Murder With Means (Sylvia Shipman Murder Mysteries Book 2) by Blythe Baker

Author:Blythe Baker [Baker, Blythe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-01-30T13:00:00+00:00

8

“You’re thinking about going to visit her today, aren’t you?”

The question came seemingly out of nowhere. Snow had come in the night, not long after Joan and I had arrived home from Mr. Adams’, burying the sidewalk out in front of the house. It nestled in the windows and clung to the branches of the trees lining the street as if trying to form a perfect mold of them.

Father, unable to go out to his office, decided to remain at home at our mother’s request. He had barely been seen, still taking the opportunity to work as many hours as he would have had he left that morning as intended, but Mother seemed content to know at least he was under the same roof as the rest of us. Her own plans hadn’t changed, as it seemed to be one of the rare days where she hadn’t made plans with any of her friends.

On such a cool, quiet day, she had wanted to take advantage of it fully with both Joan and I in residence. She planned for games, for times of reading, for Joan to practice a monologue she had been working on…but instead had settled beside the fire in the parlor and fallen promptly asleep after lunch.

I looked up from the violin that lay across my lap; I had taken the chance to busy myself with polishing it. I hadn’t had the strength to touch it since our uncle’s passing; even now it was sad to see it, to pluck its strings and know that he and I wouldn’t play together again.

“Who do you mean?” I asked, my eyes finally meeting Joan’s.

She frowned at me, letting the book in her hands fall against her lap. “You know perfectly well who I mean,” she said. She eyed Mother, dropping her voice. “You mean to go and speak with Mrs. Leavens, don’t you?”

I also eyed Mother, whose head had lolled some time ago, resting now against the side of the winged chair, upholstered in her new favorite yellow poppies fabric. “To be honest, I haven’t given it much thought.”

Joan’s eyebrow rose rather distinctly.

A small tremor of nerves passed down my spine. I knew Miles wasn’t within earshot either, but that didn’t mean I was terribly thrilled to be speaking about these matters. “I don’t know,” I finally admitted. “I know the timing of it all seems far too convenient – ”

“That is my thought precisely,” Joan said, surprising me. “To think Mrs. Leavens might have threatened all she did, only to see what happened? It might be coincidence, but it seems far too perfect, doesn’t it?”

I lifted the violin off my lap and set it into its case on the sofa beside me, no longer feeling well enough to continue with such a usually pleasant task. “I take it you have been thinking about all this, too?”

She nodded. “It just seems so strange, doesn’t it?” she asked. “What if she is the one who did it? What if Mrs. Milbourn said something about Mrs.

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.