Death In A Deckchair: An Edward Crisp Novella (Edward Crisp Mysteries) by Peter Boon

Author:Peter Boon [Boon, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Meadowcroft Publishing
Published: 2022-08-25T22:00:00+00:00

9

‘I was Archie’s personal housekeeper for many years. He trusted me and we were dear friends. But then it all went wrong.’

‘Let me guess, little old lady housekeeper cliché number one. He caught you stealing the silverware,’ Leon said, rolling his eyes.

‘Oh no, not that. We were sleeping together.’

Several eyes in the room almost popped out of their head. Pierce Trent in particular looked horrified.

‘What? I’m not that much older than him. Besides, a girl’s got to get it where she can at my age.’

‘You were clearly after his money,’ Wendy Trent said through pursed lips. ‘Number one suspect, I’d say.’

I wanted to keep Beryl focused before this descended into argument. ‘What went wrong then, if you were in a relationship together?’

Beryl laughed out loud. ‘Oh you young people and all your romance. We were literally just sleeping together. But yes, it did go wrong.’

‘What happened?’ Noah was the one to ask, but I could tell the elderly lady had the whole room’s attention now.

‘The sour-faced one is right. I was after his money. At first, anyway.’ She took a moment to take in everyone’s shocked reactions. ‘What? An old girl’s got to get by however she can. But it wasn’t like that. I fell for him. And when he realised his money could get him much younger models than me, it broke my heart.’

‘I’m sorry my brother did that to you.’

‘For God’s sake, Pierce. Grow a backbone and turn off your PC do-gooder routine for five minutes. You heard her, she was after his money.’

‘Mum, don’t be horrible. She just said Uncle Archie broke her heart. Have some empathy.’

‘Thank you, dear,’ Beryl said to Nat.

Something occurred to me. ‘How did you get your revenge on him?’

Beryl turned to me and narrowed her eyes. ‘What makes you think I did that, my dear? You know my motive. He broke my heart.’

But I wasn’t convinced. ‘From what I’ve learned about Archie, I don’t think that’s enough of a reason to bring you here. He had the upper hand. You must have done something to him after that, to be on his radar now.’

As I was talking, I noticed Noah had left his seat and was wandering around the room, probably looking for clues.

Beryl, meanwhile, dropped her sweet smile for the first time. ‘You are a clever one, aren’t you? Well, yes, there is a little more to tell, in fact. But I’m not sure if I should say in front of the family.’

Fiona, who had been listening intently by my side, moved towards the old lady before she spoke. ‘Look. I don’t know what’s happening here. But everything is clearly going to come out either way. If you’re innocent of this, you need to help us get to the truth. And the only way to do that is to tell us what he has on you.’

I could almost see the thoughts in Beryl’s head as she contemplated Fiona’s words, before she eventually spoke. ‘Oh, okay. I tried to burn his house down.

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