Dead Woman's Shoes: 1 (Lexy Lomax Mysteries) Read Online Free

you’re going do about it?” She didn’t quite know why she’d asked him this.
    The question caught him by surprise, too. “W… well, I’d have to put a stop to it, wouldn’t I?” One pale hand went to his mouth, and he nibbled softly at an already half-consumed nail. “Once and for all, I mean.”
    Lexy’s eyes couldn’t help flicking back to the banknotes that Mr Todd was still gripping in his other hand. “C’mon!” they seemed to be shouting.
    “How, exactly?” she asked.
    “By getting her some help or something, I suppose. Is this relevant, Miss Lomax?”
    “It’s Ms, actually.”
    He acknowledged this with a conciliatory nod.
    “Just like to assure myself that everything’s under control,” Lexy continued smoothly. “You’d be surprised at how some people react when faced with the evidence.” She was so busy congratulating herself on her own quick thinking that she nearly missed Mr Todd’s response.
    “Oh… yes, I see. Well, it’s not as if this is the first time.” He gave a small laugh. “But I’m not contemplating violence, if that’s what you mean. So – will you do it?”
    Try as she might, Lexy couldn’t think of a rational reason why not. She nodded, and he thrust the notes at her.
    “Oh – I forgot to mention.” Mr Todd rubbed his smooth chin. “She might be out a bit later than usual tomorrow night. I’m… er… going to be at an old school reunion in Lincoln, you see. I’ll be heading off tomorrow afternoon, and I won’t be back until… er… lunchtime on Saturday, in fact. I’ll call you sometime Saturday morning, if that’s all right?”
    “Fine,” said Lexy vaguely, wondering if she was going to have to spend the whole of Friday night sitting in her car outside a cheap hotel.
    “Right, I’ll be off, then.” Roderick Todd rubbed his hands as if glad to be rid of the money and navigated back through the dust cloud to the front door. Moments later Lexy heard his car door slam and the crunch of gravel under receding tyres.
    Kinky got up, shook himself, sneezed loudly and trotted through the kitchen on to the veranda.
    Lexy stared into the silence.
    After a while she followed Kinky outside. She needed to talk over this Avril Todd thing, even though it was almost certainly going to be a one-way conversation. “You there, pal?”
    But there was no answering patter of tiny feet.
    The wild, sunlit garden had an Eden-like quality about it, and she leaned on the warm veranda railing and lifted her face, eyes closed for a minute. She might have a few problems to deal with, but this was a good place to be dealing with them. No one was going to bother her here.
    Nevertheless, a quiet rustling nearby made her eyes snap open again.
    “That you, Kinks?”
    But it wasn’t.
    Lexy felt her pupils contract in surprise.
    A red deer stag had stepped from the scrub. He stood at the end of the garden and eyed her calmly, branched antlers poised above his head like carved driftwood.
    Lexy gazed, captivated. You didn’t get this in South Kensington.
    Then all hell broke loose.
    Kinky, snarling like a miniature Tasmanian devil, hurtled across the garden.
    “Oh crap,” said Lexy.
    The deer wheeled around, startled, and lowered its heavily armoured head.
    “Oi!” Lexy leapt down from the veranda. “Leave it!” She didn’t know if she was addressing Kinky or the stag.
    The chihuahua had almost reached his antlered quarry before the latter made a snap decision and leapt hugely but neatly over the picket fence and bounded away. Kinky forced his way through a gap and continued the chase.
    Lexy gave a frustrated shout. Stupid little mutt. Never did know when he’d won.
    She was standing with hands on hips when Kinky returned, still emitting small snarls. One of his ears sported a long, bloody gash, no doubt from the tangle of gorse and bramble he had raced headlong into. Lexy rolled her eyes, swept him up, and carried him to the kitchen sink to bathe the wound.
    “This is going