Murder at the Miramar (Augusta Burnette Series) Read Free Page B

more unpleasant – on her face. Things were definitely not right at the Miramar.
    ‘Emmy?’ I repeated her name, reaching over to touch her shoulder. ‘What’s happened?’
    She sighed. ‘The men, when they found Leeza, they also found …’ Her voice broke off and she dropped her gaze back to her cupped hands as though she’d find the rest of her sentence hiding there. She took a deep breath. ‘They found someone else.’
    I was a tad confused. Somehow I’d gotten the idea that finding people was a good thing, but Emmy was acting like something terrible had happened. My puzzlement must have been evident, and she continued, her eyes looking somberly into mine.
    ‘The person they found, the man – they found him just lying there. Dead.’
    It took a moment for that to sink in. A body. A dead body. Not too far from where I sat now, inhaling the scent of freshly baked cookies and basking in the glow of doing a good deed so early in the day.
    I gulped hard, trying to think of something comforting to say. The look on Emmy’s face, though, said it all: something was really wrong here.

Chapter Three
    I honestly had no response to Emmy’s statement. The idea that someone had been lying dead not too far from my immediate location gave me the willies, even worse than the time that Ellie slipped a piece of ice down my back during a school assembly. (And then acted all innocent while I was hauled out by the arm, marched to the Principal’s office, and read the riot act about interrupting school functions.)
    To my credit, I kept my mouth firmly closed. I’ve never liked that gaping fish look some folks get when ambushed with unpleasant news. Instead, I tried to wrap my mind around the situation, attempting to come up with a nugget of wisdom that would take Emmy’s worried look away.
    ‘Do they have any idea who he is? I mean, was he …’ I left the unspoken words hanging in mid-air, but Emmy, bless her heart, finished my awkward question with her answer.
    ‘No, he wasn’t, at least not that we know of, AJ. We’ve gone over the guest list and can’t find a man staying here alone, and no one has reported a missing husband or boyfriend yet, so we can assume he is not one of ours.’ She gave a wry smile, taking a sip from her glass and setting it back on the desk.
    I had to think about that one for a minute or two. It made sense, in a roundabout fashion, but then again, just how many murderous spouses or girlfriends would call up the front desk to admit losing someone? Probably no one I knew, except maybe David’s wife, but that was another story entirely.
    ‘Unless,’ I offered, reaching out for another of those marvelous cookies, ‘He was killed off by said girlfriend or wife and she hasn’t gotten around to admitting anything yet.’
    Emmy looked up sharply at me, an expression I couldn’t quite identify on her face. Was it something I’d said? She smiled at me then, and I wondered if I had perhaps misread her.
    ‘Now that would be very interesting, wouldn’t it?’ She stood to her feet stretching her arms above her head and giving her back a little twist. ‘Ah. That’s better. Now I need to meet with the detectives and reassure them that this dead man is not ours. Why don’t you check out the resort while I take care of that?’ She smiled at me then exited the lobby, heading, I presumed, to wherever the detectives were waiting.
    I certainly did not need another invitation to stroll through paradise. I picked up two more cookies – pecan chocolate chip and a cinnamon-laced snickerdoodle – before heading out. I never knew when I’d need some more nourishment of the sugary kind.
    The sun had moved closer to its noon position in the azure sky, but it still felt fresh. I loved the breeze that came in from the ocean; I even liked the faintly fishy smell. It reminded me of the many trips to the beach we took when I was a child, spending long days scouring the sands for broken bits of shell and, if