Armed Read Free Page B

later with a tray and three cups of steaming liquid.
    “Here, drink this. You’ll feel better.” Millie handed me a mug along with several more tissues. “What do the police say? They never tell you the whole story in the papers.”
    I sniffed the concoction taking in the undeniable scent of cinnamon and clove and something else. With Millie—who at any given time could be involved in whatever the current craze was—one never knew what she might add to the drink.
    Millie plopped her bell-laden figure into the stuffed chair next to the desk. A fringe of bangs framed her round face and no one knew for sure what color her eyes were. She wore contact lenses that came in an endless supply of colors. Along with her penchant for trying anything new, she also liked to dress appropriately for the various holidays, and had added bell earrings and bells tied to the laces of her ankle boots.
    “Actually, the paper is pretty accurate.” I scrunched my face up in a thoughtful manner. “I don’t remember any reporters there last night. The police really don’t know much. There found no sign of any break-in or struggle and Mrs. Scott’s purse sat in plain sight with nothing missing. Who’d want to kill her? What reason could someone have for killing an assistant at a mannequin factory, for God sake?”
    Sam added with a grimace, “With the arm off one of those things. Do you think there’s a connection?”
    “Probably the first thing the murderer saw,” I said, trying hard not to think of my nightmare.
    “I wonder how Mr. Poupée is doing.” Sam asked.
    “He was there,” I said. “I ran to call the police and I smacked right into him. He almost gave me a heart attack.”
    Sam pushed a strand of her thick, light brown hair over an ear. The hair I wished I had.
    “I thought you said you were alone.”
    “At the beginning Then he showed up.”
    “Why?”
    “Why?” I gave my sister a quizzical expression but the gears in my head started to turn. Why indeed? Maybe he had been there the entire time.

 
     
     

CHAPTER FIVE
     
     
    “He owns the place,” I said a second later. “Though the police seemed to think it odd he just happened to show up after hours. He told them he planned to meet Mrs. Scott at a restaurant down the road, but she never showed so he got worried her car might be stuck in the snow. They questioned him for over an hour. This Detective Van der Burg…” I shook my head to dislodge the image of his tall, well-toned physique. “I think he suspects Mr. Poupée.”
    I grabbed a jar I keep on my desk and pulled it closer to scoop out a handful of M&M’s, meticulously picking the blue ones and sliding them across the desk to my sister who I knew would eat anything—even a blue M&M.
    “That’s just wrong.”
    “Of course it is. Mr. Poupée couldn’t hurt a fly.”
    “Not that. This.” I tossed another blue M&M onto her pile. “What we’re they thinking.” I couldn’t figure out how blue ones ended up in a bag with glorious autumn colors. Have I mentioned autumn is my favorite season?
    Sam leaned across the desk and tugged the jar from my hands. “Why do you think they suspect Mr. Poupée?”
    I popped three candies into my mouth. “They asked him all sorts of stuff about his relationship with Mrs. Scott. And why he wanted to meet her after work.”
    “Why did he?” Millie asked.
    I shrugged. “Said she asked to have a private meeting with him. He didn’t know why, but he’s been tied up and hasn’t been in the office much so maybe she just had some stuff to go over with him.”
    Sam leaned back and took another sip of tea. “So why not just wait for him to come back to the office or catch him first thing the next morning?”
    “I don’t know.”
    Sam cradled her cup in her hands and stared at me intently. “What do you think? Did he do it?”
    “Samantha! What are you saying? He’s been a friend forever. Honest to God.” I stood up and walked over to the window then turned