Read Online Death Is in the Air by Kate Kingsbury - Free Book Online Page B

twisted her head around when Elizabeth walked in. “Oh, there you are, Lizzie. I was wondering when you’d get back. Martin has been driving me batty with his dithering. Kept telling me you’d been murdered.”
    “I wish you hadn’t told him,” Elizabeth said mildly. “You know how easily he’s upset.”
    Violet sniffed. “Better he heard it from me than from someone else. He’s going quite dotty lately. He’s convinced that the master’s ghost is roaming the halls. Hope he doesn’t tell the Yanks that.”
    “I don’t think they’ll pay much attention to him.” Elizabeth glanced at the clock. “What are you cooking?”
    “Tomato soup. Got a new loaf of crusty bread from Bessie’s Bake Shop to go with it.”
    “Wonderful!” Elizabeth sank onto a chair at the table. “I’m absolutely starving. How is Bessie? Is she still doing a good business in the tearoom? I haven’t been down there in weeks.”
    “She’s doing better now that the Yanks are here.” Violet stirred the soup one more time, then turned off thegas flame beneath it. “The shop was full of them. Though mind you, I think they help her out with sugar and flour from the base. She even had two dozen eggs in the pantry. Bet they didn’t come from Bodkins.”
    “I’m sure she has special rations for her business,” Elizabeth said, determined not to be drawn into another argument about accepting gifts from the Americans.
    Violet poured the steaming soup into two bowls and set one of them in front of Elizabeth. “So what happened down at the police station? Have they caught that bloody German yet? I saw Rita down at the bakery. She’s getting her troops together to go and hunt for him.”
    Alarmed, Elizabeth paused with her spoon halfway to her mouth. “I certainly hope she does no such thing. Does she have any idea how dangerous that can be?”
    “I would think if she knows that Nazi killed someone she’d also have the sense to know he isn’t going to play Ring around the Rosie with them.”
    “I was thinking more of it being dangerous for the German.”
    Violet grinned. “You might have something there. You know there’s no stopping Rita once she’s got a bee in her bonnet about something. She’s all set to go after that poor blighter. Heaven help him if she catches up with him.”
    “It’s unlikely she will. I understand from George that soldiers from the army camp are hunting for him. I just hope that they don’t run into Rita and her motley crew of housewives.”
    “I wouldn’t like to bet on who comes out best of that battle.”
    Elizabeth sipped at her soup, then lowered her spoon. “This is very good, Violet.”
    The housekeeper tipped her head to one side. “You haven’t told me how you got on at the police station.”
    Having failed in her attempt to change the subject, Elizabeth laid down her spoon. “I don’t think the constables have any real proof that the German pilot wasresponsible for the murder. They say she was killed with an axe, but they haven’t found it yet, so they don’t really know any more than I do.”
    “Those nitwits never know what they’re doing, anyway. That’s what you get when you drag two blokes out of retirement like that. They forget everything they ever learned, and their feeble minds can’t learn it again.”
    “They are doing the best they can under the circumstances. While I acknowledge that the German must be caught and put under guard, I have the feeling that the constables are looking in the wrong place for their murderer.”
    “You mean he’s not in the woods?”
    “I mean I don’t think he’s necessarily the murderer.”
    “Go on!” Violet brought her soup to the table and sat down. “Well, if you don’t think the German killed that poor girl, then who did? Maybe it was one of the Yanks this time.”
    Elizabeth jerked up her chin. “I don’t want to hear you repeat that to anyone else,” she said sharply. “Rumors are flying around as it is, and I won’t