Read Online Murder Unleashed by Elaine Viets - Free Book Online Page B

you, Helen,” Margery said. She was no longer the languid Marlboro smoker. She’d turned into a purple crusader. Peggy stood beside her, arms crossed, ready to defend her friend despite her own fear. Pete patrolled Peggy’s shoulder, his celery stick abandoned on the pool deck.
    Helen didn’t want any of them there, especially Margery. Her landlady might tell the police that Helen had discovered Tammie’s body. Margery would do it for Helen’s own good. She couldn’t risk that.
    “No, you go on inside,” Helen said. “I’ll be fine.”
    “You’re sure?” Margery asked.
    Helen nodded.
    “In that case,” Margery said, “I’ll put on my bathrobe and get comfortable.”
    That was her landlady’s unsubtle way of telling Helen she should confess. Now Helen was sure she’d made the right decision. Margery liked to meddle.
    When her landlady and Peggy had disappeared into the darkness, Helen chose a chair from the poolside umbrella table. Reclining in a chaise would make Helen feel vulnerable. The brightly striped umbrella, made for sunnier times, seemed to mock this occasion. Crayton, the Russian-doll detective, pulled out a chair, too. The screech of metal legs on concrete made Helen wince.
    Detective McGoogan sat next to him, leaving Helen isolated on her side of the table. Even sitting down, the detective was in perpetual motion. McGoogan scratched his scalp, which explained why his hair stuck straight up, then ran his huge hand across his pitted face, rubbed his nose, and drummed his fingers on the table.
    Helen itched just watching him.
    “What time did you go to Tammie Grimsby’s house today?” Detective Crayton, the Russian doll, asked. McGoogan fiddled with his cuff link.
    “I picked up her dog, Prince, at noon for a grooming appointment,” Helen said. “I tried to return him about four o’clock, but Tammie never answered her door. Why? Is there a problem?”
    “You could say that,” Crayton said. “She’s dead.”
    “No,” Helen said. She sounded like a ham actor. “What happened?”
    “She was murdered,” Detective Crayton said. McGoogan straightened his tie and scratched his wrist.
    “No,” Helen said.
    “Yes,” Crayton said. “You’re sure no one was at home? You didn’t hear anyone in the house?” McGoogan twisted his shirt button.
    “No,” Helen said. Did she know any other word? “I knocked and rang the bell. No one answered. Then I left.”
    “Give us a detailed account of your whereabouts from the time you left the store until you returned.”
    Helen did. She only left out the part where she found Tammie, wiped down the door, dropped the dead woman’s robe in the Dumpster, and phoned the police. She tried to remember everything she said, because she knew the detectives would ask her again and again, trying to trip her up. It was hard to concentrate when McGoogan was rubbing his neck and pulling on his earlobe.
    “Tell us about the argument the victim had with the groomer, Jonathon,” Crayton said.
    So Todd had talked about the fight with Tammie, Helen thought. He wouldn’t miss a chance to stick it to his rival. Helen liked Jonathon and his theatrical style, but no matter how much she wanted to, she could not deny that this incident had happened. She tried to downplay it.
    “Jonathon is a little temperamental,” she said. “He doesn’t like to be disturbed when he’s grooming the dogs, and Tammie barged in on him. He asked her to leave. It wasn’t a big deal.”
    “I heard he called the victim a bitch,” Detective Crayton said. “They had a screaming battle in the store. Then later that same day, he threatened the groomer Todd with ten-inch scissors. I guess that didn’t mean anything, either.”
    Todd got his revenge for being shoved into the cage room, Helen thought.
    “Jonathon was a little annoyed with Todd,” Helen said.
    “He cut Todd’s throat with those scissors,” Crayton said. “I saw a two-inch-long wound on the man’s neck. That’s