Read Online Phi Beta Murder by C.S. Challinor - Free Book Online

though Helen, as a counseling professional, could have offered a helpful perspective. Moira’s presence in the room inhibited and distracted him. He felt frustrated at her for coming and at Helen for phoning at that precise moment.
    “I could fly over,” she offered. “You know, to provide moral support. I’ve been looking at cheap flights online. I could get a package deal to Orlando.”
    “Och, it’s not necessary. At least not for Campbell. They have a crisis centre on campus and grief counselors available for the students. But it’s not as though he was that close to the boy.”
    He heard a squeak of bed springs and turned around with the phone pressed to his ear. Moira crossed to the dressing table and helped herself to another drink, which she dispatched with as much speed as the first. She refilled her glass. Rex knew he should terminate the call with Helen, but felt guilty at fobbing her off.
    “But what about you, Rex?” Helen asked. “I could be there for you.”
    “I appreciate that, lass, but I’m busy looking into a few things to do with the boy’s death. I’m convinced there’s more to it than meets the eye. I feel like I’m on a personal crusade. The boy was Campbell’s age.”
    “It brings it home, doesn’t it? When someone in your immediate circle dies.”
    “Don’t mind me!” Moira exclaimed in a loud voice, planting her small frame by the phone between the beds.
    “Who’s that?” Helen asked. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you had company.”
    “It’s Moira. She visited unexpectedly.” He avoided eye contact with his guest.
    The silence at the other end of the line was painful to hear.
    “Moira Wilcox?” Helen asked finally.
    “Aye. She came to see me in Edinburgh on Friday. And she turned up just now at my motel.”
    “You make me sound like a bad penny!” Moira exclaimed.
    “You didn’t tell me that on Friday evening when I phoned,” Helen reproached him.
    “It didna seem important.” As soon as the words slipped out of his mouth, he regretted the stupidity of his remark. “I’m going to make sure she gets back safely on the next flight home.”
    “I’m not a UPS package!” Moira remonstrated. “And I’ll not be spoken about as though I weren’t here!”
    Clearly the whisky was getting to her. She plunked down her glass on the bedside table and grabbed the phone before Rex knew what was happening.
    “This is Moira,” she told Helen. “And I have no intention of leaving. I knew him before you did, and for longer. And he told me he doesn’t love you. Goodbye!” She slammed down the phone as Rex looked on in horror.
    The damage Moira had just inflicted on his relationship with Helen was immeasurable, maybe even irreparable.
    “I don’t think I can ever forgive you for what you just did,” he said in a cold flat voice, resisting the urge to grab her by the throat.
    “What does it matter?” Moira shrieked. “It’s all over anyway.” She hurled her empty glass across the room at the mirror above the dressing table, which splintered into a thousand pieces and showered down on the carpet like rain.
    To Rex it seemed symbolic somehow.

Moira needed help; that much was evident. Rex desperately wanted to call Helen back and explain the precarious situation, but he could not risk doing so while Moira was still in the room.
    “I’m sorry,” she said, suddenly deflated.
    “I know. You’re tired from the journey and not used to alcohol. Why don’t I see if I can get you a room so you can sleep it off?”
    “Why can’t I stay here? There are two beds.”
    “One is for Campbell when he stays over.”
    “I dinna want to be alone in this strange place,” she said, her speech slurred. “I shouldna’ve come. I feel disorientated, like I was back in Iraq.”
    “Well, lie down on the bed for now while I go to reception and sort out a few things.”
    “Do you mind if I take a bath first?”
    “No, go ahead. Will you be okay?”
    “Can you bring me