Chocolate Covered Murder Read Free Page B

and making sure to keep her hands free for balance, resisting the urge to stuff them in her pockets. Approaching the group, she spotted her friend, Officer Barney Culpepper, and quickened her pace. That was a mistake, as she ended up sliding into him and would have fallen if he hadn’t grabbed her by the arm.
    â€œWhoa, Lucy. Take it easy.”
    Barney was dressed for the weather in an oversized, official blue snowsuit, his graying buzz cut concealed by a fur-lined hat that had flaps covering his ears. His eyes were watering, and his jowly cheeks were bright red, as was his nose.
    â€œWhat’s going on?” she asked.
    â€œSomebody went through the ice.”
    â€œHow can that be? It must be a couple of feet thick,” she said, looking around at the little cluster of wooden fishing shacks.
    â€œDunno.” Barney shrugged and wiped his eyes with a gloved hand. “Mebbe he made the hole too big, mebbe there’s currents that make the ice thin in spots. I dunno. Seems like a terrible way to go.”
    There was a sudden surge of activity and Lucy pulled out her camera, thinking it wasn’t going to be easy to get a photo in this weather, and with the group of rescuers and fishermen blocking her view. Then the crowd broke apart to make way for a stretcher and Lucy got a clear shot.
    She yanked off her glove, stuffing it under her arm, and raised the camera to her eyes, automatically snapping several pictures of the blanketed victim. Then, when she’d lowered her camera, a stiff gust of wind lifted the blanket, revealing the drowned man’s bearded face. Horrified, she recognized Max Fraser. Moving woodenly, she followed as the stretcher was carried to the waiting ambulance and was trundled inside. The doors were slammed shut and the ambulance took off, slowly, down the snowy track. There was no need to hurry.
    Blinking back tears, Lucy turned to Barney. “Did you see what I saw?” she asked.

Chapter Two
    â€œY eah,” said Barney, shaking his head sadly. “It was Max Fraser.”
    That was the trouble with living in a small town, thought Lucy. All the victims of horrible accidents were your neighbors and sometimes your friends, or your friends’ kids. So were the petty criminals, for that matter. The police blotter, which was printed in the Pennysaver every week, was full of familiar names involved in minor tragedies: family quarrels that got out of control, drunk driving arrests, even petty thefts in these tough times. And drugs, always drugs—marijuana, OxyContin, and even heroin.
    Of course, everyone knew Max. He was the divorced husband of Fern’s granddaughter, Dora, and the father of their only child, Lily. But it wasn’t simply the fact that she was acquainted with the victim and even owed him a debt of gratitude that was bothering Lucy.
    â€œHe was all tangled up in fishline,” said Lucy. “And there was a lure ...”
    â€œA silver jigging spoon,” said Barney.
    â€œIt was in his mouth,” said Lucy. Max was gone, but she couldn’t erase the image of the glittering silver lure dangling from his blue lips and nestled in his ice-coated beard. She remembered how glad she’d been to see his smiling face in her car window just last night.
    â€œHe was hooked like a walleye,” said Barney. “What a way to go.”
    Lucy thought of Max’s blue eyes, wide open and crusted with ice, and for a moment felt the earth spin beneath her.
    â€œWhoa, there,” said Barney, grabbing her arm and steadying her. She took a couple of deep breaths and focused on the snow-covered mountain rising behind the frozen pond, as if the picture-postcard scene could erase the gruesome image of Max’s death mask from her mind.
    â€œHe probably didn’t feel a thing,” said one of the bystanders.
    Lucy turned and recognized Tony Menard, who she’d interviewed last winter when he won the Lake Winnipesaukee ice