Torrey looked at the clock. Getting late. She’d better pack a bag and go to bed. She was leaving for Greece at eight in the morning. Rowena’s husband, Flann, would drive her to Dublin; he had to be at his desk at the Irish Times early tomorrow. A month ago, after he’d appeared again in Dublin, there was always a car following his. Flann had glimpsed it in the rearview mirror. But no more. Whatever had been was over. Torrey forced herself not to ask of Flann, “Then your father, Rory. Is he safe, somewhere?” Flann and Rowena were living at Ashenden Manor. Rowena had passed her vet exams. Later, after the baby was born, they’d move to Rowena’s property in Kildare.
As for Ashenden Manor, Scott, hired by his mother, was totally absorbed in working with an architect and contractor on plans that would turn the manor into a country estate guest house with landscaped gardens, tennis, golf, riding, and a superior cuisine.
Her bag packed, Torrey set the alarm. She should go to bed. But then, looking around the fireplace kitchen with voluptuous pleasure, she couldn’t resist: She put on her heavy striped apron, spread some newspaper on the floor, and with a paint scraper began to scrape the peeling brown paint from the old kitchen chair. Later, she’d sand it, rub in an apple green tint, then wax it. When she returned from Athens, she’d also buy chintz for the shabby-looking couch beside the fireplace.
For the bare breath of an instant, she thought of Inspector Egan O’Hare and of the two false gypsies moving in a caravan somewhere along the roads of Ireland.
Rightly or wrongly, she decided, scraping off the old paint, she was content with her conscience.
ST. MARTIN’S PAPERBACKS TITLES BY DICEY DEERE
The Irish Cottage Murder
The Irish Manor House Murder
Other titles from St. Martin’s Minotaur Mysteries
SNIPE HUNT by Sarah R. Shaber
ARMS OF NEMESIS by Steven Saylor
SKELETON KEY by Jane Haddam
A HEALTHY PLACE TO DIE by Peter King
THE WEDDING GAME by Susan Holtzer
THE SKULL MANTRA by Eliot Pattison
FORTUNE LIKE THE MOON by Alys Clare
AGATHA RAISIN AND THE FAIRIES OF
FRYFAM by M. C. Beaton
QUAKER WITNESS by Irene Allen
MIDNIGHT COME AGAIN by Dana Stabenow
COUP DE GRCE by J. S. Borthwick
THE INDIAN SIGN by Les Roberts
DEAD TIME by Eleanor Taylor Bland
MURDER WITH PUFFINS by Donna Andrews
THE BIRD YARD by Julia Wallis Martin
A DANGEROUS ROAD by Kris Nelscott
LARGE TARGET by Lynne Murray
LIE LIKE A RUG by Donna Huston Murray
A CONVENTIONAL CORPSE by Joan Hess
THE GREEN-EYED HURRICANE
by Martin Hegwood
THE IRISH MANOR HOUSE MURDER
by Dicey Deere
St. Martin’s Paperbacks is also proud to present
these mystery classics by Ngaio Marsh
SPINSTERS IN JEOPARDY
TIED UP IN TINSEL
VINTAGE MURDER
WHEN IN ROME
THE IRISH MANOR HOUSE MURDER
Copyright © 2000 by Dicey Deere.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 00-035268
ISBN: 0-312-97645-3
St. Martin’s Press hardcover edition / August 2000
St. Martin’s Paperbacks edition / August 2001
St. Martin’s Paperbacks are published by St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
eISBN 9781466848825
First eBook edition: June 2013