Tea & Treachery. Vicki Delany

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      Chapter 6

      “Everything okay down there?” a woman’s voice called.

      I glanced up to see two faces peering down at us. A man and a woman, almost certainly B & B guests.

      I pushed myself to my feet. Bernie took out her phone and called 911.

      “You stay here,” I said. “Wait until help arrives. I need to put the dog away, keep people back, and check on Rose.”

      “Okay.”

      I called to Éclair. She hesitated, and I called again, more sharply this time. She gave Jack Ford one last sniff and then came to me. We scrambled back up the stairs. More people had arrived, and anxious faces studied me when I reached the top.

      “There’s been an accident,” I said. “Please keep back, everyone. The emergency services have been called.”

      “Cool.” A small girl pushed herself forward. “Can I look?”

      An arm yanked her back. “You most certainly may not.”

      “Please go back to the house and carry on with your day,” I said.

      No one took my advice; instead, more people began to arrive. I didn’t know what to do. Someone had to stay here and keep these people off the steps, but I needed to make sure Rose was okay.

      “Is he dead?” A man leaned over the fence to see better.

      People threw each other questioning glances and murmured.

      “Please take care, sir,” I said. “You can see the gate isn’t stable.”

      “Is it anyone we know?” a woman asked. “Can you see, Brian?”

      “Can’t tell from here,” the man said. “He’s not moving, though.”

      Simon McCracken appeared at my side. “What do you need, Lily?”

      I sighed with relief. “Nine-one-one’s been called. We don’t want anyone else falling. I need to check on my grandmother, and I should get Éclair out of the way.”

      “Leave it with me,” he said. “Sir, would you mind stepping back a few steps? Thank you. And you, young lady, need to do what your mother tells you.”

      I slipped away, and Éclair followed. I listened for the sound of approaching sirens, but other than the voices of people gathering, calling questions to each other, and the murmur of waves crashing on the rocks below, I heard nothing. First, I went to my cottage and shut the protesting dog inside; then I returned to the house and entered through the French doors leading into the dining room. Edna was setting tables for tomorrow with our pink and red china, sterling silver flatware, and white linens. She didn’t look up when I came in.

      “What’s going on out there? Are there whales in the bay?”

      “There’s been an accident on the stairs. Have you seen Rose this morning?”

      “No, I haven’t. I don’t think she’s come in yet. What sort of accident? Is everyone okay?”

      “No. Not okay.” I lowered my voice, even though no one else was around. “A man’s dead.”

      Edna dipped her head.

      I let out a relieved breath when I heard a steady tap-tap on the old wooden floor of the hallway and Rose came into the dining room with her leopard-print cane, dressed for the day in red Bermuda shorts and a purple T-shirt dotted with orange flowers. Black socks were pulled up to her calves, and her feet were in sturdy Birkenstocks.

      “There’s been an accident outside,” I told her. “A man fell down the steps.” At last I heard the faint sound of sirens approaching. “An ambulance has been called, but I wanted to give you a heads-up.”

      Rose’s eyes widened in shock, and she lifted a hand to her mouth. “Oh dear. Not one of our guests, I hope.” The top of the bluffs was on our property, but hikers often didn’t worry about such things and tried to keep as close to the cliff’s edge as possible. We never asked them to leave if they weren’t causing trouble.

      “No,” I said. “Not a guest . . .”

      “How dreadful. Don’t worry about me, love. You go out and supervise.”

      “It’s Jack Ford,” I said. “He seems to have fallen. He’s dead.”

      Edna sucked in a breath.

      Rose’s eyes narrowed. “Jack Ford? What do you suppose he was doing here this morning? Trespassing on my property.” She walked across the room and took a seat at a table next to the windows. “Edna, I’ll have my tea here this morning.”

      “Only because you seem to be in such a state of shock,” Edna said, “I’ll make it. But just this once. Don’t let it become a habit.”

      “You’ll either have to make your own tea or wait for it,” I said. “I have another job for Edna. Run up to the tearoom and take some cookies out of the freezer. The spare key is on the hook in the kitchen. Lay out coffee and cookies in here. If the police have questions for our guests, we need to give them something to keep them happy.”

      People in uniform ran past the windows. Edna headed for the kitchen to get the key to the tearoom.

      “Your job, Rose,” I said, “will be to keep the guests from speculating as to what happened. We don’t want any talk of unsafe conditions.”

      “I can’t entertain without first having something to wet my whistle.”

      “Stiff upper lip and all that. СКАЧАТЬ