Agatha Raisin and the Wellspring of Death

the local policeman, lumbering up to join the group. ‘Mary Owen is a nice old lady who wouldn’t hurt a fly.’
    ‘How old?’ asked Agatha.
    ‘Sixty-five.’
    Agatha winced. She was in her middle fifties and did not like to think of anyone in their sixties being considered old.
    ‘She may have been nice one time,’ said Miss Simms defiantly, ‘but ever since this water company’s come on the scene, she’s been hollering and yelling about it. People can go batty when they get as old as that.’
    ‘We don’t know yet it was murder,’ said Fred. ‘Is anyone going to buy me a drink?’
    ‘I will,’ said Agatha. ‘Drinking on duty?’
    ‘Day off. I’ll have a pint of Hook Norton.’
    ‘I didn’t think you could get a day off with there being this death.’
    ‘The detectives are handling it.’
    Mrs Darry came up and joined them. Agatha turned her back on her, trying to exclude her from the group, but Mrs Darry pushed past her.
    ‘Are you talking about the murder?’ she asked eagerly.
    ‘We have other things to talk about,’ said Agatha huffily as she paid for the policeman’s drink.
    ‘I was saying as how Mary Owen did it,’ said Miss Simms.
    ‘I’m surprised to find you here, Mrs Raisin,’ said Mrs Darry. ‘I’ll have a Dubonnet, John.’ She looked at Agatha. ‘I mean, I thought they would have been grilling you at police headquarters.’
    ‘Why?’ Agatha stared at her belligerently.
    Mrs Darry gave a malicious little titter. ‘Surely the person who is found with the body is always chief suspect?’
    ‘That’s rubbish,’ said Fred. ‘Mrs Raisin just happened to come across the body.’
    ‘It’s amazing how many bodies Mrs Raisin seems to have come across.’ Mrs Darry took a birdlike sip of her drink. ‘And gained a certain notoriety for it, too. Life has been quite quiet for you recently, has it not?’
    Agatha’s face flamed red with anger. ‘Are you saying I go around murdering people so as to get in the newspapers?’
    Mrs Darry gave a shrill laugh. ‘Just my little joke.’
    ‘Then you can take your joke and shove it up your scrawny arse,’ raged Agatha, as the whole full force of the shock of finding the body hit her. Her eyes filled with tears.
    ‘Come on, now,’ said Miss Simms, unhitching herself from the bar-stool. ‘We’ll find a quiet corner away from this bitch.’
    Agatha sat down with her, her knees trembling.
    ‘Sorry about the scene,’ she mumbled. ‘I did get a bit of a fright.’
    ‘Have the press been bothering you?’
    ‘No,’ said Agatha, surprised. ‘I wonder why.’
    ‘All it said in the Gloucester Echo was that the body had been found by a local woman.’
    Despite her distress, Agatha felt peeved. The police could have said something like, ‘The body was found by Mrs Agatha Raisin, who has been of great help to us in solving murders in the past.’
    ‘That Mrs Darry is an awful cat,’ said Miss Simms.
    ‘There’s one in every village,’ said Agatha gloomily. ‘I shouldn’t have risen to her remarks.’
    ‘Look, Mrs Raisin . . .’
    ‘Call me Agatha. Why is it we always seem to call each other by our second names?’
    ‘I like that,’ said Miss Simms. ‘More genteel, like. Are you going to investigate? Will Mr Lacey be helping you?’
    ‘I don’t know what James is doing these days and I don’t care,’ said Agatha. ‘But I will probably find out more about the whole set-up because I will be doing public relations for the new water company on a freelance basis.’
    ‘Pity it’s water,’ said Miss Simms. ‘Now if it was gin or whisky, you could get us all some free samples. My current boyfriend is in bathroom equipment. I can get you a toilet seat.’
    ‘That’s kind of you, but my toilet seats are all right. Do you know any of the members of the parish council?’
    ‘Ancombe, you mean. The ladies’ society did a concert over in Ancombe when you was away abroad. Old fuddy-duddies. Wouldn’t hurt a fly. Probably it’ll turn out the old geezer just fell over.’
    The conversation moved to village gossip and Agatha finally left, feeling better. There was a message on her answering machine from Roy. She was to meet the two directors of the Ancombe Water Company the following day at three in the afternoon.
    Comforted by the thought of work, and by a long walk in the afternoon, Agatha managed at last to get a good night’s sleep.

Chapter Two

    Misery had its compensations. Agatha found she could get into a