This morning I dived into cleaning the fridge. I decided to use my social distancing time to get some long-deferred chores done and the fridge was number one on the list. It didn't take as long as I thought it would, mostly because it wasn't as disgusting as I'd feared it would be and now it's all sparkly and clean. Also there were fewer things that needed tossing so I feel good about staying on top of things. Ahh.
21 March--Barbara Malcolm, Three Cheers for Murder.
As Archibald turned to go back to
his desk, he caught sight of Lt. Graybow entering. “Graybow,” he roared, “in my office. Now!”
Lt. Graybow looked startled at his superior’s tone of voice,
straightened his tie, smoothed his hand over his hair, and crossed the room to
the office.
“What is it, sir?”
“Shut the door, Len, we need to talk,”
Archibald growled. Archibald went around
to his desk chair and with a wave of his hand indicated that Graybow should
sit.
He did, wondering what this was all
about. “Is there a problem?” he asked.
Archibald kept his eyes on the papers
on his desk for a long moment. He shook
his head, rubbed his eyes, and looked up at his partner. “Len, is it true that you’ve been having a
relationship with Marlene Brownloe?”
Graybow looked surprised at the
question. “Uh, yes, Marlene and I have
been seeing each other. I don’t see what
that has to do with anything, sir.”
“You don’t, do you? Marlene Brownloe is a suspect in three
murders you’re investigating, and you don’t see the fact that you're dating her has to
do with anything? Are you losing it?”
“A suspect?
What are you talking about? I
thought we cleared her last week.” Archibald looked up at the ceiling.
“Graybow, do you remember your police
training? Do you remember learning that
no one, not anyone, is cleared until we find the murderer? Everyone connected with a crime is a suspect
until we get the perp. Remember hearing
that? Even once, Lieutenant?”
“Of course, I remember, sir. But I thought we’d agreed that Marlene
couldn’t have committed all those murders.
You remember she was the one who told us about Tiffany Davis’ excitement
about someone arriving after Marlene left Blossoms?”
“Yes, Len, I remember. We haven’t found any evidence to support the
notion that Tiffy Davis was having an affair.
All of her closest friends vehemently deny the existence of “another
man”. And those closest friends are now
also victims. Killed in exactly the same
way. A knife to the neck that severed
the spinal cord causing instant death.
Very tidy crimes, except for that little scuffle with Teddy
Allgood. Kimmy Neal is murdered in the
locker room late at night and there on the floor next to her locker is a bag of
books from Marlene’s store. There are
books in her dressing room from there too.
And Dwayne Neal said how much Kimmy hated to have to order books from
her since she’d hated Marlene since they were kids. An eyewitness says Teddy Allgood was killed
by a woman.”
“Are you going to believe a
derelict over a known businesswoman in town?” Graybow asked incredulously.
It was sunny today but breezy and chilly. A bluejay stopped at the birdbath for a second and there was a pair of chickadees out there too but neither of them held still long enough for a picture. It's supposed to snow a bit again tomorrow. I want to take a walk tomorrow but not in the snow. I don't want it to snow. Wah! I know that it's just March and I live in Wisconsin but the temps been about 10 degrees below normal. Normal sounds pretty darned good.
--Barbara
1 comment:
Whoever thought cleaning the refrig would be the highlight of our day? But yours does look very tidy and well-stocked. I've resorted to reading my old diaries. That could take until the end of this scary time. Some of them go back to 1990!! Still have a couple of library books but sometimes I want to be the heroine of the tale.
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