Free Murder So Sweet (A Sweet Cove Mystery Book 2) by J A Whiting Page B

your question?”
    “Were you in Sweet Cove two days before the murder?”
    His answer was straight-forward. “Yes.”
    “But you told me you had just arrived in town the morning that your brother died.”
    “I had.”
    Confusion furrowed Angie’s brow. She tipped her head forward keeping eye contact with the older man. She waited for Finch to clarify.
    “I arrived in Sweet Cove by train and a cab took me to the resort. I ate lunch there. Then a cab took me to Marblehead where I stayed for two nights.”
    “Why did you go to Marblehead?”
    “I wasn’t ready to see my brother. I didn’t want to stay in Sweet Cove because I didn’t want to run into him. It took me a couple of days to pluck up my courage.”
    “Was that because you hadn’t seen him for such a long time?”
    “That, yes. But for other reasons.”
    Angie’s mind raced. Does he mean he needed time to gather the courage to kill his brother? “Then what happened?”
    “I thought I might just leave the area and return to California without making contact with Thaddeus, but then I berated myself for being so foolish. I had come all this way. I made up my mind that I would leave Marblehead and return to Sweet Cove so I called and made the reservations to stay here at the B and B. Then I decided to go to the candy store.”
    “Did your brother know you were in town?”
    Finch shook his head vigorously. “No.”
    Angie said, “And when you arrived at the candy store…?”
    “I found out my brother was dead.”
    Angie said, “I don’t mean this to sound disrespectful … but it didn’t seem like you were upset.”
    “I was shocked. To think, the very day I came to see him, my brother is killed. It’s been fifty years. I didn’t know him anymore. He was someone from my past. I felt sadness, but not grief.”
    Angie sighed. It made sense. “Why did you decide to seek out your brother now, after so many years had passed?”
    “Because. We’re old.” He touched his index finger to the water glass and traced along the side. “My brother wasn’t a nice person.”
    Angie’s eyebrows went up. She was surprised to hear this from Finch. She’d assumed that the candy store owner had soured over time … that some disappointments or upsets had changed who he was, slowly, the way wind and rain wear down the side of a cliff. But here was Finch reporting that his brother hadn’t been a nice person from the very beginning.
    “Not only was he not a nice person, he was mean,” Finch said. “He could be cruel. And, selfish.”
    Angie’s heart felt heavy.
    Finch put his hands in his lap and leaned against the chair back. He was quiet for several moments. Angie thought he must be reflecting on the past.
    Finch looked across the table at Angie. “You handed me my cane earlier this afternoon.”
    Angie sat up straight. Adrenaline pumped through her veins. “Yes.” Her voice was small as she recalled the vision.
    Finch scrutinized Angie, and then seemed to make a decision. “I fell down a staircase, a long time ago. The fall almost killed me.” He glanced at his cane which leaned against the chair next to him. “That’s the reason I use the cane. People think it’s because I’m an old man, but I’ve had to use it for over fifty years.”
    Over fifty years. The same amount of time that Finch had been estranged from his brother. A chill trickled down Angie’s back.
    Finch lowered his gaze to his hands. “My brother … Thaddeus … he pushed me down the stairs. He tried to kill me.”

Chapter 12
    When Angie realized her mouth was hanging open, she snapped it shut. “He pushed you? It was intentional?”
    “Yes.” Finch’s facial muscles drooped and his skin was tinged with a gray pallor as if the blood had drained away.
    Angie couldn’t believe this awful news. “Why? Why would he do such a terrible thing? He was your brother.”
    Finch looked across the room at nothing. A heaviness seemed to settle over him causing his head to hang