Read Online Cat Among the Pumpkins by Mandy Morton - Free Book Online Page B

three doors off the small landing: the first opened onto a bathroom; the second onto a bedroom with no bed, but packed instead with boxes, suitcases and old newspapers. Tilly crossed the room to the window which overlooked the front of the terrace, and noticed that there was now a light on at the Dosh Stores; carefully, she pulled the curtains before shining her torch more closely across the contents of the room. Leaving the box room, she opened the final door and found a comfortable looking bedroom. She padded across the pink carpet to the window and saw that this room looked out onto the back garden. It was beginning to get light, but she pulled the curtains and did a circuit of theroom with her torch, picking out the bed, a kidney-shaped dressing table, a basket chair and a bedside table piled high with books. Everything was tidy and in its place, including a jewellery box on the dressing table, full of what looked to be valuable trinkets. Tilly closed the box and went back downstairs, avoiding eye contact with Miss Spitforce as she passed through the parlour to the kitchen, where Hettie was slicing the rustic ham stick.
    ‘Everything all right up there?’ she asked, licking butter from her paws.
    Tilly nodded and took a large bite of the roll that Hettie offered her. Through a mouthful of bread and ham, she revealed her findings. ‘There’s a box room full of stuff that we might need to have a look at. Her bedroom’s tidy. The bed’s made and there are some nice bits of jewellery in a box on the dressing table, so I think we can rule out burglars.’
    ‘I suppose it depends on what they were after,’ said Hettie, pouring two large mugs of tea from Miss Spitforce’s willow pattern teapot. ‘I keep remembering what Teezle said about her tracing family histories. What if she found out something terrible? Something so terrible that she had to be silenced for it?’
    ‘Mm – that happens a lot in Agatha Crispy’s books. Do you think Miss Spitforce has sugar? That tea pot has made my drink a bit too strong.’ Tilly opened several cupboard doors in the kitchen before returningto the table with a box of sugar lumps. ‘Is this the dagger she was killed with?’
    Hettie nodded. ‘Yes. It’s not your average kitchen knife, is it? Nasty curled blade and a posh sort of handle – this could be the biggest clue we’ve got so far. The question is, did the killer bring it or did it belong to Miss Spitforce in the first place?’
    Tilly shuddered as she noticed the staining on the blade. ‘Shall we stick it in the shopper? I could wrap it in the tea towel to make it safe.’
    ‘That’s a good idea. We can show it to Bruiser – he’s a mine of information on weapons and that sort of stuff, and he used to pick up odd things like this on his travels. I think we’d better start sorting through papers and anything that might point to a motive. I’ll start in the parlour – there’s a desk in there. You take the box room.’ Tilly was relieved not to have to spend too much time in the company of the late Miss Spitforce. Refreshed from her early breakfast, she bounded up the stairs to start work.
    Hettie – having made herself very much at home in Mavis Spitforce’s kitchen – reluctantly moved through to the parlour with Tilly’s tartan shopper, ready to collect bits and pieces from a puzzle that might or might not lead to the killer. The torch was no good for this job, so she decided to risk switching the desk lamp on, judging that the curtains were thick enough to hide the tell-tale light. She looked at the clock onthe mantelpiece; it was already quarter past six, and there was no time to waste. First into the shopper was the pot in which she had hurriedly placed the paper fragments from the dead cat’s mouth – an important clue, even if it was unpleasant; whoever had forced Mavis Spitforce to eat someone else’s words was obviously making a point.
    Then she turned back to the body. As she would have