Read Arsenic For Tea: A Murder Most Unladylike Mystery (A Wells and Wong Mystery) for Free Online

seemed an odd way to go about it.
    ‘My darling,’ said Mr Curtis. ‘My darling . . .’ And then he took hold of Lady Hastings and kissed her vigorously.
    I nearly laughed. Grown-ups look so odd and ugly when they kiss, and Mr Curtis and Daisy’s mother were being so enthusiastic about it.
    But then I looked at Daisy.
    Her hands were over her open mouth, and her eyes were open too, as wide as they could go. She was staring and staring at her mother and Mr Curtis, and tears were trickling down her face and onto her curled-up fingers.
    I had never seen Daisy cry before. I didn’t think she had tears in her, the way ordinary people do. But as soon as I saw her, I realized that this was extremely serious. This was Daisy’s mother, and Daisy’s mother was married to Daisy’s father. She was not supposed to be kissing other men in libraries. She was not supposed to be kissing other men at all.
    The library door banged open again and Bertie burst into the room. Stephen was just behind him, and I had a snapshot of his shocked, freckly face, mouth open almost as wide as Daisy’s, before Bertie roared, ‘MOTHER!’ and Lady Hastings and Mr Curtis leaped apart as though they had been electrocuted.
    ‘Bertie!’ gasped Lady Hastings. ‘Mr Curtis was just—’
    The door banged open again, and Uncle Felix came striding in. ‘Margaret, are you in here?’ he called. ‘I want— What’s this?’
    ‘I was having a quiet word with Denis,’ said Lady Hastings. ‘Bertie interrupted us.’
    ‘A quiet word, was it?’ asked Bertie, face burning. ‘Don’t talk such tosh, Mother, you’ve done this too many times. If it were up to me I’d— Oh! Come on, Stephen, let’s leave these idiots to it.’ And he turned and shoved his way out of the room, looking ready to crumple up with rage.
    Stephen followed him, darting one last shocked glance back at Mr Curtis as he did so.
Poor Stephen
, I thought,
caught up in the middle of this! And poor Daisy too.
She was still weeping.
    Uncle Felix stared from Lady Hastings to Mr Curtis, then back again, and I could see him understanding everything.
    ‘So, Margaret,’ he said. ‘What were you
really
doing?’ He suddenly sounded quite dangerous.
    ‘I don’t see what it is to you,’ said Mr Curtis. ‘It’s a free country.’
    ‘For one thing,’ said Uncle Felix, ‘I happen to be Margaret’s brother. And for another – I’d like to know more about you, Mr Denis Curtis. Which antiques house do you work for, again – was it Christie’s?’
    Mr Curtis froze. ‘
None
of your business,’ he snarled, all politeness gone from his voice. ‘I didn’t say. And I’ll thank you to move out of my way!’
    He barged out of the room – very rudely, I thought, hating him more than ever. Lady Hastings was left standing alone beside the sofa, hugging herself with her arms again and looking forlorn.
    ‘Sometimes you’re horrid,’ she said to Uncle Felix. ‘Why do you always have to go poking your nose in?’
    ‘Margaret, listen for a moment. That man – he’s not the sort of person you ought to be associating with. I strongly suggest you reconsider having him in the house.’
    ‘Oh, don’t be so tiresome,’ Lady Hastings snapped. ‘Just because he’s my friend! This is my home, and you can’t tell me what to do in it.’
    ‘He needs to go, Margaret!’ said Uncle Felix – but Lady Hastings had already stormed out. He groaned and ran his fingers through his hair, and then he strode after her. We were alone.
    Daisy was still crouched behind the curtain, gulping, her face covered in tears. I didn’t know what to do. She’d had a shock – I remembered vaguely that people in shock were supposed to have cold water poured over them, but I didn’t have any cold water to hand.
    ‘Daisy,’ I said, trying to be encouraging. I knew I couldn’t speak about what we had just seen. ‘Didn’t you hear? It sounds as though Uncle Felix is suspicious of Mr Curtis after all! We might