Read Online Tea with Milk and Murder (Oxford Tearoom Mysteries ~ Book 2) by H.Y. Hanna - Free Book Online Page A

expression on her face. She came rushing up to me.
    “Oh, God, Gemma—I’m so sorry! I completely overslept this morning! We stayed at Jon’s place last night and didn’t get to sleep till the early hours…” She blushed slightly, leaving me in no doubt as to what they were doing up so late. “I thought he’d like a bit of company, you know, after what had happened at the gallery… Anyway, when I woke up this morning and realised the time, I got here as fast as I could.”
    I swallowed my annoyance. After all, everyone mucked up sometimes and last night’s fiasco probably gave her a better excuse than most.
    “No worries, as my friends Down Under would say,” I said, giving her a smile. “The Old Biddies decided to help out.”
    “The Old Biddies!” Cassie turned and looked disbelievingly at the white-haired figures bustling around the room. “You’re not serious!”
    “Uh… Actually, they’ve been really good,” I said. “In fact, the customers seem to love them and the whole place seems to be running a lot smoother.”
    Cassie looked shamefaced again. “Sorry—I know I must have left you in the lurch, especially with Sunday being one of our busiest days.”
    “That’s okay. So how’s Jon?”
    “Oh, the poor thing… It was such a horrible shock for him, having someone collapse like that in his gallery.”
    “And someone he knew too,” I said.
    Cassie frowned. “Well, not very well. She wasn’t much more than a customer, really. It wasn’t like Jon knew her personally or anything.”
    “Did the police believe that?”
    “Why shouldn’t they?” Cassie flared.
    I bit my tongue. “No, no reason. I just thought… you know how police can be so suspicious sometimes…”
    Cassie scowled. “Bloody right! I don’t know what Devlin’s playing at. I used to think that he was a pretty decent guy, but he’s acting like a complete plonker in this instance! Anyone can see that Jon’s the victim there. That girl was totally barmy and making poor Jon’s life a misery—and all he did was try to provide the best service for his clients!”
    Cassie’s voice had rose shrilly in indignation and customers at several tables turned around to stare. I glanced at them, then caught Cassie’s arm and pulled her out of the dining room. We went into the little shop area adjoining the main tearoom, selling Oxford souvenirs and English tea paraphernalia, where we could have some privacy.
    “The Old Biddies seem to think that the waitress who was at the bar last night might be involved. Her name’s Fiona Stanley, apparently. Did you hear the police mention her?” I asked.
    Cassie frowned. “Yeah, I did hear Devlin say something about that to his sergeant. The girl’s a student here at the University, isn’t she?”
    I nodded. “And so was Sarah. In fact, they were both in the same year, doing Fine Art.”
    Cassie raised her eyebrows. “Fine Art? Really?”
    Cassie had read Fine Art at Oxford herself, whilst I had done English. We’d been delighted when we had both been accepted and our close friendship, which had started in primary school, continued strong through our university years. In fact, even my moving to the other side of the world for eight years hadn’t threatened our friendship. Nothing had ever come between Cassie and me. Except Jon Kelsey , I thought sourly.
    Aloud, I asked, “Would Sarah and Fiona have had much to do with each other?”
    Cassie shrugged. “It’s a pretty small department—the new intake is no more than thirty students each year—and it’s got a very intimate feel; everyone works alongside each other in the studios. In fact, all the teaching is done in the department rather than in the colleges.”
    “Oh?” I was surprised to hear that.
    One of the ways Oxford was so different from most other universities in the world was its collegiate “tutorial system”. Basically, this meant that you were taught individually or in small groups of two and three, by the