Murder by Christmas (Edna Davies mysteries) Read Free Page A

him on the streets to ask for “just an opinion, if you would, Doc.” Albert would never second-guess another physician’s diagnosis, even for someone he knew well and had treated for years.
    Stepping out of the car, Edna studied the yew trees that stood sentry on either side of the front door’s granite stoop. With Albert laid up, their eldest son Matthew had promised to drive down from Providence to put up the outside decorations, but had yet to do so. The house looked bare and forlorn without its holiday lights. Five days to get ready for Christmas , she thought with a sinking feeling and another nervous glance at the darkening sky.
    As soon as she entered the front hall, Benjamin appeared from the living room to greet her. Leaning down to give the ginger cat’s ears a scratch, she heard Albert call out.
    “That you, Edna?”
    “Yes, dear.” She wondered who else he thought might have walked into the house, but refrained from asking.
    “Where’ve you been? What took so long?”
    She sighed, dreading the talk she was about to initiate. The pending, potentially unhappy conversation had put her in what, to her, was an unusually depressed mood. She enjoyed the season from Thanksgiving through Christmas. Since her children had grown and three had families of their own, this was the time of year when they were most apt to be together. A jig-saw puzzle was always in progress, games appeared, and music and laughter filled the house. Her heart lifted at the memories.
    Bringing her mind back to the obstacle most immediately before her, she removed her green loden coat and matching beret with hands and arms that seemed almost too heavy to raise as she pictured her husband sitting in his recliner, imprisoned by a full-leg cast. She would probably feel more sympathetic about his plight, if she weren’t so concerned about the amount of work yet to be done. She so wanted everything to be perfect for Grant’s second wife who would be visiting New England for the first time. Hanging her outer clothes in the closet, she stopped in front of the hall mirror to finger-comb her gray curls into place before entering the living room. She took a deep breath to quash the sudden annoyance that jangled her nerves.
    Making matters worse, Albert had a sullen look on his face. The usual twinkle in his blue eyes had been rare since the accident. His normally neat, thick white hair, badly in need of a good cut, stood up in places and stuck out above his ears. Ordinarily, he looked this disheveled only when first getting out of bed after a restless and interrupted night.
    “I’m so bored, I feel like I’m going crazy.”
    “I know, dear,” she said, trying to keep her tone light and her own frustration in check. She bent to kiss his forehead before sitting in a chair at right angles to his. Benjamin jumped into her lap where he sat staring at Albert as Edna stroked the orange fur. Chuckling inwardly and taking courage from the cat’s protective stance, she began gradually, working up to her proposal.
    “Thanksgiving wasn’t much fun this year, was it, sweetheart?” They both knew the question was rhetorical, Albert having been put in a brace and ordered to “sit and stay” the day before family and friends were to gather. Thank goodness Matthew and Irene had already assumed responsibility for the traditional turkey dinner this year or the holiday would have been a complete disaster. As it turned out, Edna and Albert were the only ones who missed out. House-bound with her invalid husband, she refused to cook an entire turkey for the two of them and, instead, had taken clam chowder out of the freezer to heat. It was difficult to remember a more dismal day.
    Albert’s eyebrows drew together, his eyes narrowed and his chin lifted. Clearly, he was wondering what she was leading up to.
    She bit back a smile. In more than forty years of marriage to this man, she hadn’t often had to manipulate him. “With Christmas just five days away and