Fire When Ready (Manor House Mystery) by Kate Kingsbury

Author:Kate Kingsbury [Kingsbury, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-07-28T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER

9

Early the following morning, Elizabeth was halfway down the front steps when she saw a figure peddling a bicycle furiously down the driveway. To her surprise, she saw it was Nellie Smith, and for a wild moment she wondered if Nellie had spotted her in the cottage after all and was coming to confront her about it.

She waited until the young woman had dismounted from her bicycle and leaned it against the wall before going down the steps to greet her.

Nellie's face was flushed from her exertion, and strands of her blonde hair had escaped from her wooly scarf and were plastered to her forehead. She was out of breath, and her words came out in little gasps as she held out a fluttering sheet of paper. "I was wondering, your ladyship, if you'd sign this petition. I've got a pencil here for you somewhere."

Elizabeth took the paper while Nellie hunted feverishly through the pockets of her thick coat. Quickly she scanned the hand-printed lines and the heavily scrawled signature at the bottom. Rita. Of course. "I'm sorry," she said, handing the paper back to Nellie. "I'm afraid I can't sign this."

Nellie's face creased in dismay. "But I cycled all the way up the hill. It's important. We've got to close the factory down or the Germans will bomb the village. And it's ugly, and it spoils the countryside."

"Even if I agreed with you," Elizabeth said evenly, "I couldn't sign it. I'm bound by the councilors' decision and they voted for the factory by a wide majority."

Nellie's eyes narrowed. "There's only five members on the council, your ladyship."

"Well, yes," Elizabeth admitted. "Four to one, however, could be considered a wide majority."

"That factory has already caused the death of two people," Nellie said, obviously having been well-rehearsed by her stalwart leader. "How many more have to die before people come to their senses and get rid of it?"

Elizabeth studied the young woman's face. Was this all an act to cover up her own connection to the tragedy? Deciding it was time to take a risk or two, she said quietly, "Nellie, I happened to see you go into Mr. McNally's cottage yesterday."

The girl's face turned a bright red. Abandoning all effort of observing protocol she muttered, "So what if I did?"

"I was wondering why you felt it necessary to break into the cottage," Elizabeth said, conveniently neglecting to admit she had broken in there first. "After all, if there were something in there you needed, surely it would have been better to ask permission to retrieve it?"

"I didn't break in," Nellie said defiantly. "The window was open and I went through it."

"Entering someone's private abode without permission is the same as breaking in. I think P.C. Dalrymple would agree with me." Really, she thought wryly, I am becoming quite a hypocrite. Her only defense was that she was acting under the jurisdiction of her position and the need to apprehend a possible murderer. It didn't entirely soothe her conscience, but it helped.

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