Death on the Coast, M Comley [book club books TXT] 📗

comprende? Now, scoot somewhere. You’re safe for the moment.”

“But…”

Brendon escorted her to the precinct door and held it open. “Have a nice day,” he said, mocking her with a smile.

Lucy staggered out onto the sidewalk. As the scene replayed in her mind, she drew in a deep breath.

Brendon thinks Bertha Bannutt killed Angie out of jealousy! She’d certainly have the size to do it. She knew how to run a boat, so it was conceivable that she’d scramble up the bluff from the water’s edge and kill Angie—then disappear. The look on Angie’s face wasn’t of recognition—it was more likely a look of fear due to Bertha’s appearance. Of course! The perfect crime! No one would suspect her because no one knew her. Then why did she come back? What made her come looking for Greg? Oh, silly, the murderer always returns to the scene of the crime. For her, it was a murder of passion, and he didn’t respond as she planned, so she came looking for him. It was an absolute storybook set-up. I should never have doubted Brendon.

Lucy practically skipped down the sidewalk back to Sal’s. The world felt so much lighter now that she knew Angie’s killer was behind bars and Brendon would see to it that she stayed there. Once the proof was documented and the trial held, she could give Len his long-awaited front page story.

Then she would have time to deal with Mark and the dissolution of their marriage. She wondered whether they’d both come out happier in the end. There hadn’t been a pivotal moment, not unless you counted if he’d had an affair. Strangely, she wasn’t jealous. She felt more relieved than anything.

Then there was Tina and her stormy relationship with her new husband. With the baby on the way there was bound to be considerable reconciliation going on there. She would be an aunt, and her mother might come out of her depression in the spirit of being a good grandmother. Oh, yes, life was definitely on the up and, to celebrate, Lucy stepped into the nearby thrift store to see if there were any new old-finds. She adored anything retro.

Thrilled, she clapped her hands in glee and ran her fingers down the old poodle skirt. She’d been thrifting long enough to know that if you found one unexpected treasure, there would be more. That generally meant that someone’s grandmother had passed on, and the unsentimental family had backed up a dump truck and dropped everything at the thrift shop. To her delight, she was right and spent far more money and time than she’d expected. Outfit after outfit, she pirouetted in front of the dressing room mirror, mixing and matching the fashion treasures. She left with her arms weighed down with bags, truly ecstatic with her haul.

So happy she didn’t notice her cell phone laying on the floor of the dressing room. With an unseen text from Brendon that said:

GO BACK TO SAL’S AND DON’T LEAVE HER SIDE. BANNUTT GOT AN ATTORNEY WHO GOT HER OUT.

22

Lucy went back to Sal’s long enough to show off her treasures and to say that she was headed home. “I don’t know how to thank you enough for all you’ve done for me and my family, Sal. Things are a mess, but I swear, I will make it up to you.”

Sal never blushed, but there was a friendly flush to her face as she gave Lucy a quick hug and then swatted her on the behind. “Go on home now and give those things a damn good wash. Ugh!” She shuddered. “The idea of wearing a dead person’s clothes.”

“Oh, Sal, don’t be silly. They clean everything before the store takes it.”

“Yeah, and let me tell you about the Easter bunny,” Sal responded.

Lucy laughed and headed home, relieved to see the department was done with her house and there was a neat piece of plywood nailed over the place where the glass had been. Inside, she found they’d swept up nicely, so there was nothing more to be done.

Lucy promptly headed upstairs, but on the top landing, Sal’s words came back to her. It stole a little of her joy at the find, so she did a quick turn around and decided to put the items in the wash to soak on gentle and then hang them to dry. Gathering up the bags, she had to hit the light next to the stairs with her elbow and then feel her way down the steps with her toes. She knew she’d gone overboard, but her haul was so large she couldn’t even see where she was going.

She sniffed a strange odor, and Sal’s warning emerged once more. “I’m definitely going to wash these out first,” she said to herself just as she reached the basement floor.

Instead of hitting hard concrete, she felt something big and soft. Her momentum was already in full flow, and she couldn’t pull back, but let go of her packages just in time to grip the railing so she didn’t fall headlong.

“Dangit!” she muttered and then squinted. It wasn’t just a pile of bags on the concrete. There was something else. With one foot, Lucy kicked aside two of the bags and then screamed.

The bloated face of Bertha Bannutt was looking straight at her from a puddle of blood.

Lucy wanted to vomit, but swallowed hard and pirouetted on the stair to run back up. She grabbed at her pockets for her phone and then found her purse on the chair near the front door. Her phone was missing.

Out of her mind with terror, Lucy jerked open the front door and ran into her front yard, screaming. Doors opened up and down the street, and neighbors came out to see what the shouting was about.

“Call Brendon, call nine-one-one. Just call someone!”

“What’s wrong?” the neighbor they all called Mr. Smith asked. He kept to himself.

“There’s a body in my basement, and I think it’s dead!”

Lucy was shaken from her dazed perch