Death of a Second Wife (A Dotsy Lamb Travel Mystery) by Maria Hudgins Page A

answer.”
    Kronenberg shot me a withering glare.
    “I didn’t. Truly I didn’t. But I did hear something else. Earlier in the day.” I told him about the argument Patrick and I had overheard when, according to Patrick, Stephanie had yelled something like I know what you’re up to . That remark was in German and the response was in a woman's voice.
    * * * * *
    I flew straight to my bedroom after the interview and found Lettie there, cutting her hair with nail clippers. With the door open, I could see Detective Kronenberg’s back as he sat at the dining table , and I could hear most of what was being said. The most important thing I learned was that they were treating this horror, at least for now, as a murder/suicide. It looked as if Stephanie Lamb, for whatever reason, had shot Gisele Schlump and then turned the gun on herself. I gathered nothing from Kronenberg’s interview with Juergen because they spoke in German, but bits and pieces of the interviews with Patrick, Babs, and Erin told me the general direction in which the investigation was heading.
    Kronenberg asked Patrick, who had arrived at the chateau several days earlier than I had, if he knew of any problems between Gisele and Stephanie. Patrick denied knowing any, but he did describe the comment we’d heard Stephanie make to Gisele, repeating it verbatim in German.
    “What do you think she meant by that?”
    “I don’t know. I’m just repeating what I heard, as well as I can remember.”
    “It sounds rather . . . threatening, doesn’t it?” Kronenberg paused, as if he wasn’t sure “threatening” was the right word.
    From where I stood, I could see Patrick’s face beyond Kronenberg’s back. I glanced at Lettie, now sitting on her bed with her hands clasped under her chin, her eyes narrowed in concentration. Lettie is blessed with an amazing memory. She remembers license numbers from her childhood, the color of her children’s third grade lunch boxes, and how many pairs of black socks her husband currently owns. When there’s confusion, it’s good to have Lettie around.
    Patrick paused before answering Kronenberg’s question. “Stephanie, my stepmother, was a direct sort of person. She could be very confrontational, and there are those who thought she was too controlling.”
    “You did not like her.”
    “Oh, no, no, no! I liked her.” When Kronenberg said nothing in response, Patrick added, “If I didn’t like her, would Erin and I have decided to have our wedding here?”
    Kronenberg tossed a casual arm over the back of his chair. “When did you leave the house to pick up Mrs. Lettie Osgood?”
    “It must have been around ten.”
    “And when did you return?”
    “Maybe, eleven? I was gone about an hour, because I had to wait at least a half-hour for Mrs. Osgood’s cab. I drove Juergen’s little cart down to the road so it would be easier to bring her and her luggage back here.”
    “Did you see anything out of the ordinary? Either on your way down or on your way back?”
    “No. Nothing.”
    Lettie whispered to me, “Of course, we wouldn’t have seen anything unusual that early. Juergen talked to Stephanie on the phone after I got here and everything must have been normal then, because they were very calmly discussing Italian wine.”
    “That’s right. So Stephanie was definitely alive after eleven. But what about Gisele?”
    “Juergen thought she might be in the kitchen, remember? He asked you to go down and tell Gisele to make a pot of decaf.”
    “ If she was there, but she wasn’t.”
    Lettie put the back of her hand against the side of her mouth and whispered, “I seriously doubt that Stephanie would shoot Gisele and then call her brother to discuss Italian wine!”
    * * * * *
    I sneaked across the landing and down the stairs to the living room, then tried to figure out how to get to the kitchen without letting Detective Kronenberg hear or see me. I liked the idea of eavesdropping from my own bedroom, and I didn’t