The Missing Party-Girl: A Rags-to-Riches Cozy Mystery Romance by Nhys Glover (read after .txt) 📗

him as the murderer. His connections to organized crime, and the business he ran, made him the perfect suspect. Jeffers was convicted by the reporters without even a trial. Given what Georgie had told Roland, it’s easy to see why he assumed Jeffers did it. But I don’t think he did.”

He looked thoughtful, contemplative, for a moment more before he went on. “I saw the look on that old bastard’s face. He wanted to claim the murder as his own. He wanted the kudos and notoriety it would have given him, especially as he was watching his life and power being eaten away by cancer. He wanted to see fear in your eyes. Yet he didn’t claim the kill. There’s no reason for him to do that unless he really didn’t do it.”

“Unless he was trying to thwart us, for Winsley. And if not him, then what happened to her, Cage?” Adie wailed. “I’m going around and around, chasing my tail over this. I’m no detective! I was sure Roland would have the answers we needed.

“Do you think he could have killed her? I know it’s hard to see an old man as a murderer, but he was only twenty back then. And it would have been easy to make her disappear, if no one knew she was coming out to the party.”

“Why tell us any of it, if he killed her? Why not just deny he ever heard from her after she came to his house-party in mid-March. Why say she was coming, and when, and then say she didn’t get there. You’d only go to all that trouble if it were true. And he really believes Jeffers had her killed. I saw it in his eyes.”

“So have we reached the end of it, then? Have we exhausted all our leads?”

Cage shrugged and shook his head. “There’s something he said that I’m trying to put my finger on. But it keeps slipping away. When he mentioned the police not coming to his door…”

“He said murders didn’t happen in their part of the world. That he didn’t want to get embroiled in a murder investigation.”

“Not then! That’s what he said. Murders didn’t happen in their area, not then. He added it, for accuracy sake.”

“So, Lewes has more violent crime these days.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s what he meant. I’m tired. It feels like midnight, when it’s just after seven-thirty,” he said on a heavy sigh.

“I know what you mean. I’ve been on tenterhooks all day, waiting for this breakthrough. And now it’s just blown up in our faces. We’re no further ahead, are we?”

“You should get points for getting further than the cops did,” Cage said, sighing again. “How the hell were you supposed to solve this case after all this time? Minerva really was a pain. Maybe you should just give in and let Winsley have the money. Get on with your new life. You don’t deserve all this crap!”

“What about not letting bullies win?” Adie asked, leaning her head on his shoulder.

“I guess it depends what it costs. We walked away from Vietnam when it became clear we couldn’t win. Maybe this is one instance where walking away is the best option. Fuck Minerva and her games. It’s not like you need the money.”

Adie nodded. How often had she thought the exact same thing? She didn’t need the money. She sure didn’t need the angst. But her mother’s church had gotten money they didn’t deserve. She’d be damned if Winsley would, as well.

Not if she could help it.

Chapter 15

Adie tossed and turned for hours. Although she was bone weary, her body and mind wouldn’t let her rest. Something was there. She was sure of it.

What was it Cage had picked up on? The bit about not having murders back at that time. How many recent murders had Lewes had?

Curious, because she had nothing else to think about, Adie decided to find out. It was a bit like researching minks, and how she’d wanted to know about film noir. Now her curiosity had her wanting to know about murders in Lewes.

She padded down to the kitchen with Jig close on her heels. The house was silent, so she knew Cage must be sleeping soundly. Unlike her.

Absently, she put almond milk on the stove to warm and dug out a pack of drinking chocolate. It was not good for her weight, but right now she needed comfort food more than she needed to be healthy. And the warm drink might help her sleep.

Pulling a treat from the bag, she gave it to her companion. She never felt lonely when Jig was at her side. She never felt lonely when Cage was around, either. Even now, knowing he slept somewhere above her, she felt oddly comforted.

What would she do when he left? The thought horrified her. She couldn’t imagine her new life without him. As difficult as Cage could be at times, she had never known anyone she got on better with. He had so many sides to him, and all of them she liked.

But most of all, he made her feel safe. She could never remember a time in her life when she felt totally safe. Not like she did now. Even with Winsley threatening her and those she loved, she felt safe.

Hot chocolate in hand, she went to the kitchen table to boot up her laptop. In moments, she had Google on the screen and she was entering the words, murder and Lewes.

The thousands of hits made her wish she had a tighter parameter.

As she sipped, she surfed through the information. What she was looking for, she wasn’t exactly sure.

There were murders in Brighton by organized crime, the bodies buried in a forest outside Lewes. That was the late 50s. There was the Onion Pie Murder at Lewes prison