Read Online A Dark and Stormy Night by Jeanne M. Dams - Free Book Online

good.’
    He gave me a peck on the cheek and strode off. I went inside to fret.

SEVEN
    T he entire party was gathered in the kitchen. The moment I opened the door I could hear Julie Harrison, who was, predictably, taking the disaster as a personal affront.
    â€˜. . . slates came right through our window. We could have been killed!’
    Which window, I wondered. The sitting room where she’d slept it off, or the bathroom her husband stumbled into?
    She whined on. ‘And I think one of them hit me on the head. I have the most god-awful headache. I need to get to a doctor!’
    Joyce said, ‘Sis, I’ve told you.’ She was near tears. ‘No one can go anywhere. All the roads are blocked by fallen trees. And we can’t call a doctor or a pharmacy, or anyone. We’re cut off.’
    â€˜Yeah, well, I’ll tell you right now, I intend to sue.’ The other Horrible Harrison spoke up. ‘Bringin’ us out here in the middle of nowhere to a rickety old house that’s fallin’ apart—’
    â€˜I will remind you,’ said our host through clenched teeth, ‘that we did not “bring you out here”. You came for reasons of your own, and without invitation. I’m not sure whether you plan to sue God for the storm, or the long-dead builders of the house for the flying slates, but I think your lawyers will advise against either course. And I’m not exactly astonished, Julie, that you have a headache. You drank enough to fell an ox. As soon as the roads are clear and the trains are running again, I will escort you to the station in Shepherdsford.’
    The shrill voice and the hoarse one rose in united protest.
    â€˜That’s enough!’ Jim didn’t shout, but the Harrisons stopped in mid-tirade. ‘I’ve put up with a lot, but I’m not going to subject Joyce, or our guests, to any more. You have a choice. Pack up now and set out on foot if you think you can get a train quicker that way. It’s something like ten miles to the station at Shepherdsford. Or stay in your room until the roads are clear.’ He held up a hand as Dave started to bluster. ‘There is no third option.’
    â€˜Dave! Do something!’ shrieked Julie.
    â€˜Oh, I’ll do somethin’, all right,’ he growled. ‘I’ll sue the pants off both of ’em when we get back to civilization. Right now we’re getting out of where we’re not wanted.’
    He grabbed Julie’s arm and towed her out of the kitchen.
    I was beginning to get used to the sort of silences left behind by the Harrisons. This time it was broken by Mike, the dancer. ‘Ooh, do you suppose he could have meant what one hopes he meant? That they’re actually leaving?’
    â€˜I doubt it,’ said Lynn. ‘He had a bottle under his arm. I saw him filch it from the liquor tray a few minutes ago.’
    â€˜Then perhaps they will anaesthetize themselves again,’ said the vicar, mildly, ‘and we will hear no more from them for a while.’
    I sighed and sat down to the bowl of soup Mrs Bates offered me. Conversation resumed, in bits and snatches. The gorgeous Pat was trading witticisms with Ed, but neither was being especially brilliant. Mike and the vicar were discussing emergency steps to secure the house against further damage by rain or wind until a repair crew could get through. Lynn and I tried to find something to say to each other that had nothing to do with storms or skeletons, but without much success.
    The Moynihans were huddled in a corner of the vast room with Laurence Upshawe. Their voices were inaudible, but for those three, who knew about the grisly discovery under the tree, there was only one likely topic of conversation.
    Mrs Bates was going about preparations for supper, a set look on her face. These were not, her expression said, the conditions under which she was accustomed to working. I didn’t know