Free RESORT TO MURDER by Mary Ellen Hughes

had heard that. I
wasn't sure it was true. Made it pretty tough, huh?"
    "You could say that. Did you know her?"
    His gaze moved in the general direction of
the murder scene. Bits of yellow tape from the investigation still
clung to a few trees. "Well, yeah, I know just about everyone here.
I ran into her now and then. Nice kid."
    "She was. You didn't know her well,
then?"
    "No."
    "Someone gave me the impression you two were
seeing each other."
    "Your `someone' doesn't know what they're
talking about."
    Maggie shrugged. "Lori was a good kid. I had
high hopes for her when I taught her. I remember she enjoyed math.
I wonder if she planned to do something with it?"
    "Social work. I think. I mean, I think I
heard someone say that's what she wanted."
    "Mmm.” A `nice kid' he ran into now and then
whose college major he just happened to know? Maggie was sure he
was holding back on her.
    "So you didn't...." she began, but Rob
suddenly jumped up from the bench and looked at his watch,
scowling.
    "Hey, I've got another lesson coming in a
few minutes, but we could go over those backhand moves a few more
times if you're up to it."
    "Sure, why not.” Maggie followed him back on
the court, frustrated at having their talk cut short, but unable to
come up with a way to extend it without sounding like an
interrogator. This detective work was harder than she thought.
    They repeated the same toss, swing, and
critiques as before, and Maggie tried to concentrate, but her mind
kept going back to their conversation. It wasn't enough. She should
have kept him talking. She should have asked him where he was at
the time Lori was killed. But he could easily lie about that,
couldn't he, and how would she know?
    She remembered how cool he was when she
arrived for her match with Dyna yesterday. Would he have been so
calm and casual if he had murdered someone a few hours earlier? But
then, he had arrived for her lesson today looking quite calm, and
she had heard him shouting and throwing things just minutes
earlier. Maggie swung at a ball and missed.
    "Your mind is wandering," Rob called. "That
was an easy one."
    "I'm sorry. I guess I'm getting tired."
    "Our time is up anyway. Here comes my next
lesson."
    Maggie turned and saw a pair of energetic
tow-headed ten year olds, accompanied by a tired-looking mother,
scrambling down the path.
    "Hey Tyler! Hey Travis!” Rob greeted them
with light boxing punches as they came onto the court, and they
shrieked and giggled as they protected themselves. "Okay, you two,
before we start I want to see three jogs around the court to warm
up - next to the fence!"
    The boys took off with noisy energy, and
Maggie packed up her things.
    Rob handed her her towel along with a few
final words of advice. "You should practice alone before you play
any games. If it doesn't get to be automatic, you'll just go right
back to your old way of hitting."
    She thanked him and promised to try. As she
reached the gate she turned to watch for a moment. Rob had joined
the twins in their run and they giggled at something he said. She
smiled, but found herself wondering just who was the real Rob
Clayton. There seemed to be a few sides to him that didn't quite
fit together.
    Maggie walked on down the path back to the
sports center, her towel draped under her damp curls. She checked
out the court Dyna had been on earlier, but her friend was nowhere
to be seen. Did she leave already? Maggie looked around again, then
walked over to the sports shop building. She glanced around inside
from the doorway and saw no one at all.
    "Did she think I had left when Rob and I
were taking our time-out on the bench?” Maggie murmured to herself,
puzzled.
    She walked back out and started alone on the
mulched path back to the hotel. She had gone about a hundred feet
when she heard a stick crack somewhere behind her. She turned
around and called,
    "Dyna?” No answer.
Where is she?
Maggie wondered, feeling annoyed now. She didn't like these woods
any better than