Half a Mind TO Murder (Dr. Alexandra Gladstone Mysteries Book 3) by Paula Paul Page B

you said about Clyde Wright? That he gives you the jamjims?”
    “ Jimjams,” Nancy said, correcting her. “But that doesn’t mean I’m frightened.”
    “ What does it mean?”
    “ Well,” Nancy said, beginning to feel trapped. “It simply means that he…That—”
    “ He gives me the jamjims, too. He has a rather…well, unpleasant air about him, doesn’t he?”
    “ Now that you mention it…” Nancy was reluctant to delve too deeply into the unpleasantness of Clyde Wright at the moment, but the truth was, she had been wondering about him recently. It seemed a bit odd that he had disappeared for a time and then reappeared just as the two gruesome murders had taken place. Of course it could have been mere coincidence, yet—
    “ Nancy! Are you listening?”
    “ What? Oh, yes, of course, Miss,” she lied.
    “ Then tell me.”
    “ Tell you what, Miss?”
    “ What was preoccupying your thoughts so? Something about Clyde Wright?”
    Nancy hesitated for a moment, trying to decide what to say. She was tempted to deny that she’d been thinking of Clyde, but it seldom worked to lie to Miss Alex. She was far too clever. “It just that…”
    “ Yes?” Alexandra urged her.
    “ Well, it does seem a bit odd, doesn’t it, that he disappeared for a while and—”
    “ And then suddenly reappeared when the murders took place,” Alexandra said, completing her thought for her. “Yes, I’ve thought of that myself.” She shook her head. “But that could be a coincidence, and the fact that he’s rather repugnant doesn’t justify our suspicions.”
    “’ Tis always been my belief that a woman should pay attention to her instincts. Even when it seems improper to do so. ’Tis the gift of second sight, you know, a woman’s instinct. One must cultivate it.”
    “ Good lord, Nancy, you can be utterly pagan at times.”
    “ Call it pagan if you like, Miss, but we both know, without knowing why, that there’s something about that man that makes us uncomfortable. And besides, he has always wanted that apothecary shop for his own.”
    Alexandra frowned. “And how does that relate to anything?”
    “ Well,” Nancy said, wondering why Miss Alex couldn’t see the logic, “it seems obvious that he couldn’t have it unless Harry Neill was dead, and his brother Winslow as well, since he would be his only heir. With both of them out of the way, he could grab the shop for very little—”
    “ Excuse me, Nancy,” Alexandra interrupted, “but you’re making no sense at all. Harry and Winslow Neill died of blood poisoning, possibly as a result of anthrax, but…” She stopped speaking and appeared to be thinking as a puzzled frown creased her brow.
    “ You’re thinking what I’m thinking, I can tell,” Nancy said.
    “ Of course I’m not.” Alexandra looked annoyed.
    “ Yes, you are.”
    “ But it doesn’t make sense, I tell you.” Alexandra slammed the trunk lid shut.
    “ What doesn’t make sense?” Nancy said as Alexandra was on her way out of the room. “That Clyde could have caused the two brothers to contract anthrax? Of course he could have.”
    Alexandra stopped and turned to look at her, the annoyed expression she’d worn now replaced by a troubled one. “Even if Clyde could have somehow caused the Neill brothers to contract anthrax, why would he have caused Ben Mulligan and Frewin Millsap to contract it?”
    “ I don’t know, but I would bet the Neill brothers were supposed to die of anthrax, and when they didn’t, someone, Clyde, maybe, made sure they died another way.”
    “ Why? What could possibly be his motive for them to die and for the stranger to die?”
    Nancy shrugged. “They saw him stealing money from the shop, as the constable suggested? I don’t know. I’m not saying I have all the answers, Miss. I’m just saying I have a feeling about that man. And if it doesn’t make sense now, ’tis only because we haven’t opened our eyes to our own second sight.”
    Miss Alex