Read Online Love Notes from Vinegar House by Karen Tayleur - Free Book Online Page A

there,” said Rumer.
    “Dirty washing?” I asked.
    She gave me a withering look, which I guessed meant it wasn’t there either.
    Grandma carefully sipped black tea from a floral china teacup. “Perhaps you could try your bedroom floor, Rumer? Mrs Skelton tells me that is your preferred storage option.”
    Rumer’s eyes blazed like cold ice. “Mrs Skelton’s–”
    “A very good help to me. However, she does find it hard to vacuum your floor, Rumer. Perhaps you could tidy that up after breakfast?”
    Rumer pushed her chair away from the table and swept out of the room, slamming the door behind her.
    Grandma Vinegar finished her tea as if nothing had happened, then said, “The wind is brisk today.”
    But I knew that wouldn’t be the end of it.

    Just before noon that day I found Rumer’s red top folded on my bed. I wasn’t sure how it got there. I went to Rumer’s bedroom, the door was ajar.
    “Rumer?” I said, quietly.
    I pushed at the door – a slight shudder passing through me as I looked around the Blue Room. It hadn’t changed much since that first Murder in the Dark game, though the floor-length mirror had gone. The floor was tidy and only shoes remained at the foot of the bed. There was no cousin in sight, but a faint pulsing glow drew me inside. Rumer had brought her laptop with her.
    “What do you want?” Rumer stood at the door behind me, slightly out of breath.
    “Where have you been?” I asked.
    “I went for a jog,” she said.
    I looked down at her high-heeled boots and couldn’t imagine Rumer running anywhere.
    “Is that my red top?” she snapped.
    “Yes, I–”
    She snatched it out of my hands and held it close to her chest.
    “Mrs Skelton must have thought it was mine,” I said.
    Rumer grunted.
    “You brought your laptop with you,” I said.
    She shrugged. “I need it. For study. This is a very important school year for me.”
    “Bet Grandma doesn’t know it’s here.”
    “Who cares?” She shrugged again, then looked quickly over her shoulder into the hall. “I need it,” she repeated. “Anyway, she can’t tell me what to do.”
    “Mrs Skelton must know you have it.” I couldn’t imagine Mrs Skelton not knowing everything that was going on in the house.
    “And?”
    “Grandma doesn’t even have the internet on here.”
    Rumer pointed to the USB modem plugged into the computer’s side. “Dad insisted I come and spend some quality time with Grandma. There was no way I was coming without my laptop.”
    I wondered if Rumer understood what “quality time” meant.
    “I need to get changed,” said Rumer. “I’m sweaty after that walk.”
    “I thought you went for a jog–”
    “Freya!”
    “Maybe I could use it sometime,” I pointing to the laptop, “just now and then?”
    “Hmm,” she said, in a way that meant there was no way in hell I’d be able to.
    “You’ve got to let me–” I pleaded.
    Mrs Skelton stopped at the doorway.
    “I need a hand moving a rug downstairs,” she said looking at me. “The one in the drawing room.”
    Rumer moved to stand next to me, blocking the view of the laptop from Mrs Skelton’s gaze.
    “Will you be helping too?” Mrs Skelton asked Rumer, dryly.
    “I need to get changed,” said Rumer, still holding her red top.
    “Right. Just you then,” said Mrs Skelton addressing me. She turned away. “You might want to keep that computer thing more hidden. Your grandmother’s likely to burn it if she sees it.”
    I followed Mrs Skelton into the hallway.
    “Oh,” said Mrs Skelton. “I had a message. Mrs Kramer wants a word with her.” She nodded towards Rumer’s room.
    “I’ll tell her,” I said.
    I went back and found Rumer frantically going through the pocket of her red top.
    “Grandma wants to see you–”
    “Get out!” she barked.
    As I left the bedroom door slammed behind me.

    I didn’t hear Rumer and Grandma’s discussion, but when Rumer came downstairs for lunch an hour later, she seemed to have found