Free Take a Dive for Murder by Millie Mack Page A

offer. Come and go as you please. I just ask one thing.”
    “What’s that?”
    “I want you to be very careful. I know there’s no evidence to support this theory, but I believe my brother was murdered. So until we know for sure, I don’t want anyone else to be hurt or…”
    “Murdered! Charles, were you about to say ‘murdered’? Do you think I’m in danger of being killed?”
    “Look, Carrie, I’m not trying to frighten you, but I don’t know what is happening. Every time I try to find out information from the police, I’m told the case is still under investigation.”
    “That explains why nothing seems to be happening, if you aren’t getting any help from the police.”
    “They have been of no help whatsoever. I even tried assigning one of our reporters to the story, and he can’t find anything out from his sources in the department. The police have completely shut us out from the investigation. Maybe I’m on the list of suspects, and that’s why they don’t want to share.”
    Carrie wondered if something had happened between the brothers that would make the police think of Charles as a potential suspect. She decided to ask, “Why would the police think you could be a suspect?”
    “They have this wild theory that with Jamie returning home, there w as a power struggle for control of the company.” Carrie said nothing, but Charles guessed what she was thinking. “And, no, there was no power struggle. The management of the company was left to me through my father’s will, not to mention Jamie wanted nothing to do with management. He wanted to write. Anyway, that’s why I’m hoping you’ll find some clue in Jamie’s papers.”
    “ Apparently everyone else is hoping the same thing. I just hope we aren’t all disappointed when everything is cataloged. I know Suzanne is already disappointed because she wasn’t given the cataloging job. Charles, I have to ask. How much do you know about Suzanne?”
    “Just between us, I know very little about Suzanne. Christopher doesn’t seem to know much about her either. She simply showed up in Europe, latched on to his father, and seemed content to be part of their lives. Christopher says she never spoke much about her past. She did tell them she was left an inheritance and was using it to travel in Europe. That’s as much as I know about Suzanne.”
    “There must be some way of finding out more about her?” Carrie added.
    Charles looked a little sheepish and then said, “I did ask Jonathan Stone to see what he could find out. He has many contacts including some in Europe so I think it’s only a matter of time before we find out more about Suzanne.”
    “I guess it could all be innocent but it would be nice to have more facts.”
    And as long as we are being honest with each other and discussing people related to this case, there’s someone else I’m not sure about.”
    “Who’s that?” asked Carrie.
    “I’ve never trusted or, for that matter, liked Joel. I look at it this way. If Joel and Jamie were such good friends, how come Jamie went to Simpson to prepare his will and handle your letter?”
    “I don’t know, but one could ask the same question about the family. How come Jamie didn’t have someone in the family go through the papers?” Carrie regretted the question almost the minute she asked it.
    “Like me?” Charles took the question in stride. “That’s a fair question. I like to think that Jamie thought it might be too difficult for us to deal with his writings after his death. He thought we would either pack his work away without reviewing it, or let the work sit until we felt we could deal with the memories. As a result, any trail related to his death would be cold.” He paused for a moment and then looked directly at Carrie. “I also think that my brother might have been afraid that we, especially Mother, wouldn’t want to stir things up. But he was wrong. I want to know the truth. And, hopefully, with your help, I’ll