Bidding for Revenge: A British Cozy Murder Mystery with a Female Amateur Sleuth (A Dotty Sayers Antique Mystery Book 3) by Victoria Tait

Author:Victoria Tait [Tait, Victoria]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781915413031
Publisher: Kanga Press
Published: 2022-08-18T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Dotty was satisfied with her morning’s work, and she’d put the fiasco of the Queen Anne table out of her mind as she contacted people about September’s auction.

She already had items from two house clearances, and office items from a firm of receivers who used the auction regularly to sell the various assets they found themselves with when they took over a failing business.

She was sitting at the reception desk when the door to the antiques centre opened and Keya walked in, wearing her black and white police uniform.

“Hiya,” greeted Keya as she placed her black hat, with its black and white chequerboard band and a large metal badge, on Dotty’s desk. She leaned forward and whispered, “I know I shouldn’t, but can I trade some juicy police info for a cup of tea and one of your yummy sandwiches, which I’m sure you’ve brought to work today.”

Dotty narrowed her eyes but as her friend smiled back mischievously, she couldn’t help laughing.

She made fresh cups of tea and removed her sandwich tin from the fridge, placing it on the green leather top of the antique mahogany reception desk. As she opened the tin, she asked, “So what’s your news?”

Keya peered into the open tin and enquired, “Which are the vegetarian ones?”

“The white bread sandwiches are tuna, sweetcorn and mayonnaise. Can you eat those?”

“Yes,” replied Keya, picking one up and biting into it.

Dotty sipped her tea and waited.

Although still chewing, Keya spluttered, “First, I think you know about the hoard Chief Inspector Ringrose found on the day of the triathlon. Well, actually some children found it when they were playing explorers and one of their mums called it in.”

Dotty signed. “I know he found some modern furniture forgeries. I was duped into buying something similar yesterday at an auction.”

“Really?” Keya’s eyes bulged.

“Yes, but I’d rather not talk about it.”

Keya’s mouth drooped, and she looked disappointed, but Dotty narrowed her lips and refused to say anything further.

“The forgeries weren’t the only items he found. There were also some stolen items, which have been linked to a house robbery in Kent.”

“Aunt Beanie mentioned stolen items, but not where they came from. What’s the chief inspector doing about them?”

“He’s gone to Maidstone today to see the Kent police and visit the owners whose house was burgled. They’ve just returned from holiday and didn’t know anything about the break-in.”

“Does the chief inspector suspect a gang?”

Keya bit into her sandwich and appeared to be considering Dotty’s question as she chewed. Dotty picked up a roast beef and horseradish sandwich.

“I overheard the chief inspector and Aunt Beanie talking about it,” Keya admitted. “They do think a gang is involved, and they kept talking about old cases and selling items at auction to raise money.”

Dotty thought of the table she’d bought and felt miserable again.

“You better watch out. You don’t want to get into trouble with us for handling stolen goods.” Keya grinned and added, “But the chief inspector didn’t think Akemans would be affected.”

“I wonder why.” Dotty drew her eyebrows together.

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