Daffodils And Deadly Deeds: A British Cozy Murder Mystery with a Female Amateur Sleuth (A Dotty Sayers Antique Mystery Book 9) by Victoria Tait

Author:Victoria Tait [Tait, Victoria]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kanga Press
Published: 2024-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Dotty and Zach did return to 30 Bailiffgate before starting their search for Algie Harbottle.

Earl Grey wandered into the kitchen to greet them.

“Are you bored?” Dotty asked, as she bent down to stroke him. He briefly allowed her to pet him before he crossed to his food bowl and stuck his head into it.

“It’s pretty plain what he wants,” laughed Zach. “Shall I do an internet search for Algie?”

Dotty considered the problem of finding Algie as she removed the large bag of cat biscuits from the store cupboard. “Why don’t I call Ann? She knows everything about everyone round here. But would you mind feeding Earl Grey?”

She passed Zach the bag of biscuits, removed her phone from her pocket and dialled Ann’s number.

“Hello, dear. You haven’t changed your mind about working with Sue, have you?” asked Ann when she answered Dotty’s call.

“No, it’s not that. Tim has asked us, that’s Zach and me, to speak to Hazel’s solicitor for him, as Inspector Thorn is at Swallow Cottage conducting interviews.”

“Is he?”

Dotty had guessed correctly that Ann would appreciate hearing that news.

Ann continued, “So you need to find Algie. His office is opposite The Playhouse. Harbottle and Hogg. But,” Ann paused, “it’s lunchtime on Wednesday, and the Civil War battle reenactment is on Easter Saturday. I think you’re more likely to find him either having lunch in the Pig in Muck on Market Place, or in the park in front of the castle, beyond the daffodils. That’s where they stage the reenactment.”

“Thank you,” Dotty replied.

“Good luck and enjoy tomorrow.”

“What’s happening tomorrow?” asked Zach, who’d clearly heard the last part of the conversation.

“Sue Thorn and I are taking the train to Derby to look at four-poster beds.”

Zach raised his eyebrows.

“I’ll explain later. But now we should look for Algie.”

“Where did Ann say he’d be?”

So Zach hadn’t heard all of her conversation with Ann.

Earl Grey crunched his biscuits.

“Lunching at the Pig in Muck, or in the park below the castle.”

“Let’s try the park first. If I walk into an eatery, it may be some time before I come out again.” Zach’s tummy rumbled, but they both ignored it as they grabbed their coats and closed the back door behind them.

It was a bracing spring day. Some sunshine was breaking through between the white clouds, but there was still a chill in the air.

Dotty soon warmed up as she kept pace with Zach as he strode along Bailiffgate towards Alnwick Castle. He clearly knew where he was going, as he turned left and walked down towards the stone bridge with the lion on it.

“Ann told me,” he began, “that the bridge originally had two stone lions, but they scared the horses so one of them had to be removed.”

“I wonder why the horses were more scared of two lions than one,” Dotty mused as she climbed over a well-kept wooden stile and entered the open parkland below Alnwick Castle, taking a path that ran alongside the River Aln.

Dotty stopped and stared. She’d seen the daffodils from higher ground, but she hadn’t realised how large an area they covered.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.