Miss Dimple Disappears Read Online Free PDF Page A

indelicate to mention.
    As, of course, it was, Charlie thought. It seemed unlikely, though, that the prim spinsterish Miss Dimple would be the victim of such an attack. After all, there were few men left in Elderberry who were young enough to be that lustful.
    Elwin Vickery cleared his throat. “I should think Miss Phoebe would’ve been informed if Miss Dimple intended to leave,” he said, referring to the owner of the rooming house. A fastidious bachelor and relative newcomer to Elderberry, he was Phoebe Chadwick’s one male roomer and the only person who had accommodations downstairs. Annie sometimes referred to him as “Aunt Mildred,” claiming he was every bit as stuffy as her maiden aunt.
    “Well, if she was, you couldn’t prove it by me!” Odessa Kirby, the Chadwick’s cook, bumped through the swinging door into the dining room fanny-first with a steaming tureen of vegetable soup.
    Charlie’s stomach growled in anticipation. Using home-canned vegetables from the Victory garden and only a few bones for stock, Odessa could make soup fit for President Roosevelt himself.
    Now Odessa set the tureen at the end of the table where Phoebe Chadwick usually sat. “She say for Miss Velma to serve today,” she announced, nodding to Velma Anderson, the senior member at the table and, with the exception of Miss Dimple, the one who had been there the longest. Miss Velma taught secretarial science at the high school and, besides Elwin and his sleek new Nash, was the only roomer who owned her own vehicle, a 1932 Ford V-8 that looked every bit as good as the day she bought it.
    Geneva dropped saccharine into her glass of iced tea and stirred vigorously. Now that sugar was in short supply, they had to make do, although few cared for the peculiar taste. “Where is Phoebe?” she asked, frowning. “Don’t tell me she’s sick, too.”
    “She be too busy helping the po-lice hunt for Miss Dimple.” Odessa snatched up the near-empty bread basket and started to the kitchen for more. “Been like a crazy house here all morning. Don’t know what that woman be thinkin’ goin’ off like that without so much as a by-your-leave!”
    The cook’s angry muttering didn’t fool Charlie for a minute as she knew Miss Dimple was Odessa’s favorite among all the teachers and she was as worried as the rest of them.
    Geneva tasted her tea and made a face. “It’s not like her to do a thing like this.”
    “Not like her at all,” Elwin echoed as he began scooping all the green peas from his soup and transferring them to a small bowl provided for that purpose.
    “Surely she has relatives,” Annie suggested. “Hasn’t anyone tried to contact them?”
    “She seems to be close to her brother,” Lily said. “Remember, Velma? He sent that huge crate of fruit last Christmas.”
    Velma made little catlike dabs with her napkin. “Such delicious oranges! And those tiny little sour things—kumcubers, I think they’re called.”
    “Kumquats,” Elwin whispered under his breath, and Charlie smiled behind her napkin and tried not to meet Annie’s eyes.
    “Does anyone know how to get in touch with him?” Annie looked about as she spoke, but no one had an answer.
    Charlie had seen Miss Dimple walking to the post office with letters to mail but she had no idea who they were for. The older teacher was not in the custom of engaging in personal chitchat. “I don’t guess any of you have noticed who she writes,” she said, but this was met with only blank stares.
    “I suppose we could look in her address book,” Geneva suggested.
    “ If we can find it,” Annie said, “but wouldn’t you think the police have already thought to look there?”
    Charlie bit her lip. Knowing the police in Elderberry, she wasn’t so sure about that.
    Charlie didn’t know how Odessa accomplished it, but she usually managed to come up with delectable desserts in spite of rationing and shortages. Today it was gingerbread made with molasses, orange peel, and