Read Online Maddie's Gift of Mystery (A Rockcrest Cove Cozy Mystery Book 5) by Emily Page - Free Book Online Page B

over.
    An hour later, Willis stepped out of the room, surprised to see the two women still standing there. “You waited?”
    “Yes.” Eleanor said, a little too sharply. “What did you find?”
    Willis hunched his shoulders and spread his hands out in the form of an apology. “I’m sorry, ladies,” he said. “We scoured the room from top to bottom, and we didn’t find anything else that we could possibly link to the murder.”
    “Wouldn’t that indicate that maybe your suspect is innocent?” Maddie asked.
    Willis nodded his head, conceding that she may very well be right.

Chapter 8
    T he case had definitely taken a turn for the better. Maddie now had some concrete evidence to use to get the charges against Emily dropped. Even Chief Willis could see the logic behind the investigation. But that still left another problem: who really killed Jimmy? On the one hand, it was easy to assume that Maria and her brother had committed the crime, but they could find no conceivable motive for them having done so.
    The next morning, as Maddie prepared for a busy day at the store, she concluded that they needed to get a little more information about Maria and Anthony. All through the morning rush, she tried to figure out a way to get to what they were up to, but nothing came to mind except to send Bailey back in as a reporter. It had worked once before, but she wasn’t sure that it would work again.

    B ailey arrived at the school dorm early the next morning. By now the place was almost completely deserted; most of the students had gone home for the holidays, and only those that didn’t have family or the money to return home stayed on campus. It felt like a really lonely place.
    Walking down the hall, it felt eerily like a scene from a horror movie, and she was surprised that her senses were heightened when the corridors were so deserted. She wouldn’t have been surprised at all if something jumped out at her from behind one of those closed doors. Looking down at the paper in her hand, she found Maria’s dorm room. She listened quietly at the door to see if she could hear anything, but all she heard were some muffled voices. She couldn’t even tell if they were male or female.
    Knocking softly at the door, she noticed that the voices came to an abrupt stop. A small voice called through the door, “Who is it?”
    “Maria? Maria Calvone?” she answered. “It’s Bailey. I spoke to you the other day about the newspaper article?”
    The door flew open with a rush, catching Bailey by surprise. “Oh my goodness!” she exclaimed.
    “I’m sorry. It’s just that the place is so deserted these days, you can’t be too careful, you know,” Maria apologized. “Come on in, Bailey,” she said, welcoming her into her small room.
    Bailey entered the small room and quickly scanned it with her eyes. It was set up as a single room, so Maria had no roommate to share with. It had a bed and a dresser table on the far side, and the other half of the room was sectioned off with a sofa and a coffee table for guests. It was quite nicely done for a dorm room. It appeared that Maria enjoyed entertaining from time to time. Bailey was surprised once again when the door to the bathroom opened and the mysterious man emerged.
    “Oh, pardon me,” Bailey said. “I didn’t know you had company.”
    “This is my brother, Anthony,” Maria said, introducing him.
    “Nice to meet you, Anthony,” Bailey said. “Are you a student here too?”
    He mumbled something under his breath before shaking her hand. He wasn’t very friendly, Bailey thought.
    Turning to Maria, she said, “Maria, I’m sorry to have to bother you again, but my editor is demanding that I get some more information from you before we run your story. It’s purely for verification purposes. It’s all legal stuff you know. They have to make sure that they cover themselves from possible libel suits and stuff like that.”
    Maria responded with a wave of her hand. “No