“Your Henry the bus driver is on page one.”
Wedging the phone between ear and shoulder, I quickly unwrapped the Stamford Advocate. Rising gas prices and unrest in the Middle East had the banner headlines. I zeroed in on a small picture of Henry just below the fold. Local Man Dies Under Suspicious Circumstances the caption read.
“Suspicious circumstances?” I said out loud. “What suspicious circumstances?”
“Read the story,” said Peg. “It’s obviously right in front of you.”
“I don’t have time. Give me the highlights.”
“Well, for starters, Henry Pruitt wasn’t just a bus driver.”
“Oh?” I walked across the kitchen to the back door and called the Poodles inside. Both girls knew the routine; they were standing on the step waiting for me.
“In his younger days, he was apparently quite a successful businessman.” Aunt Peg paused, then found her place and began to read. “Mr. Pruitt retired in 1997 as vice-president and COO of Sterling Management Group, a commodities brokerage firm in Greenwich. ”
“That’s interesting. What do you suppose he was doing driving a school bus?”
“Wait, there’s another quote. It’s from someone at Davey’s school named Michelle Raddison.”
“I know her.” Before starting work at Howard Academy, I’d been employed at Hunting Ridge Elementary myself. “She used to run the main office. Now she’s the vice-principal. What does Michelle have to say?”
“Here it is. Henry told all of us that retirement didn’t suit him. He liked feeling useful, and with his own children having grown up and moved away, he loved being around the kids. He always said there was no shame in doing any sort of job as long as you did it well. ”
Unexpectedly, I felt a lump gather in the back of my throat. “I wish I’d taken the time to get to know him better.”
“Keep listening,” Peg said. “There’s more. Mr. Pruitt collapsed in his yard Monday evening and was taken by ambulance to St. Joseph’s Hospital where doctors were unable to revive him. He was pronounced dead later that night. An initial autopsy indicated that the likely cause of death was cardiovascular disease, however sources at this newspaper have learned that Mr. Pruitt’s remains are being held by the medical examiner pending further investigation. ”
“Further investigation? That doesn’t sound good.”
“Of course it doesn’t sound good,” Peg said crisply. “It’s not supposed to. Read between the lines, Melanie. The newspaper is telling us that your friend, Henry, didn’t die of natural causes. It looks to me as though he was murdered.”
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Laurien Berenson is an Agatha and Macavity nominee, winner of the Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Award and a four time winner of the Maxwell Award, presented by the Dog Writers Association of America. She lives in Kentucky with her husband, her son and four Poodles. Please visit her at herWeb site at www.LaurienBerenson.com.
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Copyright © 2003 by Laurien Berenson
ISBN: 978-1-5756-6784-3
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