Read Online Norway to Hide by Maddy Hunter - Free Book Online Page A

don’t know her number,” I whispered back. I was getting a very bad feeling about the reason for her absence.
    “Where did Ms. Van Cleef go after returning to the hotel?” probed Officer Rajanen.
    “We all stopped in the lobby to read tomorrow’s itinerary,” Lauretta Klick volunteered.
    “And then we rode the elevator back to our rooms,” said Vern Grundy. “End of story.”
    Officer Rajanen jotted something on his notepad.“Do you recall who stepped off the elevator with Ms. Van Cleef?”
    “We all got off at the same time,” said Curtis Klick. “They put all of us Florida people on one floor and the Iowans on another.”
    “Portia’s room was closest to the elevator,” added April Peabody. “The rest of us were farther down the hall. She always made sure she got the plum rooms. Location, location, location.”
    “Did she enter her room alone?” asked Rajanen.
    “August challenged her to a game of gin rummy,” said Curtis, “but she declined. Seemed pretty obvious he was trying to get her alone.”
    “Who knows for what sinful purpose?” added Lauretta.
    “Don’t try pinning anything on me,” August called out. “Portia’s in the gin rummy club with me. I throw out that challenge all the time because no one has ever beaten her and I’m aiming to be the first, even if it’s not officially documented.”
    The officer made another notation. “Did any of you see or speak to her after she went inside her room?”
    “That’s the last I saw of her,” Reno spoke up.
    “Me too,” said Vern, heads nodding in agreement around him.
    “So no one saw Ms. Van Cleef again until Ms. Andrew found her outside the sauna. Is that correct?”
    More head bobbing. George patted my shoulder. Nana squeezed my hand.
    Officer Rajanen closed his notepad, his expressionpained, his tone apologetic. “Please accept my condolences for what has happened to your companion. I regret the black mark it places on our city, because other than for a few unlawful pickpockets, Helsinki is extremely safe.”
    “That’s the line they gave us about Switzerland,” scoffed Helen Teig, “ before Emily found three dead bodies.”
    “She found four in Italy,” Lucille bragged.
    “She only found two in Australia,” said Osmond. “That really brought down her average.”
    I slunk down in my chair, hoping to become invisible.
    “Unfortunately, there are individuals who make the streets less safe in any country,” Officer Ranjanen continued. “We’ve noticed an escalation of youth crime in our city center in recent years. Nonviolent crime, but crime nonetheless. When our youth feel disenfranchised, they seem capable of anything.”
    “Where’s your city center?” asked Dick Stolee.
    Rajanen spread out his hands. “You are sitting in it.”
    The room grew palpably quiet.
    “Would have been nice if someone had told us that,” barked Vern. “Portia might have been more careful. She might still be alive.”
    “What an ugly way to go,” Jimbob empathized. “Garroted to death.”
    “Garroted?” said Bernice. “I thought you said she was strangled.”
    April Peabody stabbed an accusatory finger at Bernice. “You ought to know. What with the way you weretalking to her earlier today, I wouldn’t be surprised if you were there!”
    Nods from the Floridians. Shock from the Iowans.
    Rajanen paused in front of Bernice’s chair. “Would you care to tell me about your exchange with Ms. Van Cleef?”
    “Give me a break!” Bernice whined. “Those people stole our chairs at the waterfront market. I said I wanted them back, and Ms. Van Cleef said to forget it, so I told her she’d be sorry.”
    “How did you intend to make her sorry?”
    “How should I know? People say stuff like that all the time. ‘Switch the channel and I’ll break your arm.’ ‘Eat that last Twinkie and I’ll kill you.’ Don’t you ever say things like that?”
    “No.”
    “Maybe they don’t have Twinkies in Finland,” offered