Death of a Chimney Sweep - M. C. Beaton [78]
“It’s a long story.”
“And it’s dinnertime,” said Elspeth. “You can buy me dinner and tell me about it.”
Stefan Loncar sat in a dismal cold room in Sofia in Bulgaria. He had been afraid that Prosser might have been waiting for him at the airport and so he had travelled overland, choosing Sofia as a good place to hide out. He had finally found some old British newspapers and learned of the death of Prosser and the arrest of the others. He was working as a dishwasher in a restaurant during the evenings. His pay was meagre and he could not afford any drugs apart from an occasional bit of cannabis. He sometimes wondered if he would not have been more comfortable in a British prison.
At dinner at the Italian restaurant, Hamish told her the whole story, knowing he could trust Elspeth.
When he had finished, Elspeth asked, with an odd look on her face, “Doesn’t that cat of yours ever frighten you?”
“Sonsie? No. Gentle as anything.”
“Do you believe people come back as animals?”
“That’s highland superstition!”
“I’ll tell you one thing, you nearly got married twice and I bet that damn animal from hell knew nothing was going to come of it. If you ever do fall in love, watch out, Hamish Macbeth!”
“You’re talking havers.”
“I know a jealous woman when I see one.”
“For heffen’s sakes, lassie. It’s a cat!”
“We’ll see,” said Elspeth. “We’ll see.”
Contents
Front Cover Image
Welcome
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Epilogue
Previous Hamish Macbeth Mysteries by M. C. Beaton
Copyright Page
Previous Hamish Macbeth Mysteries by M. C. Beaton
Death of a Valentine
Death of a Witch
Death of a Gentle Lady
Death of a Maid
Death of a Dreamer
Death of a Bore
Death of a Poison Pen
Death of a Celebrity
Death of a Dustman
Death of an Addict
A Highland Christmas
Death of a Scriptwriter
Death of a Dentist
Death of a Macho Man
Death of a Nag
Death of a Charming Man
Death of a Gossip
Death of a Cad
Death of an Outsider
Death of a Perfect Wife
Death of a Hussy
Death of a Snob
Death of a Prankster
Death of a Glutton
Death of a Travelling Man
* See Death of a Dreamer (Grand Central Publishing, 2006).
Copyright
All characters in this book, including the village of Lochdubh, are figments of the author’s imagination and bear no relation to any person living or dead.
Copyright © 2011 by Marion Chesney
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Grand Central Publishing
Hachette Book Group
237 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10017
Visit our website at www.HachetteBookGroup.com.
www.twitter.com/grandcentralpub.
Grand Central Publishing is a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
The Grand Central Publishing name and logo is a trademark of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
First eBook Edition: February 2011
ISBN: 978-0-446-57409-9