Death in the Mayfair Hotel: A totally unputdownable and completely addictive cozy crime mystery (A Cressida Fawcett Mystery Book 6) by Fliss Chester

Author:Fliss Chester [Chester, Fliss]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2024-09-13T00:00:00+00:00

23

Cressida’s mind was reeling, and not in the way it usually would be at this stage of an evening when she’d be tucking into something rather refreshing and fizzy or chilled and shaken. She was pleased, though, when out of the corner of her eye she saw a plump little pup waddle towards her, from the direction of the billiard room.

‘Oh there you are, Ruby,’ she said as she moved away from the flip-flap door of the kitchen towards her pup. She picked her up with a certain amount of effort. ‘How did I not notice that you were with child? Or pup? Or pups, more like, by the look of you. Which one of Sir John’s corgis was it? Dylan or Daffyd?’

Cressida nuzzled her small dog and carefully let her down again. She looked around at the passageway, which was less formally decorated here than the end closer to the ballroom and ladies’ powder room; emptier too. She noticed another group of young ladies head into the powder room further up the corridor, so pressed together she couldn’t recognise any of them, though a flash of sparkle in one of their headpieces caught her eye and it reminded her of Victoria and how pretty she’d looked in the Beaumont tiara on her wedding day.

Oh, Victoria… I will find out who did this to you. Cressida made the vow as she checked her watch. She didn’t want to keep Violet waiting, but she felt that the poor girl probably deserved a few minutes away from her post and pretending to zhoosh up some mistletoe while getting to see the ballroom in full swing would be nice for her. Or perhaps those young ladies who had just gone into the powder room would keep her occupied. Either way, Cressida felt she still had time to quickly see if she could glean anything from Victoria’s body; she doubted she’d want to spend too long down there anyway.

She glanced up and down the passageway and luckily it only took a few moments to spy the discreet brass plaque with a word engraved upon it.

Cellar.

Cressida looked about her, waited for the scurrying serving staff to disappear back into the kitchen and then with a turn of the brass knob gently pushed it open. She was somewhat shocked at the rush of cool, damp air that greeted her. Ruby whined a little and sat back on her haunches, and Cressida looked down at her.

‘Not like you to shy away from an adventure.’

Ruby, could only reply by snorting and snuffling, but while doing so, she stood up again and bravely walked through the door. With Ruby now as her guide, and showing Cressida up somewhat, she followed her in.

The door led almost directly to a narrow staircase that, while carpeted and decorated much like the passageway outside with plaster mouldings and gilt Rococo flourishes, gradually lost its gloss as it curved its way down quite steeply. Carpet turned to well-worn wood under her feet and the walls went from being like those of the hotel above to rough-hewn brick and stone.

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