6 Grounds for Murder by Kate Kingsbury Read Free Book Online Page B

kitchen her hair looked darker, and strands of it kept escaping from the untidy knot on her head. She looked as if she’d dressed in a hurry. Slipping already, Gertie thought in disgust.
    “I’ve got the dishes to do yet, and the glasses to be polished, and the serviettes washed—”
    “I know everything what you have to do,” Gertie interrupted. “Blimey, I did it long enough meself, I should know. All right, chop one load this morning and the other tonight, after you’ve done the rest of the work.”
    “Like throwing your orders around, don’t you?” Doris said, tossing her head. “I’ll do as much as I can. I’m only human, I can only do so much.”
    Gertie’s jaw dropped as she watched the girl flounce across the kitchen floor and out of the door, her skirts swishing around her skinny ankles. Must have got out the bleeding wrong side of the bed, she thought as the door slammed shut, hurting her ears.
    Who would have thought that meek little mouse who’d bawled her eyes out yesterday had such a temper? Just went to show, one never knew what people were really like inside.
    Shaking her head, Gertie turned back to the silverware drawer and began counting out the forks. She had far too much to worry about, never mind Doris’s changing moods. Like Michel’s mood for one, if he came in and found her still messing about in the kitchen instead of laying tables in the dining room. He’d have her guts for garters, that he would.
    Making a determined effort to put Doris Hoggins out of her mind, she started counting.
    Doris Hoggins was very much on someone else’s mind that morning. Samuel hadn’t thought about much else since hisencounter with the new housemaid the night before. He was whistling as he crossed the yard, already imagining what he would say to the shy young girl when he saw her next.
    Although he wouldn’t admit it, he had taken the longer way around to the stables in the hopes of catching a glimpse of her shapely ankle and trim waist.
    He had reached the corner of the kitchen wall when he heard the rhythmic thud of an axe slicing through wood. Frowning, he remembered Doris saying she wouldn’t be chopping wood until the next day. Someone else must have taken over the task.
    Rounding the corner, he stopped short, his mouth dropping open in amazement. Doris was there all right. And she was wielding the axe as if it weighed no more than a sack of feathers. Up and over, then crashing down on the log, sending sticks flying in all directions.
    It didn’t seem possible that she could swing that heavy axe so easily. The longer he watched her, the stranger he felt. It had taken all his strength to keep up the steady rhythm last night. His shoulders had ached for an hour afterward.
    Slowly Samuel advanced on the unsuspecting girl. She had her back to him and was far too engrossed in her task to notice him. Maybe she was just tired last night, he told himself. A good night’s sleep could work wonders for building stamina. He knew that well.
    He waited until she paused to take a breath before saying brightly, “Top of the morning to you, Doris. I can see you have found a whole new wealth of strength today. Mind sharing your secret? I could do with some extra stamina myself, that I could.”
    He saw her back go stiff and straight, but she didn’t turn around. The funny feeling in his stomach told him thatsomething was wrong. Carefully he circled around Doris until he could see her face.
    Her gaze met his, and his heart sank when he saw her fierce scowl. Now that the sun lit up the yard, he could see her eyes were green. Last night they had looked dark and brown. She had such a pretty face to be twisting it into a grimace like that, he thought, and gave her a tentative smile.
    “I reckon you’ll not be needing lessons from me after all,” he said, gesturing at the axe she held in her slim hands. “That’s a fine pile of sticks if I ever saw one.”
    “I need no lessons from the likes of you,” Doris