by M C Beaton
Agatha was lying asleep on her back, snoring, her mouth open and her face blotched with tears. Charles shook her by the shoulder and switched on the bedside lamp.
She looked at him blearily and then let out a squawk of rage. Charles imprisoned her hands and told her to listen and explained about Gustav. “I’ll kill him,” said Agatha. “Oh, your hands are hurt. Did you fight him?”
Charles decided it was time to lie. He said in a light voice, “I fought for your honour. You should have guessed it was Gustav. Why didn’t you ask me? Do you think so little of yourself that you should believe one of your friends would trash you in that way? Look! Get up and get dressed and I’ll take you for the full English breakfast.”
* * *
Agatha felt comforted after an enormous breakfast and three cups of coffee. “I should really have taken Sir Edward with me to play Poirot but it was too dangerous. Poor old soul. Life must be dreary stuck in Cuckleton on his own.”
* * *
Sir Edward was indeed sunk in a deep depression. The day was cold and gloomy, the garden white with frost. Why had he ever decided to move to this dump? He heard a plop as the morning’s mail came through the door. He wearily rose to get it. “Bills, bills, bills,” he muttered, tearing open one after the other until he got to one in an embossed envelope. He opened it and let out a yelp. He had been appointed a peerage. He would be Lord something or other. Need to think of a title. Coat of arms. Robes. Oh, how absolutely bloody marvellous.
* * *
“It’s absolutely bloody marvellous,” complained the other man called Edward Chumble to his wife. “When I think of all the money I’ve given to the government for a peerage and I bet the bastards take the money and give me zilch!”
* * *
“Take me back home and I’ll get my car. I’m going into the office.”
“I thought you were retiring!”
“I thought so, too,” said Agatha as they stood together in the car park. She took out a packet of cigarettes and a lighter and lit one up. “I haven’t given up the cancer sticks yet. You know, Charles, I should always remember what I was told all those years ago when my marriage to Jimmy didn’t work out.”
“What’s that?”
“Careers last. Men don’t.”
“You’ve always got me, Agatha.”
“As what?” A little gleam of hope flickered across Agatha’s bearlike eyes.
Charles hesitated and then said brightly, “As a friend.”
* * *
Simon hid in the shrubbery at the end of Lilac Lane and watched Charles drive off. He had come in the hope of confessing to Agatha that he had lied about Molly. He had made a pass at her and she had laughed, patted his head and told him to run along. He had actually gone to a brothel a friend had told him about and paid for a blowjob and left feeling dirty. But Agatha had looked so grim. Maybe another day.
* * *
Agatha let herself into her cottage. It was midday. She and Charles had spent the whole morning talking about the case. She went into the sitting room and stared at the drinks trolley as her cats weaved around her ankles.
“Well,” said Agatha, “a woman needs a man like a fish … needs a good stiff gin and tonic!”
Also by M. C. Beaton
AGATHA RAISIN
Pushing Up Daisies: An Agatha Raisin Mystery
Dishing the Dirt: An Agatha Raisin Mystery
The Blood of an Englishman: An Agatha Raisin Mystery
Something Borrowed, Someone Dead: An Agatha Raisin Mystery
Hiss and Hers: An Agatha Raisin Mystery
As the Pig Turns: An Agatha Raisin Mystery
Busy Body: An Agatha Raisin Mystery
There Goes the Bride: An Agatha Raisin Mystery
A Spoonful of Poison: An Agatha Raisin Mystery
Kissing Christmas Goodbye: An Agatha Raisin Mystery
Love, Lies and Liquor: An Agatha Raisin Mystery
The Perfect Paragon: An Agatha Raisin Mystery
The Deadly Dance: An Agatha Raisin Mystery
Agatha Raisin and the Haunted House
Agatha Raisin and the Case of the Curious Curate
Agatha Raisin and the Day the Floods Came
Agatha Raisin and the Love from Hell
Agatha Raisin and the Fairies of Fryfram
Agatha Raisin and the Witch of Wyckhadden
Agatha Raisin and the Wizard of Evesham
Agatha Raisin and the Wellspring of Death
Agatha Raisin and the Terrible Tourist
Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage
The Walkers of Dembley: An Agatha Raisin Mystery
The Potted Gardener: An Agatha Raisin Mystery
The Vicious Vet: An Agatha Raisin Mystery
The Quiche of Death: An Agatha Raisin Mystery
The Skeleton in the Closet
EDWARDIAN MYSTERY SERIES
Our Lady of Pain
Sick of Shadows
Hasty Death
Snobbery with Violence
About the Author
M. C. BEATON, who was the British guest of honor at Bouchercon 2006, has been hailed as the “Queen of Crime” by The Globe and Mail. In addition to her New York Times and USA Today bestselling Agatha Raisin novels, Beaton is the author of the Hamish Macbeth series and four Edwardian mysteries. Born in Scotland, she currently divides her time between the English Cotswolds and Paris. Visit her on Facebook or at www.mcbeaton.com, or sign up for email updates here.
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Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Epilogue
Also by M. C. Beaton
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
THE WITCHES’ TREE Copyright © 2017 by M. C. Beaton. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.minotaurbooks.com
Cover design by Tierney and Wood
Cover illustrations: road © Merggy/Shutterstock.com; houses © Lana_Samcorp/Shutterstock.com
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-1-250-05746-4 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4668-6120-6 (ebook)
eISBN 9781466861206
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First Edition: October 2017