Fishing for Murder: A 1920s Historical Cozy Mystery: An Evie Parker Mystery Book 16 by Sonia Parin

Author:Sonia Parin [Parin, Sonia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-07-30T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

“What is it?” Evie asked as she narrowed her eyes. “Oh, oh… Is that what I think it is?”

Tom nodded. “A garland. I’m going to guess and say they’re tuberoses and snowdrops. Although, to quote you, good heavens, what are the chances?”

Evie gaped at the flowers.

As they watched the garland float by, they noticed more garlands following in its wake.

“This must be the prank they’d planned.” Shaking her head, Evie added, “I fail to see the point. Do you think there’s some sort of hidden meaning?”

Tom shrugged. “Some sort of funereal send off for all the fish? That’s my guess.”

“It looks harmless enough,” Evie said. Although, she wondered what the fish would make of it all.

They both leaned forward and looked toward a rocky outcrop and the bend.

“There are more coming,” Tom said.

The procession of garlands floating by kept them captivated until, suddenly, a flock of birds took flight.

“There’s someone out there,” Tom whispered.

They heard a mixture of running footsteps and gasps. Someone was running through the brush but they couldn’t tell from which direction the steps were coming from or even heading.

Evie was about to say sound traveled over water and caused distortions when they heard a yelp, followed by a scream.

Tom and Evie stepped forward, the tips of their shoes right at the water’s edge.

“That sounds like more than one person running,” Evie said. In the next breath, she added, “Was that a splash?”

The next yelp they heard, this time louder, seemed to suggest someone had fallen into the water.

“That definitely sounded like a splash.” Tom took a tentative step and another. “I think it came from…” he growled. “No, I can’t tell.”

The lodge was located in a natural cove with bends on the river on either side. If Tom wanted to follow the sound of the splash, he would have to climb over a rocky outcrop.

“What the devil,” someone yelled. “What are you doing there, you silly girl. Get out of the water.”

The Brigadier.

Tom appeared to get his bearings. Following the sound of the Brigadier’s outburst, he rushed toward the bend on the right, with Evie following several paces behind.

“Constance, get out of there at once,” the Brigadier hollered. “You’re scaring off the fish.”

“It’s not Constance,” someone yelled back. “It’s Ada. Ada Hodge.”

“Quit flapping your arms. You’ll only make it worse.”

As they rushed toward the sound of voices, they ran out of shoreline and had to maneuver their way along the rocks.

Finally, they made enough headway to see Ada in the river, her arms flapping about as she struggled to keep her head above water.

“Stay here, Countess.” Tom made quick work of removing his coat and shoes. He rushed in, running along the shallow water as far as he could and then plunged in.

As she watched, Evie tried to figure out how Ada had fallen into the river. She must have been on the other side of the shore where the water was deeper. A path followed the water’s edge on higher ground. She couldn’t tell for sure, but it looked as if the path might be quite narrow.

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.