apartment for a few minutes?”
he said. “More private. I just have a few more questions to ask,
and then we’ll be through.”
    “Ask them here.” David’s tone was as harsh
as anything he’d heard come out of his mouth in years.
    Ormsby pursed his lips. “Well, to be honest,
I was going to ask if I could take a quick look-see around. I could
get a search warrant by Monday if I had to, but it would be so much
easier…”
    David rolled his eyes at the casually
dangled implication. “What? You’re hoping you’ll find the murder
weapon in my apartment?”
    “We don’t have it yet.”
    “Yeah, I read that too! A blunt object,
probably stone or steel, with a slightly rounded edge. Perhaps
you’d like to examine my rock collection?”
    “Do you have one?” Ormsby actually looked
excited by this prospect.
    “No! No, I don’t!” David was torn, though,
as to whether giving in to the detective or making him get a
warrant, if that was what he was truly planning to do, was the
simpler means of ending this inanity.
    “Fine. Go look around,” he finally said, and
then he and Johnson headed for his apartment with Ormsby trailing
behind.
    David unlocked and pushed open the door.
“Have a ball,” he stated dryly.
    As Johnson growled and attempted to lunge at
him, Ormsby wordlessly stepped by the pair. After a brief survey of
the living room, he headed for the kitchen and began opening
cupboards. David turned his back, knelt, and tried to calm Johnson
as he listened to his belongings being pored through and pawed
over.
    Three minutes passed before the detective
was back. “You need to do laundry,” he uttered with deadpan
delivery.
    “Are you through? Can I be crossed off the
suspect list now?” David asked.
    Ormsby shook his head. “If and when that
happens, I might let you know.” He waited a few seconds, and then
feigned disappointment at David’s lack of response to his joke.
    David stood to the side so Ormsby could step
back into the common area.
    He didn’t move. “Don’t worry, Wilcott.
Almost done here. One more question: does your girlfriend know
about your relationship with Janice Templeton?”
    But at that, David lost it. With Johnson
right beside him, he pushed himself directly into Ormsby’s face.
“You leave Genevieve out of this! I know