Read Online Murder Under the Covered Bridge by Elizabeth Perona - Free Book Online Page B

remedies were popular and shipped all over the world.”
    â€œYou know how I feel about herbalism. It’s unscientific.”
    â€œI’m not arguing with you. The advent of the modern pharmacy killed his business. But supposedly he acquired a lot of money before that. He had a deep suspicion of banks, bred from the Depression. Rumors were he buried all the money on his property. For decades since, people have been trying to find it.”
    â€œHow did you find all this out?”
    â€œI asked the owner of the horse barn.”
    She finally got them to US 41 south, and the traffic eased up. They drove toward Clinton.
    She wondered why William would have been after a fortune. As far as she knew, his nursing home businesses were doing well. “William must have had a powerful reason to believe in the hidden fortune. Otherwise he wouldn’t risk his life for it.”
    â€œI hope it doesn’t cost him that.”
    â€œMe too.”
    Francine connected her phone to the truck’s radio and scanned the playlists for something soothing. “Do you think it’s just anger that’s got Mr. Matthew shooing people off his property with guns?” Francine thought of The Beverly Hillbillies when Jed ran “revenuers” off his land. “If there’s no treasure, what’s he got to hide?”
    â€œThat sounds like a Charlotte question, so I’ll give you a Charlotte answer. Maybe he’s one of those survivalists. Maybe he’s got a whole arsenal stored on his land and he’s doesn’t want anyone to find it.”
    Francine laughed. “I can’t imagine why William would be looking for a bunch of guns, Charlotte .”
    â€œMaybe William is a federal agent. Maybe being a nursing home owner is just his cover.”
    â€œWilliam does not look like he’s even remotely capable of being a federal agent.”
    Jonathan leaned over and raised an eyebrow a couple of times. “Then he’s perfectly unassuming. No one would suspect.”
    Francine smirked. “That is exactly what Charlotte would say.”
    â€œI’ve been around her a lot lately.”
    â€œI have to say, though, Zedediah does sound like the name of someone who would be a survivalist.”
    â€œI’m not sure I know enough survivalists to make that call,” Jonathan replied.
    They finished joking and settled into their own thoughts. Francine fretted over the situation with William.
    Neither she nor William had had siblings, and neither had their parents. However one defined cousins, she and William were about it when it came to blood relatives. She found the lack of family lonesome, and it played into the decision she and Jonathan made to have three children, all of whom turned out to be boys. In contrast, William and Dolly had no children. Of course, they’d gotten a late start in life, and Francine presumed that was the reason.
    Dolly was an odd duck. She and William were clearly devoted to each other, but Dolly wasn’t the woman Francine would have guessed he’d marry. They found each other when Dolly was in her mid-forties , divorced from a man she’d let on had an unsavory past, though nothing more specific than that. If it hadn’t been for Dolly’s looks and her pursuit of William, who was then in his fifties, the two would not have gotten together. At least that was Francine’s opinion.
    Dolly came from a blue-collar background. She had been working as a bartender before they married. While Francine respected Dolly as a hard worker and knew that without her help William would never have built up the successful chain of retirement homes, she was more shrewd than smart. In fact, Dolly could be ruthless when called for, which had served the business well in taking over existing retirement homes. There was no question who was in charge. William was probably good with it, though. Dolly was as social as William was introverted.
    The last