Manor House 04 - Dig Deep for Murder by Kate Kingsbury Read Free Book Online Page A

you visit, then? Not someone really sick, I hope." Violet's expression changed. "Someone's husband died overseas?"
    Elizabeth sighed. She might have known she couldn't avoid the subject for long. "Actually, someone's husband did die. Though not overseas. Our new tenant, Reginald Stewart, was found dead last night."
    Violet paused in the act of placing the tea kettle on the stove. "The coalman? Go on! He just delivered our coal a week or two ago. What did he die of, then? He wasn't that old, was he?"
    "Early forties, I believe." Elizabeth stirred milk into her porridge. "We're not really sure how he died. It was . . . hard to tell."
    Something in her voice must have given her away, for Violet's brown eyes narrowed. "He didn't die in bed, then."
    Elizabeth glanced at Martin, who seemed absorbed with his breakfast. "No, he didn't. Polly . . . sort of . . . dug him up in our Victory Gardens."
    Violet smacked the kettle down with such force that the lid fell off and clattered on the floor. "Someone buried him in the vegetable plot? Who would do such a thing?"
    "Well, I rather think that's what the police would like to know."
    "That will give the potatoes a unique flavor," Martin said, with morbid relish.
    Violet rolled her eyes toward the ceiling. "Trust him to think of his stomach first."
    "He's right," Elizabeth said glumly. "We'll have to close down that plot."
    "Why? It's not like anyone's going to know, is it? I mean, he couldn't have been there that long, could he? Poor old John Rickett hasn't been dead that long, and he'd have known if there was a dead body in his vegetables, I would think."
    Elizabeth sent her a look that she immediately translated. Her scrawny shoulders lifted in a shrug. "Just a suggestion." She bent over to pick up the lid of the kettle, and sounded breathless when she straightened. "Poor Polly. What a dreadful thing for her to find. How did his wife take it, poor bugger? Must have been a shock to her."
    "You'd think so, wouldn't you?" Elizabeth murmured. "All things considered, she was remarkably calm. I suppose we are all becoming immune to violence and sudden death these days."
    Martin lifted his head. "Sad state of affairs, madam. I was just telling your father this morning—"
    "Don't start that again, you silly old fool." Violet lit the gas jet under the kettle. "You and your blinking ghosts. You know very well the master is dead."
    "He'd be very upset to hear that." Martin finished the last of his porridge. "He looked the picture of health when I left him this morning."
    "Blown to bits by a bomb," Violet said deliberately. "Him and Lady Wellsborough both. Nothing left of them to be a ghost, so you couldn't have seen him." She glanced at Elizabeth. "Sorry, Lizzie. Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind."
    "Quite." Martin dabbed at his mouth with his serviette. "In which case I shall refrain from being kind. May I have your permission to leave the table, madam?"
    Elizabeth nodded. "Of course, Martin."
    "Thank you, madam. If I may say so, I still find it considerably awkward sharing meals at the kitchen table with your ladyship."
    "Yes, Martin. I'm sorry about that." Her answer was purely automatic, for she had engaged in the familiar argument more times than she cared to count. All this talk of ghosts had reminded her of the incident in the kitchen last night.
    When she'd thought about it upon wakening that morning, she'd decided it had to be her imagination, but now she wasn't so sure. She waited until Martin had shuffledat a snail's pace from the room, before asking casually, "Violet, did you say you had food missing from the pantry?"
    "I don't know as how you'd call it missing." Violet poured boiling water into a large silver teapot. "I know darn well that Martin has been pinching stuff while my back is turned."
    "Maybe not," Elizabeth murmured. "There just might be another explanation for the missing food." Violet stared at her while she recounted her experience of the night before. "I