Murder at the Maples: A Flora Lively Mystery by Joanne Phillips

Author:Joanne Phillips [Phillips, Joanne]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, azw3
Tags: Fiction: Mystery: Cozy
ISBN: 9781492700364
Amazon: 1492700363
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Published: 2013-09-12T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

‘Oh, my goodness!’ Flora cried, jumping to her feet. ‘I’m so sorry!’

Mr Felix was lying on the thin carpet, staring up at her balefully. The lower half of his body was entirely covered in books, while the trolley itself had mercifully fallen on its side between them. His single crutch had also been flung to the side; Flora retrieved it for him and laid it next to his hand. The old man looked so frail, she was sure he must have broken something. If the heavy wooden trolley had hit him … Well, it didn’t bear thinking about.

‘Let me move this lot so I can help you up. I can’t believe it, I’m so sorry.’ She scooped a pile of romances to one side and offered Mr Felix her hand. He didn’t take it. While Flora scrambled to release him, he continued to glare at her. But then his expression cleared.

‘Aren’t you the girl who works for that removal firm? Shaky’s or something?’

Flora didn’t bother correcting him, on the name or her position within it. She just nodded and smiled disarmingly, offering him her hand again. This time he allowed her to help him up.

‘What happened?’ he said. Flora frowned.

‘They really shouldn’t leave these overloaded trolleys cluttering up the aisles, should they?’ She shook her head and pursed her lips. ‘It was an accident waiting to happen.’

The old man nodded warily. Perhaps he was wondering if she’d seen what he was doing to that book. Flora cast her eyes about, hoping for a glimpse of it. But there was no way to distinguish one single book from the mess of paperbacks and hardbacks cluttering the floor by their feet.

Mr Felix was watching her carefully. His eyes dropped to the book Flora still held in her hand. It was the one she’d grabbed when she’d snuck up on him, and as she followed his gaze she was horrified to find herself gripping a thin paperback called Herbal Cures for STDs.

‘Take it from me, there aren’t any effective ones,’ Mr Felix said, grinning.

Flora opened her eyes wide. ‘And how, may I ask, would you know?’ She smiled. Thank goodness he was having a joke with her. If he realised she’d been spying on him it would be mortifying. Not to mention difficult to explain without getting Joy into trouble.

‘I know all about herbal medicine. Herbs generally. I brew up a mean cup of herbal tea. You should try it sometime.’

Flora shoved the offending item back on a shelf. The wrong shelf, of course. Heston had told her about the Dewey decimal system, but right now Flora couldn’t give a stuff. Thank goodness Heston hadn’t seen her holding that book.

‘I’d better tidy this lot up,’ she said. Mr Felix helped her right the trolley and together they began to re-stack the books. Flora flung them back haphazardly, while her companion took his time. She pretended not to notice when he carefully slipped a particular title back onto its shelf, but she did make a note of its location: 635.

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