Read Murder by Arrangement (Edna Davies mysteries Book 5) for Free Online

mind busy until she reached her exit off the highway.
    She slowed as
she approached Lily Beck’s yellow bungalow with its wide veranda and dormer
windows. The house, Edna had learned from Tuck, had been built in nineteen
thirty by Lily’s late husband’s grandfather. In their early days, bungalows
were much larger than their later counterparts, and that was certainly true of
this rambling structure. Beyond the house and a patch of side garden, Edna
pulled onto the pavement in front of a four-car garage. With a second story
above, the building looked nearly as large as the main house.
    Before
double-wide doors, the driveway was deep enough for two cars to sit bumper to
bumper. Edna noticed that someone had neatly shoveled yesterday’s snow from the
entire paved area. She stopped immediately off the road so as not to crowd the
woman standing beside a shiny black, vintage Impala that was parked in front of
the second bay. Lily Beck was speaking to a man on the opposite side of the
hood. From her gestures, she was apparently pointing out spots he’d missed with
his polishing rag which he then dutifully attacked with the cloth in his hand.
So intent was she that she didn’t turn until Edna’s car doors opened and the
girls scrambled out.
    In her early
sixties, Lily was a statuesque woman with wavy salt-and-pepper hair that hung
loose to her shoulders. Wearing a woolen coat that had seen better days, she
bent to hug Lettie and smile at Amanda before waving to Edna.
    “Hello,” she
called. “Rose phoned to say you’d be bringing Violet, but I didn’t expect you
quite so soon. You made good time.”
    “Yes, we beat
the worst of the rush-hour traffic,” Edna said and extended a hand, palm up,
toward Amanda. “I’d like you to meet my granddaughter Amanda.”
    Lily solemnly
shook the hand the girl offered before speaking in a surprisingly stern tone to
Lettie. “Where’s your suitcase?”
    “In the car,”
her granddaughter said quietly with a glance at the Buick’s back end.
    When Edna
released the trunk latch with her remote and started toward the rear of the
car, Lily barked another order. “Clem will get it,” she said, jerking her head
toward the lean man standing beside the Impala. “Clem, take Violet’s suitcase
and leave it inside the front door. No farther. Just inside the door.”
    As he
approached, Edna saw that Clem was older than she’d first thought him to be.
Early seventies, she guessed. Although quite thin, he looked physically fit,
and his skin was weathered, as if he spent most of his time outdoors. In the
stillness following Lily’s command, Edna wondered if the man were used to his
employer’s abruptness. She herself couldn’t imagine ordering someone about with
such rudeness.
    Having
obediently picked up the pink luggage, Clem was mounting the steps to the
veranda before Lettie broke the growing silence. “Can I show Amanda my room?”
she asked her grandmother in a voice so soft that Edna barely heard her.
    Before Lily
could respond, Amanda distracted them all. “Gramma, look. You have a flat
tire.” She was pointing at the Buick’s front end.
    Hurrying around
to her granddaughter’s side, Edna’s heart sank. While the tire wasn’t exactly
flat, it had lost enough air that it couldn’t possibly get them home. “Drat,”
she muttered, staring for several seconds, wanting what her eyes saw not to be
true. Finally, resignedly, she looked up at Lily. “I’ll call the garage and
have them send someone out, but I’m afraid I’ll have to impose on you until
it’s fixed. I hope that won’t be inconvenient.”
    “Don’t bother
calling anyone. Clem will take care of it.”
    The man who had
just been volunteered approached in time to hear. Nodding at Edna, he said,
“Probably picked up a nail. If you’ll give me your keys, I’ll see what I can
do.” His voice, although raspy, was pleasant and surprisingly cultured. His
face was turned away from his employer and, as he reached