A House to Die For (A Darby Farr Mystery) Read Free

veins in the
operating room.
    Phipps knew that his purchase of Fairview was a gamble, but
he was a man used to taking chances and having them go in his
favor. As he turned down the curving, tree-lined driveway that led to the Trimble estate, he felt a surge of anticipation. Nevertheless,
he drove slowly on the dirt road, careful to keep the rocks from
spinning up and damaging his paint job. I'll have it paved next
week.

    He slowed to a stop and looked up at the main house, as impressive as any English manor or French chateau. Fairview, he
whispered. The very sound filled him with a longing that was almost unbearable. He said it again, letting it roll off his tongue.
    The property was as beautiful as it had been the previous Saturday when he'd raced up from Boston and submitted his offer,
as breathtaking as the first time he'd laid eyes on it, all those years
before. It was more than the house, or the staggering view, or the
formal gardens landscaped to perfection. It was the whole idea
of an island retreat and what it represented. A mini-kingdom, his
mini-kingdom, with tennis courts, an airstrip, and an indoor pool.
It was an estate that rivaled any along the Atlantic coast, a property
that was the envy of everyone who knew tony Hurricane Harbor,
of anyone back in Boston who knew exquisite taste. It represented
everything he had ever worked for, the life he had carefully crafted.
Mine, he thought. It will soon be mine.
    He let his eyes linger for a moment more on the weathered
shingles and listened to the crash of the surf beyond the house.
Phipps had made arrangements to get inside, but the person with
the key wasn't due until eight o'clock. Phipps looked at his watch
with impatience. Twenty minutes before the hour. He thought
fleetingly of the elderly real estate broker upon whose frail shoulders the whole deal rested, and wondered if she was the one meeting him. What the hell was her name? Jean? Joan? Jane. Jane Farr.
She still had all her marbles, he had to give her credit for that. And those penetrating eyes ... It was as if she'd seen right through him,
and known, somehow, that Fairview was something he would acquire at any cost. She'd come up with the whole thing...

    Phipps looked at the time again. I wish to hell she'd get here.
Jane Farr hadn't wanted this meeting, but with nearly six million
dollars on the table, she'd been easy to convince. The whole thing
had been easy, which was just the way Phipps liked it.
    He decided to walk to the back of the house, stretch his legs
before he began driving once more.
    He strode across the verdant grass, damp with the morning dew.
A few gulls cried out as he rounded the corner, their shrieks like
screams against the early morning stillness. A rabbit darted from behind a clump of beach roses, and Emerson Phipps jumped. I'm not
used to peace and quiet. I'm used to life or death.
    The cove was calm, save for the sound of a gentle swell buffeting the rocks below. Phipps peered over the craggy cliffs that
jutted out like fingers and saw a path winding down to the small
beach below. He'd hire a landscaper and put in stairs, so that his
nephews could scamper down there and not break their necks in
the process. His thoughts wandered back to the emergency room
and the unfortunate patient he'd seen hours earlier. Poor Amanda
had seemed rattled by the whole thing. I'll call her later. She may
want to talk. The memory of the young nurse and her bouncy little
ponytail made him smile. She was pretty, in a wholesome, earnest
way, not like the angular models he usually dated. Maybe I'm ready
to give all that up. Be the kind of person my sister thinks I am ...
    He glanced again at his watch and noted that it was nearly
eight. With one last look at the cove, he turned and started back to
the front of the house. There was a small orchard on the southern side of the estate, and Phipps wondered what fruit he would soon
be harvesting. He wished he'd