Decked with Folly by Kate Kingsbury

Author:Kate Kingsbury
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Berkley Pub Group
Published: 0100-12-31T22:00:00+00:00

Gertie finished polishing the last wineglass and stuck it on the shelf in the cabinet. Mabel had given her the message earlier that madam wanted to see her, and Gertie was anxious to get it over with. Any time someone wanted to talk to her she got nervous now. She couldn’t forget that the constable thought she’d killed Ian, and she was really hoping madam was going to tell her that the killer had been found and arrested and that she had nothing more to worry about. But it was almost three o’clock, and she wanted to spend a little time with the twins before getting the ballroom ready for the pantomime that evening. The way things were going, it looked as if she’d get no more than five minutes with them.

Pansy had already disappeared, probably gone looking for Samuel. Mrs. Chubb was in her room and Michel was out somewhere for a walk. This was the quietest time of day for the staff, and Gertie always tried to make the most of it.

Hurrying along the corridor to her room, she thought about how she’d get the twins to make paper chains so they could hang them on the walls. It would keep their minds off Father Christmas and how soon he was coming.

She could hear their voices as she reached the room, arguing again. Pulling a face, she opened the door and looked in.

Daisy sat on the bed, reading as usual. The twins were playing tug-of-war with a toy boat, Lillian insisting it was her turn to play with it and James loudly arguing that it was his boat.

Gertie rolled her eyes. “James! Let Lilly play with that for a while. I have to go and talk to madam but I’ll be back in a little while and we’ll make paper chains, all right?”

The twins went on wrestling with the boat.

Daisy looked up. “Will you be long? I wanted to go into town to get some knitting wool.”

Gertie blinked as James raised his voice even higher. “I’ll only be a minute or two,” she said, raising her own voice above her child’s. “Try and keep those two quiet until I get back.” She shut the door on the noise and fled back down the corridor to the stairs.

She reached the main hallway and was halfway across the foyer when someone called her name. Turning, her stomach dropped when she saw Ian’s wife, Gloria Johnson, walking toward her. The last thing she needed was a fight with her. Clenching her fists, she waited for the other woman to reach her.

Gloria stopped a few feet from her, her face full of hostility. “I wanted to talk to you,” she said, her voice low and angry.

“What about?”

“About my husband, of course.”

Gertie glanced around the empty foyer. Everyone was taking a little time off or a nap in their rooms. Though it wouldn’t be long before someone would come in and disturb them. “What about Ian?”

“I want to know why he came to see you the night he was killed.

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.