MURDER at CRAWFORD HOUSE (Allie Griffin Mysteries Book 3) by Leslie Leigh Page B

remains: who locked the door and why did they lock it? Bertie was obviously suffering from some heart trouble, which is why he grabbed the aspirin. So why lock the door behind him?"
                  "To make it look as though... I don’t know."
                  "You almost had it there. I saw it in your eyes. we already established that someone wanted this to look as much like natural causes as possible, eliminating all suspicion of foul play by locking Bertie in the bathroom, making look like he'd done it himself. And you want to know the clincher?"
                  Del took a nervous breath. "Go on."
                  "Have you forgotten that this luxurious room of ours here was supposed to have been Bertie's from the beginning?"
                  Del's eyes widened.
                  "Let's assume for a moment that this was an instance of foul play. It would have been very easy to coordinate the whole affair without witnesses of any kind if Bertie had his own bathroom, would it not?"
                  "It certainly would have," said Del.
                  "Ok, so we know why our small-footed friend locked the bathroom door. Now the only question that remains is who . Now I don’t know about you, but I've actually taken a look at Larry Gordon's feet."
                  "Of course you have."
                  "Size eleven wide, if I had to guess. Tom had big feet too. That leaves us with Molly."
                  "No," Del said in disbelief.
                  "Larry doesn’t even know where they keep the linens, so do you really think he's the one who assigned the rooms? Whoever assigned these rooms to us wanted to make sure Bertie would have no reason to want to switch it with anyone else."
                  "But he did switch it," said Del.
                  "Precisely. Because I think he saw it coming."
                  "Very interesting," said Del, "but flawed."
                  "Pardon me?"
                  "You have two things here that don’t add up. I agree that Molly could have assigned the rooms. But you have no way of linking the small footsteps with her."
                  Allie sunk down in the chair by the bay of windows. "You're right again. Why can’t I get these things straight?" She sat for a moment, allowing herself the luxury of a self-indulgent sulk, then she straightened herself up. "Alright then, it's process of elimination time."
                  "Alright. Who will you start with?"
                  Allie stood up resolutely. "With the toughest one, of course. This can only get easier after interviewing Rachel Forrester."

7.
                 
                  She decided that caution was the watchword when dealing with Rachel Forrester. Extreme caution. The woman was livid over Allie's insinuation that she was a suspect in Victoria Cardinal's murder earlier that year. She didn’t understand that they were all suspects, Allie herself included. Still, the watchword was caution.
                  She found the woman lounging in the library with one of Larry Gordon's classics in her hand.
                  "Franklin Library edition," Allie said, catching the woman off-guard.
                  "Hmm?"
                  "That book is a Franklin Library edition. I know them anywhere. They have a very distinct look to them." She got closer to Rachel, and then bent over to read the spine. " Moby Dick ?"
                  "I never read it before," Rachel Forrester said with a shrug.
                  "How do you like it so far?"
                  "It's ok. I don’t really understand it. But the writing's nice."
                  "You're a woman after my own heart. Ray Bradbury said the best way to read