Free SAY GOODBYE TO ARCHIE: A Rex Graves Mini-Mystery by C.S. Challinor

bed that night brainstorming. Patricia stiffened in her chair. “And once that person is exposed,” he continued, “they will not dare harm you, if indeed that is their intention.”
    “You really have a clue who poisoned Archie?”
    “I do. A few clues.”
    “Well, who on earth is it?” she demanded in agitation.
    First Rex proceeded to tell her about the darkly clad figure Noel thought he had seen on Wednesday night, but added that her neighbour might be making up the story to avoid personal blame. Or perhaps it had been Patricia he had seen looking for her cat. Noel had said it was getting dark, and Archie would have already been dead, according to the vet, whom she had called after nine when she found him in the flower bed.
    “Or else Noel is making up the story because it was him,” Patricia declared. “I was not dressed in particularly dark clothes. But he couldn’t have been in the house Wednesday evening. In fact, today was the first time since the injury to his dog’s nose that he’s been round here. How could he have tampered with Archie’s food?”
    “By using a gardening implement or other tool to hook the bowl?”
    “Yes, of course! How silly of me not to have thought of that. No one had to be in the house, did they? The bowl could have been pulled outside and pushed back in. Reginald , I’m so glad you came. I feel now we might be getting somewhere!” She straightened in her chair, all business.
    “Tell me everything that happened Wednesday evening,” Rex said spreading jam on a dimpled crumpet. “From the time you put out Archie’s food in the conservatory.”
    “Well, Felicity was here. We were working on an interactive edition for the e-book version of a Claude story. She came with me to the book club afterwards and then drove straight back to London.”
    “She was with you the whole time?”
    “Never out of my sight. We left Madeline’s shortly before eight and walked back here, where she picked up her car. I really wish now that I had not gone to the book club!”
    Rex knew all about the “if only’s.” How many times would Patricia recreate in her mind the events of that night so she could have prevented Archie’s death?
    “You said you usually put out Archie’s food at six?”
    “That’s right. We were running late. I think I must have called him and then left for the book club. Felicity was our guest of honour.”
    “Did anyone leave during the book club?”
    “Leave? No. We were all there until the end.”
    “No temporary absences?”
    “None, apart from the usual bathroom breaks.”
    “Think hard now,” Rex coaxed, hoping against hope his theory was correct.
    Patricia screwed up her face in concentration, pushing her lopsided glasses back up her nose with two fingers.
    “Take yourself back and recount events in order as best you can.”
    “We arrived at the B&B. Madeline greeted us at the door. I introduced Felicity to everyone. Dot, she had already met. Katrina is a young mum with a toddler at home, but she never misses the book club. Says it keeps her sane, although I don’t know when she finds the time to read the books. She’s married to an architect and lives in one of the converted barns.”
    Rex grit his teeth, waiting for useful information, yet not wishing to interrupt Patricia’s train of thought.
    “Jackie writes roman tic mysteries and was keen to meet Felicity. They’re about the same age, that’s to say mid-fifties. They seemed to hit it off, and Jackie was very excited when Felicity agreed to look at some of her work. Then there’s Cecilia, who lives in the first cottage you come to in the village. She’s well into her nineties, but still likes to garden. And Cheryl. She runs a lunch place in Seaford. Late thirties, married, has a step-son.”
    Rex was mentally knocking his head against the table by this point.
    “That’s seven, plus Felicity.” Patricia did a count on her fingers. “Yes, all present and accounted for. After wine and