Killer Crab Cakes Read Online Free Page A

Newsom?”
    “I’m fine,” Phyllis said. “I’m a lot more worried about Sam than about me.”
    “You should get those wet shoes off,” Carolyn said. “That can’t be good for you, wearing wet shoes.”
    Leo and Jessica Blaine started through the foyer, just outside the arched entrance to the parlor, but they stopped when they saw everyone gathered on and around the sofa. “Something wrong?” Leo called.
    “Mr. McKenna died of a heart attack,” Carolyn said.
    “You’re kidding!” Leo said as he and his wife came into the room. He went on immediately, “No, of course you’re not. Nobody would kid about a thing like that. This is terrible. You’re sure he’s dead?”
    Eve said, “Phyllis and Sam pulled him out of the water. They got a good look at him.”
    “But if he was in the water, couldn’t he have drowned?” Jessica asked.
    “Who drowned?” That question came from Raquel Forrest, who walked into the parlor with her husband, Sheldon, right behind the Blaines. The two couples had probably been on their way to get an early start on some shopping in Rockport. That was how they spent most of their time, prowling through the numerous seashell shops, antiques shops, and art galleries that lined the streets of the picturesque Gulf-side town.
    “He didn’t drown,” Carolyn said. “He died of a heart attack. Or a stroke.”
    “Who?” Raquel asked again.
    “McKenna,” Leo told her. “You know, the old guy who fished all the time.”
    “Really? That’s awful!”
    Phyllis was starting to feel a little claustrophobic with so many people bunched around her. She wished they would back off a little. But they were just concerned and upset about Mr. McKenna’s death, so she couldn’t very well fuss at them.
    The sudden wail of a siren outside did the trick. The five guests and the Anselmo women all went to the parlor’s front windows to look out, leaving Phyllis on the sofa with Carolyn and Eve. Phyllis drew in a deep breath and then took another sip of the coffee.
    “The police are here,” Sheldon Forrest announced. “And here comes an ambulance, too.”
    Phyllis stood up. “I need to go back out there,” she said. “I was there when it happened, so I’m sure the police will want to talk to me.”
    Her son, Mike, was a sheriff’s deputy up in Weatherford, so she probably knew more about police procedure than most retired history teachers. Throw in the experience she’d had with murder cases and she knew more than she had ever wanted to about how the authorities investigate suspicious deaths. Thankfully, in this case there didn’t seem to be anything suspicious about Ed McKenna’s death, only sad and a little tragic.
    Carolyn was on her feet, too. “You just sit right back down and let them come to you if they want to talk to you,” she told Phyllis. “All this excitement isn’t good for a person.”
    “Nonsense. Like I said, I’m fine.” Phyllis set her coffee cup on a coaster that rested on a nice antique end table. She started toward the door.
    “I’ll come with you,” Kate offered.
    “Let’s all go,” Leo suggested. His voice held a slightly festive tone, almost as if he welcomed the excitement of Mr. McKenna’s death. Phyllis told herself not to think too badly of him for that. After all, it wasn’t like they had been close friends. Mr. McKenna hadn’t socialized with the other guests at all.
    With Phyllis in the lead, everyone trooped out onto the porch. She glanced up and down the road and saw that several cars had stopped to see what was going on, their drivers’ attention caught by the flashing lights of the ambulance and police car. People had come out of the other houses along the road, too, drawn by the sound of the sirens.
    Phyllis saw Sam standing beside the bench talking to a tall, white-haired man in khaki uniform trousers and shirt. A few yards away the EMTs who had arrived with the ambulance were kneeling next to Mr. McKenna’s body, checking it out to