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New Gabe Bergeron Mystery!

 

The Face That Launched a 1000 Scams

 

 He had met Angelica Amici Butler at a funeral.


Which should have set off warning bells, but she was equipped with a luminous, awe-inspiring smile. Her face was an ellipse so perfect that Euclid would have wept to see it. Rivers of ebony hair cascaded over her shoulders. She had big, brown, soul-capturing eyes, a slender nose, and perfect lips.

She was sublime. The only appropriate response to coming face to divine face was a sharp intake of breath and a glazed look.

And then to run away; hard and fast. Since Angelica was not what she seemed; beginning with her name.

But she was the one who had run away...after her husband, Will Butler, had been party to a murder and burned through two fortunes to bankrupt himself for her.

Detective Sergeant Vélez of the Maryland State Police hadn't been able to track the fair Angelica down, and nine months had passed, and he had forgotten her.

Until now.

Until an entity who looked almost human had come to see him at Garst Accounting. Ms. Hayes looked very like a middle-aged woman with dark eyes and long, rusty-black hair. Further camouflage included a white summer dress and red shoes. The pearl earrings were a nice touch, but they couldn't make up for the coldest, darkest set of eyes he'd yet encountered.

“You have to help me, Mr. Bergeron!” She found a photo. “See! This is Samantha and her vicious husband, Per Isak Sparre!”

His drooping eyes may have opened wide with some slight pupil dilation, but he said nothing. Well, inside his head, a bunch of synapses screamed, “Angelica Amici Butler!” But his exterior was the very image of blithe unconcern. Mostly.

Ms. Hayes smiled. “You have seen her! Where is she, Mr. Bergeron? I'm her mother, and I'm worried sick about her.”

But he hadn't been able to help Ms. Hayes since he had no idea where her “daughter” might be located. And he devoutly hoped he remained in perfect ignorance thereof.

But Detective Vonda Golczewski summoned him to a crime scene. Millie Biggs, who was lying under a sheet, had his address and phone number in her purse, but he had never laid eyes upon poor Millie before. And then a large individual who had the form and disposition of a cave bear began stalking him. Said individual might have tortured and murdered Millie and a companion?

He felt sure all this was all Angelica's fault. Somehow?

 

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