Alex Harris 00 - Poisoned

fellow’s name, prospered nicely.”
    Mrs. Platz poured hot water into my cup and handed it to me.
    “Oh, I’m sorry, Mrs. Platz. I was going to do that, wasn’t I?”
    “That’s what I’m here for. Now, get on with your work and let me get on with mine.” The old woman smiled and pushed me gently out of the kitchen.
    After a few tentative sips of the hot tea, I turned back to my typing.
    When he decided to emigrate, Lucien tried to convince his cousin Joseph to come along. But Joseph, married and the father of twin boys, declined. The cousins, always close, kept in touch inasmuch as the uncertain mail delivery between continents would allow.
    Lucien Cournet and his young wife arrived in the United States in the early eighteen-hundreds and became reacquainted with his colleague, Raymond Thiry in Boston within a few weeks of their arrival. Both being French, and having monetary resources, modest as they were, they decided to become partners and bought a piece of land .
    I paused for a minute and took another sip of tea. Mrs. Platz added a cookie onto my saucer, and I munched on the toasted coconut while I thought of my own family—Italian and Irish on my mother’s side and a mixed up pedigree on my father’s. Sam and I always spent most of our time with my mother’s mother and the relatives on that side of the family, so we considered ourselves to be more Italian than anything else, even though it only accounted for a fourth of our lineage. I gobbled the cookie down and resumed my work for another hour.
    At exactly five o’clock I packed my things, done for the day. A few moments later the doorbell rang and the vultures, as Mrs. Brissart referred to them, began to arrive. First came May and June, though if asked, June would tell anyone foolish enough to listen that it was June and May . She, having been born six minutes before, was the eldest and therefore should be addressed first. Chantal clued me in on all their foolery. They were soon followed by an assortment of children and grandchildren from the look of it, and a man I assumed to be the local developer Chantal had told me about. Mrs. Brissart, not wanting to subject me, on my first day, to her miserable family, sent me home with the assurance she would deal with the vultures with the help of Mrs. Platz and Bradley.
    At exactly seven o’clock the next morning, I would later learn, the sound of Mrs. Platz’s screams could be heard all through the grand old house.

CHAPTER FOUR

    I rolled over and stretched my right leg to the other side of the bed in search of the human furnace, otherwise known as John Van der Burg. My foot found a cold sheet and my nose found the smell of fresh coffee coming from the direction of the kitchen.
    “Well, here you are,” I said a minute later, stifling a yawn and wrapping my terry cloth robe tightly around me.
    “Good morning.” John came over and placed a warm kiss against my lips just in time to stifle another yawn. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
    “You didn’t. A cold bed did.” I reached for the kettle and filled it with water. “What’s on your agenda for today?”
    John and I began dating ten months earlier, ever since I stumbled over the body at the mannequin factory and he was the detective assigned to the case. Of course, there were times I thought I was the person assigned to the case and we had butted heads more than once. With the resolution of the murder, John finally asked me out.
    “I’m working on the series of robberies on the west side of town. And I start working with a new man today. He just got promoted to detective and they’ve assigned him to me.”
    “Oh, right. Jim Maroony?”
    “Maroni.”
    “No new developments on the robberies?”
    “It’s probably a couple of kids who should be in school. Too shoddy work to be that of professionals and besides, the people who they’ve held up so far said they didn’t sound old enough to shave. No weapons, no violence. They just come in and ask for money.”
    “Then why are people giving it to them?”
    “Probably just scared. You never know if they have a knife or gun. And so far they’ve only made off with about sixty dollars so they’re not getting too far. More of a nuisance than anything else, if you ask me. How about you? What are your plans for the rest of this week?”
    I stood at the kitchen window and looked out on another glorious fall morning thinking I should really get out there and rake up some of those leaves