Murder Most Familiar by Marjorie Bremner

Author:Marjorie Bremner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Golden Age mysteries british;1940s murder mysteries;bibliomysteries;murder mystery series;vintage murder mystery
Publisher: Moonstone Press
Published: 2022-07-07T21:54:11+00:00

Burgess dined with us that night. Later, while we were having coffee, I saw him talking to Andrew and Tay in one corner of the room. Anne and Daphne were sitting together on a sofa, somewhat removed from the rest of us, and conversing in low tones. I heard Andrew give an exclamation and then say something urgently to Tay. Tay shrugged his shoulders and Burgess nodded. He said, addressing all of us, “I’ve been telling Mr. Mason and Mr. Tay one or two of the things we’ve learned so far. Some matters take longer than others to check. But I see no objection to telling all of you the results of our investigations in one field—to date.”

Daphne and Anne stopped talking abruptly and I stopped my desultory chat with Robert. Charles, who had been politely resisting all my aunt’s revisions of Wednesday’s programme, turned sharply and looked at Tay, Andrew and Burgess. Burgess said, “It has to do with what I had considered to be two previous attempts on Sir Hugh’s life.”

In a moment, any warmth in the room had disappeared. In its place were shock—and fear. But no one said anything. Burgess went on smoothly, “I refer, of course, to the motor-car accident in which Sir Hugh, Mrs. Fane, and the chauffeur, Raikes, were involved; and to an illness which Sir Hugh had, following the taking of a digestive pill, in Birmingham. You all knew about the accident, I believe, though perhaps none of you considered that it might have been an attempt at murder. I think only you, Mrs. Fane, knew about Sir Hugh’s indisposition in Birmingham.”

Everyone stared at me. The faces looked unfriendly. My Aunt Mildred said, frostily, “Really, Chris, you might have mentioned it to someone.”

“Raikes,” said Burgess, “was concerned about the accident and thought it must have been deliberately caused. He made some investigations on his own and worked out a method by which he thought it might have been done. We are, of course, looking into it thoroughly. He did not know about the episode in Birmingham. Mrs. Fane, however, did suggest to Sir Hugh himself that these two accidents might have been contrived deliberately. Sir Hugh—not entirely to her surprise—made light of it.”

“Chris,” said Andrew, “you must have known he wouldn’t take it seriously. Why didn’t you talk to one of us about it? We might even have prevented what happened.”

“As it happens,” said Burgess, before I could reply, “I now have decided that the illness in Birmingham was just that, and not an attempt at murder. I spoke to the doctor in Birmingham and your London doctor, Barker, did, too. Barker assures me that Sir Hugh’s symptoms were merely those of a serious digestive upset. He does not think any other conclusions reasonable—and I now agree with him. I should add”—he surveyed us in a leisurely manner—“that Dr. Barker confirmed the fact that he had a large stock of hexamethonium bromide on hand. He doesn’t keep a very careful check on it.

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