Read Online Closer to Death in a Garden (Pitkirtly Mysteries Book 10) by Cecilia Peartree - Free Book Online

over again to find there was actually a big picture for them to fit into. It seemed like the usual jumble of unrelated stuff to him.
    ‘It wasn’t exactly an incident,’ he protested mildly. ‘We were looking for Amaryllis, and I happened to come across the alpaca. In the woods.’
    ‘Can you tell me anything about why you were looking for Amaryllis?’ said Keith. ‘Thanks, Ashley,’ he added, accepting his plate and picking up his sandwich.
    ‘She phoned me to say she was going into the alpaca farm.’
    ‘Why was that?’
    ‘Well,’ said Christopher, wrinkling his brow as he cast his mind back, ‘I think she was worried about the alpacas. Or maybe about their owner.’
    ‘Do you know why that was?’
    ‘Jemima had told her about the one that strayed on to the road in front of them, and she wondered if they’d caught it yet.’
    Keith said, through a mouthful of ham and lettuce on wholemeal bread, ‘Has that woman never heard of curiosity killing the cat?’
    ‘Probably,’ said Christopher, taking a swig of apple juice. ‘I’m sure it’s cropped up before.’
    Ashley nibbled daintily on a cream cheese bagel. Did they really have bagels in that supermarket? Christopher couldn’t remember having seen them. He must ask her where she had got it. She chewed and swallowed neatly before saying, ‘It’s really odd. Mrs Blyth-Sheridan takes such good care of the alpacas. I can’t remember ever seeing one out on the road before.’
    ‘There’s always a first time,’ said Keith. ‘Have you ever been into the place, Ash?’
    She shook her head. She took a tiny mouthful of mango and peach juice and swallowed it. ‘I’ve seen her, of course. She came round to the garden centre once or twice on Sundays to complain we had too many customers and they were blocking her car in. She claimed they were disturbing the animals as well. We just listened to her – me and Mr Anderson – and didn’t say anything, and then she went away after a bit.’
    ‘They shouldn’t have been blocking her drive though,’ Keith pointed out. He took a long drink of his orange juice, and turned his gaze on Christopher again. ‘You went into the garden with her and the alpaca, didn’t you? Did you notice anything unusual in there?’
    ‘I was in the house as well,’ said Christopher. ‘It was very clean and tidy. Nothing on the worktops.’
    ‘That isn’t unusual with people like that,’ said Keith with authority. ‘They have help.’
    ‘No – she said something about Madeleine being away on holiday. She made me coffee herself.’
    ‘Do you know this Madeleine?’ Keith asked Ashley.
    She shook her head. ‘I don’t think so. I don’t think she’s been into the garden centre. But then, she wouldn’t do. They get all their gardening done for them by somebody in a van from Kincardine. They don’t need to buy any of our plants.’
    She delved into her large handbag and brought out a packet of muffins with lemon icing, which she put on yet another plate – there would be quite a bit of washing-up to do after they had finished - and offered them round to the two men as if she were officiating at some sort of children’s tea-party.
    ‘They’re skinny ones,’ she said. ‘In case you’re worried about putting on weight.’
    Christopher immediately began to worry that she thought he was already overweight, but Keith winked at him reassuringly. ‘She’s the only one who worries about that,’ he said affectionately, patting Ashley’s knee. ‘And there’s no need for that, Ash. You’re the perfect shape for your size.’
    She smiled mistily at him.
    Just as well Amaryllis wasn’t around, Christopher reflected. She might easily have been tempted to spoil the moment with retching noises or something, like an embarrassed teenager. Even he was slightly tempted. He wasn’t used to people staring into each other’s eyes in his office at lunchtime. The nearest thing to it had been when Charlie Smith and his dog had