Free Death in Reel Time by Brynn Bonner Page A

distract Beth right now. “When would you like us to come?”
    â€œHow about tomorrow morning? Beth is staying with me for now. Do you know she can’t even stay at her own house? They’re saying it’s a potential crime scene. Which is ridiculous; Blaine wasn’t even home that day. He always left the house early on Saturday mornings to check in at the store then go off to play golf or tennis or shoot at the range or whatever.”
    â€œI’m sorry, Olivia,” I said. “I hadn’t heard they’d taped off her house. I know it must be distressing, but they’re just being thorough.”
    â€œI suppose,” Olivia said. “But I have to tell you, though I’ve always been fond of Denton Carlson, I resent some of his questions and I don’t like the way he’s treating Beth.”
    â€œI know he’s pushing her hard, but, Olivia, you know he just wants to find out who did this so Beth can begin to put it behind her,” I said.
    â€œI do know that,” Olivia said with another big sigh. “But I don’t have to like it. No matter that she’s a grown woman,Beth is still my baby and I wish I could protect her from every hurt in life. There’s nothing as fierce as a mother’s love.”
    â€œJust hang in there, Olivia,” I said. “It’ll all be okay.”
    I said it, but I wasn’t totally convinced.
    â€œWe going back on the job?” Esme said after I hung up the phone. “So soon?”
    â€œYes, looks like it,” I said.
    â€œCelestine will be happy,” Esme said. “She is mighty eager for us to get cooking on this family history.”
    â€œWhen did she make contact?”
    â€œWhen I started packing up these boxes. I think she’s enjoying having us read her diaries. She fancies herself an author now and she doesn’t want us to stop.”
    â€œWell, I don’t think fans will be lining up at midnight to snatch the latest release, but her diaries are interesting and I think Olivia and Beth will be enthralled. Maybe they will distract Beth, at least for a time. I wonder if she’s remembered any more about that day,” I mused as I looked out the window into our backyard. The leaves that had made charming, colorful wind devils last week were now amassed in a sodden, knee-deep pile. We’d definitely need to rake or they’d be so heavy they’d be nearly impossible to move. I thought of Beth babbling on about dealing with the leaves in her yard the night Denny came to tell her Blaine was dead.
    â€œAccording to Denny,” Esme said, “Beth remembers even less now than she did that night. The doctors predicted that might happen. She can’t remember being at her mother’s that morning, nor anything she did that afternoon, including doing yard work. She can’t even remember coming to dinnerat Olivia’s that night or how she got there. The morning after, when Denny went to the hospital, she couldn’t even remember that she’d seen him the night before and he had to break the news about Blaine to her all over again. Talk about the devil in the déjà vu!”
    â€œI hear the department is getting pressure from Sterling Branch,” I said.
    â€œYep, as if they needed more pressure. Every available officer in the Morningside Police Department is working the case. Jennifer Jeffers is lead detective on this one, and, much as it pains me to say it, since we’re not exactly bosom buddies, I wish her great success.”
    â€œDoes that take some of the pressure off Denny?”
    â€œNot a jot or a tittle. The pressure on Denny all comes from that big heart of his, not from outside. Anyhow, you can’t blame the Branches. They want to know what happened to their son.”
    â€œAs any parent would,” I said.
    â€œMaybe not an y parent,” Esme said, holding up a letter she’d taken from an envelope a few minutes