Mystery: Missing Rita: (Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Suspense Thriller Mystery) Read Online Free

partner, Detective Sam,” he announced. “We’re here to ask a few questions about your neighbor Rita, if you don’t mind.”
    “Sure, sure,” she answered and stepped aside to allow them into her house. “Can I offer you boys some tea?”
    Sam hesitated but Lohan was more than happy at the mention of tea. He had left home without any breakfast after getting into a fight with Gina that morning.
    “Muffins?” she offered as she directed them to the living room and ushered them to the seats that were directly opposite her.
    “Yes, please,” Lohan said excitedly and settled well into his seat.
    “I will be right back” she announced and left the living room and headed for the kitchen. They could hear the usual clutter of cutlery before Sam looked over at Lohan and noticed that the thought of tea was literally making him drool.
    “Had an argument with Gina today?” he asked. He was so used to Lohan complaining about his wife that he could always tell when he’d had a feud with her.
    “How did you know?”
    “I know you all too well by now,” Sam answered. “And Gina too.”
    Lohan reached for his bald head and scratched it gently before looking over at Sam and nodding slightly in his direction. He was just about to narrate his marriage squabbles but the soft footsteps of Mrs. Murphy made him hold back. Sam got to his feet and offered to help her with the tray before pouring a cup of hot, steaming tea for both he and Lohan.
    “I hope you do not find the muffins stale, I made them the day before yesterday,” she said. “Blueberry, that used to be my husband’s favorite….”
    Lohan looked around the living room for any pictures of the husband with an assumption that he had passed on but could only spot pictures of children.
    “Is Mr. Murphy around?” he asked curiously and almost burst out laughing from Mrs. Murphy’s facial expression. The mention of him made her face scowl with disgust.
    “That old bastard ran off to Vegas with a young bimbo a few years back,” she answered bitterly before letting out the warm smile that she’d worn only minutes before. “Do you like the tea?”
    “Yes, thank you, ma’am,” Sam answered for both and knew that his partner was enjoying it more than him.
    “Were you close with the deceased?” Sam asked and watched as Mrs. Murphy’s face lit up with total amusement. She was definitely ready to dish about her neighbor.
    “I never really talked much to her,” she started before nodding her head in disagreement at what she was about to say. “She was rather standoffish if you ask me.”
    “Why would you say that?” Lohan interrupted later, taking a few bites of his muffin.
    “Because for starters she never talked to anyone in the neighborhood, never attended any neighborhood meetings or parties she was invited to,” she explained.
    “Do you know of anyone she may have had an altercation with perhaps?” Sam went on to inquire and wondered if his partner was really paying any attention or merely hogging all the muffins.
    “She never talked to anyone,” she started to explain. “Of course there were always a few men who were parked outside her house a few times in the night.”
    “Did any of them sleep over?”
    “Not that I know of,” she answered and was all of a sudden lost in a thoughtful moment before remembering something.
    “There was of course that one time when she got into an argument with her ex-husband.”
    Sam took a sip from her teacup and leaned forward showing the curiosity that Mrs. Murphy was trying to arouse in him.
    “What was the argument about?” he asked.
    “It first started with her wanting him to take care of the kids while she went on a trip to God knows where. Then he accused her of having a secret boyfriend. Then she asked him why he cared and that they were divorced and it all ended up being a huge fight and the ex-husband stormed out angry at her.”
    Sam looked over at Mrs. Murphy and out the window to where Rita lived.