Read Murder in the Mystery Suite (A Book Retreat Mystery) for Free Online

with delight.
    “Oh, Eloise!” she exclaimed. “Did you hear?”
    Eloise put on a patient smile. Mrs. Pratt was forever trying to set her up with every single man in Storyton. The older woman was also fond of cautioning Eloise about the hazards of becoming an old maid. Like Jane, Eloise was in her mid-thirties and resented being told that her beauty, charm, and the likelihood of her producing a brood of healthy children were swiftly diminishing. Still, Mrs. Pratt was a regular customer and a member of Jane’s book club. She faithfully purchased half a dozen romance novels each week, so Eloise did her best to be friendly to the cantankerous gossipmonger.
    “About the asphalt steeplechase?” Jane asked.
    “Yes.” Mrs. Pratt’s enthusiasm waned in the face of Jane’s reply, but then she brightened. “But do you know how it ended?”
    Eloise shrugged, trying to appear disinterested. “Judging by what the twins said, the woman fainted and had to be carried into Doc Lydgate’s office.”
    “Fainted?” Mrs. Pratt took out the Japanese fan she kept in her purse, opened it with a practiced flick of her wrist, and began to wave it in front of her face. “No, no, my dear. Well, she
might
have fainted at one point, but by the time your brother”—she stopped her narrative and cocked her head like an inquisitive bird—“Edwin, is it? He’s very handsome. Why hasn’t he visited before? And what brings him to our sleepy little village now? You two certainly look alike, but he got all the height while you got all that curly hair. I’d say there’s about three years separating you. Maybe four. Am I right?”
    “The woman?” Jane prompted. “What happened to the woman?”
    “Oh, yes!” Mrs. Pratt’s eyes twinkled with relish before she hastily adopted an expression of woe. “Well . . .” She paused theatrically and lowered her fan. Casting a surreptitious glance at the twins, she leaned closer to Eloise and Jane and whispered, “Your brother carried her into Doc Lydgate’s office, but the good doctor couldn’t do her much for her, the poor thing. He’s a fine physician, but he’s not a miracle worker.”
    Jane was confused. “He wasn’t able to wake her up?”
    Mrs. Pratt shook her head. “No, dear, he wasn’t. After all, there’s no rousing the dead.”

THREE
    “She’s dead?” Jane whispered. “Just like that?”
    “It’s quite the mystery,” Mrs. Pratt confirmed. “After all, she was younger than both of you, and though she was clearly terrified when we saw her charging down the street, she didn’t look to be on the brink of death.” She paused, pulling at the loose skin under her chin as she often did when she was turning over a thought. “If her horse had pitched her into a wall or trampled her, then this would make more sense.”
    Jane glanced at Hem and Fitz, who were too busy ogling the cover of the new Green Lantern comic book to eavesdrop, and took Mrs. Pratt by the elbow. “Perhaps we should move away from the door. We wouldn’t want to frighten any of Eloise’s customers.”
    Pleased by the results of her macabre imagery, Mrs. Pratt continued to describe how the rider could have met with a violent ending. She didn’t resist when Jane, followed closely by Eloise, steered her deep into the stacks of the romance section. Instead, she grabbed several paperbacks and clutched them to her ample chest. Turning to Eloise, she said, “Your brother was magnificent.” She caressed the cover of a romantic suspense novel. “He was just like one of these heroes. Tall, dark, and handsome with an animal magnetism that crackles like lightning during a summer storm.” Mrs. Pratt was nearly panting. “The way he lifted that woman in his muscular arms and carried her into the doc’s office like she weighed no more than a throw pillow—strong as a bull, he was! It’s enough to make a woman swoon. Oh, my, my, my.”
    Exchanging a nervous look with Eloise, Jane took a firmer hold of Mrs.