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

Pratt’s elbow. “You’re not going to faint are you, Mrs. Pratt?”
    “No, no, no. I’m quite all right,” the older woman said. “I’m simply not accustomed to this much excitement, that’s all. Not in real life anyway. These books provide me with the thrills I crave, but every once in a while I dream of a moment in which reality could mirror fiction. And this afternoon, it
did
.” Her gaze grew distant. “A wild ride through the center of town, people scrambling to get out of the way, a damsel in distress, a young stallion—I mean man—who happens to be the brother of our own Miss Alcott . . . This sort of thing doesn’t happen every day, my dear. I can’t help but be caught up by it all.”
    “I only wish her story had had a different ending,” Jane said glumly. “The poor woman.”
    “Indeed.” Mrs. Pratt didn’t appear very distressed by the rider’s fate. “I should dash. Can you ring me up, Eloise?” She gathered three more books and then hurried off to the checkout counter.
    “She can’t wait to get next door and tell everyone what happened,” Eloise said. “I’d better see to her before she starts talking to the twins.”
    Luckily, Fitz and Hem showed no interest in anything but the rack of comic books. “Do you have any money left?” Jane asked the boys.
    “I do,” Hem boasted. “Fitz spent all of his at Geppetto’s.”
    “Yeah, but we’re supposed to share the stuff we buy.” Fitz glared at his brother and then gave Jane a plaintive look. “Only I don’t want him to pick the Green Lantern. See this?” He pointed at a cover showing a group of masked characters poised for battle. “It has a whole bunch of superheroes. Hem’s only has one.”
    Mrs. Pratt passed by in time to catch Fitz’s remark. “It only takes one hero to set an entire town aflutter, young sir. Just ask Edwin Alcott!”
    The boys turned to Jane with inquisitive eyes, but she merely tapped the face of her watch and said, “We’ll barely make it home for supper at this point. Choose a comic book and meet me at the Pickled Pig.”
    Jane turned to wave at Eloise, but her friend was busy with a customer, so she signaled once more for the twins to hurry up with their decision and headed outside. She’d just cleared the garden gate when a man barreled into her hard enough to drive the breath out of her lungs.
    “Oh!” she cried, startled, and grabbed on to the gatepost to keep her balance. Her handbag fell to the ground and her change purse, which hadn’t been closing properly for several weeks, popped open and disgorged her coins into the grass.
    “Do you live here or are you a tourist?” the man demanded while Jane was still trying to steady herself.
    Scowling angrily, she glanced up, fully prepared to lecture the cad on his lack of courtesy. But when she looked into his eyes, she forgot all about the scolding. His dark gaze was so fierce, so incredibly intense, that she immediately answered, “I’m a local. I live—”
    “Come to the doctor’s office,” he interrupted. “Someone needs to identify the body and I can’t.” He started off in the direction from which he’d come without waiting to see whether Jane was following.
    “Hey!” Jane called, but he didn’t slow his pace. Annoyed, Jane shouted, “Edwin Alcott. You stop right there!”
    He froze and swung around, his piercing stare fixed on her. “How do you know my name?”
    “I’m your sister’s best friend,” Jane explained once she’d drawn alongside him. “You look alike. Even on horseback, I knew who you were.” She put her hands on her hips. “And though you clearly share DNA with Eloise, you lack her impeccable manners. I need to get my purse, which fell on the ground when you rammed into me like a jousting knight, and then I’m going to the food market. There’s no need to take me to the doc’s because I wouldn’t be able to help.”
    Edwin raked his fingers through his thick hair, seemingly at a loss. “Are