Read Murder on the Candlelight Tour for Free Online Page A

SALE" signs dotted the tiny front yards. "Those houses have been for sale for almost a year," I said.
    "They're not old enough to have any historic value, and it would cost too much to fix them up. They were rentals until the landlord started losing money."
    "I suppose someone will buy them for the lots."
    "I think you're right."
    We followed the luminaries to Orange Street and the city's oldest house, the Mitchell-Smith-Anderson House, circa 1740. It was one of the few eighteenth-century homes to survive Wilmington's many fires. The rhythmic clip-clopping of a steady horse sounded in the street, and I turned to see the Springbrook Farms carriage, filled to capacity with tourists. The white horse had sprouted fanciful reindeer antlers.
    Passing familiar landmarks, like the handsome Italianate Zebulon Latimer House, home of the Lower Cape Fear Historical Society, I felt my pulse slow and my breath come evenly. These old buildings are the touchstones of my daily life. I'm one of the lucky ones: I was born with a passion for history, with a desire to preserve the sound and the true, to restore dilapidated structures to wholesomeness. Now I'm doing just that. And managing to earn a degree of success I only dreamt about. Despite Sheldon's murder, despite Nick's perfidy, I felt my spirits soar.
    "Look at that tree!" I exclaimed, pointing to the giant hemlock across Third Street at the First Presbyterian Church. The enormous evergreen glittered with thousands of tiny white lights.
    "Stringing those lights wasn't easy," Jon commented. "They must have used a cherry-picker to get to the top of that tree."
    Further along Third Street, we came upon the rear of the Burgwin-Wright House, the parterre gardens with their centuries old formal boxwoods, and the kitchen building.
    "Binkie and I were here earlier. He told me he'd toured the dungeon and tunnel and that they were inhumane and gruesome."
    "Every time they start a new construction project down by the river, they find another tunnel," Jon said. "There's a network of them under the historic district. During the Civil War, the blockade runners used them to smuggle munitions from the port to the railroad, then on to General Lee in Virginia."
    "We're lucky some dedicated citizens got together to save the old sections," I commented. "Most other cities can't wait to tear down their old houses. I'm proud of Daddy for helping with the legal aspects."
    Jon gave me a quick squeeze. "I love this place as much as you do, Ashley. The best part is that we're well paid for doing what we love. How many people can say that?"
    We stopped, our eyes locking. "Yes," I said softly. "This is just what I needed. But, Jon, I'm so worried about Binkie. Do you think they'll really charge him with Sheldon's murder?"
    He took my hand and we crossed Third to stroll alongside St. James Church. "Unless the police can find other leads, I have to admit it looks bad for him. I wish I could be more encouraging, Ashley. I know he didn't do it."
    "But someone did, Jon. And he's getting away with it. Binkie told me he heard someone in one of the upstairs bedrooms after the tour. He thought it was a straggler. And I remember hearing footsteps on the backstairs. It must have been the killer, just waiting his chance."
    So much for feeling good. "Nick thinks Binkie did it. Honestly, Jon, he's not much of a detective."
    "Maybe you're being too hard on him. We don't know what he's doing behind the scenes. He's got to be investigating suspects we don't know about."
    I removed my hand from his and, turning the corner onto Fourth Street, walked rapidly.
    "Hey, slow down. Take it easy, Ashley. Okay, I take back everything I said about Nick. He's a lousy detective, and he's railroading Binkie. Feel better?"
    I slowed to a stroll and couldn't help grinning up at him. "Do me a favor, will you?"
    His arms spread expansively. "Anything. Just name it."
    "Go talk to Binkie right now. Get him to run through the events of last evening. See