by Carolyn Hart
For a moment I thought he hadn’t listened, wouldn’t understand, couldn’t accept release. He stared at me, his green eyes dazed. And wondering. “Anywhere,” he whispered.
“Anywhere, Lloyd, anywhere. Connor was the victim, but so were you and Marlow and Jasmine and all of us.”
Lloyd hunched his head forward, jammed his hands into his pockets. “Anywhere…” He turned and walked away, head down, toward the window, stood there unmoving. I knew he was not seeing the runways.
I watched him for a moment. I knew he had heard. Now, if only his mind and heart had listened. I took a deep breath and walked slowly back to the others.
My knee hurt, but I glanced at the clock and moved a little faster. This was going to be harder, much harder. When I stopped in front of Marlow, Jasmine looked up. “Hi, Mrs. Collins.”
Marlow’s face lifted, that white, stony face with the eyes hidden behind dark glasses.
I reached out my hand. “Marlow, please come and walk with me for a moment. I need your help.”
She wanted to refuse. Refusal was there in the bleak jut of her jaw, the wooden heaviness of her body. Her hand tightened on Jasmine’s.
“Jasmine…” she whispered.
“Jasmine’s fine.” I gestured toward Steve Jennings, the paper once again held low. “Steve, you’ll come sit with Jasmine, won’t you?”
The big man pushed up from his chair. His lined, weary face softened as he looked at the little girl. “Sure. Jasmine and I can plan our next trip to Disney World. As soon as school’s out…”
His deep voice rumbled and Jasmine’s high tone rose excitedly.
“About last night…” I looked determinedly at Marlow. She had to respond. If it were not for me and for Neal…
Marlow glanced at Jasmine, put a finger to her lips. She was on her feet.
I took her arm and turned us away from the others.
“I don’t want to go far. I don’t know when I’ll ever feel that I can leave Jasmine.” Her hands came together in a tight grip. “She could have died. She would have died. And it’s all my—”
“No.” We were at the far end of the waiting room, no one seated for row upon row of chairs. “Her danger was not your fault. Your mother’s murder was not your fault. You were fooled, Marlow, deceived by a smiling young man with a handsome face and an evil heart. Right now you are desperately unhappy. You blame yourself. And if you are not careful, you will shut out the goodness in the world because you have been touched by evil. Marlow, I want to tell you about another young woman, many years ago, Henrietta O’Dwyer was her name…”
I talked to Marlow about my past, about the first man I loved and the mistakes I made. I told her things I’ve never revealed to anyone. I told her about the wrong man, who took advantage of me once again only a few years ago, and I told her about the right man who was good and honorable, the man I married.
“But how can you know?” It was a faint, stricken cry. “Aaron was so handsome. And he said he loved me. But I wondered sometimes. Mother liked him so much. And Jasmine. And yet sometimes, when we were alone, he’d be bitter about people who had money, and then I felt like I didn’t know him at all. If only I’d walked away from him. If only…”
“Don’t look back. You can’t change yesterday. But tomorrow can shine. And you will know someday, Marlow. Look for goodness.” I smiled at her. “You will find it.”
She reached out, took my hands, drew me close, and kissed my cheek.
The loudspeaker sounded raucous and insistent, calling our flight.
About the Author
CAROLYN HART, an accomplished master of mystery and spine-tingling suspense, has written five previous critically acclaimed novels featuring Henrietta O’Dwyer Collins. She is also the author of twelve novels in her multiple Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity Award-winning Death on Demand series. Hart lives in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and is one of the founders of Sisters in Crime.
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High praise for CAROLYN HART and her extraordinary sleuth Henrie O
“One of the most popular practitioners of the traditional mystery.”
Cleveland Plain Dealer
“An expert at seamless storytelling.”
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
“It’s always a delight to find a new book by Carolyn Hart.”
Chattanooga Times
“Cheers for Henrie O, an intelligent, engaging sleuth!”
Mary Higgins Clark
“A very likable character…determined, dogged, and literally unflinching. Mystery fans need more heroines who don’t dye their hair, and who know how to barricade a door with toilet hardware.”
Philadelphia Inquirer
“The spry sleuth triumphs with wry wit and grit.”
Chicago Sun-Times
Books by Carolyn Hart
Henrie O
DEAD MAN’S ISLAND
SCANDAL IN FAIR HAVEN
DEATH IN LOVERS’ LANE
DEATH IN PARADISE
DEATH ON THE RIVER WALK
RESORT TO MURDER
Death on Demand
DEATH ON DEMAND
DESIGN FOR MURDER
SOMETHING WICKED
HONEYMOON WITH MURDER
A LITTLE CLASS ON MURDER
DEADLY VALENTINE
THE CHRISTIE CAPER
SOUTHERN GHOST
MINT JULEP MURDER
YANKEE DOODLE DEAD
WHITE ELEPHANT DEAD
SUGARPLUM DEAD
APRIL FOOL DEAD
ENGAGED TO DIE
MURDER WALKS THE PLANK
DEATH OF THE PARTY
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
RESORT TO MURDER. Copyright © 2007 by Carolyn Hart. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition © MARCH 2007 ISBN: 9780061861024
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