Murder on a Starry Night: A Queen Bees Quilt Mystery Read Online Free PDF

road,” Leah said. “It’s magnificent. I can’t believe Ollie lived here all alone.”
    “I wonder if he was lonely,” Po said. “He didn’t seem to be, but one wonders.” Po watched several men working in a shade garden along the side of the property beneath a canopy of trees. Where once volunteer trees and bushes crowded the wrought iron fence, now smooth, rich soil welcomed hostas and red twig dogwoods and hydrangeas.
    Po wondered briefly what had happened to Joe Bates, the long-time gardener who had been on staff at the Harrington home as long as she could remember—a nice old man who had an amazing way with flowers. As unkempt as the property sometimes was in recent years when Joe couldn’t get around to everything, the small plots he tended around the back pond were always perfect. He was always somewhere around when she visited Ollie, puttering in his flowerbeds, eyeing anyone who came near the house like a watchdog. And she wondered now if Adele had kept him on, or if he had become a casualty of the landscapers turning the lawns and gardens into works of art.
    “Looking for Miz Harrington?” a young painter asked as they approached the wide front porch. He was perched on a ladder, a paint can swinging precariously from a hook at the top.
    “Yes,” Leah answered. “Is she around?”
    The man took his baseball hat off and wiped his brow, then pointed to the side of the house. “She’s out back. Not in the best of moods today, just a warning to y’all. Follow the roar and you’ll find her easy enough.” He grinned, then tugged his cap back on and returned to painting the top edge of the porch.
    Po, Kate, and Leah followed his directive and walked along the stone path that circled the house. Windows were flung wide open to catch the cool breezes of early fall, and inside were sounds of more activity—furniture being moved, sanders grinding away years of footprints from the hardwood floors.
    “There she is,” Leah said, pointing to a gazebo situated in a grove of trees.
    “I think there’s someone with her,” Po said, squinting in the bright sunlight as they walked along the slate pathway toward the gazebo.
    As they got closer, their steps were stilled by Adele’s voice, loud and clear—and definitely not happy.
    “Foolish, brazen young woman!” Adele hissed. “How dare you come to my home uninvited. Leave immediately, or I shall have you arrested.”
    “You’re destroying Oliver’s birthright,” a softer voice answered. “He never, ever intended his home to become a commercial property.”
    “I’ve stolen nothing, and you are entirely out of line, young lady.”
    “Ollie was a decent, good man. And…and he didn’t die from a fall down the stairs. You know that and so do I!”
    Adele lifted her hand abruptly, then just as quickly let it fall to her side, She spun away from the woman, staring into the faces of the three visitors. For a brief moment, she appeared disoriented, then just as quickly, a polished smile spread across her face.
    “Hello, ladies,” she said evenly, glancing at a thin gold watch on her wrist. “You’re on time. That’s good.” She walked down the three gazebo steps toward them, leaving her visitor standing awkwardly behind her.
    The woman stared after Adele. Her green eyes shot angry darts toward the older woman’s back. For a brief moment, Po was afraid she was going to fling her backpack at the back of Adele’s head. Instead, the pony-tailed woman brushed past Adele and hurried down the steps. She nodded politely at the three women. Then stopped short, a blush of embarrassment coloring her cheeks as she met Leah’s smile of recognition. She started to speak, then thought better of it and hurried along the path leading around the side of the house.
    Po watched her walk away. She was pleasant-looking in a casual, earthy way, with a sprinkling of freckles across a straight nose. Po guessed her age at thirty-five or so. She looked vaguely familiar, but