Read A Motor for Murder (Veronica Margreve Mysteries Book 1) for Free Online Page A

Rita.
    “I don't know. During the evening, I didn't go around taking note of people who might be likely to kill my husband... Knowing that it was someone at the housewarming..” Her voice trailed off.
    I thought back to the people I met the previous night. By and large, a moneyed, respectable and polite crowd. There were only a couple of instances of broken decorum that I witnessed during the party.
    Thinking about them, I asked. “Did the remodel approval go smoothly on the HOA side?”
    “Well, I think there was an initial opposition to it. But George talked to Paul and Paul as chairperson got it taken care of”.
    “Oh. I'm asking because on the night of the party Paul seemed upset, kept going on and on about the ‘stupid’ remodel. It didn't sound like he was totally on board with it. Are you sure it was Paul that George talked to about it earlier?”
    “Oh yes, I'm sure. Paul was originally against it, and then came about. That's why we thought it would be a good idea to invite Paul to the party.”
    And it seemed he would be exactly the type of embittered person to show up and then complain all night! If he held a grudge like that, what else might he be prompted to do? I thought I should pay Paul a visit, soon.
     
    Then I moved on to another awkward thing I witnessed that night. I remembered cringing inwardly when Stan was bragging about his business success.
    “Rita, what about Stan Greenwich?”
    “You mean George's former business partner?”
    “Yes. What do you know about him? Why is he a ‘former’ partner? What was that business venture about?”
    “They started the dealership together, George took some of the family money that was in his trust fund to do it. He bought Stan out after about 5 years. My impression was always that Stan was the ‘silent partner’, not taking an active role in the day-to-day, and not really that much into cars. Once the dealership started making money, George wanted to buy him out.”
    Rita continued, as I got a sheet of scratch paper and was scribbling stuff down.
    “George really loved cars. You met Wayne Kempler?” I made affirmative noise into the phone. “He could talk about them with Wayne for hours on end. Mayfair Motors was his baby and his dream, and he worked hard on it.”
    “And what is Stan doing now, do you know?”
    “Something advertising-related, I think. According to him, successfully.”
    “So there was no big fight between them over the proceeds, or the split, or over the business, or anything that you know of?”
    “None that I heard about. But this all happened years before I even met George.”
    “And they've continued talking, like everything is fine?”
    “Yeah. Stan had been coming by a couple of times a year, discussing stuff with George.”
    So far, nothing was pointing at Stan – besides a vague suspicion based on him being a ‘former’ business partner; and being a little bit of an ill-mannered boor. I made a note to talk to him later.
    “By the way, do you know what George kept in the safe?”
    “No, I don't. And I don't have the combination – I assume after the will proceedings are over, some sort of a record with the safe combination will come out, and I will be able to open it then.”
    “Did he keep his check book there, as a rule?”
    “I don't think so. It’s probably in his desk.”
     
    After I hung up, I realized that I still wanted to ask Rita about Caitlin. Oh well, I thought it would wait till the next time. I had plenty to get started.
     

7 
    I drove from work Monday evening thinking thing over, and trying to remember everything that happened at the party in as much detail as I could. The air was chilly. Small rain drops were drumming non-stop on the roof of the car. The deciduous trees still had most of their leaves, green tinged with yellow and red. It was an autumn day in the Pacific Northwest.
     
    Paul’s house was 3 streets over from George and Rita’s, but much smaller, older, with a minuscule