Half in Love with Artful Death (29 page)

Rhodes was tempted to say that nobody by that name lived in Clearview, but he didn't see any need to play dumb. Keats was another poet he remembered from high school.

“He wrote a poem about a bird,” Rhodes said.

Marilyn seemed surprised that he knew. “That's right. There's a line in that poem about being ‘half in love with easeful death.' I've always thought that death could be easeful and artful, not painful and messy. I made a mess of things, though, didn't I. With my life and with Mr. Collins's, too.”

“That sounds about right,” Rhodes said.

“Not entirely, though,” Marilyn said. “He didn't look dead, lying there. He looked like an artful arrangement, like something I'd created, and I had, but I knew I couldn't take credit for it.”

“So you left,” Rhodes said.

“I took the bust with me. I don't know why, because then I had to get rid of it. I cleaned it up and put it in the antiques shop before the awards.”

“Not a bad idea, sticking it there,” Rhodes said. “If Seepy Benton hadn't spotted it, it might have sat there for years.”

The mention of Seepy Benton's name caused Marilyn to sit up straighter in the chair.

“He's the one who found it? The man knows nothing about art. A cross-section of a seashell? Give me a break.”

She wasn't likely to get a break, Rhodes thought. Not for a long time.

*   *   *

Ruth took Marilyn back to her cell, and Rhodes went back to the office area to put away the recorder until someone could transcribe the interview and get Marilyn to sign it. Hack and Lawton were waiting for him.

“Looks like you've solved another big case,” Hack said. “Some real crime-bustin' goin' on around here.”

“I try,” Rhodes said.

“Yeah, well, about that,” Hack said.

“About trying?”

“About crime-bustin',” Lawton said, then shut up when Hack looked at him.

“Sometime I wonder who's the dispatcher around here,” Hack said. “Me or him.”

Rhodes kept quiet. He wasn't going to take sides.

“It ain't really a crime,” Lawton said, proving that he wasn't to be intimidated.

“Could be,” Hack said. “Loose donkeys could be a crime.”

“Loose donkeys?” Rhodes said. “Again?”

“That's right, down toward Able Terrell's compound. Maybe they're Able's mules. You could ask.”

“Me?” Rhodes said. “What about Alton Boyd?”

“He's already on the way. He needs some help.”

“What about Ruth?”

“What about me?” Ruth asked, coming from the cellblock.

“You need to get down to Thurston,” Hack said. “Miz Annie Galloway says there's a stranger been hanging around her house. She wants somebody to take a look. Said she didn't want me sending any man 'cause the prowler might try to trick her into thinkin' he's the law. Miz Galloway lives right on the main street, down past Barrett's store.”

“I'll get right on it,” Ruth said, and she headed on out the door.

“This isn't going to be like Mrs. Harbison's peephole again, is it?” Rhodes asked.

Hack wouldn't commit himself. “Can't say. Could be, but maybe not.”

Rhodes wished he was the one checking on it, but he had another assignment.

“Donkeys,” he said.

“That's right,” Hack said. “Donkeys. Better take your lariat rope with you.”

“Watch out and don't let one of 'em kick you,” Lawton said.

“Donkeys,” Rhodes said, and he followed Ruth out the door.

A
LSO BY
B
ILL
C
RIDER

SHERIFF DAN RHODES MYSTERIES

Compound Murder

Murder of a Beauty Shop Queen

The Wild Hog Murders

Murder in the Air

Murder in Four Parts

Of All Sad Words

Murder Among the O.W.L.S.

A Mammoth Murder

Red, White, and Blue Murder

A Romantic Way to Die

A Ghost of a Chance

Death by Accident

Winning Can Be Murder

Murder Most Fowl

Booked for a Hanging

Evil at the Root

Death on the Move

Cursed to Death

Shotgun Saturday Night

Too Late to Die

PROFESSOR SALLY GOOD MYSTERIES

A Bond with Death

Murder Is an Art

A Knife in the Back

PROFESSOR CARL BURNS MYSTERIES

A Dangerous Thing

Dying Voices

One Dead Dean

 

About the Author

Bill Crider is an Anthony Award winner and Edgar Award finalist. He is the author of more than fifty published novels and numerous short stories. In 2010 he was inducted into the Texas Literary Hall of Fame. He lives with his wife in Alvin, Texas. Visit his Web site at
www.billcrider.com
.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

A THOMAS DUNNE BOOK FOR MINOTAUR BOOKS.

An imprint of St. Martin's Publishing Group.

HALF IN LOVE WITH ARTFUL DEATH.
Copyright © 2014 by Bill Crider. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

www.thomasdunnebooks.com

www.minotaurbooks.com

Cover design by David Baldeosingh Rotstein

Cover art by Ben Perini

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The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

ISBN 978-1-250-03967-5 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-250-03968-2 (e-book)

e-ISBN 9781250039682

First Edition: August 2014