Candied Crime Read Online Free Page B

tried to look thrice his size, but
in a no-nonsense movement Psalmonella grabbed his collar and told
him to sit.
    Rhapsody threw one glance into
the living room and stepped back. “This is a case for the police,”
she informed her sister. “I´ll call Archie immediately.”
    Constable Archibald Primrose was
Rhapsody´s fiancé. He arrived on his bicycle a few minutes later,
all ready to cordon off Miss Brown´s house and garden with yellow
tape.
    Someone had killed the old woman
in the most horrible fashion and left the axe behind. Rhapsody and
Psalmonella told Primrose what they knew while he was waiting for
reinforcement.
    Back in the kitchen Rhapsody put
the kettle on. “Do you remember she claimed she was a famous
writer?”
    “Of course I do. Poor
woman.”
    “Her house was full of
paperbacks. Hundreds, or probably thousands of romances.”
    “Surely you don´t believe it´s
true?” Psalmonella wasn´t inclined to fantasize and made short
thrift with anyone who did.
    “No, of course not, but… Well,
if she was just a harmless, old pensioner, why should anyone kill
her?”
    Constable
Primrose dropped in as soon as possible to tell them what he had
learned so far and enjoy a nice cup of coffee. “Weird case. Nothing
stolen. It´s not as if she had much to steal, of course, but she
had a gold wrist watch and some pearls that look
expensive.”
    “So the motive seems to have
been personal?” Rhapsody tried.
    “Personal, or perhaps even
worse.”
    “Worse? What could be
worse?”
    “ A mass…”
Primrose glanced at Psalmonella and shook his head. “No, it´s far
too early to say yet. But he left something behind. Or we think he
did.”
    “What? Please tell me!” Rhapsody
urged.
    “ A postcard.
It only says ´Santa was here´ on it, and it hasn´t been delivered
by the postman because there´s no address or stamp on
it.”
    “ A Christmas
card.” Rhapsody couldn´t hide her
disappointment. Anyone could have slipped a Christmas card through
Toffee Brown´s letterbox, and though they had no clue, she might
have known who ´Santa´ was.
    “ No, not
really. It´s not a Christmassy motive but an ordinary postcard from
Stockholm.” He took a gulp of his coffee. “It reminds me of
something I´ve read in a book recently, but I can´t for the life of
me remember which one.”
     
     
    V Rhapsody didn´t really have
time to solve a murder mystery in between all the Christmas
preparations in the large vicarage so she tried her best to leave
it to Archie and his colleagues. She was very pleased, though, when
he came to ask for her help the next morning.
    “ I have
something I´d like you to take a look at. The forensic team have
left so you can come in and tell me what you think about her
books.” Primrose knew when it was best to call in an expert, and
Rhapsody worked as a part-time librarian.
    Rhapsody followed him and took
her time to study the sagging shelves thoroughly. As she had
guessed yesterday they were all romances. Not really Rhapsody´s
taste – at least not if anyone asked her.
    “ But this is
crazy! No one does that … unless?” She chose one of the pink
paperbacks and pulled at it until she succeeded in wringing it off
the shelf. She checked the back flap and when she found a picture
of an old, white-haired woman she let out a low whistle. “So she
was actually… Darling, our Miss Toffee Brown was really the famous
writer Barbara Cartwheel.”
    Primrose
nodded. “I thought so but I wanted to hear what you said before I
ran out and told the superintendent. This is awful. When the press
find out…” He tore at a tuft of his short hair.
    “ But then
we´ll just have to solve the case before they do!” Rhapsody raised
her chin and looked around her, ready to strike down on any clue
the police force had not found yet. All she saw was Barbara
Cartwheel paperbacks from floor to ceiling. Thousands of them,
mostly in garish colours, and many of them were not even in
English.
    How sad. So