Read Board Stiff (An Elliott Lisbon Mystery) for Free Online Page A

sound of a small pump behind me.
    On the back terrace, a sparkling lap pool stretched twenty-five yards across a fieldstone patio. I walked down the steps to a large sitting area where a cluster of chairs faced the pool and the back lawn. “The Ballantynes have over seventy-five acres. There’s croquet, tennis, a formal English garden, and the largest vegetable garden on the island. Carla grows the most flavorful bell peppers. So crunchy, you can eat them like apples.”
    “Where did all the money come from?”
    “Mr. Edward Ballantyne, the first, earned his money the old-fashioned way. He inherited it. And he liked to spend it,” I said as I offered Ransom a seat across from me.
    The late spring temperature was already over eighty degrees and it wasn’t quite noon. I cranked open a large market umbrella to shade us from the sun. “When Mr. Ballantyne died suddenly in 1959, his only heir, the Mr. Ballantyne of today, took the Foundation reins without restrictions. At twenty-two, just out of college and on the eve of the civil rights movement, the young Mr. Ballantyne made sweeping changes. Especially when he learned the depth of the family fortune. Billions.”
    “Did you say billions, with a B?”
    “Yep. He married his sweetheart, Vivienne White, three years later. Together they directed the Foundation to reach out to numerous charitable organizations—educational, environmental, social—and have been giving away money ever since.”
    Ransom leaned forward. “And the board? How does that work?”
    “Members arrange fundraisers and community outreach programs. They review grant packets, sometimes over a hundred applications at any given time. They nominate top picks at general meetings. The packets are handed off to Tod and me for processing.”
    “Was Hirschorn favoring a particular grant?”
    “Not that I know of. This morning’s meeting was the first of the season.”
    “Would someone kill for his vote?”
    “Unlikely. A single vote won’t do much good, and honestly, Leo didn’t have much favor with the rest of the board. It’s a very involved process. After Tod and I finish our research, we present the applications to Mr. Ballantyne’s private committee, they make the final decision.”
    “And how do you jump from doling out funds to investigating murder?”
    “I don’t investigate murders. Just the occasional mishap.” 
    I waved my arms toward the back lawn. The thick green grass hosted an orchard of crape myrtles, blooming magnolias, and massive oaks with Spanish moss hanging from them like tinsel on a Christmas tree.
    “See that swing?” I said, pointing to an old wood-board swing tied to a thick branch swaying lazily in the breeze. “All my best childhood memories are from right there. Sometimes I think Mr. Ballantyne hung it just for me. I’d swing while my parents attended the Big House parties…the few times they brought me, anyway.”
    I glanced back at Ransom and caught him staring at me.
    “It’s peaceful,” he said softly.
    “Yes, well, island life is slow. Afternoons spent on the golf course or sipping lemonade by the pool. Our citizens stay out of trouble. For the most part. And when they don’t, I step in and fix it.”
    He leaned back in his chair and laughed. “I see. So you’re a fixer. Like the Wolf.”
    “Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. Don’t let my southern hospitality fool you. I’m a character right out of Pulp Fiction , the one you turn to when you need to clean up a dead body.”
    “Don’t overreact. It’s just that a mishap isn’t the same as a murder. You simply can’t handle something this big.”
    “You don’t know what I can handle.”
    “I was in your evidence collection class. You grabbed my pants and slid to the floor in a dead faint during a crime scene slideshow. It’s how we met, remember?”
    My palms started to hurt. I’d squeezed my fist so tight, my fingernails nearly drew blood. I slowly released them. “Things have