Read Online Lethal Little Lies (Jubilant Falls Series Book 3) by Debra Gaskill - Free Book Online
Authors: Debra Gaskill
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those.”
“So you ignore them?”
“For the most part. We’re short-staffed at the paper. Addison would kill me if I spent my days talking up fans and signing autographs.”
“Maybe you should have answered these calls. We think they could have been from the man who shot your wife.”
Chapter 8 Addison
My cell phone buzzed as I parked in front of the city building, two blocks down from the newspaper. It was Gary.
“We’ve got Kay Henning.” Quickly, he filled me in on the details.
“Awesome. Does Marcus know?”
“He’s at the hospital, Birger tells me, and she’s in surgery. I’ve told your reporter to meet him at the hospital for the details. Where are you?”
“Out front. Buzz me in and we can get started on this deal with Virginia Ferguson. She’s out of surgery, right?”
“She died on the table, Penny. Rick Starrett’s a murder suspect now.”
I hung my head in shock and disappointment. I’d gone to high school with Rick and his younger brother Rowan. So had Gary, for that matter. We’d watched from the sidelines as both of their careers took off, marveling at how two brothers from Jubilant Falls could both be so successful.
When tales of Rowan’s professional hockey career became one personal debacle after another, it wasn’t easy for the sports editor to hear Mrs. Starrett’s tearful voicemails each time we ran a wire story. We ran both stories of his final conviction on federal fraud charges, and his suicide shortly after his release from federal prison on the front page the day they happened. The phone calls stopped then.
His body had been found in his apartment—he’d shot himself in the mouth. Rick found him, after Rowan hadn’t shown up for his mother’s birthday celebration. He described the scene to me at the cemetery after everyone had left. I’d left that part out of the account of Rowan Starrett’s death and funeral.
Rick was, literally, another story.
Right out of college, Rick started working for the county. He went to night school to get his master’s degree in public administration, became Jubilant Falls’ city manager, and then was elected Plummer County commissioner before making the jump to various political appointee positions in Columbus.
He had two teen-age daughters, an ex-wife he was on good terms with (they still spent holidays together) and was reportedly dating a state-level EPA lawyer. His black Pontiac Solstice was his pride and joy, loved only the way a middle-aged man could love a car.
Since leaving Jubilant Falls, he’d moved up the ladder professionally and politically. He became known as the man to go to for favors, the man who could get things done. There was even some talk he was going to be appointed to the governor’s cabinet about a year ago. It was no surprise when the powers in Columbus asked him to run for state senate. It was supposed to be a shoe-in race, an easy victory until the commercials started.
Rick was a successful man with a bright future ahead of him apparently—until tonight.
Now, Gary McGinnis wanted to hear what I knew about threats Rick Starrett apparently made to a now-dead opponent.
“OK,” I said and ended the phone call. I slammed the door to my Taurus and sighed as I walked toward the front door of the city building, angry and disappointed that the one person I knew whose life played out on a larger stage would fall so far, so quickly.
I’ve written so many stories of sadness and
“So you ignore them?”
“For the most part. We’re short-staffed at the paper. Addison would kill me if I spent my days talking up fans and signing autographs.”
“Maybe you should have answered these calls. We think they could have been from the man who shot your wife.”
Chapter 8 Addison
My cell phone buzzed as I parked in front of the city building, two blocks down from the newspaper. It was Gary.
“We’ve got Kay Henning.” Quickly, he filled me in on the details.
“Awesome. Does Marcus know?”
“He’s at the hospital, Birger tells me, and she’s in surgery. I’ve told your reporter to meet him at the hospital for the details. Where are you?”
“Out front. Buzz me in and we can get started on this deal with Virginia Ferguson. She’s out of surgery, right?”
“She died on the table, Penny. Rick Starrett’s a murder suspect now.”
I hung my head in shock and disappointment. I’d gone to high school with Rick and his younger brother Rowan. So had Gary, for that matter. We’d watched from the sidelines as both of their careers took off, marveling at how two brothers from Jubilant Falls could both be so successful.
When tales of Rowan’s professional hockey career became one personal debacle after another, it wasn’t easy for the sports editor to hear Mrs. Starrett’s tearful voicemails each time we ran a wire story. We ran both stories of his final conviction on federal fraud charges, and his suicide shortly after his release from federal prison on the front page the day they happened. The phone calls stopped then.
His body had been found in his apartment—he’d shot himself in the mouth. Rick found him, after Rowan hadn’t shown up for his mother’s birthday celebration. He described the scene to me at the cemetery after everyone had left. I’d left that part out of the account of Rowan Starrett’s death and funeral.
Rick was, literally, another story.
Right out of college, Rick started working for the county. He went to night school to get his master’s degree in public administration, became Jubilant Falls’ city manager, and then was elected Plummer County commissioner before making the jump to various political appointee positions in Columbus.
He had two teen-age daughters, an ex-wife he was on good terms with (they still spent holidays together) and was reportedly dating a state-level EPA lawyer. His black Pontiac Solstice was his pride and joy, loved only the way a middle-aged man could love a car.
Since leaving Jubilant Falls, he’d moved up the ladder professionally and politically. He became known as the man to go to for favors, the man who could get things done. There was even some talk he was going to be appointed to the governor’s cabinet about a year ago. It was no surprise when the powers in Columbus asked him to run for state senate. It was supposed to be a shoe-in race, an easy victory until the commercials started.
Rick was a successful man with a bright future ahead of him apparently—until tonight.
Now, Gary McGinnis wanted to hear what I knew about threats Rick Starrett apparently made to a now-dead opponent.
“OK,” I said and ended the phone call. I slammed the door to my Taurus and sighed as I walked toward the front door of the city building, angry and disappointed that the one person I knew whose life played out on a larger stage would fall so far, so quickly.
I’ve written so many stories of sadness and
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