Read Online Murder in Cottage #6 (Liz Lucas Cozy Mystery Series Book 1) by Dianne Harman - Free Book Online Page B

going to solve the crime.
By the way, I appreciate your words of advice about me trying to find out who did
it, but I have to tell you this is completely new territory for me. Looking at
something through the eyes of a private investigator is nothing I’ve ever done
before, but it’s something I better try to do if I want to keep my spa’s
reputation from having mud splattered all over it. When you get the results
back from the police lab in San Francisco, I’d really like to know what they
found out. Thanks a lot for telling me first about the autopsy results.”
    After she ended the call
she said, “Winston, come. Time for your first trip in the van. We need to go
see Dave and tell him his wife was murdered. Just the visit I really want to
make. Let’s go.” She picked up her purse and headed out the front door. As
usual, Brandy Boy was sound asleep on the porch. He opened one eye when Liz
closed the door, not bothering to acknowledge Winston.
    “You’re a good rider,
Winston,” she said a few minutes later. “I’d take you into Dave’s house with
me, but I don’t think I’m in any danger from him. You stay in the van. This shouldn’t
take long.”
    She knocked on the front
door, and this time it was quickly opened by Dave. “Hello, Liz. I hope you have
a more pleasant reason to be here than you did yesterday. Please come in.” He
looked past her and saw Winston standing on the front seat of the van. “New
addition to the family, or have you always had him?”
    She walked into the
hallway. “A friend gave him to me today. He thought I needed a guard dog out at
the spa.” She took a deep breath and said, “I wish this was purely a social
visit, but I just had a call from Wes Anderson. The autopsy report indicates
Barbara was murdered.”
    She was curious as to what
his reaction would be. He bent over as if he’d been punched in the stomach, and
said stuttering, “BBaarbara wwwas mmmurdered. That can’t be. Wwhho would murder
Barbara? WWhhy?” He stumbled to a nearby chair, sat down heavily, and put his
head in his hands. “Are you certain?” he asked after a few moments, taking his
hands away from his face and looking at her.
    If he’s acting, he’s doing
a very good job, but then again, I’ve never had to tell anyone their wife was
murdered, so I really don’t know if this is a normal or abnormal reaction to
hearing news like that.
    “All I know is what Wes
told me. He thinks she was poisoned. Wes said he had the necessary testing
equipment to determine that she didn’t die from an overdose of alcohol or
sleeping pills or a combination of the two. He couldn’t identify the substance
used to poison her because his testing equipment is not state of the art. He
didn’t see any needle marks on her body, so he assumed she ingested whatever it
was orally. He sent a blood sample to the police lab in San Francisco and said
he should hear something from them tomorrow or the next day.”
    “Barbara didn’t take drugs
of any kind. She wouldn’t even take aspirin. I really don’t understand this.
Someone must have given her something, maybe hiding it in her food or whatever,
but who or why?”
    “I have no idea. It’s been
my experience from the little I’ve had to do with the Red Cedar police chief
that solving this case in a timely manner is not going to happen. Since her
death occurred on my property, I’m going to ask a few questions of the people
who knew her well. Sorry Dave, but any good detective would ask where you were
between the hours of 8:30 night before last and 8:00 yesterday morning.”
    “You’re kidding, right?
This is ridiculous. I don’t have to answer that question. It’s none of your
business,” he said angrily.
    “Since it’s my reputation
that’s on the line here, I’m definitely not kidding. If you don’t tell me, I
may have to ask the state police to come in and investigate, and I don’t think
either one of us wants that along with the bad publicity that