MURDER ON THE DAWN PRINCESS an addictive crime mystery full of twists by LEWIS ROY

Author:LEWIS, ROY
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Joffe Books crime thriller mystery and suspense
Published: 2022-03-16T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOUR

1

Culpeper scowled. He did not like Inspector Farnsby, but he had to admit he was a good copper and nobody’s fool. He could have done with Farnsby in looking around Riggs Manor. The man had a good eye and Culpeper did not feel he could trust the raw sergeant assigned to help him on the McArdle investigation. Inexperience could mean lost evidence or mistaken assumptions.

At least there weren’t very many people to interview. Colonel McArdle had employed only part-time staff and none of them had been on the premises when he had fallen to his death.

Bad-temperedly, Culpeper ascended the narrow staircase to the bell tower and prowled about the crenelated platform. It was a sunny day, and the clear skies meant he could enjoy splendid views, but he was not in the mood to take pleasure in the rolling hills and green woodland. He had almost enjoyed baiting the Chief Constable the previous day, but in the end he had gained little by it: he had not managed to obtain the services of Inspector Farnsby and he had been saddled with another problem on his caseload. And there was nothing to be seen up here: the woman who came in to do the cooking had found the colonel in the courtyard and had run yelling to the phone. Culpeper peered over the parapet and looked down: it was quite a fall and it had made quite a mess of Colonel McArdle’s skull. The dark stain of blood was still visible on the paving stones below. But apart from that, there was no sign of anything odd up here on the platform.

He made his way back down the stairs and into the main house. Detective Sergeant Tashent was in the study: a stocky, black-haired man with dark skin and a constant stubble shadow. Culpeper reckoned he had Russian blood. He wondered what the hell had brought him to the north-east. The Baltic Exchange maybe, two generations ago. He had a Geordie accent, at least. Certainly not Russian.

Culpeper dropped into the leather-covered easy chair in front of the desk and eyed the sergeant. ‘Well, what’ve we got, then?’

Tashent unfolded his notebook and studied it intently for a few moments. ‘The possibility of suicide is still not entirely ruled out, sir, but the people we’ve interviewed suggest that it’s unlikely — in their view the colonel was an active, community-minded man who had showed no signs of depression. Indeed, he was quite busy, with his fingers in a number of pies, and everyone expresses surprise and shock at his demise.’

Surprise, shock . . . and demise. He had to be Russian, with such precise English. Culpeper eyed the sergeant sourly. He’d had enough of that sort of chatter from Farnsby over the years. And he didn’t believe Tashent spoke like that at home in Longbenton. ‘So run over the interviews again.’

Tashent nodded. ‘It was the part-time cook who found him. The colonel was already dead . . . probably from the night before because there’d been a light rain and his clothes were wet.

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.