Read Online Time and Trouble by Gillian Roberts - Free Book Online

other name, Lucan, the duke who ’ d died protecting King Arthur, even though that ’ s who he was to her.
    Look at them sitting around, drinking coffee and tea and beer, and not one person — not even Luke — saying she should join them. She didn ’ t like the mundane world.
    The house was nice enough, with rooms for everybody and an office for Alicia, and a big living room and kitchen and a sort of “ whatever ” feeling to where things belonged. Paint peeled on high kitchen cupboards and the dusty rugs, loose nails, creaky risers, threadworn upholstery and unmade beds that would have driven her parents insane relaxed her. Or would have, if it weren ’ t for the people.
    “ Read it out loud, whatever it is, would you? ” Toto said to Luke.
    Luke grimaced. “ Blah, blah, blah, blah … okay, here goes.
    “‘ The county sheriff ’ s office who have once again resumed digging following the recent storms have discovered a second burial site fifteen feet from the spot where a toddler ’ s remains were recovered last month. At this stage of the investigation, deputies said only that the newly unearthed gravesite ’ s unidentified adult is female and appears to have suffered a fractured skull. However, they could not say whether it was the cause of death. Preliminary testing suggests both bodies have been buried for approximately the same length of time. Police in California and continuous states are checking all open missing-persons records. …’
    “ One with a skull fracture, one a baby, probably buried same length of time, ” Luke said. “ Why not come out and say these people were murdered? ”
    “ A mother and her baby, is what I think. ” Kathryn sounded as if her idea were a stroke of genius. “ Right where we had the tourney. ” She shivered, as if she ’ d come close to being killed herself.
    “ Abducted first, probably, ” Gary said. “ Else how ’ d they wind up in that field? There ’ s nothing but cows around there. ”
    Alicia pulled the newspaper closer to her and scanned it. “ A fractured skull. If it happened before she died, wouldn ’ t it show signs of mending? Wouldn ’ t it look different than a new, never-healed split? ”
    Toto held an imaginary magnifying glass up to his face and squinted at the paper. “ I thought CPAs only understood numbers. In a minute, your brilliant deductive powers will reveal the name of the killer who is right here in the kitchen with us! ”
    “ Common sense. ” No one else seemed to mind Alicia ’ s “ I am so superior ” voice.
    “ Did they question you when you reported the skeleton? Do they suspect you? ” Kathryn ’ s attention was still on Luke.
    “ Yes and no, ” he said. “ They asked what I was doing there, where exactly I ’ d been, why I was poking at it —” He glanced at Penny then just as quickly looked away from her. “ And they asked who all of you were, and the others who ’ d been out on the field, but they didn ’ t suspect me. They suspected us. They thought the idea of restaging medieval events was seriously weird. I had to explain that twenty thousand members all over the world couldn ’ t all be crazed killer deviants, and that we were a handful out of thousands in the Kingdom of the West alone. He still thought we were crackpots. ”
    Alicia nodded in a tired way that suggested a whole lot of people thought they were odd, and told them so.
    “ Why would they suspect me? ” Luke continued. “ I ’ d have to be insane to point out a crime I ’ d committed years ago. A crime I ’ d gotten away with. ”
    “ Probably a drifter, ” Gary said. “ They ’ ll never find him. ”
    “ Him! Him! Always assuming everything was done by a man, ” Alicia said, making it clear she wasn ’ t serious. “ What if it was a woman — many women, a girl gang, female muggers? Don ’ t make assumptions. ”
    Toto pounded on the table for emphasis. “ And I say equality for murderers! ”
    “ Was it creepy? ”