3 Service for Two Read Online Free PDF

fanning herself even faster.
    Algie shot a nervous glance at his mother, but his attention remained on the constable.
    “H’oh, yes, like I said,” P.C. Northcott went on, oblivious to Phoebe’s distress, “if it hadn’t been for that, Dr. McDuff could have laid on the bottom of that there pond forever and ever.”
    “And ever,” Algie added solemnly, folding his hands together.
    “I really do not feel at all well,” Phoebe said faintly. “I do think I shall have to go home and lie down.”
    Concerned, Cecily noted the woman’s greenish complexion. “I do think that would be a good idea. Shall I come with you?”
    Phoebe shook her head. “It’s only a few steps. I shall be quite all right. I think I would prefer to be alone.”
    Guessing that her home was not as immaculate as Phoebe would prefer it for visitors, Cecily nodded. The kind ofdomestic help that Phoebe could afford left much to be desired. Luckily, the vicarage was right next door to the church.
    “I’ll see you to the door, Mrs. Carter-Holmes,” P.C. Northcott said. “If you will permit me? I’ll be passing by that way.”
    Phoebe brightened considerably. “Oh, would you? How kind.”
    A little belatedly, Algie patted his mother’s arm. “Will you be all right, Mother?”
    “Perfectly, thank you, Algie.” As if to prove it, Phoebe rose magnificently to her feet. “You get on with your duties, my dear. I shall have a quiet lie-down.”
    Algie gave a relieved nod.
    “The body of Dr. McDuff will be brought here this evening, Vicar,” the constable said, moving to the door to open it. “Whereupon we will take into custody the body in the coffin.”
    “Have you any idea who he is?” Cecily asked as Phoebe began fanning herself again.
    Northcott shook his head. “Not at the moment, no, ma’am. We’ll have to wait until the new doctor arrives probably, before we can h’ascertain the identity. I don’t think the inspector would want me to cart the corpse all the way into Wellercombe.”
    There were some disadvantages, Cecily thought, in living in a village like Badgers End. The entire constabulary consisted of P.C. Northcott, alone and practically unaided, except for urgent matters which were occasional and reluctantly taken care of by Inspector William Cranshaw.
    The inspector’s jurisdiction covered the much larger and undoubtedly more interesting town of Wellercombe, seventeen miles to the south.
    Since Cecily and the inspector often failed to see eye to eye on certain matters, however, she considered the situation a mixed blessing. Cranshaw could be quite caustic when irritated.
    “Have you met the new doctor?” Phoebe asked, looking more animated by the second.
    “No, ma’am. But I hear tell he’s a good one.”
    “Is he a young man?”
    “Middle-aged, so I’m told. Sent him in from Wellercombe, until they get a permanent replacement for Dr. McDuff.”
    “Oh,” Phoebe murmured, obviously disappointed. “Then we shall have to wait a while before we know who our permanent new doctor will be.”
    “I reckon as how you will,” the constable agreed, stepping back to allow Phoebe to pass through the door.
    “Just fancy that,” Algie said after they’d left. “If that poor boy hadn’t fallen through the … ah … ice, I would have buried the wrong man.”
    He shook his head in a fussy way that vividly reminded Cecily of his mother. “Oh, my, how dreadful. How utterly, perfectly dreadful. What a ghastly predicament. Can you imagine if the doctor’s body had never been found? Everyone would have been mourning at the gravesite of the wrong man, and the poor doctor would have been denied his proper burial.”
    “Not to mention the young man,” Cecily said thoughtfully. “I wonder how many people would have spent the rest of their lives wondering what had happened to him?”
    “Oh, dear heavens, yes. I hadn’t thought of that.” Algie picked up a hymn book from the whatnot in the corner and began fanning himself with