Free 5 Murder by Syllabub by Kathleen Delaney

Impossible.” Cora Lee almost snorted in her zeal to prove Noah wrong. “Where would Monty have gotten that?”
    “An excellent question. If it proves that’s what he drank, it’s a question we’ll have to answer. Along with all the other questions, such as what else was in the drink and who gave it to him.”
    “And why.”
    The look Noah gave Aunt Mary was speculative. “Yes. And why.” He turned around in his chair and said directly to Elizabeth, “Did Monty still have a key?”
    Elizabeth’s hand shook slightly as she poured the coffee. “I have no idea.” She picked up one cup only, walked back to the table and set it in front of Noah. She didn’t offer any to the rest of us. Instead, she sat and picked up her wineglass. “Is there any wine left, Cora Lee? If so, I think I’d like some.”
    Cora Lee rose and brought the bottle back to the table. She poured a little in Elizabeth’s glass then finished it off between herself and Aunt Mary. I still had an almost full glass, a situation I planned on correcting soon.
    “He didn’t have a key. I took it.”
    The Wonderland feeling was back. Why would Cora Lee take Monty’s key? Why did he have one? Who on earth was he, anyway?
    “Are you sure?” Noah didn’t look convinced. He shoveled sugar into his coffee and stirred, not noticing when it sloshed.
    Aunt Mary’s fingers actually twitched with an almost overwhelming need to mop up the small pool. She removed her hands from the table and folded them in her lap. I almost laughed, but refrained.
    “It wouldn’t matter if I hadn’t.” Cora Lee smiled. “I didn’t trust Monty not to have another one. I got Colonial Lock and Key to come out and change the locks on all the outside doors on all three houses, oh, a couple of years ago. I made sure they kept the old colonial style keys. Those blasted things are heavy, too.”
    The cat that ate the canary. The expression on Cora Lee’s face had to be where that old expression came from. Only, why would she do that and why was she so pleased?”
    “Why would Monty have a key?” Leave it to Aunt Mary to get right to the point.
    “Because his mamma died.”
    I looked at Aunt Mary. She looked at me, and I shrugged.
    She narrowed her eyebrows and her nostrils flared a little, a sure sign her patience was wearing thin. “What does Monty’s mother have to do with anything? Who was he, anyway?”
    “Oh, dear. You don’t know, do you?” Cora Lee clicked her tongue and smiled. “Why, honey, his mamma was my brother William’s first wife, the one who lived here while William lived with Elizabeth at that college in Wisconsin where they taught whatever it was they taught. Monty and William didn’t get on one little bit. Actually, William couldn’t stand to be around him.” She paused for a moment, as if reliving the events of long ago. Finally she sighed and went on. “That was a marriage that should never have happened. It was a disaster from the moment they said, ‘I do.’ ”
    She looked at Elizabeth and smiled. Elizabeth smiled back. Clearly, Cora Lee approved of William’s second wife.
    “That’s why, after she died and I found out Monty was fixing to move in here with his wife and kids, I had to do something. William would have had that stroke a whole lot earlier if he thought Monty was living in his house. So, I dropped into Mr. Monty’s law office one day, collected the key and told him the only way he’d ever move into Smithwood again would be over my dead body. Or his.” The old sarcastic smile was back on Cora Lee’s face. “Mr. Montgomery Eslick was pretty unhappy with me, but there wasn’t a thing he could do. It was a nice day for me. I don’t think Monty enjoyed it nearly as much, and I’ll bet he enjoyed it even less when he went home and told that little social climbing wife of his.”
    Cora Lee’s southern accent had gotten thicker as the story went on, but I had no problem understanding her.
    “So Monty was William’s