MURDER at Morgan Park

Book 4

Whodunnit Series

Loueva Jennings, who looked intently at Albert Thomas, was more than just beautiful. Her white skin was tinted with the faintest pink colors. There was, in the sober depths of her blue-gray eyes, a glimmer which would have cautioned a man less satisfied with his own intellect and power of persuasion than the proprietor of Albert's Department Store.

He wasn't looking at her face. His eyes were running up and down approvingly over her perfect figure, the exceptional poise she represented, and the shapeliness of the slender hands.

*****

"You don't understand, Loueva," Albert said. His voice was soft and gentle and held the hint of a caress. "Did you not read my small pamphlet?" he asked. "I guess you thought a man in my position, owner of this store and all, would take an interest in writing poetry. Am I right?" He didn't give time for the young woman to answer. "Most of it was written before I took ownership of this store…."

Again, Loueva's lips were trembling, and yet, Mister Albert mistook the symptoms she reflected. "I didn't wish to discuss your poetry book, Mister Albert," she said with her indignation rising. "But, since it was evidently given to me for a purpose, I will only say that only a pervert could have written something like that. There's no way I could read your poems…."

An elderly woman strolling through Morgan Park the next morning walked over and looked down at a body that obviously had been dead for several hours. Under the wintry light which lit the snow-covered ground, the corpse was utterly still and more than slightly frozen. The deceased person had been dead for some time. From their clothing, the person was well-to-do. One look at the shiny black shoes, it was apparent this individual worked in the big city. The woman who found the body backed up and knew there should be no touching to preserve the evidence. The murder victim had a story to tell!

A close look revealed a wound on the left side of the chest just above the heart.

The extraordinary feature was that the murderer must not only have composed the body but laid upon the deceased body's chest a handful of Amarillas. The authorities were summoned immediately. The coroner's office removed the body. The first bit of information the detectives of the police department derived was that the murder was not committed in Morgan Park, but somewhere else.

In an emotionally charged investigation full of unforeseen twists and turns, Billy Bob Thornton will need to follow an elaborate trail of evidence, secrets, and hidden schemata to help solve a murder mystery that has connections to Bejing, China.