3 Service for Two by Kate Kingsbury Read Free Book Online

lack of femininity, or resented her cadging from him. Either way, she had to suffer his black looks when she smoked in his company. Which was why she enjoyed it all the more.
    At the moment, however, she was too concerned about the mix-up at the funeral to take satisfaction in taunting Baxter. “I’m afraid the rumors you heard were true,” she said, tapping the ash from the cigar into the silver ashtray. “At least, partly true. The body in the coffin this afternoon was not that of Dr. McDuff.”
    A look of astonishment replaced Baxter’s frown. “Then who was it?”
    “We don’t know at present. We might never have known if one of the village boys hadn’t fallen through the ice on Deep Willow Pond and discovered the body of Dr. McDuff in the water.”
    “In the water?” He stared at her for a moment, as if trying to absorb the startling news. “What was he doing there? How did he get there?”
    “All good questions. Unfortunately we have no answers. P.C. Northcott will be collecting the stranger’s body this evening. Perhaps we shall know more by tomorrow.”
    Baxter uttered a derisive laugh. “If it’s left up to that fool, you might never learn the truth.”
    Cecily studied his face. “Baxter, why is it you have such a low opinion of Stan Northcott? He’s not a brilliant man, I grant you, but he does make an effort to get the job done. And he usually succeeds sooner or later. He seems efficient enough for what we can expect in a small village such as ours.” She watched with interest as Baxter’s face turned pink.
    “I … it is a personal matter, madam. And one I would rather not delve into, if you’ll pardon me.”
    Hiding her frustration, she merely nodded. She had long speculated on the reason for Baxter’s animosity toward the constable, but since he refused to discuss it, she would have to curb her curiosity.
    She drew once more upon the cigar, enjoying the sharp taste in her mouth. If only Baxter would unbend a little in his strict observance of etiquette. She had the distinct impression that if he would sit and relax with her, instead of standing at attention whenever they were alone in the library, she could learn a good deal more about her enigmatic manager.
    Thrusting the thought from her mind, she returned to the matter at hand. “It would appear, from the little we do know, that someone went to a great deal of trouble to exchange Dr. McDuff’s body for that of a young man.”
    “In God’s name, for whatever purpose?”
    “If we knew that,” Cecily said, watching the smoke drift from her mouth, “we would perhaps know more about theunfortunate young man in the coffin. What concerns me the most, at present, is the possibility that someone from the hotel could be involved.”
    She explained about the list that Algie had found, her convictions confirmed when Baxter obviously recognized the menu. “There are only four people who normally would know the entire week’s menu,” she said as he digested this latest piece of news. “You and I, Michel, and Mrs. Chubb. Anyone else would have to obtain a copy from one of us.”
    Baxter rocked back and forth on his heels, his hands tightly clasped behind him. “So you are saying that if it wasn’t Michel or Mrs. Chubb who performed this ghastly conjuring trick, they must know who did?”
    “They must at least know to whom they gave a copy of the menu,” Cecily agreed.
    “I cannot, for the life of me, imagine why someone would go to all that trouble. It can’t be some unfortunate macabre prank, can it?”
    “If it was, the perpetrator has a strange sense of humor.” Cecily stubbed out the cigar in the ashtray, producing an acrid smell. “No, I’m very much afraid that there was a far more sinister purpose behind the incident. The dead man has been stabbed through the heart. Murdered, I assume.”
    “You think the murderer thought of a way of hiding the body, by putting it in the coffin?”
    “Perhaps.”
    “That was taking a