Read Online Carolyn G. Hart by Death on Demand/Design for Murder - Free Book Online Page B

threatening to talk about—well, you heard him—he was going to rattle skeletons. Somebody didn’t want his or her bones disturbed.”
    “What about the lady vet?”
    Annie sighed. “I can’t imagine. Oh, Max, she was such a lovely person. Right after I came here to visit Uncle Ambrose this summer, Boots was hit by a car.”
    She would never forget how Boots had dragged himself to her uncle’s house, his back legs useless, his fur matted and streaked with dirt and blood. The memory still hurt.
    “Anyway, I took Boots to the Island Hills Clinic. I didn’t know Jill then, and Dr. Foster took a look at poor Boots. He was nice enough but disinterested. He told me the only thing to do was to put Boots down, there was no hope. I asked what they would do, and he said they’d give him a shot of succinyl-choline, and he would be out like a light. A girl came in while Foster was talking, but I didn’t pay any attention to her. Foster left, and I was saying goodbye to Boots when a boy came to get him. She spoke up and said, ‘Don’t give him succinyl-choline. Use 5 cc.’s concentrated sodium pentabarbitol. Of course, I wanted to know what the heck, and then she told me. Foster was old-fashioned and a lot of vets might use succinyl-choline, but she didn’t advise it. She said the animal suffocated. She said it was cruel.” Tears filled Annie’s eyes. “So you see, it couldn’t be a
personal
murder with Jill. Maybe itwill turn out to be something like a drug robbery, after all.”
    Somehow, Max’s arm was now tightly around her shoulders.
    “I don’t have a glimmer why anybody coshed her, but two murders on an island within twenty-four hours! They’re connected, or I’ll eat that raccoon.”
    “It isn’t our problem,” she objected. She was unbelievably tired. “It’s that unpleasant man’s problem. But I still don’t understand why he sent us all home. He did say nobody was allowed to leave the island, but there isn’t a ferry until morning anyway. He didn’t even
try
to find out anything.”
    “I imagine he’s busy doing that right now, my dear. And they have to examine the crime scene. Your old chum was still hanging around as we left.”
    Her old chum. Max meant Capt. Mac. Suddenly, Annie wished fervently that Capt. Mac were in charge of this investigation.
    “Max, did you see the way Saulter looked at me?”
    The floor creaked.
    Annie swam up from the depths of sleep, rolled over, and stifled a scream. She bolted upright, her hair tousled, realized her nightgown was more than drooping low, and hastily yanked a sheet up to her chin.
    “What the hell are you doing here?”
    “You are at risk,” Max intoned sternly.
    Annie yawned and started to rub her eyes, then grabbed again at the sheet. “Let’s start over,” she said patiently. “
I
am in bed.
I
am asleep. Perhaps
you
could tell me what
you
are doing in my bedroom at the crack of dawn?”
    “Anybody could get in this house. I spent the night in my car—and I’ve got a stiff neck.” He milked a pause for sympathy and tried to rotate his head. “Ouch.”
    “You rented a condo. Why don’t you stay in it?”
    “Because there is a double killer somewhere on this island …”
    “Not in my bedroom,” Annie objected.
    “He could be.”
    “Or she.”
    “Annie, listen to me. This house is as full of holes as Swiss cheese. Do you know how I got in?”
    Annie was stubbornly silent.
    “I picked up a stick at the foot of the steps, tiptoed up, and pried open a window in the kitchen.”
    “I didn’t hear you.”
    “You sleep like an elephant, my lovely. The point is, this place isn’t secure. So I’m going to get my stuff—”
    “No.”
    “There’s plenty of room. I can curl up on the couch.”
    “You won’t have a stiff neck, you’ll have a rigid spine. No, Max. I appreciate it, but I’m a big girl, and I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”
    They squabbled about it all the way through breakfast.
    Annie poured