A Steak in Murder by Claudia Bishop Read Free Book Online Page A

she floored it and made the light on Main Street, she might even be a bit early. Not as early as Miriam Doncaster, the town librarian, who arrived twenty minutes before every appointment she made, but early enough to forestall a snide remark or two from Betty Hall, Marge's head cook and junior partner, about how some people were always a day late and a dollar short.
    Except in the final months of last year's economic re cession, the Chamber of Commerce meetings had always been held at the Inn. Marge's acquisition hadn't affected a thing. Quill liked living in a small town—Hemlock Falls was less claustrophobic and inbred than the New York City art world, where she'd moved before she'd come to the village to stay—but there were times when the reluctance of its citizens to change direction (or, in fact, change anything at all) was very frustrating. No, frustrating was the wrong word. Bummed. That was the right word. She'd been bummed when the Chamber members had failed to rise in common loyalty and refused to darken the Inn's doors with That Person as the owner. When she'd broken the news of the sale in May there'd been a few clucks of sympathy, one or two brusque pats on the arm, and a couple of sorrowful head shakes. She had been prepared (even mentally rehearsed) a noble speech of demurral when the Chamber members demanded to have the monthly meetings at the Palate. It was almost as if the village had expected her to lose the Inn. And although people could fear Marge or resent her success, no one actually disliked her. She was a blunt, decent, shrewd, hardworking businesswoman. And a heck of a cook in her own right Just the sort of Hemlockian who would be commemorated with a bust in Peterson Park after her demise.
    Quill slammed on the brakes at the foot of the long driveway leading to the Inn, jerked from her reverie. She ignored the screech of tires from the car behind her, and peered out the windshield. A giant black and white cow stood smack on top of the curved brick wall that used to bear a discreet bronze sign: The Inn At Hemlock Falls. There was a banner draped over its flanks that read: WELCOME, COWBOYS! Someone had wound Christ mas tree lights around the cow's horns and they blinked on and off.
    "The poor thing," Quill burst out.
    The cow nodded its head and emitted a "moo" that sounded as if its entire diet consisted of beans.
    And then, Quill said, "It's fake!"
    "Of course it's fake," said a voice into her right ear. "You city kids don't know a dang thing about a thing, do you?"
    Quill drew back and inadvertently released her foot from the brake. The Olds bucked and stalled. "Hello, Harland."
    Harland, president of the local Agway co-op and the biggest dairy farmer in Tompkins County, tugged his Butter Is Better cap more firmly over his forehead. "You gotta watch them sudden stops, Quill."
    "Sorry, Harland."
    "You can't drive out here in the country the way you do in the city, now, can you?"
    "Nope," Quill said.
    "Every time I see a cop chase on World's Scariest Police Accidents, I'm reminded of you, Quill. Seein' you drive that taxi in New York City when you was a young ster musta been something."
    "It was, Harland," Quill said humbly. "Is your truck okay?" She craned her neck over her shoulder. Harland's teal and white dually was the pride of his life, now that Mrs. Harland was gone.
    "Just had her washed. You goin' to the Chamber meeting?"
    Since Quill was (a.) secretary of the Chamber and (b.) had never missed a meeting since she'd joined eight years ago and (c.) was widely known to avoid showing up at the scene of her business failure except when absolutely necessary, she didn't feel she had to reply to this. "Are we late?"
    "I ain't. You might be if you gotta go back to the diner to get the minutes. You didn't forget this time, did you?"
    "It's the Palate now, Harland," Quill said patiently. "And I left the minutes book with Miriam Doncaster to transcribe. She's inputting them into permanent storage in