Murder with Clotted Cream by Karen Rose Smith

Author:Karen Rose Smith [Smith, Karen Rose]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington Books
Published: 2020-03-16T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

“Is your hip hurting you?” Iris asked Daisy as Daisy shifted her weight from one foot to the other at the counter in the tea garden’s kitchen the next day. They were checking the produce that Joachim Adler had brought, making sure it suited them. Joachim had taken off his black felt hat and was holding it in his hands. His light brown beard dangled close to the second button of his shirt.

His face took on a little color and Daisy knew talking about anything personal around him would embarrass him. She said to Iris, “I’m good.” Then she gave Joachim a nod. “Everything looks top quality just as always. Your greenhouses are really producing.” She particularly liked the leaf lettuce.

“Wunderbaar,” he said. He flopped his hat on his head. “See you next week.” With a smile, he went out the back kitchen door.

“Sorry,” Iris apologized. “I almost forgot Joachim was there. He’s so quiet. But are you hurting? Did you sleep wrong? You keep shifting from one hip to the other.”

Daisy wrapped the lettuce in green paper that kept it fresh. “I had a little mishap at the rehearsal yesterday.”

Iris stopped inspecting the turnips and carrots. “What kind of mishap?”

“I was careless and part of the set fell on me. Merely a few bumps and bruises. I’m fine, really.”

“Was Jonas there?”

“He was.”

“Did he call the paramedics?”

Daisy didn’t look her aunt in the eyes, but concentrated on wrapping produce. “Don’t be silly. I told him not to. Vanna was there and she took care of one of my brush burns.”

“Does this have something to do with you asking questions about Margaret?”

“No proof of that,” Daisy quickly answered, and went into the walk-in to store the lettuce.

Everyone yesterday had made sure she was okay. She had a feeling Rowan was more worried about liability than her when he’d called her last night. She caught herself. That wasn’t nice. Everyone who had been there had been concerned. Jonas had insisted on driving her home. She’d let him. Then she’d put ice packs on the parts that hurt and texted back and forth with Foster about Violet because Vi hadn’t answered her texts.

From Foster she’d learned Vi had had one weepy spell in the afternoon. He’d cooked supper, saying Vi had eaten a few spoonfuls of his macaroni and cheese. He’d encouraged her to eat a piece of toast later.

Daisy was worried. Vi’s appointment with her doctor tomorrow couldn’t come soon enough.

Cora Sue entered the kitchen from their main serving room. Finding Daisy in the walk-in, she pointed to the tearoom. “Arden Botterill’s here. She’d like to see you. I showed her to a table and asked what type of tea she’d like and she told me the honey ginseng green tea. Is that okay for you too?”

“That’s fine.” She checked the clock on the wall. It was eleven. “Did she say if she’d like anything to eat?”

“She insisted she just wanted tea.”

Although Daisy didn’t know Arden well, she did know her. When Arden just requested tea and nothing to go with it, she was seriously keeping to her diet.

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