Read Online Mattress Mart Murder by Kayla Michelle - Free Book Online Page A

time to buckle down.  Before she did any investigating, she had to straighten things up in her mind.  There were so many suspects to juggle, all with equally strong reasons to want Marty out of the picture. 
    Chloe went through them one by one.  She started with Delia Diamond.  Marty’s wife had a number of motives for wanting him dead.  The obvious one was that he was a lying cheater that threw away over twenty years of marriage to jump into bed with a receptionist half his age.  If that wasn’t enough, when Delia threatened divorce, Marty promised a long, contentious battle in divorce court.  Now that her husband was dead, Delia stood to inherit the lion’s share of his fortune.  If anything, it seemed like Delia’s life was better with her husband out of the picture.  But was Delia the beneficiary of someone else’s dirty work, or was she Marty’s real killer? 
    Next on the list of suspects was Marty’s son Stewart Diamond.  Stewart had plenty of motive as well.  To start, when Stewart found out about his father’s affair, he immediately went to comfort his mother while giving his father a glaring look of disapproval. In addition, his father had put him in a no-win situation when it came to his relationship.   Either Stewart dumped his girlfriend Lucy, or his father would take him out of his will.  With Marty out of the picture however, Stewart would be able to keep both his girlfriend and his inheritance.  Was that motive enough to kill for?
    Stewart’s girlfriend Lucy Lemke was next on the list.  Lucy had also been put into a no-win situation as well.  Thanks to Marty’s ultimatum, she could find herself dumped in favor of her boyfriend looking to hold onto his inheritance.  There was more though.  Lucy’s father Patrick had a history with Marty.  When a pile of mattresses fell on Patrick in the mattress mart warehouse, Patrick tried to sue for fair compensation.  Marty’s lawyer made sure Patrick go the lowest settlement possible.  Patrick and Lucy Lemke had been holding a grudge ever since.  Was that grudge bitter enough to drive Lucy to commit murder?    
    Then there was Jennifer Carter.  Jennifer wasn’t just Marty’s receptionist at the mattress mart, she was also his scorned mistress.  Jennifer had the look of a woman that had designs on sleeping her way to the top.  But after their affair came out at the barbecue yesterday, it became clear that Jennifer had serious feelings for Marty.  So much so that when Marty told his wife he wanted to try and make their marriage work for business reasons, Jennifer went into a rage.  The question is, how far did that anger take her?
    Speaking of a rage, Walter Gold had plenty of it to spare.  To start, Walter was Marty’s chief rival in the mattress game.  When it came to selling the most mattresses, there was no love lost between them.  There was a deeper hatred that fueled their rivalry however.  Walter was the one to expose the affair between Marty and Jennifer to Marty’s wife.  In retaliation, Marty threatened to release the Candice McDowell story to the papers.  With the scandal of Walter’s illegitimate daughter splashed all over the news, clearly Marty had followed up on his threat.  Marty ruined Walter’s marriage and reputation with the story.  Did Walter kill Marty to retaliate?
    Finally, there was the mystery man, Jason Diamond.  Jason was the wild card in this case. Chloe found out yesterday that he was Marty’s nephew.  Then this morning, Chloe discovered Jason was an ex-convict.  Jason did not have a clear motive for wanting Marty dead.  What he did have was a rap sheet.  Chloe knew that if someone had committed a crime in the past, it wasn’t too much of a leap to assume that they could commit another crime if given the chance.  Did it happen this time?
    Chloe had plenty of questions, but very few answers.  By the end of the day, she was hoping that would change.  In the meantime, there was