Read Swan Song for Free Online Page B

private, and I really don’t believe my legs will carry me upstairs at this moment.”
    “Of course!” I exclaimed, and “Let me help you,” Margo offered, but May shook us both off.
    “I just need a few minutes.” She raised her voice in the direction of the file room. “Duane, Becky, get Mr. Schenk a hot drink and find him a couple of those oatmeal cookies I brought in yesterday. I’ll see you all in a bit.”
    The two young people hustled out of the file room, bumping into each other in their haste to do May’s bidding. When Schenk expressed his preference for “coffee, black,” they retreated to the tiny kitchen-cum-copier room to prepare a fresh pot. Margo paced at the top of the stairs leading down to Mack Realty. That left Isabelle and me to make conversation as best we could. Schenk helped us out.
    “So you and Mrs. Farnsworth run a publishing company right from here?” He looked around doubtfully. “It seems as if it would take some complicated equipment and a lot more people.”
    Isabelle launched into an explanation of the computer technology and new software that had led to the creation of thousands of independent publishers over the last decade while Becky placed a steaming mug beside Schenk’s chair and Duane offered the tin cookie box and a napkin.
    “Of course, the books aren’t printed here,” Isabelle concluded. “The digital cover and text files are uploaded to a production company in Tennessee, which also distributes the titles when orders are placed. That’s why our production process is called print on demand. Instead of doing huge print runs when a new title is released, companies produce books only in response to specific orders.”
    “So there’s no waste,” Duane chimed in.
    “Very good for the environment,” Becky added.
    Schenk seemed duly impressed. He turned to me. “And you, ma’am? What’s your role in this?”
    I laughed. “None at all, Mr. Schenk, other than being May’s friend. Along with a third partner, her niece and I run a residential real estate company from the office downstairs.” I indicated Margo, still pacing at the end of the lobby.
    Just as we ran out of small talk, we heard the Mack Realty office door open. May climbed the six stairs slowly, and Margo hurried to take her arm. Isabelle made room for the two women on the sofa, and Duane and Becky perched on the reception desk, their eyes wide.
    May sighed. “The letter was written in the wee hours this morning, Mr. Schenk. In it Lizzie tells me that she received a terminal medical diagnosis a few days ago. She asks me to take care of certain business matters while she herself takes an impromptu trip.”
    May’s voice quavered, and Margo squeezed her shoulders. “I’m so sorry, my dear,” Isabelle murmured while I nodded.
    “How awful. No wonder she was drunk and bitter yesterday evening.”
    Recovering herself, May went on. “She gives me the name of her attorney, a Robert Henley of Lenox, Massachusetts. That’s fairly near where Liz lives … lived.” She swallowed hard. “I’m sure he could point you to Liz’s next of kin and so on.”
    Here she looked at Schenk directly. “One thing I can tell you for certain is that Lizabeth Mulgrew was making plans for whatever future she had left, and she seemed sure she had enough time to do a little traveling. She mentioned places like Australia and Africa. She had absolutely no idea that she would die in that hotel room within a few hours. My question to you is, why did she?”
     
     
    In the deafening silence that followed May’s question, Schenk held her gaze unflinchingly. The two seemed to come to a decision about each other as the rest of us froze, wondering what drama was unfolding here. Schenk didn’t keep us waiting long.
    “I’ve been wondering about that quite a bit myself, ma’am. You could say it’s my nature to wonder about things that don’t feel just right, and this is one of them. I spent twenty years on the job in