Read Online Foal Play: A Mystery by Kathryn O'Sullivan - Free Book Online

be professional. She didn’t want to cause Myrtle unnecessary alarm. She took Myrtle’s arm and wrapped the cuff around it. She was surprised by how soft Myrtle’s skin was. It was nothing like the tough exterior she projected.
    “What day is it?” Colleen asked.
    Myrtle rolled her eyes. “For Pete’s sake. July fourth. My name is Myrtle Mae Crepe. I am of sound mind. And someone tried to kill me!”
    Okay. She would skip the orientation questions. Myrtle was clearly lucid; she didn’t want to make her livid, too. Getting Myrtle angry wouldn’t help her blood pressure. The room fell silent as Colleen finished taking the reading. She couldn’t believe it. The woman had survived an explosion and her blood pressure was 115 over 80. “Your blood pressure’s normal.”
    “I told you I’m fine. Now can we stop this foolishness? We’ve got a murderer running loose.”
    “How do you know about that?” Colleen asked, surprised.
    “What do you mean, how do I know? When I was walking to my back door my house exploded. Why I listened to you, I’ll never know. If I had just stayed—”
    “No,” Colleen said, interrupting. “I mean, how did you know about the body?”
    “Body? What body?” Myrtle asked, puzzled.
    “The one that was found in your house.”
    “There was a body in my house?” Myrtle said, her voice squeaking. Then her eyes widened. “Bobby!”
    “Bobby’s fine,” Colleen said. “He thinks you’re dead. But otherwise he’s fine.”
    “Then who was in my house?’
    “That’s what I was hoping you could tell me. Start at the beginning. What exactly happened?” Colleen put her medical equipment away. Her long night was getting longer.
    “Someone was in my house, before it exploded. I think a man.”
    “The man we saw earlier at the Lighthouse?”
    “I don’t know. I didn’t have my glasses on.”
    “I thought you said you didn’t wear glasses.”
    Myrtle pursed her lips, caught in a lie.
    A slight smile formed at the edges of Colleen’s lips. So Myrtle had a vain streak. “You said you saw someone?”
    Myrtle shrugged. “Not exactly. No. It was more of a gut feeling, you know?”
    Yeah, Colleen thought, I know. “Does anyone else know you’re alive?”
    “No. And we’re going to keep it that way,” Myrtle said with finality.
    “We have to notify people that you’re okay.”
    “If we tell people I’m alive, whoever tried to kill me will try again.”
    “We don’t know if you were targeted, Myrtle.”
    “It was my house. Who else would they be after? What happened to that person … it was meant for me.”
    “Speaking of that other person,” Colleen began, “it was a woman. Someone you hired, perhaps? Maybe a maid?”
    “What? And let someone ruin my organization system?”
    Colleen resisted the urge to tell Myrtle what she thought of her “system.” “Maybe a friend of Bobby’s, then?”
    “Please,” Myrtle said with a dismissive wave. “Bobby knows better than to have a woman in my house.”
    “Okay,” Colleen said, not really wanting to get into Bobby’s dating life. “Can you think of anybody, besides the man with the gun, who might have broken in to hurt you?”
    “Who would want to hurt me?” Myrtle asked, genuinely stumped.
    “Oh, I don’t know … belittled students, tortured colleagues, humiliated waitstaff … anyone in Corolla.”
    “All right, all right. I get the point. So I’ve ruffled a few feathers.”
    That’s one way of putting it, Colleen thought. “So you don’t know who was in your house or why?”
    “No,” Myrtle said, discouraged. “But the murderer must have thought it was me. And if he finds out it wasn’t, I won’t be safe.”
    Colleen hated to admit it but Myrtle had a point. She wasn’t sure if the sheriff’s department could protect Myrtle from what might be a professional hitman. “But what about Bobby?” she asked. Myrtle wouldn’t really want her son to worry. Would she?
    “Little Bobby will understand our