Read Online 03 Murder by Mishap by Suzanne Young - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Suzanne Young
Ads: Link
house.”
“I’ll do what I can, of course, but I’m not going to act like Mary.” She smiled at the image she’d invoked of herself wearing the latest camo -fatigues, hiding in the bushes on the fringes of Jaycee’s property, binoculars to the ready. Charlie laughed, probably having conjured up a similar vision.
“Seriously,” she went on, “I will not spy on the poor girl. I’ll be as attentive a neighbor as I can be without intruding on her privacy. And you should call this Dietz person back and get more information. I don’t know about you, Charlie, but I smell something fishy.”
Chapter Seven
After arranging to contact Charlie when she returned from Providence later that day, Edna spent some time in her herb garden. It was a perfect spring morning as far as she was concerned, sunny with a touch of coolness to the air that made it pleasant to work outside. She had orange, caraway and wild thymes she wanted to plant, in addition to the regular garden and lemon thymes already growing among the rocks.
Over the winter, she had read that thyme, a member of the mint family, is attractive to bees and repulses other insects. I’m all for that , she thought, setting down the small pots. She thought she might try making aromatic sachets of the herb to put in her linen cupboard, as they had in the old days.
She dug three small holes with her trowel, each in a different area of the garden. Finishing the last, she stood up and looked back at her work, only to spot Benjamin scraping more dirt out of the first hole before going to the second to make that one a little deeper. Very seriously, he moved to the hole at her feet to do the same before leaping onto the nearby brick path and settling down to groom the soil out of his paws. Highly entertained by her cat, Edna wished she had a camera handy.
“Thanks, my friend,” she said with a chuckle. Watching the time, she finished up in the herb garden, dug up a few mint plants for Peg, and headed indoors to shower and change her clothes.
An hour later, she paused at the end of her driveway to study the house across the street for a minute, before pulling out onto the road. As she picked up Route 1 and headed for the city, she thought about Jaycee’s face with the idea of making the sketch for Charlie. She puzzled over what the young woman’s story might be and why someone from the Chicago police might want to have her watched. Personal or business, she wondered. Traffic began to pick up as she merged onto Interstate 95. Forgetting about her neighbor for the time being, she focused on her driving and watched for the exit to Memorial Boulevard.
When she reached the historic clubhouse, she parked in the lot off Benefit Street and walked around to the front entrance. Formed in 1880 to encourage an appreciation of art in the community, the Providence Art Club was one of the oldest art clubs in the country. The house, originally the residence of Obadiah Brown, was built in 1790. Club founders took it over in 1887, creating studios and galleries and providing a gathering place for members. Club membership was restricted and included both artist and non-artist categories. Edna had been an artist member for eight years and had even won a few awards for her portraits. She preferred to paint in oils, but occasionally someone’s face would prompt her to sketch in pen and ink.
The exhibition in the Maxwell Mays Gallery was for the graduating seniors from the nearby Rhode Island School of Design, or “RIZ- dee ” as it was commonly called. RISD, consistently the highest ranked fine arts college in the country, was contiguous to Brown University on College Hill and only a short walk from the Art Club. Edna made it a point to visit student exhibitions each spring, interested to observe trends from one graduating class to the next.
“I like that one particularly, don’t you?” Peg had come up quietly and stood looking over Edna’s left shoulder
“I’ll do what I can, of course, but I’m not going to act like Mary.” She smiled at the image she’d invoked of herself wearing the latest camo -fatigues, hiding in the bushes on the fringes of Jaycee’s property, binoculars to the ready. Charlie laughed, probably having conjured up a similar vision.
“Seriously,” she went on, “I will not spy on the poor girl. I’ll be as attentive a neighbor as I can be without intruding on her privacy. And you should call this Dietz person back and get more information. I don’t know about you, Charlie, but I smell something fishy.”
Chapter Seven
After arranging to contact Charlie when she returned from Providence later that day, Edna spent some time in her herb garden. It was a perfect spring morning as far as she was concerned, sunny with a touch of coolness to the air that made it pleasant to work outside. She had orange, caraway and wild thymes she wanted to plant, in addition to the regular garden and lemon thymes already growing among the rocks.
Over the winter, she had read that thyme, a member of the mint family, is attractive to bees and repulses other insects. I’m all for that , she thought, setting down the small pots. She thought she might try making aromatic sachets of the herb to put in her linen cupboard, as they had in the old days.
She dug three small holes with her trowel, each in a different area of the garden. Finishing the last, she stood up and looked back at her work, only to spot Benjamin scraping more dirt out of the first hole before going to the second to make that one a little deeper. Very seriously, he moved to the hole at her feet to do the same before leaping onto the nearby brick path and settling down to groom the soil out of his paws. Highly entertained by her cat, Edna wished she had a camera handy.
“Thanks, my friend,” she said with a chuckle. Watching the time, she finished up in the herb garden, dug up a few mint plants for Peg, and headed indoors to shower and change her clothes.
An hour later, she paused at the end of her driveway to study the house across the street for a minute, before pulling out onto the road. As she picked up Route 1 and headed for the city, she thought about Jaycee’s face with the idea of making the sketch for Charlie. She puzzled over what the young woman’s story might be and why someone from the Chicago police might want to have her watched. Personal or business, she wondered. Traffic began to pick up as she merged onto Interstate 95. Forgetting about her neighbor for the time being, she focused on her driving and watched for the exit to Memorial Boulevard.
When she reached the historic clubhouse, she parked in the lot off Benefit Street and walked around to the front entrance. Formed in 1880 to encourage an appreciation of art in the community, the Providence Art Club was one of the oldest art clubs in the country. The house, originally the residence of Obadiah Brown, was built in 1790. Club founders took it over in 1887, creating studios and galleries and providing a gathering place for members. Club membership was restricted and included both artist and non-artist categories. Edna had been an artist member for eight years and had even won a few awards for her portraits. She preferred to paint in oils, but occasionally someone’s face would prompt her to sketch in pen and ink.
The exhibition in the Maxwell Mays Gallery was for the graduating seniors from the nearby Rhode Island School of Design, or “RIZ- dee ” as it was commonly called. RISD, consistently the highest ranked fine arts college in the country, was contiguous to Brown University on College Hill and only a short walk from the Art Club. Edna made it a point to visit student exhibitions each spring, interested to observe trends from one graduating class to the next.
“I like that one particularly, don’t you?” Peg had come up quietly and stood looking over Edna’s left shoulder
Similar Books
