Agatha Raisin and the Day the Floods Came Read Online Free

you don’t say anything. How’s Miss Simms?’
    Miss Simms was secretary of the ladies’ society, an unmarried mother.
    ‘Miss Simms has a new gentleman friend. He’s in sofas.’
    ‘Married, I suppose.’
    ‘I think so. Listen to that. The rain is on again. It’s been raining since you left.’
    The doorbell rang. ‘I’m off,’ said Mrs Bloxby.
    Agatha opened the door and found Detective Sergeant Bill Wong on the doorstep. ‘Hello,’ said Mrs Bloxby. ‘See you tonight, Mrs Raisin.’
    ‘I thought you women would be on first-name terms by now,’ said Bill, following Agatha through to the kitchen.
    ‘It’s tradition in the ladies’ society that we use second names, and in this over-familiar touchy-feely world, I rather like it,’ said Agatha. ‘Coffee?’
    ‘Yes. I see you haven’t given up smoking.’
    ‘Did I even say I would try?’ demanded Agatha with all the truculence of the heavily addicted.
    ‘Thought you might.’
    ‘Never mind that. Here’s your coffee. How’s crime?’
    ‘Nothing dramatic. Nothing but the usual cutbacks. Village police stations are closing down all round. Did you know they had closed Carsely police station?’
    ‘Never!’
    ‘Yes, and the one at Chipping Campden and the one in Blockley. So we spend most of our time on the road. Someone called nine-nine-nine last night and howled it was an emergency. Got there and found it was her cat stuck up a tree.’
    ‘And how’s your love life?’
    ‘On hold.’
    Agatha looked at him sympathetically. Bill had a Chinese father and an English mother, the combination of which had given him attractive almond-shaped eyes in a round face and a pleasant Gloucestershire accent. ‘How’s yours?’ asked Bill.
    ‘Non-existent.’
    Agatha saw Bill was going to ask about James, so she began to describe her odd feeling about the couple on Robinson Crusoe Island.
    ‘It sounds to me as if you were bored and looking for a bit of action, Agatha.’
    ‘On the contrary, I wasn’t bored at all. I met some super people. Still . . . there was something odd there. And I saw a couple in Evesham yesterday who reminded me of them.’
    ‘You’d better find some work quickly or you’ll be seeing crime everywhere. Thinking of doing any public relations work?’
    ‘I might.’ Agatha had once run a highly successful public relations company but had sold up to take early retirement and move to the country. Since then, she had often taken on freelance work. ‘Public relations is a different world now,’ she said. ‘It used to be you were neither fish nor fowl. Despised by the journalists and the advertising people as if you weren’t doing a real job. Now the public relations people are often celebrities themselves.’
    ‘I hear Charles is married.’
    ‘So what?’
    ‘Oh, well,’ said Bill hurriedly. ‘I’d better get on. Let me know if you stumble across any dead bodies. I could do with a change.’
    After he had left, Agatha switched on her computer to see if she had any e-mails. There was one from Roy Silver, a young man who used to work for her, asking where she was; and one from Dolores, the pretty young Chilean girl. To Agatha’s dismay, it was all in Spanish, but she noticed the names Concita and Pablo Ramon. She printed it off and then drove to the Falconry Restaurant in Evesham, where the owner, Juan, was Spanish, and asked him for a translation.
    ‘She says,’ said Juan, ‘“Dear Agatha, Such excitement. Do you remember the couple, Pablo and Concita Ramon? Well, Pablo has just been arrested. It is in all the newspapers. Concita was drowned on Robinson Crusoe Island and Pablo said she fell out of the boat. But a hiker up on the hills saw him push her. He knew she could not swim. He had her heavily insured and her family are very wealthy. How are you? Let me know. Love, Dolores.”’
    So that’s why he seemed to be waiting, thought Agatha. He was just waiting for the right opportunity. She wished now she had said something,