Read Online Deception at Dark Hall (The Briony Martin Mystery Series) by Stacey Coverstone - Free Book Online Page B

has been fascinating, but our purpose for coming today is not so pleasant, Sharlyn. I’m afraid we have some bad news.”
    “Oh?”
    “It has to do with your sister, Shelby.”
    “Shelby? How on earth do you know about her?” The color seemed to drain from her angelic face.
    In a nutshell, Daniel explained how he and Briony had met Shelby. Then he told her about the man named Andrew Whealdon who’d been found shot in Shelby’s brownstone, and how Shelby appears to be missing. He ended by showing her the back of his head. “Someone tried to kill me, too.”
    She uttered a sharp cry and seemed genuinely concerned. Oddly, she didn’t ask why Daniel had gone to Shelby’s brownstone in the first place.
    “When we had our private talks, why didn’t you mention your twin?” he asked her.
    Briony may have imagined it, but she thought she saw Lee flinch.
    “I saw no need,” Sharlyn answered. Her hand fluttered at her chest. “My sister and I haven’t seen each other in nearly six months. We’re as different as day and night. We have nothing in common. I don’t approve of her lifestyle. She abuses alcohol and drugs, and men, among other things.”
    If that statement surprised Daniel, he didn’t let on.
    “Apparently, she doesn’t approve of yours, either,” Briony said, remembering how Shelby had called Sharlyn’s profession hocus pocus and voodoo.
    “I gave up caring what my sister thought about me or anyone else a long time ago,” Sharlyn replied. “She suffers from emotional problems. It’s sad and I’m sorry to air our dirty laundry, but the truth is the truth.”
    Lee nodded her head, though ever so slightly as to not be observed by anyone but Briony’s keen eye.
    “Do you know this man, Andrew Whealdon?” Daniel asked.
    Sharlyn’s hesitation spoke for her.
    “How do you know him?” he pressed.
    She folded her hands in her lap. “He was Shelby’s boyfriend. I suppose that’s one way of describing him and their relationship. Frankly, they behaved more like dogs in heat when they were together. Disgusting. Andrew was one in a long line of men Shelby used and then disposed of when she tired of them.”
    Briony’s ears perked. “Was? Did Shelby break up with him?”
    “Yes. Andrew came by Dark Hall to cry on my shoulder. He said he couldn’t live without her or some such nonsense. He begged me to talk to her.”
    “When was this?”
    “Two weeks ago. I told him I had no idea where she was keeping herself. Besides, I’d tried to warn him before he got involved with her, but he didn’t listen. None of them ever did. Shelby seems to cast a spell over men. They became putty in her hands.”
    Briony cast a glance at Daniel. He’d fallen under Shelby’s hypnotic spell, too. Look how that had turned out. At least he wasn’t dead, though it had been a close call.
    She wondered if Andrew Whealdon had committed suicide when Shelby refused him once again. But if he had, where was the gun he’d used? Her mind spun with possible scenarios.
    It seemed most likely that Shelby had answered the door thinking it was Daniel. Andrew had burst in and, when she wouldn’t agree to get back together, he killed himself in front of her. Perhaps she’d panicked and touched the gun before realizing her fingerprints would be found on it. Someone might have heard the gunshot, she’d reason. So she knew she didn’t have much time before police arrived.
    Maybe she’d taken the weapon to another part of the house to clean her fingerprints off. When she heard Daniel enter the brownstone and call out her name, she didn’t know how she’d explain the situation. Without thinking, she crept up behind him and hit him on the head, not intending to seriously hurt him, and fled the brownstone with the gun. Now she was in hiding.
    It made sense, in a way. But why not call the police herself and explain that Andrew had committed suicide in front of her? If his prints, and his alone, were found on a gun registered in his