Murder at the Tea Shop: An utterly gripping and addictive cozy mystery (Sarah Vane Mysteries Book 3) by Alice Castle

Author:Alice Castle [Castle, Alice]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2024-11-07T00:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-EIGHT

Sarah took Daphne, Hamish and Charles home, and spent the evening patiently listening to her friend’s lamentations about Pat as they all ate a takeaway fish supper in her kitchen. It was one of the cheeriest spots in the cottage. The red and white checked tablecloth and array of sparkling china arranged on the dresser could normally be relied upon to raise Sarah’s spirits. Charles was usually an uplifting presence, too, even with the uneasy state of affairs between them. But tonight he was all but silent, Daphne was sunk fathoms deep in gloom and even Hamish seemed subdued, though that could have been because Daphne hardly dropped a single chip on the floor.

‘All right, you lot, that’s enough of that,’ said Sarah forcefully, bundling up the chip papers and shoving them into her bin. She got out a bottle of crisp Sauvignon Blanc from the fridge and reached down three glasses. ‘I know you told me you didn’t want any wine, Daph,’ she said quickly, forestalling her friend’s objections and pouring it out. ‘But I think a little something might cheer us up, tonight of all nights. We need to drink to Pat. And also to finding whoever did this.’

After a second’s hesitation, Charles raised his glass, and then Daphne followed suit. They mumbled the toast and sipped. Daphne still looked pretty downhearted, but Sarah felt the atmosphere lifting. It was always better to focus on action, in her view.

‘Let’s look at what we’ve got so far,’ she continued. ‘Mr Williams was poisoned by a piece of Victoria sponge from Seastore, and in his house was a huge quantity of women’s underwear.’

‘But the pants might be nothing to do with his death,’ Daphne piped up. ‘No one really knew what he was up to, after all.’

‘Someone could have found out his secret, though. What about Pat, for instance?’ said Sarah.

‘Well, I suppose that’s the thing,’ said Daphne slowly. ‘She did seem to know all about it. Remember, she mentioned it in the pub right after you found Mr Williams. And Pat loved a secret.’

Sarah thought back to the times when she’d encountered the elderly lady. It was true, she’d always been chortling over some bit of gossip or other that she probably shouldn’t have known in the first place. Funny that Sarah had spent quite a bit of time worrying over the state of Pat’s lungs, when it looked as though it was what was stashed in the old lady’s mind that had proved fatal. ‘Do you think she knew something else about Mr Williams? But what could that have been?’

‘Let’s think about what Williams did for a living. He was in the post office, and left under a cloud,’ said Charles thoughtfully.

‘Yes, because of all those rumours that he stole the post, or read it before delivering it,’ Sarah put in.

‘Could he have strayed across something really important back then? The sort of secret that no one wanted to get out?’ Charles said.

‘Well, he could have done, but that was all so long ago.

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.