Tea is for Terror (The Claire Gulliver Mysteries) by Gayle Wigglesworth

Author:Gayle Wigglesworth
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Women Sleuths
ISBN: 9780982551912
Publisher: Gayle Wigglesworth
Published: 2004-10-24T16:00:00+00:00

* * *

“Lucy, were you able to contact Arnie’s boss?”

“Yes, finally. I had to leave a message and he called me back. He already knew about Arnie, thank God. I wasn’t looking forward to being the bearer of that news. He said he appreciated my call, but I must say he was rather abrupt. But then he must have been upset and some people just handle it that way.”

“Well, when I get home I’ll call him and tell him how much Arnie was liked by the group, and about the wake.” She paused a moment, then changed the subject.

“The inquest or inquiry, or whatever they call it, is over and they ruled Arnie’s death ‘misadventure’.

“It seems so inadequate to explain away someone’s death that way,” she mused.

“Oh, Claire, I’m so sorry. I’m sorry for poor Arnie, even though I barely knew the man. And I’m especially sorry you’ve had to go through all this. I expected you to have such a good time.”

Claire continued, “Apparently Arnie just used poor judgment in going up there. And we’ll never know why. Maybe he just wanted to be alone for a while. After all, traveling with twenty some people doesn’t give anyone much quiet time, and I think he was used to being alone.”

“Claire,” Lucy’s voice was firm, “you just keep telling yourself this wasn’t your fault. I know you, and just because you allowed him to join the trip doesn’t make you responsible. It was just one of those things.”

“I know that. I mean, my mind follows the logic, but I still feel like something was there I didn’t see, or there was something I could have done. It turned out that I was the last one to have spoken to him, but I didn’t sense anything. I didn’t have a clue.”

“You don’t run the world. So stop it!” Lucy told her emphatically. Then, “What have you decided about Hopsvale Farms?”

“We’re taking your suggestion, of course. Rosa told us how it would work, after she talked to you this morning, and we all agree with you. We’re leaving here in about an hour and we can drive straight through, stay at Hopsvale Farms tonight and pick up the tour as scheduled tomorrow.” Everyone was pleased to be back on the schedule with so little fuss. Then she remembered, “Oh, Lucy, I forgot to tell you. Betty Brown is on her way back.”

“Not another problem?”

“Not exactly. Remember how private she was, never saying much about herself? We thought she was escaping from a soured romance, remember? Well it turns out her fiancé was murdered several months ago when he was on a business trip. It was a random shooting from a passing car outside his hotel. She hasn’t been able to get over it and signed up for this trip on the advice of her therapist.

“She’s taking Arnie’s accident very badly. She insisted on going home.

“Don’t worry though. Jack took care of all the arrangements and Kingdom Coach Tours is meeting her train and will see she gets on the plane.

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