Judy's Death (Cara Daniels Cozy Mystery Book 2) Read Free Page A

of books do you write?”
    “The old-fashioned kind, about romance
and chivalry. I’m sure no one wants to read that sort of thing but I do enjoy
writing them. I like books with a happy ending.”
    “Me too. Why is A. J. Moss coming here
to reveal himself, so to speak?”
    Judy’s eyes watered. “For me. He knew
that I ran this festival and he always joked that when he was a famous writer
he would appear at the festival. He was true to his word and contacted me six
months ago. He said he wouldn’t charge a fee and that I should charge a lot for
the tickets. I usually charge five pounds a ticket for a big name author but
Andrew told me to charge thirty pounds! I did so reluctantly and the tickets
sold out within ten minutes.”
    “He sounds like a lovely man.”
    “He is. He always encouraged me to
write and when we had to share our stories via email at the writers’ group he
helped me work out how to do it.” Judy looked at her watch. “I’m going over to
the town hall now to make sure the top room is ready for him tomorrow. We won’t
be able to fit him and his followers in the library. Lauren insisted on
Snake-Eye having the same room before Andrew. I’m not sure his fans will fill
that big room, but what do I know?”
    “Can I come with you? Do you need a
hand with anything?”
    “Are you sure? You’ve already helped.”
    “I’m sure, I’ve nothing else to do
today,” Cara said. She wasn’t prepared to leave Judy. The line around her, the
death line, had grown slightly thicker. Cara knew that meant Judy was closer to
her death. When had that happened?
    Judy gave her a sympathetic look, as if
feeling sorry that Cara had nowhere else to go. “Of course you can help.
There’s a lot of sorting out to do. We’ll get a cup of tea when we’re over
there.”
    Judy collected a few boxes from the
staffroom, handed one to Cara and then left the building. Cara looked over her
shoulder as something caught her eye. It was Robin flying behind her. He said,
“Where are you going?”
    Cara hissed, “The town hall.”
    Robin clapped his hands together. “The
town hall! I’ve never been to a town hall before! What do they have there?”
    Cara gave a small shrug. She was
beginning to wish she’d been firmer with Robin about him staying in the car. He
wasn’t being any use to her at all.
    Cara followed Judy out of the building,
across the road and into the stone built town hall. Robin flew at her side and
fired questions at her about the town hall. Cara couldn’t answer any of them in
front of Judy. “Never mind, I’ll find out myself!” Robin flew ahead of them
both and through the walls of the building.
    Once they were through the main doors
Judy said, “I hope you’ve got strong legs, the top room is on … the top floor!”
    Cara held her cardboard box tighter. It
was full of leaflets. She hoped she didn’t drop them.
    As they walked towards the stairs
several people called out friendly hellos to Judy. Cara moved the box to her
left as she began to climb the steps. She smiled. The stone steps had been well
used over the years, they had a dip in the middle which had been worn away by
thousands upon thousands of feet.
    She was only huffing slightly by the
time they reached the top floor. Judy put the box down, took out a lace
handkerchief and mopped her forehead. She said, “I know ladies aren’t supposed
to sweat, we’re supposed to glow, but I’m glowing like a pig!”
    Judy put her handkerchief away and
picked the box up. The floor beneath Cara felt different. She looked down at
the lavish carpet that she was now walking on. Her look was then drawn to the
beautiful paintings that hung on the walls. And look at the velvet curtains!
Oh, her hand itched as she was tempted to reach out and touch the lush fabric.
    Judy caught her look and gave her a wry
smile. “You can see where all our taxes go. No wonder Lauren wants to be a
council member. I shudder to think how much money has been wasted on