Read Online Ed Lynskey - Isabel and Alma Trumbo 03 - The Ladybug Song by Ed Lynskey - Free Book Online Page A

Ladybug had not tolerated the slightest clutter or speck
of dirt complicating her life.
    “I gave
the downstairs a hasty go-through while I waited for you,” replied Sammi Jo.
    “Did
anything worthy of note turn up?” asked Alma. “Did you find the killer’s signed
confession hidden inside the breadbox, for instance?”
    “I’m
afraid my lucky streak ended after I got past the locked door,” replied Sammi
Jo.
    “It’s a
pity how good luck can only get a sleuth so far,” said Alma.
    “Right
off, something doesn’t appear kosher,” said Isabel with a circular gaze.
“Ladybug was retired, so she spent a lot of time at home, but her place looks too
neat and orderly. Her rooms should look more lived-in and messier where I’d
expect to see a ladies magazine left out on the sofa or a diet soda can on the coffee
table.”
    “She may
have used a professional cleaning service,” said Alma. “Several ladies in town get
in enough work to do that for a living.”
    “The housekeepers
usually come once a week,” said Isabel. “This living room looks too spick and
span.”
    “Where
are you taking this point?” asked Alma.
    “What if
Ladybug’s murderer sneaked in here and searched for whatever he was after? What
if to cover his tracks he tidied up things but went a little overboard while he
was doing it?”
    “What interested
him so much in here?” asked Alma.
    “I can make
at least one speculation,” replied Isabel. “Maybe Ladybug was blackmailing him,
and he felt desperate enough to put a stop to it. He killed her and broke in
here to retrieve the damning evidence like his DNA left on an object that she
was holding over him.”
    “Isabel,
we’re talking about Phyllis’s best friend,” said Alma. “Not a hardened career
criminal with a rap sheet as long as your rolling pin who is capable of committing
murder and blackmail.”
    “What if
Ladybug wasn’t the nice lady she led us to believe she was?” asked Isabel.
“Suppose she lived with a dark secret? Suppose she had a shady past?”
    Alma turned to Sammi Jo. “Does your Aunt Phyllis have some dirt on Ladybug she hasn’t shared
with us?”
     “I
believe Aunt Phyllis has told us everything she can remember, or she knows
about Ladybug,” replied Sammi Jo.
    “There
goes your latest theory,” said Alma to Isabel.
    “Then let’s
spread out and be sure to look high and low in each room,” said Isabel,
breaking out the 3X magnifying glass she carried in her pocketbook.
    “What
are you doing with that?” asked Alma, pointing.
    “You are
the one who called it a tool of our trade,” replied Isabel, polishing to clean its
lens on her sleeve.
    “I mean
keep your naked eyes peeled for any clues,” said Alma.
    “Hey, back
off, little sister,” said Isabel. “You do your sleuthing your way, and I’ll do
my sleuthing my way.”
    Alma looked at Sammi Jo. “Isabel is trying to get my goat for the iced teas I insisted we stop
and order from Eddy’s Deli. But I am too wise to her ways to freak out.”
    Isabel moving
the 3X magnifying glass back and forth inspected the top of the coffee table.
When Sammi Jo glanced at her, Isabel couldn’t resist winking since she felt as
if she had indeed gotten Alma’s goat.
     
    ***
    Isabel
and Alma combed the downstairs while Sammi Jo climbed the steps and poked
through the four upper rooms that included the hall bath. She saw Ladybug had
lived, for the most part, on the lower floor as evidenced by the emptiness in all
but one bedroom. Sammi Jo envied Ladybug for having had so much spare living area.
Sammi Jo would trade just about anything short of her old family photo album
for an extra closet or cupboard in her cramped efficiency apartment.
    She’d been
intending to occupy the Cape Cod located not that far from Quiet Anchorage that
had belonged to her late father Ray Burl. For one reason or the other, she’d postponed
making the move even though the Cape Cod offered closets, three bedrooms, and a
larger