Read Killing Cassidy for Free Online Page B

ill. We know it was a straightforward case of pneumonia. And we know Kevin had had at least one accident.”
    I sighed. “The trouble is, it points both ways. Plain old pneumonia—but a previous accident. Oh, but wait a minute, Alan!
Do
we know it was, as you put it, a straightforward illness? Doc didn’t tell us he’d looked at X rays or anything. Maybe it was something else, some disease that looks like pneumonia but won’t be cured by the antibiotics they usually use! Maybe—”
    â€œDorothy, I don’t want to dampen your enthusiasm, but Dr. Foley strikes me as an extremely competent and caring physician. I doubt he would misdiagnose a case at this stage in his career, especially when the patient was a very old friend.”
    â€œOh, you’re probably right. Well, what’s next, then?”
    â€œI think we want to look into other accidents. Or perhaps ‘incidents’ would be a better word to use. Anything at all unusual that occurred in Kevin’s life in the period shortly before his death.”
    â€œGolly, that could cover a lot of territory. How long before, do you think?”
    â€œHis letter to you wasn’t dated, was it?”
    â€œIt’s still in your coat pocket. Check.”
    He went to the closet and came back with the stiff envelope in his hand. “No,” he said, taking the letter out and glancing at it. “No date.” He put the letter back in the envelope and took the packet to the window, where he studied it very carefully in the strong light of a sunny morning. “I wish I had a magnifying glass,” he muttered.
    I fished my deluxe Swiss Army knife out of my purse, pulled up the minute magnifier, and handed the contraption to him.
    He smiled, one of those superior male smiles that can be so infuriating. “Thank you, my dear, but I require something larger than my thumb. I seem to recall a glass amongst the university souvenirs; I’ll buy one later. Meanwhile, do you think it would be as well to keep this document in the hotel safe?”
    â€œWhy? What do you suspect?”
    â€œI told you before, I think like a policeman. The letter, in the wrong hands, could be dangerous. One tries to avoid danger. One also tries to preserve evidence. I don’t suppose you have a larger envelope we could put it in?”
    â€œAs it happens, I do.” I hauled it, too, out of my capacious handbag. “I was saving receipts in it, for when we submit our expenses.”
    â€œIf we submit our expenses.”
    â€œBut, Alan—”
    â€œThe charming Ms. Carmichael could be our villain, you know.”
    â€œOh.”
    â€œMeanwhile,” he said, putting the smaller envelope in the larger one, “back to our strategy. How are we to learn of Kevin’s recent history, say for the past six months?”
    I avoided looking at the envelope, which my lively imagination had endowed with all the aspects of a bomb, and pulled my thoughts together. “Talk to his neighbors, I suppose. He doesn’t have many, living where he does—did—but there are a few, and I think they all sort of looked out for him.”
    â€œDo you know them?”
    â€œSome of them, a little, or at least I used to. But I think they’ll talk to me. Southern Indiana is a pretty friendly sort of place. And while we’re out there we can look over his house, too. He almost never kept it locked, and there might be some evidence there.”
    â€œThen think of a good excuse to talk to people, and let’s go.”
    I still hadn’t come up with anything very convincing by the time we rolled up in front of Kevin’s cabin. I’d gotten mildly lost on the way. The country roads in that part of Indiana can be confusing, and I’d called on Kevin only a few times during our long acquaintance, usually with Frank driving.
    â€œIt’s quite nice, actually,” said Alan in a surprised sort of voice as we