The Mystery Megapack

brother, isn’t it?”
    “It is at that,” Paton agreed. Simmons observed a nervous tic in Paton’s left eye.
    “You killed him, didn’t you, Dave?”
    “Me? Why would I do that?” Paton’s eyes were fixed on the floor. “Man who came here was a stranger.”
    “One who just happened to bring a bearded dragon into the cabin with him? My guess is your brother came back here desperate for help. He had the girl’s body in the trunk of the car and wanted to bury her on your property. We had forensics check out the trunk and found blood and hair residue. He’d brought you nothing but misery and shame and you were furious. So you got the drop on him likely with his own gun, forced him to write the suicide note, then pushed the pistol into his mouth and shot him. Afterwards, you burned the shack thinking to hide any possible evidence.”
    “I told you, it wasn’t my brother who come here.”
    The marshal eyed Paton with a hard stare.
    “We got forensic proof, Dave. It’ll go easier on you if you confess. I’ll work to get you a deal.”
    Paton let out a deep sigh. “He didn’t believe I’d really kill him. Took him by surprise. But I had enough of him and his evil ways.” Paton’s eyes met his for the first time.
    “That’s a burden of guilt you’ll have to carry around with you for the rest of your life I reckon.”
    Paton scratched his beard thoughtfully. “I done the world a kindness ridding it of him. There’s only one thing I feel guilty about—barbecuing that lizard. Unlike my so-called kin, it didn’t deserve to die. And that’s a fact.”
    ABOUT THE AUTHOR
    Multiple award-winning author Jacqueline Seewald has taught creative, expository and technical writing at the university level as well as high school English. She also worked as an academic librarian and an educational media specialist. Eleven of her books of fiction have been published. Her short stories, poems, essays, reviews and articles have appeared in hundreds of diverse publications. Her Kim Reynolds mystery series includes: The Inferno Collection , The Drowning Pool , and newest release The Truth Sleuth .

THE GOLDEN SLIPPER, by Anna Katherine Green
    “She’s here! I thought she would be. She’s one of the three young ladies you see in the right-hand box near the proscenium.”
    The gentleman thus addressed—a man of middle age and a member of the most exclusive clubs—turned his opera glass toward the spot designated, and in some astonishment retorted:
    “She? Why those are the Misses Pratt and—”
    “Miss Violet Strange; no other.”
    “And do you mean to say—”
    “I do—”
    “That yon silly little chit, whose father I know, whose fortune I know, who is seen everywhere, and who is called one of the season’s belles is an agent of yours; a—a—”
    “No names here, please. You want a mystery solved. It is not a matter for the police—that is, as yet,—and so you come to me, and when I ask for the facts, I find that women and only women are involved, and that these women are not only young but one and all of the highest society. Is it a man’s work to go to the bottom of a combination like this? No. Sex against sex, and, if possible, youth against youth. Happily, I know such a person—a girl of gifts and extraordinarily well placed for the purpose. Why she uses her talents in this direction—why, with means enough to play the part natural to her as a successful debutante, she consents to occupy herself with social and other mysteries, you must ask her, not me. Enough that I promise you her aid if you want it. That is, if you can interest her. She will not work otherwise.”
    Mr. Driscoll again raised his opera glass.
    “But it’s a comedy face,” he commented. “It’s hard to associate intellectuality with such quaintness of expression. Are you sure of her discretion?”
    “Whom is she with?”
    “Abner Pratt, his wife, and daughters.”
    “Is he a man to entrust his affairs unadvisedly?”
    “Abner Pratt! Do you mean to say that she is anything more to him than his daughters’ guest?”
    “Judge. You see how merry they are. They were in deep trouble yesterday. You are witness to a celebration.”
    “And she?”
    “Don’t you observe how they are loading her with attentions? She’s too young to rouse such interest in a family of notably unsympathetic temperament for any other reason than that of gratitude.”
    “It’s hard to believe. But if what you hint is true, secure me an