A Killer Closet Read Free Page A

advantage. The affair, I mean,” Susana said.
    “What do you mean?” Harriet asked.
    “Well…” Susana reached for the wine bottle on the heavy mahogany tea table next to her. “If your wife has connections in high places, and I do mean
high
places—like the governor’s mansion—that’s bound to be good for business, don’t you think?”
    There was a shocked silence, and even Adelle looked scandalized.
    “You mean the governor? She was having an affair with the governor?” Harriet said finally.
    “I didn’t say that.”
    “Well,” Harriet said with a huff, “it wasn’t Rob who was having the affair, so I don’t see how it could be of any benefit to him.”
    “You are so naïve, my dear,” Susana said. “The governor must have thought he was doing favors for Loraine when he helped Rob’s business interests.”
    “Oh, come on, now,” Harriet said. “That’s really a stretch.”
    Susana twisted the stem of her wineglass and tried to look disinterested. “Not necessarily,” she said.
    Adelle tapped her glass with her French-manicured acrylic nail as she thought about it. “Do you suppose a person could have her killed so she couldn’t ruin his political career?”
    Susana leaned forward. “You mean someone from the governor’s mansion?”
    “Well…” Adelle said.
    “The thing that puzzles me,” Susana said as she leaned back in her chair again, “is why whoever it was would do such a shoddy job of disposing of the body.” Irene noticed Susana’s hand shaking slightly. Her mother’s sometimes shook as well. Something to look forward to as you approach seventy?
    “I hate to speak of poor Loraine as ‘the body,’ ” Harriet said.
    Susana ignored her and turned to Irene. “Why would anyone place a body in your closet? It doesn’t seem likely anyone here would have anything against you. I mean, you’ve been away for so long.”
    “Yes, I have, haven’t I?” Irene said.
    Adelle, who was showing more and more signs of discomfort, finally spoke up. “Really, you two! All of this is just gossip. None of us knows anything about any of it at this point. Especially not Irene and I.”
    “No need to be upset, my dear,” Susana said. “I know that little store must be important to both of you. So of course we don’t want any bad publicity associated with it, do we? It’s such a brave thing for the two of you to do, and so brave of you, Adelle, to move back into this…well,
quaint
house.”
    Adelle sat up straighter in her chair and managed to look even more uncomfortable, not to mention angry. “What do you mean brave? And this house isn’t quaint. It’s—”
    “Adelle, you look so tired,” Irene said. At Adelle’s insistence, she had never called her Mom or Mother. Now she was trying to come up with a graceful way to get the two guests out of the house and to keep her mother’s anger from exploding. “Today has been a strain for both us. I think we should go to bed early and—”
    The doorbell rang, interrupting Irene and startling all four of them. Adelle sprang to her feet, then stood motionless. No one else moved for several seconds, but Irene was the first to regain her composure.
    “I’ll get it, Adelle. Sit down and relax.”
    Adelle didn’t sit, and no one relaxed. Certainly not Irene. To have a doorbell ring after dark so soon after a dead body showed up in her closet made her anxious.
    She went to the window next to the door first and peered through the etched glass. Standing in the dim glow of light on the old-fashioned wraparound porch were the chief of police and the same officer who had accompanied him earlier. She felt a moment of relief. At least it wasn’t someone ready to murder her and stuff her in a closet. When she opened the door, the chief spoke before she could utter a greeting.
    “I’d like you to come with me to the police station, Ms. Seligman.”
    “What…?”
    “You’re a person of interest in the murder of Loraine Sellers. We need to