Read Online Elaine Orr - Jolie Gentil 05 - Trouble on the Doorstep by Elaine Orr - Free Book Online

told me or the police. What do you care, you aren’t a detective . Before I had been curious about Steve’s death and the seeming link to Silver Times. Now that I’d seen Eric on the floor of the great room, I cared a lot more.
    “Come on, Dana, let us in!” George, who picks up everything from a police scanner, sounded frantic.
    I couldn’t hear Dana’s reply. I glanced at Morehouse, who was sitting at another of the small breakfast room tables talking quietly to the medical examiner. He nodded at me. I walked toward the side door that leads to the parking lot and stood behind Dana, who was keeping George out. When George saw me he looked more relieved than mad. But that didn’t last long.
    “You should have called,” he said. “Why didn’t you call me?”
    I flared up. “So you could get a story?”
    “Hey.” It was Scoobie, behind George.
    George actually did look hurt. “That’s not what I meant.”
    I closed my eyes for a second. “I’m sorry. It wasn’t a ‘call you’ kind of thing.”
    George gave Dana an imploring look. “Come on, Dana. I know you won’t let me in. Let Jolie outside.”
    A bunch of people had gathered, at the edge of the B&B parking lot, and I could see Lester Argrow craning his neck to see what was going on.
    “You okay, kid?” he yelled. Lester makes up for his short stature with a very loud voice.
    “Can I go out, Dana?” I asked her. Dana is about the same age as I am, and she’s the one person on the Ocean Alley force who doesn’t treat me as if I stink like a dead jelly fish on the beach. But she doesn’t cut me any slack, either.
    “Sorry, Jolie,” she spoke quietly and inclined her head behind her. “Sgt. Morehouse thinks you should stick around a little bit longer.” Almost as an afterthought, she asked, “You aren’t going to stay here tonight, are you?”
    “I have the dogs,” I said.
    “Scoobie and I will stay here,” George said. When he saw my face he lowered his voice and said, “I was thinking of your reputation.”
    “Oh yeah,” Dana said. “Two guys over at the same time.” She blushed a deep shade.
    “George and I aren’t like that anymore,” Scoobie said.
    I knew he was trying to make me smile, but he hadn’t seen Eric Morton’s body.
    Before I could say anything a late-model Volvo pulled behind the small crowd of onlookers and Pooki streaked out and ducked under the crime scene tape. “Eric! Eric!” The only thing that stopped her from running into the house was Dana’s firm arm across her chest. I saw her father swear at a couple guys who were blocking the car door so Mrs. Sapperstein couldn’t get out.
    “Pooki,” I said. “I’m so sorry.”
    “You did it?” She looked incredulous.
    “Of course not!”
    “Mrs. Morton.” Sgt. Morehouse was behind me. “Let me drive you to the station and we can…”
    “I want to see Eric!”
    “No, you don’t,” I said, very quietly.
    She stared at me, eyes wide and darting from Sgt. Morehouse to Dana, to me. Then she swayed and Scoobie managed to catch her before she hit the steps. George was no help at all.
     
    AUNT MADGE IS GOING to kill me. No she’s not. You didn’t invite Eric here. You certainly didn’t kill him . I was lying in bed, staring at the ceiling.
    George, still in his clothes, was asleep on top of the bed covers. He said he wanted to be able to get up quickly, “if the killer comes back.” Since the security alarm was on and he and Scoobie had worked until ten last night to install a new deadbolt on the door leading to the basement, I wasn’t too worried.
    The door to my bedroom was ajar, and I could hear Mister Rogers and Miss Piggy, breathing slowly from where they slept on the hallway floor. Still no Jazz.
    I thought about Eric on the floor with the knife and a circle of blood around it, and put a hand over my mouth so I wouldn’t sob out loud.
    I tried to think of something different, but had no luck. I told myself an advantage of living in a town