SAY GOODBYE TO ARCHIE: A Rex Graves Mini-Mystery Read Online Free

biscuits should go in the refrigerator? Connie prepared some sandwiches. I don’t know where she and Charles have got to. They went out for a walk after lunch. And Reginald Graves has arrived from Edinburgh. Come and meet him. He’s the son of one of my dearest friends. I must have mentioned Moira to you.”
    A woman who looked to be in her late seventies entered the room with a cane. Rex leapt to his feet to greet her and found himself towering over her head of tight bluish-grey curls.
    “I’m Dot Sharpe,” she introduced herself before Patricia could. Rex tried not to notice that her nose aptly suited her surname. “Patricia’s friend and a fellow writer,” she crowed.
    “Delighted. Rex Graves at your service.” He held out his hand and took her tiny appendage into his paw.
    “Dot, we are just finishing up some family chat before the others get here. We won’t be much longer.”
    “Oh, of course. Well, I’ll be in the kitchen. You carry on. We’ll chat later, Rex,” Dot said amiably. In spite of her walking stick, she took herself off in spry fashion, and Patricia closed the door after her.
    “I don’t want her to know I suspect murder,” she confided, sitting back down.
    “Is she one of the suspects?” Rex asked.
    “Doubtful, but who knows? I’ve invited everyone I can think of who might have had a hand in Archie’s death. Not that I necessarily think them capable, but because they had opportunity. Means, motive, and opportunity. Isn’t that how it goes?”
    “It’s a good place to start. How many people are coming?”
    “Well, Noel Cribben from next door.”
    “Whose dog Archie allegedly attacked. A motive, possibly?”
    “We mended our fences, so to speak, as all good neighbours must. I gave him a signed collection of Claude books. For all I know, he sold it to pay the veterinary fees. Dr. Doug Strange may drop by. He thought Archie a fine fellow. He came on a couple of house calls. Nothing serious. Once when Archie had a bit of mange on his face and another time when he had the sniffles. Couldn’t do anything for Archie this time. I put his food out at six as usual, before I went to my book club. I was back by eight or so. When he didn’t come back in by nine, I got concerned. He always came upstairs to read with me in bed last thing at night. It was beginning to get dark so I took a torch and looked in the back garden. I found him lying in the flower bed with vomit nearby. I knew he was dead, but I called Strange all the same. You know, just in case.”
    Rex felt his eyes grow moist and discreetly wiped away an incipient tear. Patricia touched his hand.
    “Thank you, Reginald. It’s plain to see why your mother is so proud of you. You always were such a dear boy. And such a gifted pupil and student. You are a credit to Moira, indeed.”
    Rex was quite overcome. If he had managed not to succumb to tears before, he would have failed now had Patricia not suddenly distracted him by rummaging under the sofa cushions. Finally she retrieved a note from beneath a knitting magazine. She handed it to him and waited expectantly. Rex unfolded the paper, which read, in block capitals, “ SAY GOODBYE TO ARCHIE ,” just as his mother had told him.
    “Aye,” he said. “Perhaps it’s telling that it says Archie and not Claude.”
    “Exactly. That’s what makes me think it’s less likely to be a stranger.”
    “And the person took care not to reveal his or her handwriting by cutting out letters from a newspaper.”
    “And probably wore gloves so as not to leave fingerprints.”
    “Did it come in an envelope?”
    “Yes, with just my first and last name typed on it and posted through my letterbox some time Wednesday afternoon. But I didn’t know that at the time because Charles picked it up and put it on the hall table with all the junk mail, and I didn’t find it until Thursday morning, when it was too late.” Realizing she had raised her voice, Patricia put a hand to her mouth. Rex could