Agatha Raisin and the Busy Body by MC Beaton Read Free Book Online Page A

drive. An owl hooted mournfully.
    Miriam went back inside. She reset the alarm and made her way back to bed. She was about to pick up her book and resume her reading when the light went out. Miriam groped her way to the bedroom
door and pressed down the switch of the overhead light. Nothing.
    Odley Cruesis had suffered from occasional power cuts in the past. But she decided she’d better go downstairs to the fuse box and make sure the trip switch was on. Wishing she had brought
her torch upstairs with her, she groped her way down to the hall where she had left the torch but could not find it. There were candles in the kitchen. She made her way there. Moonlight was
flooding the kitchen. She opened the drawer where she kept candles and matches and lit one of the candles. Holding the candle in one hand, she reached up and opened the fuse box. A heavy blow
struck her on the back of the head. The candle flew out of her hand and landed in a pan of fat on the stove. The maid saw the glow in the sky as she drove down into Odley Cruesis. A fire engine
raced past her and then another. When she turned into the manor drive, she could see the house was in flames from top to bottom. Natasha did a U-turn and sped off. She had planned to tell Miriam in
the morning that she was leaving. She was an illegal alien from Albania and she knew the police would soon ferret out that fact. They had not seemed to be much interested in her after the murder of
John Sunday, but she knew they would focus on her now. She had all her belongings packed up in the battered old Ford Miriam had bought for her. Her real name was Blerta, but Miriam had said,
‘I suppose you’re called Natasha,’ and Blerta had agreed. As she was sure Miriam suspected her of being an illegal alien, she had agreed to low wages and to wearing a maid’s
uniform. Blerta decided to head back to Birmingham to stay with friends.
    In her panic, she did not realize that her running away would make her an arson suspect.
    Toni worked at clearing up her flat after Sharon had left. She guiltily wished Agatha had not been so high-handed. Toni was fond of Sharon. Sharon was everything Toni was not
– bold and brassy and confident, moving gaily from one boyfriend to another while Toni read books and dreamed of romance.
    She felt uneasy. She had visited a club a week before with Sharon and Sharon had been flirting with a group of bikers. They swore a lot and drank a lot and Toni had left early. She hoped Sharon
hadn’t been getting into bad company.
    Agatha was not pleased when she got home to find Charles waiting for her. She was tired and wanted to eat something and go to bed. She only brightened up when Charles told her
the full story of his dinner. ‘Serves you right,’ she said heartlessly. ‘You met your match in that cheapskate.’
    ‘There’s another thing,’ said Charles. ‘I’ve just let the cats out in the garden and there’s a glow in the sky from the direction of Odley Cruesis.’
    Agatha opened the garden door and went out. Yes, there was a red glow in the sky.
    She went back into the kitchen. ‘Something’s up. I’d better get over there.’
    ‘I’ll drive,’ said Charles.
    As Agatha was about to get into his car, he removed a foil-covered package from the passenger seat.
    ‘You never did!’ exclaimed Agatha, smelling fish.
    ‘Oh, yes I did. I paid for it and I wasn’t going to let a plate of turbot go to waste.’
    They arrived at the manor just in time to see the roof fall in from their vantage point on top of a wall bordering the grounds of the manor.
    They couldn’t get any nearer because of police and firemen. ‘She told me she knew something,’ said Charles. ‘She told me she had something. She said it seemed impossible
and then she said she was going to cancel your services.’
    ‘I wonder if she escaped the fire. And what about the maid?’
    ‘She’s gone,’ said a voice below them. Agatha got down from the wall, registering that