Quest for Alexis by Nancy Buckingham Read Free Book Online Page A

feeling par ticularly unwell. Freda Aiken sat with us too, making not the slightest effort to help while I served the meal. An agency nurse who knew her rights.
    How different she was from Belle Forsyth! Belle, much more than a nurse-companion, had become vir tually the housekeeper at Deer’s Leap, always ready and willing to turn her hand to whatever needed doing. And she was a good cook, too.
    I had liked Belle in every way. I found it almost as difficult to believe that she had ruthlessly deserted her patient as that Alexis had deserted his wife. And yet ...
    Tonight, the atmosphere around the table was edgy, none of us talking very much. It was as if we were all watching and waiting. There was one awkward mo ment when Madeleine turned to me, saying, “Gail, dear, you didn’t tell me where it is you’re going tomorrow.”
    “Oh, didn’t I?” I hated having to lie to her. Poor Madeleine was so trusting that it was pathetically easy. “I’ve got to go up to London. It’s an awful bore, but a rush job has cropped up.”
    She smiled at me sorrowfully. “It’s really not fair, is it, darling? That firm of yours gives you a holiday, and then they expect you to go to the London office and work.”
    Across the table, Freda Aiken smirked at me, as if we were sharing some private joke. It made me feel tainted. Obviously, from her expression, she knew all about where I was going—and why. I wondered whether Rudi had told her, or if she’d picked it up as gossip from Jenny next door.
    “I’ll try not to be away for long, Madeleine,” I said. “I’ll be back just as soon as I can.”
    “And then you’ll stay for a proper holiday, won’t you? I expect Alexis will be home when you get back, and we’ll have a lovely time together.”
    * * * *
    That night I slept fitfully. After four months in New York I had forgotten the deep nocturnal silence of the countryside. Not an empty silence, but filled with tiny rustlings and stealthy movements. Every twig that brushed another could be heard, every drip of water, the faint far-off murmur of a passing car. I found myself breathing shallowly, trying to listen. But for what? I was glad when morning came at last.
    I went down early to get myself some breakfast. While I was filling the kettle for coffee, the back door opened and Mrs. Cramp came walking in. She was a thin, shrewish woman in her forties, the latest of a string of domestic helps. Since Deer’s Leap was rather isolated, it was difficult to get anyone to come the three and a half miles from the nearest village. Mrs. Cramp used a motor scooter, riding it in a curiously awkward, upright fashion.
    “Oh, you’re back then!” she said, taking off her coat to reveal a flowered apron tied tightly around her mid dle. “It’s a funny business about your uncle, isn’t it? He didn’t seem the type to me, but you can never tell with men, can you? I wouldn’t trust any man as far as I could throw him.” She hung her coat on a hook be hind the door and patted her mousy hair. “What’s going to happen to Mrs. Karel, then?”
    She would have settled down to a nice juicy chat, but I had no intention of discussing the situation with her.
    “I’ll be out of your way in a minute,” I said, dropping a slice of bread into the toaster. “I’ve got a plane to catch, so I’m in rather a hurry.”
    Affronted, she went to the broom closet and started making a clatter. I shrugged and sat down to eat my breakfast hurriedly at the alcove table, scanning through the copy of the Times that I’d picked up in the hall. The news about Alexis was played down. But I wondered uneasily what the popular papers would be making of it.
    There was something I had to do before saying goodbye to Madeleine—something I found embarrass ingly difficult in the circumstances.
    Caterina was an early riser, and, as expected, I found her in their small breakfast room, alone. She was wearing a purple silk housecoat trimmed with gold and looked very