RESORT TO MURDER Read Free Page B

But there was something about
his easy flirtation that bothered her, too. Maybe it seemed just a
little too practiced?
    She shrugged off the thought and watched the
activity on the courts as she walked along the outside of a high,
green fence. A couple of mixed doubles games were in progress on
courts one and two, and two flushed and sweating, middle-aged males
rested on the sidelines of court three. A solitary woman worked on
her serve on court four, reaching regularly into a tall orange
basket filled with balls. Court five, as Maggie approached it,
seemed at first glance to be empty.
    Maggie looked around and finally saw a
figure seated crosslegged near the net, her back against the fence.
As Maggie approached she realized the young woman's eyes were
closed.
    "Are you all right?" Maggie asked, after some
hesitation.
    "Meditating."
    "What?"
    "Meditating."
    "Oh. I'm sorry.” Maggie stepped back,
wondering what to do. She walked a few feet away, and put her gear
down, glancing back at the person she assumed to be Dyna Hall. She
was blonde, with her thick, curly hair bunched and pinned in an odd
arrangement. She wore purple sweatpants cut down to shorts and a
sleeveless top. Maggie watched the woman on court four hit her
serve into the net a few times, then looked back again at Dyna. She
was just considering slipping quietly away when the woman's eyes
snapped open.
    "There," she said, and jumped up, brushing
off her backside.
    Too late. Maggie smiled and walked over.
    "You must be Maggie,” the meditator said.
“Hi! I'm Dyna - with a `Y'. Everyone gets it wrong, so don't worry.
Sorry to make you wait, but I always try to meditate before I do
anything challenging. It really helps. You ever try it?"
    Maggie looked at her prospective opponent's
open friendly face and decided she'd probably like her, despite
definite indications of oddness. She was about Maggie's age,
possibly a year or two younger, with a pretty face and a sturdy
figure. Her blonde hair was many-shaded, going from light brown
near the scalp to near white at the ends, and had a few streaks of
orange here and there.
    "Uh, no, I guess I never have," Maggie said,
pulling her eyes away from the hair to answer.
    Dyna-with-a-Y talked on about the value and
methods of meditation, and leaned forward against the net post to
stretch her leg muscles. Maggie pulled her racquet out of its cover
and assumed an expression of polite attention, as she tried to
remember the correct grip for a backhand volley. After trying a
few, none of which felt particularly familiar, she decided she
would probably just stay back near the baseline most of the time -
forget the volleys. Dyna's dangling, crystal earrings flashed in
the sun.
    "OK! Shall we start?” Dyna was spinning her
racquet, waiting for Maggie to call up or down. Maggie began to
worry that she might be overmatched. Most of the games she had
played up till then, the player with the most balls in her pockets
simply walked back and started serving.
    "Up?" she said, tentatively.
    Dyna looked at the end of her racquet handle.
"You got it."
    Maggie soon found she needn't have worried.
Her first serve, which dropped softly into the service court, was
returned by Dyna into the net. The second was swung at and
missed.
    "Ace!" Dyna called, and Maggie laughed.
    The match continued in that vein, with Maggie
winning, mostly because she managed to keep from double faulting
and seemed to be the only one of the two who knew how to keep
score. At one point, however, Dyna returned the ball quite a
distance from Maggie, still keeping it inside the line. Maggie ran
for it and swung wildly. The ball sailed high and disappeared over
the fence and into the shrubbery.
    "Out!" Dyna yelled, grinning. "Definitely
out.” She started to head for the gate.
    "No, don't bother," Maggie called to her. "I
hit it. I'll get it later."
    "OK," Dyna said, and they played out the
set, with Maggie winning it, six games to two. They walked to a
shady spot near the