Free A Wee Dose of Death by Fran Stewart Page B

turned my face resolutely forward.
    He bent to look in Karaline’s open door. “Ye could wish me well-come if ye would.”
    Karaline opened the back door and he slipped in. “I thank ye, Mistress Karaline.”
    â€œMy pleasure.”
    I could swear she smirked as she took her seat.
    â€œSo,” I said, “how was never-never land?”
    â€œHow long—”
    â€œIt was—” I started, but he kept talking, leaning between the seats, his head turned toward her, away from me.
    â€œâ€”have I been gone, Mistress Karaline?”
    I wanted to glare at both of them, but there were tourists swarming all over the parking lot, so I didn’t dare look away in case I backed into one.
    â€œShe wrapped you up this morning.”
    â€œIt was an accident. Sit back,” I told him. “Your seat belt isn’t fastened.”
    Karaline guffawed so loudly I couldn’t hear Dirk’s next few comments. That was probably just as well.
    As we pulled beyond the tour bus, I saw a familiar car. “I don’t believe this.”
    â€œWhat?”
    I pointed. “Look at who’s hunched over her steering wheel.”
    â€œYe maun stop so we might help Mistress Emily. It would appear she is crying.”
    â€œHe’s right. Pull up next to her.”

12

    The Joy of a Scenic Drive
    E mily started when someone tapped on the car window, but then she saw it was Karaline, Mark’s former student, the tall young woman who owned the restaurant where she and Mark had eaten that one time. Why only once? They should have gone back there. She wiped at her tears and unlocked her door.
    â€œDo you need help, Mrs. Wantstring?” Karaline leaned down to peer inside the car, her eyes reflecting worry.
    â€œNo, dear. I’m just having . . . I’m just . . . Mark went skiing and . . .” Emily rested one of her hands on her winter coat, right over her heart. “Everything is wrong, and I don’t know what to do.” She couldn’t stop herself. All her fears poured out in disjointed sentences. Karaline knelt in the snow beside the open door and laid a hand on Emily’s knee. That felt so comforting, Emily wished she could prolong the contact somehow. Maybe if she talked just a little while longer?
    *   *   *
    I turned away from the sight of Emily’s tearstained face. The break-in, the need for her to inventory the house, and the fact that Mark had left her alone. She didn’t seem to need to come up for air.
    â€œYe dinna want to leave her here alone on the side of this wee hill,” Dirk said with a certain air of finality.
    â€œIt’s tempting,” I muttered. “And it’s a mountain, not a hill.”
    â€œIt is naught but a hill to someone born as I was in the Highlands.”
    Emily raised her head. “What did you say?”
    â€œNothing.” I gave Karaline a
get us out of this
stare.
    â€œI know what we can do.” She stood—a little shakily, I thought. Her stitches must be bothering her—and brushed snow from her knees and the hem of her parka. “We’ll follow you to your house to be sure you make it okay.”
    Emily sounded incredibly grateful. Dirk smirked. I felt like a heel.
    â€œI have another idea.” Karaline sounded entirely too bright, and she wouldn’t look me in the eyes. “Peggy can ride with you, Emily. In fact, she can drive your car for you so you won’t have to worry about this twisty mountain road.”
    â€œI would say ’tis an excellent idea, Mistress Karaline.”
    I glared at Dirk. “’Tis not.”
    â€œThat’s right.” Karaline spoke loudly, probably to hide the fact that I was talking yet again to a ghost Emily couldn’t see. “Peg’s a good driver, and you two can have a lovely chat all the way to Winooski.”
    â€œYou can’t drive that far in your condition.