Mistletoe Mystery Read Online Free Page B

don’t mean to be unkind, Philly, but
you’re not the most spontaneous person we’ve ever met. I seem to remember that
when you and I dated, you had a schedule for the dates and we weren’t allowed
to deviate from it.”
    “God, did I really? Oh yes, I remember now.  But this
feels right. Except if feels wrong too. I know I’m going to get my heart
broken, but I can’t bear the thought of never seeing him again, whereas I think
I was deliberately trying to scare you off because I didn’t really fancy you.
Sorry, Puck, no offence and all that.”
    “Don’t worry, it’s only my pride and masculinity you’ve
destroyed.”
    “Oy,” said Meg with a grin. “I think you’ll find that’s my
job nowadays.”
    “And you’re the only woman who could really do it,” said
Puck, taking Meg’s hand. Philly felt a pang of regret. Not for letting Puck go,
but for never having known the love that Puck and Meg shared. She was wise
enough to know that what she felt for Matt Cassell was probably nothing more
than infatuation.
    “So what about your ideas? Meg, you said something about the
Mistletoe and Mystery weekend.”
    “Yes, I Googled that name, Dominique DuPont and guess what?”
    “She’s a schoolgirl who went missing from Bedlington Hall
when it was a boarding school.”
    “Oh. Did you Google it too?”
    “No, I remembered something about it. I’m sure you’ve found
out more.”
    “Not much more. It happened in nineteen sixty-three.
Dominique, who was seventeen at the time, simply upped and disappeared one day.
The girl, her belongings, everything. There was a nationwide hunt, but they
never found her. The odd thing is that when the school tried to contact her
family to ask if she’d returned home, they’d disappeared too. It was said they
weren’t known at the address given.”
    “That is odd.”
    “Yet children from the school were saying that they saw her
in Midchester, or other places for years after. A bit like Elvis packing
groceries in a Texas supermarket I suppose. So, I thought, what if we use that
story for the Mistletoe and Murder? It was nearly fifty years ago, so anyone
connected with it will probably be dead by now. It also cuts down on the number
of people we’d have to use. Dominique could be played by one of us, then we
could ditch her persona and be someone else. It should work as long as we made
sure those two characters weren’t in the room at the same time. We could come
up with our own reason for her disappearance. I’m thinking international
espionage.”
    “In Midchester? It’s hardly the place for spies.”
    “But Bedlington Hall was a military hospital for a short
time. What if one of the soldiers recuperating here had enemy plans for a
secret weapon and had hidden them somewhere, then died before he could hand
them over? Dominique was a teenage spy, sent to search for them, but was popped
off by the British government.”
    “I should have let you write the plays before, Meg,” said
Philly. “You’re much better at them than I am.”
    “I’ll be James Bond,” said Puck. He put his hand into the
form of a gun. “Licensed to thrill.”
    “Ooh yes,” said Meg. “Though you are much better looking,
darling, despite what Philly says.”
    “I didn’t say he wasn’t good looking. I just said I didn’t
fancy him.”
    “And the knife twists again,” said Puck, theatrically
pulling an imaginary dagger from his chest. “I’m telling you, Philly, this Matt
bloke had better be blooming fabulous now. I shan’t settle for being cast
asunder for anyone less than drop-dead gorgeous.”
    “Yes, Puck, I dumped you years ago for a man I only met
today. Though…”
    “What?” Meg and Puck said in unison.
    “Nothing. It’s silly. I just had that feeling, when you meet
someone and feel as if you’ve known them for eternity. Do you know what I
mean?”
    “We know,” said Meg, looking lovingly at her fiancé. Puck
took her hand, raised it and kissed it.
    Pushing aside