All her neighbors agreed that Henrietta Soames had murdered her husband.

An investigation followed the discovery of his body; his death was ultimately ruled a homicide. But after initially questioning Henrietta the police dismissed her as a suspect. Apparently, they had no evidence to charge her. Eventually the authorities ascribed his death to a botched burglary, which seemed reasonable to an objective observer, but not to anyone living nearby. The police simply didn’t know the circumstances the same way her neighbors knew them, nor did they take seriously her possible motives for killing him, and the crime remained unsolved.

The truth is that George Soames was a terrible man.

The hubbub of the cafe offered a pleasant background noise. It was Saturday and customers in the Starbucks seemed generally relaxed and to be enjoying their conversations. It was the beginning of spring and the morning sun allowed most to be in t-shirts and some to venture into shorts. Russell sat at the corner table in a sleeveless striped shirt and blue jeans. His second Frappucino sat as yet untouched while he leafed through his Classic Rock magazine. He glanced over at his Uncle Marty and then took a sip of his caramel frothy goodness.

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Jimmy told me about the burglary almost exactly a year after it happened. Right after we got thrown out of the pawnshop where Jimmy tried to sell the jewelry.

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Tom represented what I always wanted in a man. That he exhibited the qualities of kindness and humor and strength might not have been apparent to me at first, but the more time we spent together, the more he revealed himself to be the man I’d dreamt of finding.

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I could tell the dame was trouble as soon as she slithered into my office.

A real Sherlock Holmes type might have deduced this by scientific observation of her blood-red stiletto-heeled shoes, in the context of the matching miniskirt, spaghetti-strap top, lipstick and fingernails, and all this at nine-thirty-seven in the morning. But I’ve had the dubious advantage of knowing Annie for twenty-three years, and trust me, my kid sister has been trouble since she learned to talk.

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