Daisy Dalrymple 06 - Dead in the Water by Carola Dunn

Author:Carola Dunn [Dunn, Carola]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery, Historical
ISBN: 9781575667560
Amazon: B0057GESIC
Goodreads: 293066
Publisher: Robinson
Published: 1997-12-31T23:00:00+00:00

11

“Lord DeLancey confirmed a good part of what Miss Dalrymple told me, Tom,” said Alec, stepping out of the shade of the portico into the broiling sun.

“’Course!” Piper said indignantly as he climbed into the Austin’s back seat.

“He agreed his brother talked about spending the night in the boat-house?” Tom asked.

“Yes, though he made light of it.” Alec sat down in the passenger seat and closed the door. “He said he didn’t think Basil would go through with it.”

“Looks like he did,” said Tom laconically, engaging the clutch. He drove well and carefully, or Alec wouldn’t have trusted him with the precious Chummy.

“What did you find?”

Squinting as he negotiated the alternating shadow and brightness of the avenue, Tom said, “Looks like a smear of blood, Chief, and a few dark hairs, on the floor. A cushion hidden away in a back corner, where you wouldn’t notice it, or anyone sitting on it, as you was coming in the door. And one o’ the young gents told me there was an oar found damaged when they went to put the boat in the water this morning.”

“Damaged?” Alec frowned. “I’d be surprised if a blow with the flat of the blade, which didn’t do much external damage to DeLancey’s head, had left a visible mark on the oar.”

“The dent was on the edge of the blade. Like Mr. Cheringham said, it looked like it’d been dropped, which made Mr. Frieth pretty ‘browned off,’ he said, him being the Captain.”

Daisy would have noticed an oar lying on the floor, even if she missed a cushion in a back corner. Yet if DeLancey was struck in the boat-house, it must surely have been before he burst into her bedroom.

“Did they find the oar on the floor in the morning?” Alec asked.

“No, it’d been put back in the rack, Chief. Could be whoever hit him dropped it in shock, like, then picked it up again and put it away. I expect it wouldn’t be natural for one of these rowing blokes to just leave an oar lying about.”

“Very likely. Dabs?”

“Loads. Seems the oars are all pretty near identical, so anyone might’ve rowed with it. Then there’s the young ladies, Miss Cheringham and Miss Carrick. They often helped carry ’em, Mr. Cheringham said.”

“Mr. Cheringham seems to have been very helpful.”

“Said he was by way of being host, his uncle having buzzed off. He’s not Miss Dalrymple’s cousin, right, Chief?”

“Right, but he’s as close as a brother to Miss Cheringham, who is.” Alec sighed. As Tring and Piper knew very well, Daisy had a tendency to take one or more suspects under her wing. Who more likely than Cherry?

“Ah!” Tom ruminated for a moment. “He told me his dabs are on the oar, him having picked it off the rack to row with this morning afore anyone noticed it’d been bashed.”

“Covering his traces, do you think? If there are so many fingerprints, they won’t help much anyway.”

The sergeant disagreed. “Some of the ’em’s on top of others. Once I’ve identified all of’em, I might be able to tell who touched it last, besides Mr.

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