Read Online Death Of A Dream Maker by Katy Munger - Free Book Online Page B

Herbert led the way while the young woman
hustled Auntie Lil with a firm grip on her elbow. No one bothered
to stop and introduce themselves.
    T.S. was startled awake by the frantic tapping of
Herbert's flashlight on his car window. He quickly unlocked the car
doors. It seemed as if the entire rear seat filled with people
within seconds. He groggily flipped on the overhead light.
    “Turn that damn thing off,” Auntie Lil hissed. “And
get us out of here. Fast.”
    T.S. cut the light and started the ignition, pulling
out into the street with a very puzzled expression. Hadn't he seen
three people in the backseat? A few blocks away, he pulled over
into the poorly lit parking lot of a private high school and turned
around for a better look. He peered at a strange tableau: Herbert
Wong was jammed in the middle of the backseat, flanked by Auntie
Lil and the young blond woman T.S. had noticed at the cemetery. She
looked up at T.S. and winked.
    “Who are you?” T.S. demanded.
    “My name is Casey Jones.” She held out a hand to
T.S., and feeling foolish, he shook it. Herbert repeated the
gesture solemnly. Auntie Lil took a more direct approach.
    “My word, you saved our butts,” she said. “Who are
you and what were you doing in Max's house? Don't tell me you were
burglarizing the place, too?”
    “I'm a private investigator,” Casey told them in a
voice that held more than a tinge of Southern drawl. “Max hired me
a couple of weeks ago to follow his wife. I saw enough to want to
know if she had anything to do with his murder. If she did, I'm
going to nail her. Max was a good guy. And it kind of pisses me off
when people blow up my clients. Besides, he has about three months
left on his retainer.” She smiled brightly at them as if this
explained everything.
    “What do you mean you've been following Max's wife?
What did you find out about her?” Auntie Lil demanded. “Tell me
everything you
know.”         
    Casey pulled her tattered raincoat more closely
around her and shivered. She still wore the tight black sheath
underneath. “Not so fast,” she said. “First of all, who the hell
are you? I saw you at the funeral and, I think, in some old
photographs that Max kept stashed in a locked trunk upstairs. And I
watched you checking out his photographs downstairs just now—but
how do I know I can trust you? And who are these guys?”
    They had a stare-off, all four of them, each taking
turns examining the others in the dim light as if they were all
complete strangers to one another. No one seemed to know how to
begin.
    “Let us adjourn to a coffee shop,” Herbert finally
suggested. “Perhaps a little caffeine and better lighting will
illuminate the subject. It seems we are in danger of having the
soup spoiled by too many cooks, don't you think?”
     
     
    “The worst thing is she had birth-control pills
hidden from him. In her underwear drawer, third from the top. They
were concealed inside a small pocket sewn into a tacky-looking
lingerie set.” Casey Jones had thoroughly searched the house before
the others had arrived.
    “What's so terrible about that?” T.S. asked. “Max was
old but he wasn't dead. At least not yet.”
    “Kids was one of the main reasons why he married her
in the first place,” Casey explained. “He wanted to start a family.
He said he realized he had made a mistake putting it off until so
late in life, but that if Strom Thurmond could do it, so could
he.”
    “Do what?” T.S. asked, mystified. For once, Auntie
Lil had been shocked into silence.
    “Have children in his seventies. Max was determined.
He wanted to have an heir.”
    “That explains the unsuitable marriage,” Herbert
said.
    “Unsuitable is a nice way to put it,” Casey mumbled
with a mouthful of toast. She had downed three fountain Cokes, a
double helping of corned beef hash, and fried eggs so far.
    “You okay?” T.S. asked his aunt. Perhaps they were
being insensitive, discussing Max so