Миранда Джеймс - Fixing To Die

“I appreciate y’all’s patience as we have been investigating this case of a sudden death,” he began. “I know there’s probably been a lot of confusion and wondering what’s going on. I’d like to be able to set your minds at rest and tell you we’ve got an answer.” He paused. “Unfortunately, I can’t do that. We don’t have a definitive answer yet.”

Get to the point , An’gel thought. What answers do you have?

“I’m not at liberty to discuss all the details, pending the outcome of our investigation, you understand,” Steinberg said. “We’re still in the information-gathering stage, and I have more questions for some of you, those who were either family or close associates.”

An’gel glanced quickly at Truss Wilbanks. He had turned even grayer, if that were possible, and his hair was dark with perspiration. He was definitely frightened.

Steinberg reclaimed her attention as he continued. “I’ll need to talk to you separately, of course, and Mr. Catlin has suggested that we use the library again for that purpose. I would like for you all to remain in this room while I talk to those I’ve already mentioned.” His glance swept over An’gel, Benjy, and Dickce. “Even the ones who I don’t plan to question further today need to remain as well. My men will be examining the scene of the death more closely, and it will be easier if all of you stay here and out of the way. Are we clear on that?”

An’gel fought the temptation to say “Sir, yes, sir!” Instead she merely nodded, as did most of the others. Wilbanks still looked too scared even to nod. He stared like a hypnotized rabbit at Steinberg.

“I appreciate your cooperation in this matter,” Steinberg said. “I realize it’s getting on for lunchtime, and I plan to finish this round of questioning as soon as possible. I intend to be thorough, however, and so it might take a while. If anyone here has a medical condition that requires meals at certain times, or if you have medication you need to take, please inform the officer who will remain on duty in this room.” He paused. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, we’ll be getting on with our work.”

An’gel was thoroughly aggravated with the man. He hadn’t given them anything other than that the investigation was continuing. Why make a production out of a simple announcement like that? He could have done it with much less drama. She suspected that there was something more serious going on here, and she was going to challenge him to admit it.

She rose to her feet before Steinberg had taken two steps away from the fireplace. “Lieutenant, before you go, I have a question for you.”

Steinberg turned to face her, his expression steely. “Yes, Miss Ducote. What is it?”

An’gel figured some people were intimidated by that clipped tone, but it didn’t work with her.

“I don’t think you’re being completely frank with us, Lieutenant. I think you should tell us whether you are now treating the death of Nathan Gamble as suspicious.”

Steinberg held her gaze for a long moment, but An’gel never wavered. She was determined he was going to give her a satisfactory answer.

Finally, he spoke. “Yes, Miss Ducote, we are.”

CHAPTER 24

An’gel heard the sounds of indrawn breaths from several people in the room. Her gaze was still locked with that of the policeman. She let it go a beat longer before she said, “Thank you, Lieutenant. I appreciate your candor.”

“Ma’am.” Steinberg nodded. “I’ll be ready to start questioning in a few minutes. One of my officers will let you know.” He strode out of the room.

An’gel resumed her seat. The tension seemed to lessen with Steinberg’s departure from the room, but not greatly, An’gel felt. She glanced from face to face, trying to discern whether one of them appeared more worried than the others. After her survey she concluded that, whoever was responsible for the death of Nathan Gamble, he or she wasn’t giving anything away at the moment.

They sat in silence for several minutes. An’gel saw that the officer in the room with them was the same tall young man from earlier in the day. He stood near the front of the room between the windows. He would have a good view of the assembled suspects, An’gel thought. He wouldn’t be able to hear whispered conversations, however.

An officer appeared in the doorway and summoned Henry Howard to the library. Henry Howard gave his wife a quick kiss, squeezed her hand, and then accompanied the officer from the room. A different officer came in to make an announcement.

“Lieutenant Steinberg requires fingerprints from everyone,” he said. “We are set up in the dining room, and I will ask you to come one at a time. We’ll start with you, ma’am.” He nodded toward Marcelline.

The housekeeper started to protest, then evidently thought better of it, and left her chair to head to the dining room. After that, the officer slowly worked his way through the group, escorting them back and forth to the dining room. Henry Howard returned about midway through, and Mary Turner was asked to join the lieutenant.

By the time the fingerprinting was done, Mary Turner was back with them, and Serenity Foster left for the library. An’gel badly wanted to talk to Mary Turner and Henry Howard. One thing she wanted to know was whether the French room door had been locked when Henry Howard went up to check on Nathan Gamble.

When Serenity returned and the officer called for Truss Wilbanks, An’gel seized the chance. She got up and stood for a moment, then casually moved over to join her hosts on the other sofa. Primrose Pace chose that moment to move from her spot near the mantel to another part of the room. She chose a chair by one of the front windows, An’gel noted.

Now that the police were treating Nathan Gamble’s death as suspicious, An’gel wondered briefly about Mrs. Pace’s claims about the man’s peaceful passing. She intended to ask the medium about that as soon as she had the opportunity.

Now, however, she focused on Henry Howard, who occupied the place between her and Mary Turner. She leaned slightly toward him and said in a low tone, “I have a question for you. When you went up to check on Nathan this morning, was his door locked?”

Henry Howard nodded. “Yes, it was. The lieutenant asked me the same thing. I used my passkey to open it.”

“Thank you,” An’gel said. She leaned back and glanced toward the front of the room at the attendant policeman. She realized he had moved a couple of steps closer to the group. He seemed intent on her. No doubt he was curious about her conversation with Henry Howard. She had more questions for her young host but decided she would wait until they were no longer under police scrutiny to pose them.

She focused her gaze on the wall across from her, over her sister’s head. She began to consider the importance of the locked bedroom door. How significant was it?

The lieutenant was treating this as a suspicious death. To An’gel, that meant murder. So, did the murderer need to be in the room to kill Nathan Gamble? If, for example, Gamble had been poisoned, the killer could have been anywhere else in the house, depending on the action of the poison and the method of administration. She wondered if Gamble took any medications. Perhaps it had been done that way. The point was, with poison, the locked door was likely less significant.

If Gamble had been murdered by some other method, the killer would have needed access to the room while the door was locked. The killer might have a passkey. The locks on the bedrooms weren’t sophisticated ones, An’gel knew. They had been updated at some point in the recent past but were definitely not state-of-the-art. Could they be easily manipulated? Another question for Henry Howard.