Side Trip to Kathmandu (A Sidney Marsh Murder Mystery Book 3) by Marie Moore Read Free Book Online Page B

by their gleaming cars at the hotel entrance, Brooke ushered Lucy and Felix into the first car and sent them off ahead of us after telling them, “There you go, my dears. Your driver will take you shopping and assist you with everything. Have a wonderful time, and remember, don’t pay the first price you are asked! Bargaining is expected and all part of the game. I am taking Sidney and Jay with me for a little extra sightseeing drive through Connaught Place and down the Rajpath, perhaps also by the embassies. This is their first visit to India. I know that, having been here before, you’d be bored with all that. If we don’t find each other in the bazaar, we’ll meet you and the others later at the Imperial Hotel for high tea. Have fun!”
    Even before entering the car, Felix was barking orders at the hapless driver. Lucy paid little attention to his bad humor. She was all smiles, chattering away as she settled in the car with her shopping bags.
    As the car windows rolled up I saw her open a bright purple tin and offer him one of the delightful crisp ginger cookies that Justin had bought for all of us in the hotel gift shop. Felix grabbed a handful, stopped cussing out the driver, and looked as happy as he ever looked—in other words, only slightly calmer and less grumpy. They were good friends, which I found amazing because she was so nice and he, so disagreeable. She just knows how to get along with him , I thought. They’d known each other a long time, Brooke had explained.
    “Good job, Brooke,” Jay said, nodding approvingly, as they drove away. “I have to tell you that I’m not exactly nuts about your boy Felix. Lucy is great, but Felix really doesn’t do it for me.”
    “Not many people like Felix, Jay,” she replied smoothly. “I really don’t either, I must confess, but he certainly manages my portfolio well. Asking him along on this trip, with his distressing dislike of people of other ethnicities, may have been a mistake, but as you will learn, I had my reasons.”
    “Well, he really is crabby today,” I said. “He and Jasmine had a spat in the hall outside her room just before lunch. It’s hard to imagine a beautiful woman like Jasmine having any type of relationship with a man as unattractive as Felix.”
    “Jasmine apparently has lots of relationships with all sorts of men. I think his money is the attraction,” Jay said. “Not his looks or personality.”
    “Well, they must have made up,” Brooke said, “for I saw her sharing lunch with him, all smiles. I think you could say that Jasmine is volatile. A real prima donna.”
    We waved as their car rolled away, then we climbed into the backseat of the next one with Brooke. Rahim took the front seat next to Nigel, the driver. Brooke had already given instructions to Nigel, and as we left the hotel grounds, he turned the car in the opposite direction from the path the first car had taken.
    “Now,” she said, settling in as we picked up speed and gliding smoothly toward India Gate and the Rajpath, “we can talk without anyone overhearing. Our driver has closed the glass between us and he has no interest whatsoever in what I have to say to you anyway. I wanted to give you some background on the other guests.”
    For the next twenty minutes Brooke told us the histories of our fellow travelers, her friends and suspects, interspersed with comments on the buildings and monuments we were passing. Everything we were seeing had mostly been built by the British during their rule over India. The stately imperial government buildings and grand vistas of New Delhi made it easy to imagine the pomp and pageantry of the British rule, when India was described as “the jewel in the Crown.” The former splendor of many of the buildings was diminished, however, by the fact that some of the structures were in disrepair and showed signs of long-time neglect.
    Brooke’s running commentary was the most unusual tour narrative I’ve ever heard—a light