The Murder By Moonlight contest runs through Friday. See my Facebook page for the easy directions. Here’s another excerpt to whet your appetite!
We sat silently for a few minutes. I tried to absorb the morning’s drama. I felt as if I had stepped onto a moving sidewalk. I was being carried along somewhere, but I didn’t know where, and I couldn’t get off the blamed thing.
Janey brought our drinks. “Did you say there was a fire at the Saunders place?” she asked.
I nodded. “I’m afraid so.”
She frowned. “That’s a spooky old place. Widow Saunders was spooky too. I remember hearing Mom speak about her. She hardly ever left her farm after her husband died.”
I shook my head. “Yes, I think she was a sad, lonely lady. I imagine if that house could have talked, it would have had some stories to tell.”
“It won’t be saying anything now,” Pat said as Janey left to go to another table.
I breathed in the aroma of my cup of hot chocolate, a warming, comforting fragrance topped with a generous dollop of whipped cream. “You’re right, Pat. If, somewhere in that house, there were stories about the lives of the people who had lived there, they’re lost now. Is that why someone burned it? Was there something in the house that someone wanted kept secret?”
Daisy took a long swallow of her black coffee. “You three had better bring me up to speed. I have a feeling you know quite a bit about the house that I don’t. I do own it, you know.” She paused. “I mean I did. I still own the land. Jud had made an offer to buy it. I don’t know if he’s still interested in the land or not. I’d kind of like to keep that parcel of land. Oh, I don’t know! Everything is so tangled. If Jud’s in jail, I imagine his only interest will be in getting out, not buying a farm.”
“You go first,” I told Jackie. “You can tell Daisy about our trips to the house and what we found.”
Pat chimed in here and there and, a few minutes later, Daisy had heard all about the grocery list and the partial note that had lodged under Ulysses’ collar.
Daisy re-told the story of receiving a threatening note, and I reminded them I’d gotten one too.
“I may as well confess my latest escapade,” I said, noticing that Daisy had some color in her face now. Perhaps she was overcoming the shock of the morning.
“I went back later, by myself,” I told my three listeners. “I didn’t stay long, though.”
Pat gasped. “You didn’t.”
I nodded. “Once again, I saw the apparition on the stairs.” I proceeded to tell them about the thing that lifted an arm and pointed at me. When I finished, they sat there staring at me, open-mouthed.
At last, Pat said, “Well, one good thing about that fire is that you won’t be in danger from a ghost on the stairs any more.”
Murder By Moonlight, the fourth Ned McNeil mystery, available on Amazon.
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