Fake Death: A British Cozy Murder Mystery with a Female Amateur Sleuth (A Dotty Sayers Antique Mystery Book 1) by Victoria Tait

Author:Victoria Tait [Tait, Victoria]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781838436100
Publisher: Kanga Press
Published: 2022-04-07T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Constable Varma followed the inspector in and closed the door behind her.

“Is Mrs Sarah Roberts here?” the inspector asked, in his deep melodic voice. “I’d like to speak to her about a missing person report she filed.”

“Why is an inspector concerned about a missing person?” Aunt Beanie asked, leaning back in her chair.

The inspector narrowed his eyes at her.

Constable Varma sidestepped past the inspector and whispered to Dotty, “It’s to do with that count she was telling us about last week.”

Aunt Beanie leaned forward. “What count?”

“Count Philip D’Enliss.”

“Constable,” growled Inspector Evans. “That information is not for public knowledge.”

Aunt Beanie guffawed, and they all turned to stare at her.

“It’s somewhat contrived, and not as good as the Doctor but I still declare he had a sense of humour.”

Inspector Evans’ cheeks flushed. “Who did?”

“Your dead man, Todd what’s-his-name.”

The inspector strode across and towered over the seated Aunt Beanie.

“What do you know of our victim?”

“That he liked to have fun with words.”

At that moment Marion Rook appeared, escorting Sarah Roberts.

Aunt Beanie continued. “Count Philip D’Enliss. Pe-d-eniless. Penniless.”

Sarah Roberts took a step back. “Philip. Have you found Philip?”

Inspector Evans stared at Aunt Beanie, who looked back with a guileless expression. He grunted, “That’s a stretch,” before turning to Sarah Roberts and replying, “In a manner of speaking, we have.”

Dotty took a deep breath, stood up, and approached Sarah Roberts. “Come and sit on the sofa. I think the inspector has something to tell you.”

Sarah’s hand shot to her mouth, but she allowed Dotty to lead her to the grey sofa in the corner of the reception area. “Something’s happened to him, hasn’t it?”

Constable Varma sat down opposite Dotty and Sarah Roberts and placed her police hat on the table. She said, “In your report, you stated that Count Philip hadn’t turned up for a trip to the theatre on Tuesday night, but when did you last see him?”

Sarah Roberts was pale and her hands shook. “On Friday morning, when we left my house in Chipping Norton. I presume he was heading home, and I was attending a weekend wellness retreat at Ravenswick Hall.”

Constable Varma asked gently, “And did you see or hear from him again after that?”

Sarah Roberts bit her lip and shook her head.

Inspector Evans called across in his baritone voice, “His house. Did you visit it?”

“No. I’m not sure exactly where it is. He was rather vague.”

“I’m sure he was,” replied the inspector, staring at the ceiling.

The phone rang.

Marion, who was standing in front of the reception desk, said, “I need to take this. Can you all move over to the corner?”

Inspector Evans strode across and rested his hands on the back of a grey tub chair.

Aunt Beanie remained sitting in her chair as she wheeled it across the reception area and stopped by a temporary plastic table, which had been set up in readiness for the auction, between the reception desk and door into the auction room.

Sarah Roberts looked across at her and asked, “What did you say about Philip’s name?”

“That, at a stretch, it could be construed as ‘penniless’.

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