Midsummer Murder Read Online Free PDF

was arranged around an unlit fireplace; to its left was a bow window with a cushioned window seat.
    Lindy took her coffee from Sandiman and sat on the window seat. She was soon joined by Stuart. He placed his cup on the window sill, lowered himself onto the cushion, and placed his cane along 20

    Midsummer Murder
    side his thigh. “A nuisance, this.” He indicated the cane and reached for his cup.
    Lindy smiled. “It doesn’t seem to hamper your activities, and from the look of things, you’ll be throwing it away before long.”
    “I certainly plan to, but let’s not talk about the infirmities of the not-quite-young. I’m so glad that you were able to be here. The preparations for the festival have been enormous. I’m always amazed at the amount of scheduling these things require.”
    Lindy nodded.
    “Having Jeremy here means so much to Marguerite and Ellis.”
    “He wouldn’t have missed it.” She looked across the room to where Ellis and Jeremy stood in front of the bookcase, coffees in hand. Ellis faced the room; Jeremy stood with his back turned so that only his profile was visible as he listened to Ellis. Marguerite floated toward them, said something to Ellis, then took Jeremy’s arm.
    The three of them moved toward the side table and put down their cups. Marguerite turned to the others.
    “It’s getting late,” she said. “I’d like to go down to the pavilion and look in on the party, if any of you would care to join me.”
    Robert, Chi-Chi, and Stuart rose at once, Biddy and Lindy only a beat behind. Depositing cups and saucers, they followed Marguerite out of the room and to the front door where Sandiman stood ready to see them out.
    They walked across the expansive driveway and toward a path through the trees. To their right, the glass-enclosed lobby of the theater was lit by a band of lamps. The wooden building loomed large behind it, the rectangular roof of the stage rising above the trees and melding with the darkness of the sky. Farther along and to the left, Lindy could discern the dim outlines of other buildings.
    Marguerite and Jeremy led the way, followed by Robert and Chi-Chi, then Biddy on Ellis’s arm. Lindy found herself once again in the company of Stuart.
    “Those buildings are the studios. There are two smaller ones off in the trees. And to your left is the dining hall.” Lindy’s gaze followed the direction of his uplifted hand; she smiled at him as his arm enclosed hers.
    “The path changes to gravel soon. Be careful of your shoes.”
    The couples in front of them slowed down as the women picked their way over the stones of the path. It was slow going, and Lindy 21

    Shelley Freydont
    realized that it was more than politeness that had caused the men to offer their services as escorts. Their flat shoes were more able to withstand the shifting pebbles beneath their feet.
    “I’ve suggested they pave all the paths,” said Stuart. “I can’t imagine why they don’t have more twisted ankles than they do. But Marguerite insists on keeping everything as it has always been.”
    His arm tightened on hers as Lindy’s heel slipped between the stones.
    “Fortunately most of the students don’t wear four-inch heels.”
    He chuckled.
    “I’ll remember that when I dress tomorrow.”
    A glow of light broke through the trees. They continued toward it, the woods behind them becoming darker as their eyes focused on the light ahead. Once Lindy gasped when an otherworldly face peered at her from the side of the path where a beam of light high-lighted its features.
    “Statuary,” Stuart informed her. “You’ll meet some of the great figures of history out there in the woods, not to mention a few from mythology and some unrecognizable abstract forms of some of the resident artists. I think that one’s Will Shakespeare.”
    The light grew stronger and the sound of dance music hummed in the air. An open pavilion stood before them; hazy yellow light emanated outward from under the roof