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The Cinco de Mayo Murder

Page 21

by Lee Harris


  “So Heinz died and the others had twenty years of misery.”

  “It looks that way. I'm glad I got to know you, Herb.” “Same here. Maybe on our next trip we'll all go out to dinner. I'd like to meet your husband.”

  “We'll do it. Just let me know when you're making your next visit.”

  He promised he would.

  It was a hot summer. From time to time I got reports on the investigation of Heinz Gruner's death and Alfred Koch's unseemly and unethical behavior. Dean Hershey was as good as his promise. He assured me that Koch, who was scheduled to retire soon, would not be named emeritus. It was a blow but a deserved one.

  Meanwhile, Hershey had dug up many names of people who had paid bribes to Koch. Through his lawyer, Koch said he had decided to repay what he could. I wished Hilda had lived to hear about this, but I conveyed the information to Dr. Farley, who felt that justice was done. The amount that Koch would donate to the Heinz Gruner endowment was substantial and would buy many books. I considered this a blessing.

  Late in the summer a small insured package arrived, addressed to me. It came from Hillside Village and I wondered what small piece of Hilda Gruner's life was inside.

  The note was from Dr. Farley. He hoped I would wear and enjoy the two antique gold rings and the bracelet in three colors of gold that we had found in the bank box a few months earlier. I slipped a ring on and it fit perfectly. The other was almost as good a fit. One of them had a monogram that was hard to read, but definitely did have an H on it. The jewelry must have belonged to Hilda's mother or grandmother. I was glad Dr. Farley had not sold them for gold value. I would definitely enjoy wearing them. They would remind me of a family whose demise began on a mountain in Arizona because of the anger and misdeeds of three people who inadvertantly caused the death of the only innocent in the party.

  The next day, I wrote my own check to the Rimson College Library.

  The Cinco de Mayo Murder is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  A Fawcett Books Mass Market Original

  Copyright © 2006 by Lee Harris

  All rights reserved.

  Published in the United States by Fawcett Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

  FAWCETT BOOKS and colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc.

  eISBN: 978-0-307-51762-3

  www.ballantinebooks.com

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