A Case of Vineyard Poison (27 page)

“The cops tell me that my little girl shot you, and that they think maybe she killed some other people, too. How could that be? How could my girl do anything like that? How can people just shoot each other? How could you shoot her?”

I wasn't sure that I should answer, but I did. “I shot her because she'd already shot me once and was trying to shoot me again.”

He nodded absently. “The cops said you could have killed her. Maybe you should have, instead of just hurting
her. Maybe that would have been better. Now she has to live and know what she did.”

I said nothing, thinking that Denise would probably have no trouble living with the knowledge of what she had done.

Miles lifted the shotgun, and studied it. I felt a cold fear in my chest.

“All my life I been a hunter,” he said. “I've been a medic, but I've been a hunter, too. I've killed deer and geese and ducks lots of times. Today I thought a long time about killing a human being. I never did that before. I think maybe Denise has more of me in her than I knew I had in myself. She's my daughter, and I love her no matter what she's done, but . . .” He looked right at me. “I'm not going to hunt anymore. Not ever. This is a good gun, but I don't want it in the house.”

He leaned the shotgun against the porch, got into his pickup, and drove away.

After a while Dave and Quinn got into Quinn's car.

“Free concert tickets for all, the next time I play in Boston,” said Dave in an odd voice.

“You still have to buy your own
Globes,
though,” said Quinn.

When they were gone, Maria, Zee, and I went up and sat on my balcony. We didn't have much to say.

Overhead, the summer sky was blue and cloudless. Beyond my garden the tyro surf sailors were learning their skills on the safe, shallow waters of Sengekontacket Pond. Beyond them, along the barrier beach, parked cars already lined the road and the June People had raised their bright umbrellas and spread their blankets upon the sand. There were kites in the air, and on the blue waters of the sound, sailboats were leaning through the wind.

From the door and windows of my house, David Greenstein's joyful music poured forth, danced across my lawn, and lifted past us toward the treetops, toward the heavens, where Maria's mysterious God brooded over his creation.

Special thanks to Larry Zimmerman—swordsman, genealogist, computer expert, and friend—who could have really done it, but didn't. Zemsa, Zim.

THE MARTHA'S VINEYARD MYSTERY SERIES BY PHILIP R. CRAIG

A Beautiful Place to Die

(Martha's Vineyard Mystery #1)

Death in Vineyard Waters

(Martha's Vineyard Mystery #2)

Vineyard Deceit

(Martha's Vineyard Mystery #3)

Vineyard Fear

(Martha's Vineyard Mystery #4)

Off Season

(Martha's Vineyard Mystery #5)

A Case of Vineyard Poison

(Martha's Vineyard Mystery #6)

Death on a Vineyard Beach

(Martha's Vineyard Mystery #7)

A Deadly Vineyard Holiday

(Martha's Vineyard Mystery #8)

A Shoot on Martha's Vineyard

(Martha's Vineyard Mystery #9)

A Fatal Vineyard Season

(Martha's Vineyard Mystery #10)

Vineyard Blues

(Martha's Vineyard Mystery #11)

Vineyard Shadows

(Martha's Vineyard Mystery #12)

Vineyard Enigma

(Martha's Vineyard Mystery #13)

A Vineyard Killing

(Martha's Vineyard Mystery #14)

Murder at a Vineyard Mansion

(Martha's Vineyard Mystery #15)

Vineyard Prey

(Martha's Vineyard Mystery #16)

Dead in Vineyard Sand

(Martha's Vineyard Mystery #17)

Vineyard Stalker

(Martha's Vineyard Mystery #18)

Vineyard Chill

(Martha's Vineyard Mystery #19)

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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 1995 by Philip R. Craig

Originally published in hardcover as
A Case of Vineyard Poison

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ISBN 978-1-5011-5357-0 (ebook)