Mary, in Need of Belle Read online

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  The police held Kay for questioning late into the night after the woman discovered Roy Christensen’s body Monday morning. The circumstances of Mr. Christensen’s death, though strange, insinuated a pattern to the investigators as they reviewed the circumstances of the passing of Kay’s prior husband. It appeared that Mr. Christensen, a man absent of risk factors that might suggest the presence of disease, passed suddenly away in his sleep. As they had in that strange death of Kay's previous husband, investigators found the purple shapes of two small, child-sized hands about the victim’s neck, of hands too small to match Kay’s, of hands too small, surely, to possess the power to choke a man without even waking him to struggle.

  Strange as the death might have been, investigators could find no tangible proof of foul play. The coroner, whose duty forced him to ascribe some reason for Mr. Christensen’s death, recorded that heart failure was the killer. Such an answer seemed as reasonable as any other, no matter that Mr. Christensen had no record of bad cholesterol or high blood pressure.

  The investigation closed shortly after Mr. Christensen’s funeral, attended by Kay and all of her daughters and by a few of Roy’s Friday night band mates. Several from Sunday church appeared to express their regrets. But only Kay seemed to shed much tears for Mr. Christensen. Even his four natural daughters maintained their stoic composure though their father’s passing came as such a surprise.