Read Thoroughly 03 - Who Invited the Dead Man? for Free Online

the young woman raised one hand. “Miss? I need more coffee.”

    Gusta herself couldn’t have done it better, but Myrtle didn’t take bossing by newcomers. “I’ll be back in a minute.” She headed for the kitchen.

    I settled back in my booth, opened the new Statesman, and was astonished to read that our newspaper editor was fixing to retire to Florida that very week to live near her grandchildren. I knew she had been thinking about retiring, but figured she’d take her time. The article said Slade Rutherford from the Asheville paper was coming to take over as editor.

    “You see this?” I asked Myrtle as she came from the kitchen carrying my banana pudding and coffee.

    The girl at the back called impatiently, “Miss? I need more coffee.”

    “Hold your horses,” Myrtle told her shortly. “I’ll be there soon as I give Mac here her pudding.” She bent over my table and said under her breath, “Miss Gusta’ll soon take her down a peg or two.” She cruised off with the coffeepot and I tucked happily into warm banana pudding.

    When I finished, the young woman was still reading in her booth. On impulse I went back to say hello. She slid the book into her lap and looked up curiously. Her big dark eyes were set in a long thin face framed by that soft black mass of hair that sprang from her scalp with a life of its own.

    “I’m MacLaren Yarbrough. I spoke with you a couple of weeks ago for Mrs. Wainwright.”

    I could tell by the flicker in her eyes that she’d forgotten, but she recovered almost at once and stuck out her hand in a businesslike manner. “Oh—yes. How do you do?”

    When we’d finished the little courtesies, I asked, “Did you take that week’s vacation with your sister before you came? And was it fun?”

    To my amazement, her eyes filled with tears and she regarded me with horror. She pressed her lips together, but they still trembled.

    “Oh, honey, is something wrong?”

    She nodded and blinked to stop the tears. “My sister drowned,” she whispered.

    The starch went out of my knees. Without asking permission, I sank into the booth across from her. “Oh, my goodness! What happened?”

    She dabbed her eyes with her napkin. “We went down to Clearwater to scuba dive. She hadn’t been before, and on our very first dive she caught her fin in a hole in the coral. When she tried to get it out, her foot got wedged. Several of us tried to help her, but we couldn’t free it—” Her voice choked and she pressed her hand to her mouth. That didn’t stop tears from brimming over her eyelids. “It was horrible! She had plenty of oxygen in her tank, but she was terrified. The dive master had gone up with another novice, so one man went to get him while the rest of us stayed down to try and help her, but she got disoriented and panicky, and jerked off her mask.” She closed her eyes and her shoulders shook. “They tried to get it back on her, or to make her breathe with a buddy, but she fought and fought, and gulped water. . . .” She covered her face with her hands and shuddered. She finally added in an anguished whisper, “It was awful!”

    I put out a hand to touch her gently. “I am so very sorry.”

    Breathing heavily, she looked away, her eyes stark. “They made me go up to the boat and wait while they brought her up. Then they worked with her for ages—even radioed the Coast Guard. But she was gone.” She pressed both hands to her cheeks and shook her head as if disagreeing with her sister’s fate. “It happened so fast.” She wiped away the tears and used the tissue I handed her to blow her nose. “We were real close. It’s been hard.” Her voice was muffled by the tissue.

    “It must have been especially hard on you following the death of your employer. You should have taken more time before coming here, Alice.” I’d remembered her name, and thought it might make her feel more welcome if I used it.

    She took a deep breath, then gave me a shy, watery