The Mistletoe Mystery Read Online Free PDF Page A

expression.
    Richenda shook her head. ‘All those years being forbidden cake in the nursery took their toll. Now I am finally a free adult I shall do as I please!’
    ‘Then you will grow as fat as a zeppelin,’ snapped Bertram.
    I quickly passed Mr Bertram a plate with an éclair on it, hoping he’d have the sense to stick it in his mouth before he upset Richenda any more.
    ‘Sit down, Euphemia,’ said Richenda, ‘and join us.’
    ‘She’s my housekeeper!’ said Mr Bertram thickly through a mouthful of cream.
    ‘Not for long,’ said his step-sister, ‘she’s coming back to work for me after Christmas!’
    ‘How dare you,’ said Mr Bertram spluttering cream all over his shirt, ‘pinch my staff.’
    ‘Oh, come now,’ said Richenda helping herself to an éclair, ‘we all know Euphemia is far more than staff. She’s a family asset. You pinched her from me and now I’m taking her back.’
    ‘You threw her out!’ roared Mr Bertram. ‘I would never do that.’
    I edged backwards towards the door. Two pairs of eyes immediately fixed on me, one set dark brown and the other a watery blue, but both with the beady attention of a cat watching a mouse.
    ‘So who are you going to work for?’ asked Mr Bertram in a dangerously calm voice.
    ‘I’ve just been hearing the most interesting story in the kitchen,’ I said desperately. ‘Apparently the master of the original house that stood here burnt it down because his fiancée ran away with another man. All the staff are terrified that some catastrophe with happen this yuletide as it’s the first Christmas this house has ever been fully inhabited. And Mr Bertram has decided to have a Christmas party just like the previous owner did.’
    Richenda put down her cake. ‘How juicy!’, she said.
    ‘Oh, good grief,’ cried Mr Bertram setting his teacup down with unnecessary force. ‘I don’t have the time to listen to this nonsense.’ And he stormed out of the room.
    Richenda invitingly patted the sofa cushion next to her. ‘Sit down, Euphemia, and tell me all about it! Is there any suggestion that she might be still lurking in the attic?’ This drew a smile from me. Richenda and I had once worked together on a mystery.
    ‘That’s better,’ she said. ‘Honestly, I don’t know what Bertie’s being doing to you, but you’re as pale as a ghost.’ She caught herself and blushed. ‘I didn’t mean …’
    ‘I know,’ I said, sitting down next to her. ‘Actually it would be a bit of relief to tell you about it. I can’t talk to the servants as they are spooked enough already and Mr Bertram has been behaving very oddly.’ And I told her about Mr Bertram’s outburst in the night.
    ‘Good Lord,’ said Richenda. ‘Do you think he’s being influenced by the late master of the house?’
    As soon as she said, it was like a key turned in my brain. ‘Yes, I do,’ I said. ‘It seems impossible, but it is more believable than Bertram saying those things to me.’
    ‘You don’t think he loves you?’ asked Richenda.
    I felt myself blushing. ‘I admit I have wondered in the past if his feelings for me were tender, but whatever they were he would never say he loved me.’
    Richenda snorted. ‘That I can believe. When he does marry some poor woman he’ll never tell her either. My step-brother might be a passionate man, but he’s as inhibited as any male that’s gone through the public school process.’
    It was on the tip of my tongue to ask if she thought Bertram loved me, but I found that I didn’t want to know the answer. Either response would distress me. I realised Richenda was still speaking. ‘So what we have to do is spy on him tonight.’
    ‘Spy!’ I cried, horrified.
    ‘Do you want him burning us all up in our beds?’ enquired Richenda.
    ‘You have a point,’ I said unwillingly.
    ‘Besides you’re coming back to work for me soon, so it doesn’t matter if you upset him.’
    But I found deep down inside it did matter very much to me if