Haunted by Barbara Cartland

Author:Barbara Cartland
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781782135708
Publisher: Barbara Cartland Ebooks Ltd
Published: 2014-08-29T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

“It is obvious that we must have an early night after such an over-dramatic day,” the Marquis said dryly.

As he spoke, he noticed Jimmy’s eyelids were dropping and that Mimosa looked very tired.

There was so much to talk about, so much to relate to each other, that there had been no chance of resting after they had returned to Heron Hall.

By the time Jimmy and Mimosa had eaten a large breakfast, bathed and dressed, it was almost time for luncheon and after that they went on talking and planning.

“What are we going to do now?” Charles asked pertinently. “So far the enemy has won on points, even if we have managed to prevent him from gaining a victory.”

He thought as he spoke how easy it would have been for Norton Field to have destroyed Jimmy and Mimosa as he had planned to do, had not it been for Hunter who had tracked down his Mistress.

They had reasoned out amongst themselves exactly how Norton Field had planned what had been a very clever operation.

“Nobody goes into that wood of Grandpapa’s,” Mimosa said, “for the simple reason that the trees have never done well and, after Grandpapa gave up shooting, we lost all our gamekeepers.”

“I know that to my cost,” the Marquis said ruefully. “My keepers complain bitterly about the enormous amount of vermin it harbours.”

“The wood is so very big,” Mimosa sighed, “and there is a gravel pit on one side of it which was used, I believe, in Roman times. When it rains it fills with water and is dangerous to animals, so the farmers keep well away.”

It was obvious as she spoke that there was no attraction for anyone to visit the wood, and it was astute of Norton Field to have thought of leaving them there and concealing their presence so that if by chance there was a casual passer-by, he would not notice the horsebox.

“What I don’t understand,” Charles remarked, “is why the men who kidnapped them took off their gags and ropes except for those round their wrists.”

“I too thought that was rather strange,” Mimosa agreed.

“He obviously guessed,” the Marquis replied, “that they would be able to release their wrists. Then when their corpses were found there would be nothing to indicate that there had been any criminal intent to murder them.”

Charles looked at him in astonishment.

“How can you say that?” he asked. “They were locked in!”

“The bar on the door could have been lifted at any time after they were dead. Their nightclothes would doubtless have crumbled away. ”

The Marquis pondered as if he was working it out before he went on,

“If they were found in a year or so when Norton Field was applying to be acknowledged as the fifth Earl owing to Jimmy’s disappearance, it would be difficult to find any motive for Mimosa and Jimmy to be hidden in the wood unless they went there themselves and in some extraordinary manner were unable to get away.”

“I can see what you are saying,” Charles said, “and it has some sort of reasoning about it.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.