Read Online Mrs. Jeffries & the Yuletide Weddings by Emily Brightwell - Free Book Online

sideboard. It was almost eight o’clock and she was getting a bit nervous. She didn’t want to say anything, but she did hope they’d get on with it. She needed time to change her clothes and tidy herself up a bit before she and Smythe had to meet her sister’s train. Still, she ought to be grateful for small favors; getting everyone here at this time of the morning was quite an accomplishment. She smiled at Lady Cannonberry as the slender middle-aged blonde sat down in the empty chair next to Mrs. Goodge.
    This morning’s meeting had almost come undone before it even began. Lady Cannonberry had arrived at the back door a split second after the inspector had left the kitchen. They’d almost run into each other. That could have been a tad awkward considering that Inspector Witherspoon had no idea that his “special friend” had helped investigate more than a dozen of his cases.
    Ruth Cannonberry was the widow of a peer of the realm and could have easily led the upper-class life of a lady of leisure. But instead, after her husband’s death, she’d thrown her time and energy into helping the poor and working to get women the right to vote. She’d been raised the daughter of a country vicar and consequently had taken the admonition to love her neighbor quite seriously. She was the one who insisted that everyone in the household call her by her Christian name, except, of course, in front of the inspector. Ruth was very sensitive to the feelings of others, and despite her social conscience and dislike of the English class system, she knew the staff would be uncomfortable addressing her in such a familiar manner in front of their employer. Betsy admired her greatly.
    “Do stand still for a moment, madam,” a deep male voice instructed. Betsy turned to see Hatchet attempting to untangle the voluminous green netting trailing from Luty Belle Crookshank’s gigantic hat.
    “I am standin’ still,” Luty Belle retorted. She was an elderly, gray-haired American woman who dressed in bright colors no matter what the season of the year. Today she wore a brilliant green overcoat and a matching hat festooned with a variety of multihued feathers and draped yards of veiling that were currently tangled around the brass button of her collar.
    The tall, white-haired man dressed in an old-fashioned black frock coat was her butler, Hatchet. He was also her very best friend. “There, that should do it.” He unloosed a length of fabric and freed his employer.
    Luty and Hatchet had been witnesses during one of the inspector’s earliest cases. Luty’s elegant Knightsbridge home had shared the same communal garden as the murder victim, and being sharp-eyed as well as nosy, Luty had noticed the various members of the inspector’s household asking questions and snooping about the area. Shortly after the successful resolution of that particular murder, Luty had come to them for help with a problem of her own. Ever since, she and Hatchet had insisted on being part of all the inspector’s cases. She was rich, eccentric, and kindhearted and egalitarian in outlook. Occasionally, she was blunt to the point of rudeness, but her money gave her access to people out of reach for the rest of the inspector’s household.
    Luty knew every politician, financier, and aristocrat in London, and she used those connections ruthlessly. She wasn’t the only one with useful connections, though. Hatchet had resources of his own that he called upon when the need arose.
    Mrs. Jeffries took her place at the head of the table and waited till Luty and Hatchet had settled in their places. “I take it all of you have been told the basics of the case.” She reached for her cup.
    “Wiggins told us on the way over here,” Luty replied.
    “And Mrs. Goodge very kindly gave me what details she had,” Ruth added.
    “Excellent, then we can get right to what I found out from the inspector last night and what I learned from Constable Barnes this morning,” she