A Fit of Tempera Read Online Free PDF Page A

property. The flagpole where Nella still dutifully ran up the Stars and Stripes every morning was bare. Her bungalow with its stained cedar shakes and dark green trim was locked up tight. Above the door, Judith could just make out the faded letters that said, “U.S. Post Office—Mount Woodchuck Station.”
    The cousins took a quick look around the garden. Nella had a knack for raising herbs and domesticating wildflowers. Despite her great age, she still managed to tend her flowers and shrubs. The small rockery that stood between the road and the front porch sported a profusion of spring color: pink gloxinias, purple anemones, scarlet freesias, golden tigridias, sprung among the boulders Nella had personally carried up from the riverbank. All around the house, new growth was ready to burst into bud. Out back, Nella’s gnarled old fruit trees were heavy with white-and-pink blossoms. The little stone path that led to the icehouse was bordered with sweet alyssum and primroses. Judith had a sudden urge to head back for Hillside Manor and start working on her yard. So far this season, she hadn’t done much more than prune the rose bushes and put in some new dahlia tubers.
    Iris was cautiously circling the icehouse. Judith checked out the shrubbery. Renie tried both front and back doors, then looked in the windows. There was no sign of disturbance.
    â€œCurious,” murmured Iris, standing with her fists on herhips. “Maybe it was one of the kids from across the road. But I could have sworn it was an adult.”
    â€œMale or female?” Judith asked, her gaze lingering on the stone walkway where blooms from a bronze cushion chrysanthemum had fallen. Scanning the border next to the walk, she saw bleeding heart, creeping phlox, and crown vetch. Judith frowned.
    Iris was taking one last look around the icehouse. “I couldn’t say for certain,” she answered. “It was just a figure. These days, people dress so strangely that it’s sometimes hard to tell a man from a woman.”
    â€œThat’s for sure,” Renie replied on a disparaging note, despite her own shapeless Zion National Park T-shirt, baggy cotton pants, and nondescript shoes that could have been worn by anybody but a penguin. As ever, Renie’s casual wardrobe looked more like a casualty, and was a far cry from the expensive designer pieces she trotted out for professional duties.
    The three women headed away from Nella Lablatt’s cozy cottage. Iris thanked the cousins for accompanying her. “Why not have that drink now?” she offered.
    But Judith replied that they still had to finish their own, left back on the cabin porch. “Later,” Judith said. “After dinner, okay?”
    â€œThat sounds fine.” Iris smiled. “Riley will be finished up by then and he’ll have time to unwind.” She walked between the house and the studio with the cousins. “Now I feel silly,” she murmured. “I brought you all the way over here for nothing.”
    â€œOh, no,” Renie countered. “There’ve been a lot of prowlers and robbers around. We’ve had stuff taken over the years, too.”
    Judith nodded in acknowledgment of the rural crime wave. The Grover cabin had indeed suffered, having been broken into at least four times in the past decade. Except for an antique Victrola record player, little of value had been taken, mainly because the family had furnished the place with so many castoffs.
    â€œRiley’s been lucky,” Iris replied, gazing over Judith’s shoulder toward the studio. “Oh—he’s quit for the day. Which reminds me,” she added, setting her jaw. “I’d better see if he locked up. He’s pretty careless about security.” She went to the studio door and flung it open. “You see? He just—” Iris stiffened, then threw up her hands and screamed.
    Judith started for Iris, then froze, as if by