Murder With Peacocks Read Online Free PDF Page B

called into a conference about redecorating the living room. Mother has Michael from the dress shop measuring the house."
      "Now there's an intelligent young man."
    "Yes, he seems nice," I said, wincing. That was all I needed, for Dad to turn his boundless energy and determination to setting me up with the least eligible man in town. It was going to be the longest summer in recorded history.
      "He's a professor of drama, you know," Dad went on.
      "Yes, well, duty calls," I said, and fled back to the kitchen before he could continue.
      I decided that chocolate chip cookies would cheer me up and placate Mother as well, so I took the time off from my list to whip up a batch. Lured by the smell, Rob ambled in, followed eventually by Michael and Mother, who graciously issued an invitation for us to make some lemonade and join her on the porch.
      "We always like to have lemonade and cookies on the porch on summer afternoons," Mother said, when Rob and I brought out the glasses.
      "Very civilized," Michael said, wolfing down his sixth cookie.
      Just then we heard the kitchen screen door slam, followed by frantic quacking.
      "Here comes Eric," I said.
      My eight-year-old nephew ran in and launched himself at Mother, wailing and holding up a bleeding finger. By the time Mother had calmed him down enough to look at it, the bleeding had mostly stopped, and he had subsided into muted sniffles. Echoed by muted quacking from his pet duck at the back door.
      "Would you like Grandma to kiss it and make it better?" Mother asked, smiling down at Eric.
      "Grandpa says that the human mouth has more bacteria than even dogs' mouths," Eric said, snatching away his hand and backing off in terror.
      "I'm sure your grandpa knows best then, dear," Mother said, with a touch of asperity. "Why don't you go ask Grandpa to suture it?"
      "Okay," Eric said, charmed by the idea. Suture, indeed; the child obviously needed more of Dad's vocabulary lessons. Mother sipped her lemonade as Eric ran happily out, armed with a fist of cookies. Michael was looking oddly at us.
      "Dad's very good with childhood scrapes and sniffles," Rob said. "That was always one of his major charms as a parent. How seriously he treated even the most minor ailments."
      "It's a wonder you didn't all become raging hypochondriacs," Mother said, shaking her head.
      "Other children might run to Mommy and get a Band-Aid," I added. "We'd go to Dad to have sterile dressings for our lacerations and abrasions--after proper irrigation to prevent sepsis, of course. At least Pam and I did."
      "I never could stand the sight of blood," Rob said with a shudder.
      "Won't that be rather a handicap in your profession?" Michael asked.
      "Oh, very funny," Rob said, and buried his face in his bar exam review book.
      "Rob's a little sensitive about lawyer jokes," I explained, patting my brother's arm.
      "Lawyer jokes?" Michael said. "I'm very sorry; I wasn't trying to make a joke. I could have sworn your father told me Rob was going to go on to medical school. To become a forensic pathologist."
      "Oh, God! Dad's at it again!" Rob groaned.
      "Dad wishes Rob would go to med school and become a forensic pathologist," I said. "He came up with the idea about a week after Rob broke the news that he was going to law school."
      "I didn't realize he was going around telling people that again!" Rob said, shaking his head.
      "Still, dear, not again," Mother said. "He never really stopped, you know."
      "God, think of all the people he's probably told," Rob moaned.
      "I think most of the family understand the situation, dear," Mother reassured him.
      "Our family might, but what about Samantha's family?" Rob wailed.
      "They'll learn," I said. "The important thing to keep in mind when dealing with any of our extended family," I said to Michael, "is never, ever to believe anything any of us says without corroboration."
      "Preferably from an outsider," Rob