Smoked (The Alex Harris Mystery Series) by Elaine Macko Page A

“Mrs. Corliss, I think there’s a bit of a misunderstanding.” Of course there was. I never had a chance to tell the woman why I wanted to speak with her. But now that I thought of it, the sign on which her phone number had been written had also said For More Information . She clearly thought I was here to buy her restaurant.
    “Do you think I’m here to buy your restaurant?”
    “Why, yes, of course. Isn’t that why you called?”
    “No. I’m sorry for the misunderstanding. Let me explain. My neighbor died the other night, in fact, it looks like murder, and her daughter hired me to help prove her father didn’t do it.”
    “What does this have to do with me and my restaurant?” she asked looking totally bewildered.
    “My neighbor, Mrs. Kravec, had a blog and in one of her posts she made references to local vegan restaurants that—”
    Carol Corliss put both hands out in front of her indicating for me to stop. “Wait just a minute. Are you saying your neighbor is Maria Kravec?”
    “Yes, that’s correct.”
    “And you’re telling me that she’s dead? Murdered? Maria Kravec who writes the Vegan View is dead. You’re absolutely positive?”
    “Yes, that’s what I’m telling you. As a matter of fact, I was the one who called the ambulance.”
    Carol Corliss jumped up from the sofa, her shoulder-length red hair falling out of the clip she had used to hold it on top of her head. She stood in the middle of the room, punched her fist in the air and yelled out, “Hallelujah”!

 
     
     
Chapter Fifteen
     
     
    “Carol? Mrs. Corliss. Calm down.”
    Mrs. Corliss continued to dance around the living room. The woman was positively overcome with joy. I’ve never seen someone so happy at another’s demise.
    “Oh my God! Wait until my husband hears this. Where’s the phone?” Carol looked around the room, still pumped up by this joyous news. “Oh, right. In the kitchen. Excuse me for a moment.”
    Carol flew out of the room leaving me to ponder this latest development. One could certainly come to the conclusion, based on her display of jubilation, that Carol was more than a bit happy about Maria Kravec’s untimely death. A death, I might add, that seemed to be the result of a methodical murder. So, was I alone in this house with a killer? No, I didn’t think so. Carol Corliss seemed much too surprised to hear the news. And happy. Would a killer dare show such joy over a crime they committed? Of course she could be faking it, but would she then jump up to call her husband if she had indeed padded the pile of leaves with poison ivy?
    I could hear her talking in the kitchen but her voice was much more subdued than I would have expected based on her recent over-the-top reaction. I heard her put the phone down and I picked up my tea, taking a sip as she came back into the room.
    “He already knew.” Carol shook her head. “He should have called me. Lord knows we both need some good news these days.”
    “About that,” I began as I turned slightly and put my cup back on the table. “Why exactly are you so happy that Maria Kravec is dead?”
    “How long have you got?” Carol asked with a snarl. “Wait a minute. Who are you? Are you the police?”
    “Not exactly. Mrs. Kravec’s daughter hired me to look into her mother’s murder.” Okay, so I wasn’t exactly taking any money, but Carol Corliss didn’t need to know that.
    “And the police think the husband did it? Why? Was she writing a blog about him too?”
    I didn’t say anything but my look must have given me away.
    “You’ve got to be kidding! She was blogging about her husband? Does he own a restaurant too?”
    I shook my head. “No, he’s a butcher.”
    “She was high and mighty with that Web site of hers and she was married to a butcher ? Was she even vegan to begin with?”
    “I don’t know for sure. I think she was just getting into it.”
    “That blog of hers. She ruined our business.”
    “So things aren’t booming like you