Read Online High Marks for Murder (A Bellehaven House Mystery Book 1) by Kate Kingsbury - Free Book Online Page A

branch," a voice declared from the back of the room.
    Shocked gasps greeted this startling statement, while Meredith glared at the girl who'd delivered it. "It is unwise to pay attention to gossip," she said, inwardly cursing Reggie's loose tongue. "One rarely gets the truth from such an unreliable source."
    "Then it's a lie?"
    Meredith hesitated. "Since Miss Duncan was apparently alone, we have no way of knowing what happened. Which is why I would like to talk to anyone who might have seen her walking the grounds that evening."
    "Maybe she was meeting with a suitor," someone said, earning snickers from several of her closest companions.
    "I think that's extremely unlikely," Meredith said sharply. Though she had to confess, the idea had merit. Perhaps Kathleen had planned to meet someone that evening. Someone who had taken advantage of the darkness to strike her down.
    Another girl timidly held up her hand. "Do you think someone from the school killed Miss Duncan?"
    The bell rang at that moment, saving Meredith from answering. Uneasily she watched the girls file out in sobering silence.
Someone from the school?
Good Lord, she prayedthat wasn't so. It was unfortunate that the seeds of doubt had now been sewn among the pupils.
    Then again, it would have been only a matter of time before word got out. If knowing the truth helped find out who had attacked Kathleen, however, perhaps it wasn't entirely a bad thing.
    The dining hall was exceptionally quiet that evening throughout supper. The pupils spoke to each other in low voices, without the laughter that normally punctuated their conversation. It was as if a cloud of doom had settled over the students of Bellehaven, and Meredith was very much afraid that it would remain there until the mystery of Kathleen's death had been uncovered.
    Although she waited in her office for quite some time after supper, no one appeared to report having seen Kathleen the evening she died. Frustrated by her lack of progress, Meredith could do nothing but retire to her room for an early night. The new day would bring the new teacher, and yet another set of problems.
    After rising early the following morning, she took her usual stroll in the gardens before breakfast. The walk helped clear her head and prepare her for the long day.
    Telling herself that she needed to make sure the weeding had been done, she tingled with expectation as she approached the flower beds. Tom was nowhere to be seen, for which she felt relieved. It seemed that Kathleen only visited her when she was quite alone.
    Having had no success so far in her quest to find out the truth, she hoped to see Kathleen's apparition again. Much as the idea unnerved her, she felt compelled to communicate with Kathleen's ghost.
    For one thing, she needed to know that she was still of sound mind, and that her visions were real and not caused by some malfunction of her brain.
    Then again, perhaps this time she could actually converse with Kathleen's ghost, though she had no idea how one went about such things.
    Since she had no previous experience with the spiritual world, she was rather at a loss about how to proceed. Nothing had prepared her for such an implausible situation.
    To make matters worse, she was completely alone in this bizarre quest. She could go to no one for help, since nobody believed she could see a ghost. She still found it impossible to believe herself.
    Moreover, if word should get back to the school board, or worse, Stuart Hamilton, that she was having hallucinations, she could very well lose her position as headmistress.
    It was all extremely disturbing.
    Braced for the appearance of Kathleen's cloud, it was almost an anticlimax when the patch of mist finally formed at the edge of the flower beds.
    Meredith felt the usual jolt of dread at the first sight of it, but this time she recovered far more quickly. By the time she could make out Kathleen's face, she felt almost calm.
    "Give me a sign," she hissed at her friend, as the