Authors: C T Mitchell
Tags: #Murder in the Cemetery
Murder in the Cemetery: A Lady Margaret Turnbull Cozy Mystery Book (International Cozy Mystery Series 3) (3 page)
Excerpt from Murder in the Village
Lady Margaret’s birthday was coming up, and it wasn’t
something she was too keen on thinking too hard about. There wasn’t anything wrong
with birthdays, really, she just didn’t feel as old as her birthday cards told
her she was, so she was disinclined to open them. She’d have the cake, but the
reminder of getting older? Not so much.
She was drinking her first cup of tea of the day, standing
in the large kitchen of her bed and breakfast property, Lawlers Loft, she ran
on the outskirts of town, reading the paper. There wasn’t really anything
noteworthy happening in the small town of Bangalow, New South Wales. One of
the quieter cities in Australia, it was an old favorite of Maggie’s and her
late husband’s during their many travels over the years from the UK. For some
reason it struck her as the perfect amount of quaint and city life, kind of a
cozy village and it suited her perfectly since she decided to move here after
her husband passed away.
She bought the bed and breakfast on Lawler’s Lane, and was
the strange mother-figure of the small town. Everyone loved her, even though
she was a bit forthright. Her posh British accent, not to mention her
knighthood, was much the talk of the district and it certainly helped in
getting onboard with the local community councils; great venues for Maggie to
listen in on the town’s gossip.
Disappointed in the lack of enthusiastic news reporting for
the week ahead, Maggie refreshed her tea and strolled over to the little
picture window over the sink. Clad only in her bathrobe, she was caught off
guard by the knock at the door.
“Who on Earth would be ringing me at this hour?” She wasn’t
expecting any deliveries for the inn, and the mailman would never ring her so
early for fear of catching her in her bathrobe. And Lord knows that even
though she was in decent shape for her age, she was pretty sure no one wanted
to see that. After all, it wasn’t proper.
Nevertheless, whoever was at the door was knocking so
adamantly that they couldn’t be kept waiting. She hurried to the front door,
careful to look quickly through the foyer to make sure no guests would see her
in her robe, and shuffled to the door. When she opened it, she gasped a
little, greeted by the flushed cheeks of Inspector Tom Sullivan of the local
police force.
“What’s the matter, Tom?” she asked, making sure the robe
was closed all the way and pointing to his reddened cheeks with her free hand.
“Cat got your tongue? Or has it just been a while since you’ve seen someone
other than your wife in a bathrobe? Don’t flatter yourself, dear. I’m not
interested.”
Inspector Tom cleared his throat mid-laugh and asked to be
let in. He didn’t look, Maggie thought, like he was really in the mood for
joking. Though she was glad she got that one in, because seeing his cheeks
flus was worth all the flack she would catch for it later. She waved her arm
out in front of her and gestured for him to go into the kitchen quickly.
He did as he was told and shuffled in with a medium sized
box under his arm.
“Tom, you’re soaked, hun. Do you want some dry clothes? I’m
sure I can find you something around here?”
“Aaah, no thanks, Maggie.” The thought was going through
Detective Sullivan’s mind as to how Lady Margaret would have some men’s
clothing in her possession considering her husband had passed over ten years
ago. Anyway he thought better of it to ask.
“I hate when you call me that. So what do you need?
Anything at all, you know that, Detective. Let me take your coat.”
Tom let her remove his coat, and she draped it over the back
of one of her kitchen chairs. Eventually, when she saw that he wasn’t going to
stop pacing her kitchen floor, dripping wet, without saying anything, she made
him a cup of tea. Maggie tapped him on the shoulder, breaking his train of
thought. Tom grumbled a bit and nodded his thanks to her, taking the saucer
from the older woman’s hands.
“Thanks, it’s been raining all night, and I just never dried
out. I appreciate the warm tea, Lady Turnbull.” He made a fake salute to her
with his small tea cup and hoped she would appreciate him using her proper
name.
“Well, hopefully you don’t catch pneumonia and die an old
fart. You really should take better care of yourself. Now what brings you
here? Do I need to call the Mrs. and let her know where you’re at.”
“No thanks, mam. I appreciate the sentiment. But I’m not
really speaking to anyone at the moment.”
Maggie’s eyes perked up and one eyebrow danced across her
forehead. “Oh really?”
“Yes, really. Don’t go getting all excited about it, it’s
nothing like that.”
Maggie grinned widely at her friend. “Oh I think it’s
exactly like that, Tom! You know me, and it’s nearing my birthday, even! This
must be your gift to me, a juicy secret case to be solved on the quiet. That’s
very kind of you.” She dipped her head to him and he half-chuckled, “Now what
have you got for me, here?”
“My socks are soaked through, Lady Margaret. I’m freezing
and I don’t want to be here all day, I’m knackered. I came to you because I
don’t want to be airing out my dirty laundry all over town. I’d much rather
come to you, since you have a way with these sorts of cases, than to have it
broadcast all over town. It’s from my Aunt in Byron Bay, she sent it in the
post and I wanted you to have a look at it before I took it to the Station.”
“Alright alright, cool your horses. Settle your spirit,
love. You look shaken, what’s going on? Why do you want me to look at it
first?” Maggie asked.
Tom handed her the box, and Maggie eyed him carefully.
Whatever was in the box has him pretty worked up. “It’s probably a book of
some sort, I’d imagine.”
She pried the lid off with one hand, and half expected there
to be an old sandwich or something inside of it. When the lid finally came
loose, Maggie swallowed hard. Nestled into a crimson-colored piece of fabric
was a jar. The jar was cloudy inside, and had a liquid in it, held securely by
a firm piece of cork. Inside the bottle, which Tom looked away from as soon as
she opened it, was a slender finger. It was floating in some sort of liquid,
and upon a quick smell of the bottle, Lady Margaret assured him that it was
formaldehyde. She could see the color in the Detective Inspector’s face grow
lighter, and he looked as if his stomach was a little queasy.
Lady Margaret regained her composure quickly and squared her
shoulders at the kitchen table. “This is not what you were expecting, I take
it?”
The Detective shook his head and brought a fist to his
mouth, looking as though he were about to be sick. “No!” He shouted, suddenly
upset. “I thought it was an old book or something that she’d gotten you for
your birthday!”
Only a few moments later, Maggie was showing him to the
front door. Detective Tom apologized profusely for the interruption and
confusion, and excused himself to the police station at Lismore to try and
figure out what the package was all about.
Maggie watched as he went back to his car, not quite fully
dried out yet, still holding the plastic bag under his arm. He had barely
wanted to wait for her to wrap it up, but she’d insisted, so that he could
maintain privacy. Those goons at the police department had no business asking
questions about a beat up old shoe box; just yet anyway.
To
read the rest of Murder in the Village, please buy it at:
C T Mitchell was born in Cairns but now lives in Brisbane
Australia. He trained as an accountant and put his knowledge firstly into being
a share broker during the mining boom of the roaring 1980’s before venturing
off to the grey side of real estate sales. For a brief four year stretch he
slipped into the dark side of car sales before seeing the light and returning
to real estate and finance.
He writes the Cabarita Crimes series books featuring
Australian Detective Jack Creed – a detective from the school of hard knocks
where protocol is not a priority in his ‘get the crime solved at any cost’
demeanor. The first short story in the series, REJECTION, sees Jack Creed up against
a sick, demented Nicholas Weatherby who plans to carry out Australia’s first
mass University shooting. Rejection, like other novellas in the series, have
been best sellers in their categories on Amazon, particularly in the US, UK and
Australia. “Murder on the Beach” – #1 Amazon UK #1 Amazon US.
The Lady Margaret Turnbull Cozy Mysteries is another series
featuring the amateur sleuth Lady Margaret Turnbull whose uncanny knack of
solving crimes is the envy of the local police Detective Tom Sullivan.
C T lives with his wife and four nearby adult children;
splitting their time between Brisbane and Cabarita Beach, NSW, Australia.
Find out about C T’s latest books and how you can get them
at low prices by joining his newsletter at:
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don’t forget to connect on:
More
Books by C T Mitchell
Detective
Jack Creed
Detective Jack Creed Box Set (Books
1 – 4)
Or
buy the books individually
The Secret of Barnesdale Manor
Lady
Margaret Turnbull Cozy Mysteries
Murder
in the Cemetery
Murder
in the Valley
Lady
Margaret Turnbull Box Set (Sept 2015)
“A
nerve wrecking thriller that centers around a disturbed young man”
“Real
enough that it seems like it could be pulled from today's headline”
“Hold
onto your seats! This short read packs a punch”
Grab
a FREE Copy of Rejection at
