Read Online Angel's Flight (A Mercy Allcutt Mystery) by Alice Duncan - Free Book Online

a newish actress who had made quite a hit in the melodrama Whispering Oaks . I’d seen that one, and thought Miss Lloyd had been stunning as the orphaned Lillian, a maiden taken cruel advantage of by Mr. Wallace Reid, who had seduced and abandoned her. Well, his character had. I’m sure Mr. Reid is a gentleman of impeccable character. Chloe and I had seen the picture together and cried buckets through most of it.
          But back to the matter at hand. “I’m so happy to have another secretary to talk to,” I told Miss Dunstable eagerly. “I’ve only had my job for a little over a month, and I’m sure you can give me some valuable pointers on organization and so forth.”
          She blinked once or twice and said, “I’ll be happy to help in any way I can, Miss Allcutt.”
          “That probably sounds . . . um, unusual,” said I, noticing her puzzled expression. Little did she know. Since I didn’t want to go into my family background and how useless I’d been in the world until Ernie’d hired me, I only said, “I’m so new at this secretarial business, you see. I’ve only had my job for a month or so. This is my first job, too.”
          “Ah. Yes. Well, I’ll be happy to answer any questions you might have.”
          “Have you worked as a secretary long?”
          “Several years.”
          She didn’t look very old, but perhaps she’d started young. I didn’t think it would be polite to ask her age. “Oh, I’m sure you know ever so much more about secretarial organization than I.” I popped up from my chair, deciding I’d made enough of a fool of myself for one day. “I’m so glad you and Mr. Carstairs decided to move into our building. I won’t keep you from your organizing. I’m sure you have a ton of work to do.”
          She sighed. “Yes. I really detest moving offices. There are so many files and things to put in order.”
          I’d said, “Yes,” although I didn’t know that from experience, when the door behind Miss Dunstable opened, and there stood Mr. James Quincy Carstairs in the flesh. It was pretty good-looking flesh, too. In fact, Mr. Carstairs could easily have passed for one of the movie actors he represented. He wasn’t quite as tall as Ernie, but he, unlike my employer, was clad in a well-cut summer-weight tan suit. He wore his dark hair slicked back a la Rudolph Valentino, and had one of those little pencil-thin mustaches. To tell the truth, I’m not much of a fan of those types of mustaches, but they were becoming all the rage in the flickers, so I suppose any man who worked with actors as Mr. Carstairs did might want to wear one.
          He’d opened his mouth to say something to Miss Dunstable when he spotted me. His mouth closed and then he smiled. He had the whitest, most perfect teeth I’d ever seen. “Well, well, well, what do we have here?” He took a step forward and looked as though he wanted to shake my hand.
          As I’d had etiquette drummed into me since birth, I forestalled a lapse on his part (the lady is supposed always to initiate hand-shaking) by sticking my own hand out. “How do you do. I’m Mercy Allcutt, and I work down the hall for Mr. Ernest Templeton.”
          “Ah, so you work for Ernie, do you? James Carstairs here. And I presume you’ve met Miss Sylvia Dunstable, the most efficient secretary on the planet.”
          “Yes, we’ve just met.” I glanced back at Miss Dunstable for a moment and returned my attention to him. “You know Mr. Templeton?”
          He chuckled. “Everyone knows Ernie Templeton, Miss Allcutt.”
          Did Mr. Carstairs sound a little snide? I couldn’t tell. “I didn’t know that.”
          “He’s quite well known in criminal circles.” Seeing my shocked expression, Mr. Carstairs elucidated. “He used to be a policeman.”
          “Oh. Yes. I did know that.” I guess Mr. Carstairs