A Manor of Life & Death--A Cozy Mystery (with Dragons) by Kim M. Watt

Author:Kim M. Watt [Watt, Kim M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781999303792
Publisher: Kim M. Watt

13

Miriam

Miriam was helping Maddie straighten up the bedrooms, washing the mugs in the basins and replenishing the tea and the sugar sachets while her sister made the beds. Well, in the case of rooms used by the ladies of the Women’s Institute, tugged at the covers a little, plumped a cushion or two, then just laid fresh towels out.

“Protesters!” Maddie said, for about the twentieth time. “On top of poor Keeley. I can’t believe it. This weekend is going to ruin us.”

Miriam made a sympathetic noise, concentrating on getting the tea stains out of a mug.

“You know who it is, don’t you?”

“We don’t know,” Miriam said, scrubbing a little harder.

“We do! Of course we do! It’s her! It’s always her!”

“Mads, we don’t know. It could be—”

“How did she know? How did she know that this was our relaunch weekend? And why is she so determined to ruin me?” Maddie thumped the rolled towels down on the bed, and they immediately fell to the floor. She snatched them up again. “She’s like a, a lingering infection!”

Miriam sighed. She thought Maddie was probably right, that it was their older sister Rainbow (previously Judith) down at the bridge. Boyd had been even more incoherent than usual when he got back, and between wanting to get cleaned up and the arrival of Thompson, DI Adams had refused to discuss anything other than where she could get some coffee, so they couldn’t be certain it was Rainbow. But Miriam couldn’t imagine anyone else bothering to protest one struggling country house on what was proving to be a very miserable spring weekend.

“I’m sure the inspector will sort it all out,” she said.

“She didn’t look like she was sorting anything out,” Maddie muttered. “She looked like she’d been having a pillow fight in a jam factory.”

Miriam snorted laughter, then covered her mouth with one hand. Maddie would be furious if she thought Miriam wasn’t taking her seriously. But Maddie gave a reluctant chuckle. “Better than tar, I guess.”

“Much better,” Miriam said. “Tastier, too.”

Maddie laughed properly then, gave the bedspread a last poke, and said, “I wish all guests were so tidy. Those children have clothes everywhere, and the birdwatchers have so many cameras and things cluttering up their room that I’m scared to do much in case I knock something expensive over.”

Miriam thought a little guiltily of the room she shared with Alice, and wondered if she could get there before Maddie and tidy her clothes away. There just never seemed to be much point putting them in a dresser when one was only going to put them back in the bag two days later.

She was just about to claim she needed to nip to the loo before they moved on when they heard running footsteps outside, then the sound of someone knocking rather urgently somewhere further along the hall while shouting, “Miriam!” The sisters looked at each other, then Miriam opened the door and popped her head. Jasmine was just turning away from the room next door, already breaking into a run again.

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