Never Tease a Siamese: A Leigh Koslow Mystery by Edie Claire Page B

death was imminent, then he was almost certainly behind the rock-throwing as well. In which case, she thought with relief, Peggy Linney's death must have been a coincidence. Because the elderly woman had offered no threat whatsoever to Dean’s inheritance; in fact, she had appeared to be one of his biggest fans.
    "I'll tell you what I think, Dad," she said with optimism, and more to herself than to him. "I can’t believe that the plane crash was anything but an accident, but I do think that Mrs. Murchison had some reason to believe she was going to die soon. Maybe she had just been diagnosed with cancer, or heart disease. In any event, I think she was miffed at Dean when she wrote that crazy will, and I think she let on something about it to him. That’s why he and Rochelle were desperate to keep her from finding out they’d been snooping in her house. They wanted to get back in her good graces before she really did die. Of course, I still don’t know why they were snooping. Maybe they were in a tight spot and planned to steal money or jewelry. Maybe they’d done it before."
    "Makes sense," Randall responded, much to her surprise.
    "The only thing I still don’t get is why Dean is afraid that someone at the clinic can mess things up for him. You say you don’t know anything, neither Nikki nor Peggy Linney believe that Mrs. Murchison ever had another child, and besides Jared being Nikki’s brother, I can’t find a link between the Murchisons and anyone else at the clinic."
    Her father's raised eyebrows indicated that she had lost him. "You still think that rock had something to do with Lilah Murchison’s death?"
    Leigh took a deep breath. Her father’s ability to focus might make him a brilliant scientist, but the flipside—blindness to the obvious—could be a real hindrance. "Maura seemed to think it was a possibility," she said reasonably,  "Because whether or not the mystery heir is real, and whether or not Dean is Lilah Murchison's biological son, he might think someone here knows something that could cause him trouble."
    Randall humphed. It was as good as a concession.
    "So who here would know about Mrs. Murchison's private life?" She questioned eagerly, lowering her voice. "I’ve ruled out Jeanine already. And as for Jared, even if he did know anything, I don’t think anyone would threaten him with a written note."
    Randall thought for a moment. "Marcia and Michelle are both Avalon girls. Nancy lives in an apartment in Bellevue and Nora lives in the Rocks, but I don’t know where they grew up. You can eliminate Paula and Kari; Paula grew up near Philadelphia and Kari’s family just moved in from out West." He shook his head. "I’d forget the rest. The part-timers are all too young to know anything about the seventies."
    Leigh considered hopefully. Marcia, Michelle, Nancy, and Nora. One of them had to know something that Dean and Rochelle Murchison wanted kept quiet.
    Jeanine reappeared at the doorway, a small rectangular box in hand.
    "There weren't any packages from VetCount," she explained regretfully, setting the box down on the extra surgery table and slitting the tape with her fingernails. "But this one lost its label, so we'll check it out."
    "They should be in by now," Randall grumbled, adjusting the towels carefully over the unconscious cat. "I ordered them weeks ago."
    With a cry that startled them both, Jeanine suddenly recoiled. "Oh no, not again!" She screeched.
    Randall and Leigh both charged the box, but Leigh got there first. Nestled in amongst a slew of Styrofoam peanuts, dirt, and grass was a cheap, hard-plastic baby doll, its blue eyes and frizzy yellow hair caked with mud. Wrapped around its middle was a piece of plain paper bearing a message in handwritten, red-block letters.
    Let the past stay buried, or everyone there will be.
     
     
     
    Chapter 9
     
    "Where did it come from?" Randall asked tensely, examining the loose cardboard flaps. The box was addressed to the clinic on a