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Tolly stashed the crate of smoked trout in the walk-in pantry, the one farthest from the stove and hearth, the one where the foodstuffs that needed to be kept cooler were stored. There was no one in the kitchen save him and Mistress Iris; no one to answer her question.
‘Well, I’m not sure Miz Puddifoot…..about Cook, that is. But I’d heard since my last trip here that she’d gone missing.’ He shrugged his shoulders at her bemused look. ‘Vanished…..and no one knows where she’s gone off to.’
He looked round the kitchen which seemed to be in a state less tidy, less organized than Cook would have her kitchen be in. ‘I think it’s just the serving girls that are trying to keep things going for now.’ He should his head. ‘Though were it up to me I would say that Cook is just not coming back.’
Tolly turned toward the door, intending to bring in the last crate, the smoked perch. ‘Seems like the girls are doing the best they can.’ He shrugged. ‘But being Cook here at the Perch is a big job…..bigger than they can take on and do their own jobs, too.’
When the crate of perch was tucked away next to the that of the trout, Tolly excused himself from the kitchen and went to find the Innkeeper, to let him know he’d brought the smoked fish as was promised.
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