Free Andrea Frazer - Holmes and Garden 01 - The Curious Case of the Black Swan Song by Andrea Frazer Page B

from the inspector so far this morning, as his room now seemed to be out of bounds.
    ‘Certainly did. They’re having to move me, as the corridor outside my old room is part of the crime scene, so I’ve packed my bags and left them to be relocated. I say, did you have a visit, too?’
    ‘I did.’ Garden kept it short, as he felt another wave of nausea wash over him.
    ‘Did you notice the name of one of his DCs? It’s only Moriarty, which is absolutely stupendous don’t you think?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Are you feeling OK, John H? You seem a little green around the gills,’ Holmes asked with concern, dipping a large slice of bacon into the yolk of his second egg and lifting the loaded spear to his mouth.
    ‘I’m fine,’ answered Garden curtly, trying to tune out the sound of enthusiastic chewing from the other side of the table. ‘I think I’ll just go outside for a little smoke while you finish up, then we can have a fresh coffee together.
    ‘No skin off my nose. I’ve already had my first pipe of the day. See you in a minute, old boy,’ replied Holmes, now savagely attacking a perfectly innocent sausage with his admirably sharp knife.
    Garden stopped at Reception on the way out, noticing that Pippa was now on duty, and asked if his neighbour could be relocated. The man played the bagpipes, and was perfectly happy to do so in another location, and he knew his room allocation was restrained by him having booked a budget break.
    ‘Oh, yes, that’ll be Mr Jones. He’s stayed with us before on a few occasions, and he leads quite a nomadic existence, from what I remember. I’ll get him moved. He’s used to it by now,’ Pippa told him, with an impish little grin.
    Garden then wandered out to the back of the hotel and lit up in the courtyard, but well away from the bench on which he had sat the previous day, which was taped off anyway – in fact, well away from the walls of the building. If he was under another window, goodness knows what could be thrown out of it and, sure as God made little green apples, it would land on him.
    In the long past he would’ve been the fall guy over whom the potties would have been emptied of a morning. Life was like that, he found. The Law of Sod was alive and well and directing his life from the wings.
    When he returned, Holmes was just putting down his knife and fork and reaching for his napkin with which to wipe his mouth. ‘Feeling better?’ he asked, from behind a mask of white damask, rather than the paper which he had expected.
    ‘Much more human,’ replied John H., and passed on the snippet of information that he had gleaned on his way downstairs.
    ‘So, there will be another gathering of the guild tonight, then?’
    ‘Definitely.’
    ‘So we’d better have all our business concluded and be back for that, if we can. I suggest we order another coffee and slip off to the guests’ lounge, and see if we can’t place ourselves, separately, in prime positions for a little bit of eavesdropping. We can pick up newspapers for cover from the reception desk.’
    ‘Splendid idea,’ replied Garden, who couldn’t guarantee that he wouldn’t indulge, quite against his will of course, in a little snooze while thus positioned. The residents’ lounge, however, was nearly empty, as the police had taken possession of it, and so the two men decided to see if they could rearrange their appointment with the local estate agent for the morning rather than the afternoon, giving them a little more time to deal with Garden’s mother and the moving of his worldly possessions.
    Anna Merrilees did not wake until eight forty-five and, she too awoke feeling fairly normal. It only took a few seconds, however, before a great wave of misery rolled over her. Dear Berkeley was dead.
    He was – had been – such an attractive and masculine man and she had had such a soft spot for him. If she’d ever fancied a husband, he would have been her first choice.
    Millicent Fitch, also a member of