Read Online White Elephant Dead by Carolyn G. Hart - Free Book Online Page A

fire escape, but the end dangled a good twenty feet off the ground. It was the kind that descended under pressure of weight. Of course, anybody handy with a lasso might be able to snag it, but, as a general rule, lassoing was not a sea island accomplishment.
    Annie was giddy by the time she completed her circle of the hospital. In Camilla Crespi’s mysteries, everyone ate delicious Italian food all the time. Jean Hager’s Iris House mysteries had pages laden with scrumptious dishes likedeep-fried turkey and cherry cream crêpes. Annie forced her mind, if not her stomach, back to the task at hand. Seven entrances, not counting the dangling fire escape. She reached the main entrance, a two-story portico, and angled to her right and the sweep of drive leading to the emergency room.
    Annie’s eyes narrowed. Where the hell was Godzilla the Great who’d sent her off to reconnoiter? Okay, yes, maybe she was getting a little surly. Emma’s pink car still sat at the curb. Annie surveyed the sidewalk and drive. No Emma. Sighing, Annie pushed the door and walked into the all-too-familiar emergency waiting room. The middle-aged couple looked up dully. The white-haired lady was gone.
    Emma stood at one of the pay telephones. She lifted a broad hand in a commanding gesture.
    Annie started toward the phones, once again feeling for quarters in the bottom of her purse. She was almost past Emma when that strong hand fastened on her arm.
    The vending machine glittered like the Las Vegas strip. She spotted a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. Agatha would never know.
    Emma hung up the phone and reeled Annie in.
    “Seven doors,” Annie muttered, her eyes on the coin slot.
    “Did you check each one?” Emma’s grip never slackened.
    “Yes. Nobody can get in this place without a key or a merit badge in skyscraper scaling.” Annie leaned forward. Emma effortlessly restrained her.
    “All right, Annie. We’ve secured the area. Henny is safe. I simply wished to be certain. Now it’s time to bend our energies to detection. I used a land-based telephone to set in motion an undercover survey of the Marsh Tacky Road area. I called your mother-in-law.” For an instant, Emma gave Annie a curious look.
    Annie forgot about food. “Laurel? You called Laurel?”
    Emma deftly positioned herself between Annie and the vending machine, then loosed her grip. She opened heroversize purse and rummaged, pulling out an oblong card. She handed it to Annie.
    Annie studied the—to her—odd-looking, intertwined plants. The legend read: Balsam, Barberry and Bayberry. Being the best, you excel because of impatience, sharpness of temper and discipline . A P.S. theorized: Perhaps Marigold triumphs as a detective because she has suffered cruelty in love? Or dealt cruelty in love? Or is it because she has a restless nature? Whatever, Marigold is Marvelous .
    “An interesting combination of insults and flattery,” Emma observed, and once again a little smile twitched her broad mouth. “Laurel was presenting customized cards to some of us at the Women’s Club meeting last week. She’s quite enthusiastic about creating personalized floral note cards. That’s what she will do tomorrow.”
    “Laurel? You mean you’re going to send her to the houses near Marsh Tacky? What if she finds out something dangerous?”
    “Don’t worry, Annie. The woman is not such a fool as she appears. And she’s quite willing to do her part to help Henny.”
    “But the murderer may figure it out.” Annie felt herself being propelled across the waiting room.
    “So much the better. We are going to scare hell out of murderer if at all possible.” Emma was ebullient. “Oh yes. I’ve dealt with murder—”
    Annie had a sudden, creepy memory of the fact that there had been some question as to whether Emma’s philandering, much-younger second husband fell from Emma’s yacht some years earlier or was pushed.
    “—for a great many years.” Emma’s tone was confident. “Murderers