Read Online Dead Man Waltzing by Ella Barrick - Free Book Online Page B

gelding, whickered behind her; I’d learned to ride on him and would recognize his “voice” anywhere.
    “Hi, Bird. Yes. She told me about your invitation. Sounds like fun.”
    She sighed. “I’m glad you think so. Danielle clearly wasn’t enamored of the idea, even though it’ll be my treat.”
    “It’s the Jekyll Island thing. It’ll bring up a lot of memories of our last vacation, all of us together.”
    From her silence, I knew she hadn’t previously made the connection. “That was years ago,” she finally said, as if old memories didn’t carry much weight. In my experience, sometimes they carried the most weight.
    “Yeah, well.”
    Another silence fell. I finally broke it. “What dates did you have in mind?”
    She told me and I checked my mental calendar. “That should work. It’s the weekend after the Virginia State DanceSport Championships. Count me in.”
    “Thank you, Stacy.” She hesitated. “And if you could talk your sister into it, I’d be very grateful. I hate it that things are so awkward between us.”
    “Have you told her that?”
    “Of course not.”
    Of course not. I hung up a few minutes later, mentally shaking my head. My mom could practically read a horse’s mind, could communicate with the big beasts telepathically, but she had no clue what her own daughter was thinking. I’d do my best to talk Dani into the vacation, because it would be fun for all of us.
    I headed upstairs to work on choreography for a husband-and-wife amateur team who were competing at the Virginia state competition with the Graysin Motion team. I worked in the small studio at the back of the house, liking the view of my tiny courtyard from the studio’s window. I’d worked up most of a samba routine for the pair when someone knocked on the doorjamb and spun me around.
    Tav stood there, newspaper in hand, a less-than-thrilled expression on his face. “You did not think I would be interested in the fact that Maurice was arrested?”
    “It made the newspaper?”
    He flipped through a couple of pages and read, “‘Alexandria police announced the arrest of Maurice Goldberg, a ballroom dance instructor with Graysin Motion, for the murder of Corinne Blakely, his former wife and also a professional ballroom dancer.’ It goes on to give details about her career.”
    “Well, that sucks.”
    “As you say.” His mouth quirked up on one side. “Have you talked to Maurice? Is he okay? Does he have legal representation?”
    I smiled, wanting to hug Tav. Even though he was worried about the studio’s reputation, he was concerned about Maurice, a man he barely knew. “I got hold of Phineas Drake and he took Maurice’s case.”
    “Do I need to worry that Drake will frame me for the Blakely woman’s murder?” He looked over his shoulder in an exaggerated way and I laughed. He was well aware that Drake had offered to set someone up for Rafe’s murder when the police thought I did it.
    “I don’t think so. As I understand it, Corinne had five other husbands; I’d think any of them would make a better murderer candidate than you, well, except the one who died. And she was apparently writing a tell-all memoir that was making a variety of people nervous, according to her housekeeper.”
    “When did you talk to her housekeeper?” Tav asked.
    “Last night.” I bent to grab my water bottle and my notes, hoping he wouldn’t dig any deeper.
    “She happened to drop by the studio?” he asked in a politely skeptical voice.
    “I might have stopped by Corinne’s house,” I muttered.
    “Stacy—”
    “Okay, I got the key from Maurice’s house and went to Corinne’s to find the manuscript,” I said all in a rush. “Maurice thinks someone murdered her to keep her book from getting published. I thought I’d find it and . . .” What had I planned to do if I’d come across the manuscript? “. . . and turn it over to the police.” Well, I might’ve.
    He didn’t berate me for my stupidity. “Did you