Raisins and almonds - Poisoned Pen Press (UK)

8 Kerry Greenwood
Dot, suddenly conscious of being embraced by Hugh Collins,
sat up abruptly and blushed. ‘I don’t think she did it, Miss. I’d
be lonely living like she does, but I reckon it’s what she’s always
wanted. She wouldn’t be likely to fall for any man, tall, dark
or handsome, but if she did I reckon she’d pick well. Even if it
all went wrong, she’d retreat back into her room and shut the
door, not go looking for revenge like someone on the movies.
The story’s silly, Miss, like you said, a movie script. And there
hadn’t nothing been spilled on that floor, I’d swear my life on
it. But there’s something missing—how did he get the poison?
And who killed him and why? I reckon that Miss Lee’s the easiest
target, Miss, and it’s real hard to prove a negative, like Jane
was explaining to me the other day. We have to find out who
that man was and why someone killed him—and how they did
it—before the law’s going to let Miss Lee go.’
‘Aren’t you being a bit hard on Detective Inspector Robinson,
Dorothy?’ asked Hugh uneasily. Dot removed herself from the
arm of the chair and sat down on the couch with Phryne.
‘No,’ said Phryne quickly, before Dot could reprove her
friend. ‘We understand his position entirely: he needs a murderer
and Miss Lee looks good on a superficial inspection. But we don’t
think she did it and we need to look at Mr. Michaels very hard.
Now what other information can we get, hmm? I’ve seen the
scene of the crime but it had been extensively tidied. Nothing
out of place—Miss Lee is a neat woman. Nothing unusual in
the shop that I can think of offhand.’
‘You need the autopsy report,’ said Hugh.
‘Can I get it?’
‘I don’t see why not,’ said Hugh Collins, redeeming himself
instantly and causing Dot to return to her perch. ‘I’ll just borrow
a copy from the file.’
‘Not yet,’ said Phryne. ‘I’ll ask Jack for it. Then if he refuses
you can borrow it for me, and I shall get it back to you as soon
as I can get it photographed. Also I need to know what was
in his pockets, where he lived, and everything known about