Murder at Castle Morse: A 1920s Historical British Mystery (British Cozy Mystery Series) by Leena Clover

Author:Leena Clover [Clover, Leena]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-07-29T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

Vicky and Bess sat in a window booth at the village pub later that evening. Lord and Lady Morse had been invited for a dinner party at a neighbouring estate. Richie was in London and Pudding had chosen to lock herself in her room. Bess wanted to get away from the castle.

“We might have gone home,” Vicky sighed, holding aloft her spoon.

The lamb stew they had ordered did not look very appetizing. Bess told her she was tired of all the drama.

“Don’t you feel too much is happening too soon? There is someone nagging us or expecting something from us every waking moment. Let’s run away. Maybe we can go to Edinburgh, kill two birds with a stone.”

Bess had guessed why her twin was despondent. Vicky had not received any positive news regarding her application for joining the university.

“There’s another man who is not happy with his life,” Vicky noted.

Bess whirled around on a reflex and saw Alfred Nash sitting alone in a dark corner, nursing a pint of ale. The man was clearly in his cups.

“Let’s ask him to join us.”

Nash was eager for company. He had a hard job. The tenants kept things from him fearing he would report them to the lord. And he was not really gentry so the Morse family kept their distance.

“Rum business this … the blasted memorial.” He burped. “I beg your pardon, ladies. Joe Cooper might be dead and buried but he still haunts me.” The empty sleeve dangling from his right shoulder moved with his torso. “I remember him every time I look in the mirror.”

Bess tried to commiserate. The battlefield was unpredictable at best. He might have been injured anyway.

“I was ready to die for the country, my lady. But to be slaughtered by a brother in arms …”

“What kind of a person was he?” Bess was curious. “Did he have friends in the village?”

Alfred shook his head. “High in the instep. Lord Morse thought a lot of him.”

Vicky thought he must have been good with the horses. He had risen fast in the ranks and become the stable master.

“Success went to his head.” Alfred laughed. “Or he changed when that Eileen refused to marry him. Didn’t take much to rile him up.”

Had Joe loved Eileen, Bess wondered. Why had he refused to marry her after coming back from the war?

“There isn’t a man in the village Joe Cooper did not have a problem with. Why, he was rowing with that bone digger one night.”

“You mean the archaeologist?” Vicky prompted, trying to recollect his name.

“Ballard,” Bess supplied.

Nash’s eyes closed and he sagged in his chair, leaning to one side. Bess slammed her hand on the table, making him sit up with a start.

“Are you sure? We talked to Ballard the other day and according to him, he never had any conversation with Joe. In fact, he wasn’t aware who Joe Cooper was.”

Nash closed his eyes again.

“Do you know Princess doesn’t like him, my lady? Hisses and spits every time she sees him.

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