Read Half a Mind TO Murder (Dr. Alexandra Gladstone Mysteries Book 3) for Free Online Page A

her patients and her surgery hours to keep, there were certain tasks of pharmacology she must see to, now that there was no longer an apothecary to rely upon. As she entered the kitchen, Zack following closely behind, she was surprised to see Nancy and Polly already there, chattering and laughing like two school girls as they crushed herbs, each with mortar and pestle. Several pots bubbled on the stove.
    “ You’re both up early,” Alexandra said as she entered the kitchen.
    Nancy glanced up. “Good morning, Miss. I thought it best I get an early start on the mixtures we can store without worry of spoilage. We need to have them in stock, you know, since the apothecary closed. Poor Mr. Neill.” Her face was flushed, due, perhaps, to both the heat of the kitchen and her pleasure at having Polly as company. “And you’re up rather early yourself, if you don’t mind my saying so.”
    It was clear Nancy was on her best behavior since, under ordinary circumstances, she openly spoke her mind without giving much thought to what Alexandra might think. In spite of her father’s frequent expressions of concern at the close and, in his opinion, overly friendly relationship between the two of them, Alexandra had long ago stopped worrying about the propriety of their relationship as servant and mistress.
    “ Yes, I am up early,” Alexandra said, helping herself to a cup of tea. “I had in mind the same thing, to get some of our staple medicines prepared ahead of time, but I see I’m a little late.”
    “ Polly’s been a great help.” Nancy spoke as she poured diluted alcohol into the powdery mixture she’d created in the bowl.
    “ Yes, I can see that.” Alexandra stirred her tea as she glanced at Polly. “You seem quite adept, Polly. I can see that Mr. Neill taught you well.”
    Polly nodded. “Oh yes, he relied upon me occasionally to help him with some of the more simple tasks. He left the difficult ones to Clyde. He was a good apprentice, that one.”
    “ Humph” Nancy said with a shake of her head. “May have been a good apprentice, but he’s lecherous as a goat and lacking in sense, if you ask me. Running off the way he did just when he was about to become a full-fledged apothecary.”
    “ He can be rather disgustingly lecherous, I suppose,” Polly said. “But he’s young. Not quite ripe, you might say. There’s always hope he’ll change.” Polly handed her the bowl with its crushed herbs to Nancy to add the alcohol. “And I have to admit it was odd that he left so suddenly. Except…”
    “ Except what?” Nancy prompted.
    “ I don’t want to be a gossip…”
    “ Polly!” Nancy was playfully scolding.
    “ Well, there did seem to be some funds missing just as he…” She waved a hand. “There’s no proof he took them. Forgive me.” She turned to Alexandra. “I do wish I could stay and help more, just to show how much I appreciate your letting me stay last night. But I must be going now. Can’t afford to lose another position.”
    “ Of course not.” Alexandra set her tea cup aside. “And it was a pleasure to have—” A sudden knock at the surgery door and Zack’s almost immediate bark interrupted her. They both knew what it meant. Someone had arrived with an emergency.
    She hurried to the surgery door and opened it to find a young man of no more than twenty years holdin g an infant in his arms. The infant, whom she estimated to be a few months less than a year old, appeared to be choking. Her face had turned blue and there was a stream of blood flowing from her nose. Behind the man and the baby, a girl of perhaps sixteen, who must have been the mother, tried, with little success, to stifle her own sobs and tears. Alexandra reached for the child and called to the parents over her shoulder. “How long has she been like this?”
    “ She’s sick, Miss,” the young father said, apparently too upset to answer Alexandra’s question. “Coughing. Not breathing…My wife…You’ve got to