8 Top Marks for Murder by Robin Stevens

Author:Robin Stevens [Stevens, Robin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780241348413
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2019-08-07T23:00:00+00:00

9

We were back at the crime scene, the table where Mrs Rivers had been taken ill only a few hours before. I stared around at it, remembering what I had seen last night, and shuddered.

The number 4 was carefully inked onto a bit of gold-edged card in the centre of the tablecloth, and snuffed candles and pretty summer blooms from the Deepdean flower beds were arranged in vases along it. A salt cellar was overturned next to Mr Turnbull’s place, and its matching pepper pot sat forlornly by Mrs El Maghrabi’s. A gravy boat, whose contents were hardening unpleasantly, sat beside Mr Stone’s plate. There was Mrs Turnbull’s untouched setting, and the empty places of Mr and Mrs El Maghrabi and Mrs Dow. Mr and Mrs Thompson-Bates, Mr Turnbull, Mr Stone and Mr Dow’s plates had congealing bits of meat and vegetable on them. Only Mrs Rivers’ plate and glasses were entirely missing.

‘Taken away to be tested,’ said Daisy, nodding. ‘Even the worst clodhopping policemen have some standards. But, oh dear, Hazel, I see the first problem! If the poison was administered during the first course – the aspic – that plate and wine glass would have been cleared away and washed before Mrs Rivers was even taken ill. Oh, what a waste of evidence! Now, let’s see. Aside from that first course, is there anything here that only Mrs Rivers ate or drank?’

I shook my head. I was again remembering Mrs Rivers’ final moments, and I hated the images that were spinning around my head – of her twitching and gasping for air, and of an unknown hand that had reached out and spilled poison into her glass or onto her plate.

‘I don’t understand how it could have happened,’ I said. ‘How did we miss it? We were watching all the time!’

‘Well, we must just try to work that out,’ said Daisy, ‘by sitting down and attempting to recreate the circumstances of the crime.’

‘But what if the police do come back?’ I asked uncomfortably.

‘So what if they do?’ cried Daisy. ‘We must move quickly, that’s all. And we needn’t worry about disturbing things. They will already have thoroughly photographed the crime scene, so we can move objects about without compromising the investigation. But put on your gloves, anyway, just to be on the safe side.’

I was privately amused at that. Daisy may still be outwardly rude about the police, but she has learned to care about not disturbing police work.

I pulled on my light summer gloves and got out this casebook, with my notes about the place settings. Daisy moved about the table, squinting at the silverware and sniffing the glasses and muttering distractedly to herself.

I stared at Mrs Rivers’ empty seat. It looked so … so ordinary, so tidy. If I had not seen what had happened with my own eyes, I should never have believed it. Slowly I began to circle the table. I ran my hand across Mr Thompson-Bates’s chair first, then stepped round Mrs Rivers’ chair from right to left, as he had done to help her when she had been taken ill.

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