New Year's Eve Murder Read Online Free

there wasn’t room for him to pass. When I got to the corner and stopped at the stop sign, there wasn’t any car behind me.”
    â€œYou looked for it?”
    â€œI looked in the mirror. I remember thinking that the guy must have found a place to park on the street or else he turned into a driveway. And then I forgot about it. It was just one of those things that passes through your mind and then it’s gone.” There was a sound in his voice of great sadness, perhaps, I thought, of great loss.
    â€”
    Harriet had returned to the living room. Eddie was asleep upstairs, she told me, and she had just taken a little time to sit and watch him, to enjoy seeing him sleep. Jack had a quick conversation with Kevin and said he would accompany him to the precinct to report Susan’s disappearance, with the hope that if Jack went along, it would give some impetus to the investigation.
    They put their coats on and left, leaving the Golds, Ada Stark, and me in the living room. Ada looked worse than before I had gone to the kitchen. It was as if the enormity of her daughter’s disappearance had begun to sink in.
    â€œAda,” I said, “where is your husband?”
    â€œErnie’s at the office. When he can’t cope, he goes to work.”
    â€œYou said you met him for dinner in Manhattan two days ago. Did you drive in?”
    â€œI was already there. I work in the city.”
    â€œHad your husband driven in?”
    â€œYes. He likes to take the car. He has a lot he’s been parking in for years, and the men there buff the car up and keep it looking nice for him.”
    â€œSo even if Susan wanted to borrow your car, it wasn’t there for her.”
    â€œThat’s right. It was in Manhattan.” Her brow furrowed.
    â€œDoes Susan have a key to the car?”
    â€œShe’s always had one.”
    â€œIs that your only car?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œDo you drive?”
    â€œOf course.” She said it as though I were foolish to think otherwise.
    â€œSo it looks as though whatever happened to Susan, she didn’t take the car,” Arnold said.
    â€œWhat about yesterday?” I asked. “Could she have slept in your house, gotten up early and driven off?”
    â€œI used the car yesterday.”
    â€œAnd it was there when you looked for it?”
    â€œIt was there.”
    â€œSounds like we’ve pretty much covered the obvious,” Arnold said. “Let’s wait and see what they accomplish at the police station.”
    We sat back and relaxed a little. Harriet said she would serve lunch whenever anyone was hungry, and lunch would be last night’s leftovers, not a bad spur-of-the-moment meal. No one was ready to eat, so Arnold turned on his favorite music station and sat back with his eyes closed.
    â€œHe’s a very nice young man,” Ada said. “Kevin. He’s the nicest person Susan’s ever gone out with.”
    â€œShe’ll turn up,” Arnold said. “I love Vivaldi. I could listen to him all day.”
    â€œClose your eyes, Arnold,” Harriet said. “You didn’t sleep much, and you were out of the house at the crack of dawn.”
    â€œI should be leaving.” Ada stood.
    â€œWait till Jack gets back,” I said. “We’ll drive you.” I offered mostly because I didn’t want Arnold to leave his chair. But I thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to see where the Starks lived.
    â€œIt’ll be out of your way.”
    â€œIt won’t. Sit and enjoy the music.”
    â€œI’m too worried to enjoy anything.” She sat and pressed her lips together.
    â€œWas anything worrying Susan?” Harriet asked, a question I wanted to ask myself, but it was better coming from an old friend.
    â€œWhat could worry a young, successful girl who has her whole life ahead of her?”
    â€œMaybe her relationship with Kevin,” I suggested.
    â€œI really