Alex Harris 00 - Poisoned

don’t want to think about which one of us did it. Sorry. I’ve got to go.”
    I walked out with Marsha and realized I had garnered nothing new this afternoon. After she pulled out of the driveway, I sat in my car thinking. I had no concrete reason to believe the family history figured into the equation and killing Mrs. Brissart over the land didn’t sit well with me. Why wait, as I already asked Sam and Millie over lunch. After speaking with June, I believed hurt feelings over a past love would indeed trigger enough rage to kill. June demonstrated that even with time, she wasn’t willing to let go of the feelings of deception her sister caused. And whatever happened to Charles? Did June know where he was?
    I suddenly felt very tired. Going around in circles did that. Maybe Bradley’s foray into the history was just that. No one seemed to care and as June said, they’d all heard it a dozen times.
    I turned the car around and headed for the office of J.T. Smit.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

    J.T.’s office was located in a small building on the outskirts of town. A very tastefully done complex housed an engineering firm, an architectural group that specialized in the design of elementary schools, and a title company, among others. The office of Rand, Alpers, and Smit Real Estate and Development occupied the second floor.
    I entered through a double glass door and wondered if J.T. was still at June’s. The small entry office looked well appointed with a lush forest green carpet and rich paneling on the walls. A few upholstered chairs in the far corner and several design magazines artfully displayed on a coffee table completed the look. I didn’t know exactly what I expected, but this wasn’t it. Given the man’s sleazy appearance, I imagined something quite different. If this represented his style, I wondered what he thought of June’s house.
    “Can I help you?” A middle-aged woman stood in the doorway of a side office startling me.
    “Oh! I didn’t hear you.” I clasped my hand over my heart. “I’d like to speak with Mr. Smit if he’s in.”
    The woman looked me over. “I’m sorry but Mr. Smit isn’t here right now.”
    “Do you expect him back?”
    “I’m not sure. He had a few appointments, and,” she glanced at a wall clock, “he might not make it back to the office this evening.”
    Especially if June had anything to say about it, I thought. “That’s too bad.”
    “Would this be business or…personal?” the woman said, managing to make “personal” sound sleazy.
    “Oh, business, definitely. I wanted to talk with him about some property in the Farmington area,” I lied.
    “Would that be the parcel that Rand, Alpers, and Smit is developing or selling?”
    I didn’t know what to say. I knew next to nothing about the development business and could feel my face flushing. “I…I think that it—”
    “Renee, the machine jammed again,” a young woman said, as she walked in from the same office that Renee had come from. “I’m going to scream if I have to…” Suddenly seeing me standing by the front desk, the girl stopped short. “Oh, sorry,” she said sheepishly looking at me and then back to Renee. “Can you help? This is the fourth time it’s jammed and there must be several sheets stuck in the duplexer.”
    Renee turned back to me. “I’m sorry, is there anything further I can help you with?” she asked in a harried voice—probably the result of one too many trips to the copier.
    “No. I’ll try to catch him another time,” I answered and suddenly found myself alone in the foyer. I pulled the door opened to leave just as someone from the outside pushed it against me.
    “Are you okay?” J.T. Smit asked with more concern than I assumed he had.
    I picked up my purse and looked at J.T. “Yes, yes, I’m fine.”
    “I figured you’d come by here.” J.T. smiled. “Though not necessarily tonight.”
    “Yes, word does seem to get around.” I fumbled to get the clasp shut on the purse. So much for catching everyone off guard. June probably notified half of Indian Cove the minute I left. “I saw you when I left June’s.”
    “She told me about your visit. I stopped off with some more plans. Would you like to see them?” J.T. spread the papers he still held in one hand onto the small table in the center of the room. “What do you think?”
    I looked over the drawings and in spite of myself, I liked what I saw. The proposed development didn’t look the least bit