Mistletoe Murder: A Christmas Cozy Mystery Series by Mona Marple

Author:Mona Marple [Marple, Mona]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-09-20T16:00:00+00:00

10

I managed to check Patrice over and declare that she was physically okay. Blood was often deceptive. She had a cut to her head, and it had bled for some time, but the blood had been diluted by the snow on the ground when she’d collapsed, and that had got all over her clothes.

We got her changed and wrapped up under a blanket, convinced Gilbert to stop mopping for a moment and make a hot chocolate, and waited until she was ready to explain.

“I went to the cemetery,” she said, her voice shaky.

“What for, dear?” Mrs Claus asked.

Patrice frowned. “It will sound morbid.”

“You can trust us,” I said, and gave her hand a squeeze, partly to support her but also to check her body temperature. She was warming up nicely.

“So many of my patients, from the nursing home, have passed. I often go to the cemetery and just feel them with me. It’s my safe place, I guess. Or at least, it used to be.”

“Can you tell us what happened? Did you trip?”

Patrice shook her head and began to cry. “Someone hit me.”

“No!” August gasped.

“I heard somebody walking behind me but I didn’t think anything of it. I’m not the only one allowed in the graveyard, after all. The next thing I knew, something hit me and I fell to the ground.”

“Did you get a look at him?” Sprout asked from across the room.

Before Patrice could answer, I stood up. “Let’s not discuss this any more until Wiggles arrives. He’ll need to take a full statement from you. I’ll call him now.”

I phoned the police officer and could tell that he was already in his car because Last Christmas played out in the background. He assured me that he was parked up enjoying a late lunch of a turkey sausage roll, and would be with us within minutes.

True to his word, just a minute or two later, we heard the smooth voice of George Michael belting out as Wiggles approached.

I let him in and found him accompanied by a man who looked like a walrus. He was huge, rotund and displayed a most excellent amount of facial hair.

“This is Cornelius. He’s helping me out on a case we were doing a stake out for,” Wiggles introduced.

I shook the man’s hand and as he began to laugh, his jowls wobbled. “Sadly, it’s a stake out and not a trip out for steak!”

“Good one!” Wiggles said with a giggle, then remembered the reason for their call and adopted a more sombre expression. “Now, Holly, you said it was urgent?”

I pulled the door of the den closed and lowered my voice. “Patrice has been attacked in the cemetery.”

Wiggles scrunched up his face as if he didn’t understand what I was saying.

“By a spirit?” Cornelius asked.

I blinked at him. “What? No. By a person… an alive person.”

Cornelius grinned. “Phew! That’s a relief. Spirits can be tricky to catch. Not to mention to apprehend. Or does that mean the same as catch? Apprehend. Let me see… Latin, if I’m right, and I’ve not been wrong on etymology since 1992.

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.