Murder in the Cemetery: A Lady Margaret Turnbull Cozy Mystery Book (International Cozy Mystery Series 3) by C T Mitchell Read Free Book Online Page A

guesthouse. 
Someone’s family reunion was in town, and the lot of them were not Maggie’s
type of crowd.
    A nice, leisurely stroll through the neighborhood, though,
provided all the entertainment anyone ever needed.  With only twenty minutes of
walking, one could get to just about anywhere in town they needed to go. 
Maggie especially loved this about Australia, that each section of the cities
were divided up into miniature towns that held everything a full sized town
would have.
    You didn’t even need a car here; you could really just walk
everywhere.  It was wonderful, and Maggie enjoyed it immensely.  The warmth of
the autumn sun on her back reminded her of vacations with her husband, and
something tugged at the back of her throat.  She was nearing the town’s
cemetery, and could see someone standing just inside the far gate near a
tree.   The breeze from the ocean teased the last leaves on the tree.
    When Maggie neared the entrance of the little cemetery, she
noticed that her dear friend Jennifer Langley was visiting a gravesite.  It was
probably her late husband’s site, he had died two years ago from a heart attack
and it left her shaken.
    They had lived very long, happy lives together, but Jennifer
still had a lot of life in her.  She had finally gotten her visits down to once
a week or so, and talked about the visits often in the quilting club that met
at Lawlers Loft on Monday mornings.
    Maggie often overheard, and took part in, these
conversations.  It was like talking to someone with a newborn child.  Only
another parent can really understand what they’re going through.  Maggie would
go to her friend and stand with her as she talked with her husband, it was the
least she could do and was something she’d expect of anyone else.
    Making her way through the little gate, Lady Turnbull
noticed that the door to one of the mausoleums was ajar.  It was open enough to
get her attention, and she decided to take a look into it when she was
finished.  After all, that family reunion certainly didn’t need her presence,
and she was in no hurry to return.
    Jennifer was especially cheerful this morning, and spent
about half an hour recounting several good times she’d had with her husband to
Maggie.  Maggie listened intently, and hugged her friend as she was leaving,
although she had been secretly eager to get over to the open mausoleum the
whole time.
    When she came up to it, finally, she pushed it forward and
it creaked under her palm just like an old movie.  Maggie felt like a grown-up
Nancy Drew, and she grinned a bit as she propped the door open enough to light
the first few steps.  After that, she used her mobile phone to light the way.
    It was cold and dark in the crypt, but nothing out of the
ordinary for Lady Margaret, as she lived for this sort of mystery.  Something
about the way the hairs on her arm stood up a bit told her that she would find
something unpleasant down in the bottom of the tomb.  Unless someone was
servicing it, there was really no good reason for it to be open.
    Down the steps, just at the end where two large tombs of
what Maggie assumed to be a husband and wife buried next to each other, was the
body of a beautiful woman in a lovely green dress.  Well, lovely, except for
the giant red stain down the center.  The woman’s face was left untouched, and
her mouth was turned up in a gentle, yet awkwardly out of place smile.  Except
for having obviously been stabbed in the heart somewhat recently, she looked as
though she might have been pleasantly sleeping.
    Maggie walked quickly over to her and ran her fingers
through an outside portion of the blood on the woman’s gorgeous dress.  It was
still very wet.  Maggie knew that Detective Sullivan would be displeased that
she’d touched the body, but she always played by the rules.  Just this once,
she wanted to bend the rules a bit and gather more information before hand. 
She’d risk the lecture just this once.
    Not