Read Online Holidays Can Be Murder: A Charlie Parker Christmas Mystery by Connie Shelton - Free Book Online Page B

followed me across the lawn to our front porch. I wasn’t sure how much help he’d be when we started going through Paula’s possessions. He was clearly still dazed by the dual shock of his mother’s murder and his wife’s being arrested for it.
    Inside, the house exuded the warm fragrance of meaty chile stew and Catherine had warmed some garlic bread to go with it. We served everything at the kitchen table and the four of us sat down. Despite his glazed appearance, Wilbur put away two bowls of stew and perked up somewhat afterward. Drake and Catherine cleared the dishes and put coffee on while I pulled my chair closer to Wilbur’s and brought out Paula’s things.
    “I could use your help now, Wilbur. Can you identify the people in these photos?”
    He pushed his glasses farther up his nose and opened the wallet. His gaze caught for a moment on Paula’s driver’s license before he flipped to the photo section. The first was of a dark-haired man, probably Hispanic.
“That’s Ray. The fifth.”
“The recent ex?”
He nodded. “I’m not even really sure the divorce was final. She may have just left him when she showed up here.”
    “Really? I was under the impression that they’d been apart for awhile.” Something came back to me. Paula had said the past year had been hard because of the divorce. I thought she meant it had dragged on that long.
    “No, I don’t think so,” Wilbur said when I mentioned it. “The split was pretty new. But, who knows? Mother sometimes came up with a variety of stories to suit her purposes.”
It was the first time, I realized, that I’d heard Wilbur say anything negative about his mother.
“Now this picture? These are my brother’s two girls.”
“I didn’t realize you had a brother.”
    “An older half-brother, actually. He’s from her first marriage. I was from the second. After that, I think she dropped the idea that men would be permanent in her life. At least she didn’t bother to have any more kids with the others.”
“Were they close? Your mother and half-brother?”
He made a snorting sound. “Not at all. Amos wrote her off when the second marriage failed. He’s a very traditional kind of guy.”
And you’re not? I clamped my lips together, hoping I hadn’t actually voiced this aloud.
He was quiet for a moment, then seemed to realize he still had the wallet in his hand.
    “This picture of his girls must be at least ten or twelve years old. These little kids in pigtails are now in high school. Doing really well, too. Judy and I get them birthday and Christmas gifts every year. Used to spend the holidays with them when we were all in the Chicago area.”
    “Back to Ray,” I said. “I’m thinking any clues that will be useful to Judy are going to be more recent. Did Paula tell me she and Ray lived in California? Is he still there?”
    “Guess so. I have to admit, I followed my brother’s lead in not getting too close to Mother’s husbands. It just didn’t pay.” He was flipping idly through the photos. “Come to think of it, though, she had a phone call from him right after she got here. Could the phone company tell you where it came from?”
    “Probably.” If the police hadn’t already checked this lead, they should have. Maybe Ron could pull some strings if the police wouldn’t cooperate.
    Catherine brought Wilbur a cup of tea, coffee for me.
    “In fact, when she first got on the line with Ray, I think Mother asked him something about how the weather was out in sunny old L.A.”
    I’d pulled a notepad out of the kitchen drawer and made myself a note to find a number for Ray Candelaria.
    “Was their divorce bitter?” I asked.
    “I got the feeling it was. Like I said, I tuned out a lot of it. I know Mother wasn’t happy with him for a long time. She hinted, but never really said, that he abused her. Of course, all that only came out after she’d left him. I overheard her telling Judy about an incident where Ray threatened her if she left,