Man Gone: Hampton Murder Mystery Chronicles, #2

By Joyce Haggard

There's a party going on at Richard Hampton's quaint Tennessee mansion with most of his houseguests away playing golf. Richard receives a letter from his irresponsible brother, James Hampton. James is coming to Tennessee all the way from North Carolina to visit Richard, the brother he hasn't seen in fifteen years. Shortly after James' arrival, a gunshot was heard inside Richard's locked office.
By coincidence, Knox Lambert drops by the Hampton house to visit his friend, Nick Farley, just in time to hear the sound of a gunshot while he stood at the front door. Nick is away playing golf with his friends. Mason Brooks, a younger cousin that Richard Hampton took in to raise, and Knox Lambert find the long-lost brother dead and Richard is nowhere to be found.
When Nick Farley gets back from playing golf, he and Knox decide to play detective and try to crack the case to find out who killed James. And where is Richard Hampton?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Joyce Haggard
• Release date: Feb 5, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224071036

Book preview

MAN GONE

Hampton Murder Mystery Chronicles

Book 2

Joyce Haggard

Copyright©2024JoyceHaggard

This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales, or organizations is entirely coincidental.

All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author.

Dedications

This book is dedicated to my precious treasures with all my love. You are my greatest gift, my joy, my happiness, and my inspiration.

My children: Jeremy Matthew, Brandon Ryan, Susan Renee, Shannon Marie

My grandchildren: Hunter Chase, Sarah Elizabeth, Ryan Edward, Serenity Grace, and the twins, Cullen William and Eva Victoria

Contents:

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 1

KNOX’S BEDROOM OVERLOOKED the garden at the back of the house. The blinds were drawn while he was changing his clothes for dinner and after he was fully dressed, he would pause and gaze out of the window, sometimes smiling to himself, sometimes frowning, as he turned over in his mind all the strange things that he had seen that day. He was sitting on his bed in a white tee shirt and faded blue jeans absently smoothing down his thick black hair with his comb, when Nick shouted Hello! through the door, and came in. Let's get going, I’m hungry, he said.

Knox stopped smoothing himself and looked up at him thoughtfully.

Where’s Richard? Nick said.

Richard....? You mean Mason.

Nick corrected himself with a little laugh. Yes, I mean Mason. Is he down? Oh, and by the way, said Nick, your idea about the keys was wrong.

Why, what do you mean?

I went down just now and had a look at them. We were crazy not to have thought of it when we came in. The den key is outside, but all the others are inside.

Yes, I know.

I suppose you did think of it, then?

I did, said Knox apologetically.

I hoped you’d forgotten. Well, that knocks your theory down, doesn’t it?

I never had a theory. I only said that if they were outside, it would probably mean that the office key was outside and that in that case Mason’s theory was knocked down.

Well, now it isn’t, and we don’t know anything. Some were outside and some inside and there you are. It makes it much less exciting. When you were talking about it on the lawn, I really got quite keen on the idea of the key being outside and Richard taking it in with him.

It’s going to be exciting enough, said Knox mildly, as he pulled a cigarette from the pack he had in his pocket. Well, I’m ready now.

Mason was waiting for them in the hallway. He made some polite inquiry as to the guest’s comfort and the three of them fell into a casual conversation about houses in general and the Hampton house in particular.

You were quite right about the keys, said Nick during a pause. He was less able than the other two, perhaps because he was younger than they, to keep away from the subject which was uppermost in the minds of them all.

Keys....? said Mason blankly.

We were wondering whether they were outside or inside.

Oh! Yes....! He looked slowly round the hallway, at the different doors, and then smiled in a friendly way at Knox. We both seem to have been right, Nick. So we don’t get much farther.

No. He gave a shrug. I just wondered, you know. I thought it was worth mentioning.

Not that you would have convinced me, you know. Just as Chloe’s evidence doesn’t convince me.

Chloe? said Nick excitedly. Knox looked inquiringly at him, wondering who Chloe was.

She's one of Richard’s cousins, explained Mason. You didn’t hear what she told the detective? Of course, as I told Detective Roberts, girls of that class make things up, but he seemed to think she was genuine.

What was it? said Nick.

Mason told them of what Chloe had heard through the office door that afternoon.

You were in the den then, of course, said Knox, rather to himself than to the other. She might have gone through the hallway without you knowing about it.

Oh, I’ve no doubt she was there and heard voices. Perhaps heard those very words...but.... He broke