Murder In the Past Tense (A Giorgio Salvatori Mystery Book 2) by LYNN BOHART Page A

glanced around. “Weird,” he mumbled. “If he’d been shot from downstairs,” he said looking over the railing, “he would have either just crumbled or maybe fallen backwards onto the floor. But this looks like he fell back against the wall.”
    “You’re thinking his killer came up here,” she said. “Me, too. He had gun powder residue on his pajama top.”
    “Which meant he was shot at close range,” Swan said.
    “Right,” she said, glancing at him. “Springer must have heard the commotion downstairs and come out onto the landing,” she speculated, pointing to the railing.
    “But why was the thief up here?” Giorgio said, looking around.
    She shrugged. “Well, either he was looking for something downstairs and didn’t find it,” Pearson began.
    “Or he knew Springer and purposely came upstairs to kill him,” Giorgio finished her thought.
    “But then why trash the living room?” Swan asked.
    “Maybe to make it look like a break-in,” she said.
    “Was anything stolen?” Giorgio inquired.
    “All the big electronics are still there,” she said. “We don’t know, yet, whether anything else is missing. The housekeeper found him when she came back from the hospital and is pretty upset. We’ll get her to ID anything that might have been taken.”
    “What about the rest of the rooms?” Swan asked. “Anything else disturbed?”
    She shifted her eyes to him. “No. It looks like the killer came in through the kitchen and went directly to the living room. Then killed Springer and left. The ME thinks he’s been dead about six to seven hours.”
    Giorgio stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jacket. “Convenient,” he muttered.
    “You think this has something to do with your case?” the Lieutenant asked, her eyebrows curling into a question.
    “What happened to the housekeeper’s daughter?” Giorgio asked.
    Pearson shrugged. “It was a ruse. Someone clearly wanted her out of the house.”
    “Then this wasn’t just convenient,” Giorgio said. “It was planned. It seems someone went to great lengths to make sure Springer was alone. I doubt it was just a thief.”
    The Lieutenant stared at him a moment and then said, “Did anyone know he was on your radar?”
    “No,” Giorgio shook his head. “We just found out about him today. But he was well known to one of the families involved in our case. And as you just said, the case has been all over the news. Did any of the neighbors hear anything?”
    “We haven’t canvassed every house yet,” Lieutenant Pearson said. “But so far the neighbors close by say they heard nothing.” She stood in thought for a moment and then straightened up. “I’ll be sure to keep you in the loop, Detectives. And I hope that if you find out anything that would be material to this investigation, you’ll give me a call.”
    “Absolutely,” Giorgio said, producing his card. “Thanks.”
    “Lieutenant!” a voice called from below.
    A young man dressed in a dark suit and tie skipped up the stairs.
    “We found these under a tree in the side yard.”
    He held out a gloved hand, in which he held three cigarette butts, each bagged separately. The lieutenant leaned over, opened one of the bags and sniffed the contents.
    “Smells pretty fresh,” she said. “Get them to forensics.”
    She turned to Giorgio. “Looks like someone might have been waiting outside. If so, we’ll get some DNA. I’ll be in touch,” she said and the three of them returned to the foyer.
    Giorgio and Swan returned to the car and slid inside.
    “Well, that certainly changes things,” Swan said.
    “Sure seems to,” Giorgio replied.
    “Of course, if Springer was anything like what the Ice Queen said, he could have a lot of enemies,” Swan said.
    “Who just happened to choose now to take him out?” Giorgio said with a raised eyebrow.
    Swan shrugged.
    “Timing is everything,” Giorgio said, glancing up at the big house. “And the timing on this