Murder at Maybridge Castle by Ada Moncrieff

Author:Ada Moncrieff
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781529914375
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2023-10-26T00:00:00+00:00

19

Daphne was perched on the stone wall outside the clairvoyant sisters’ house when Helena Rackham tore through the front door, gulping for air.

‘I say, Helena.’ She came towards her and placed a hand on her back. ‘You look like you’ve seen a ghost.’ Too late, Daphne realised the misfortune of this turn of phrase.

‘I – I – it was terribly stuffy in there,’ Helena spluttered. ‘Couldn’t … c-couldn’t quite catch my breath.’

Daphne could sympathise. ‘There was rather a lot of that incense floating around, wasn’t there? Thought I might have had a migraine coming on. Had to step out too after we all had our readings.’

Helena appeared to be calming down, her breath slowing to a regular pace. ‘Don’t know why I let Charles persuade me to come to this – I’d far rather be scribbling in my notebook.’

‘You and I both, Helena,’ Daphne remarked. ‘I don’t go in for all this Spiritualist claptrap, if I’m to be honest.’

At this, Helena’s panic rose again. ‘Well, no, neither did I – but then – but, well …’

Well, well. Daphne thought. Something appears to have happened at the séance. She could only hope that Mrs Thewley had applied her acumen to the situation and would be able to relay all to her later. Unless Helena Rackham could be prevailed upon to spill the beans now.

‘What is it, Helena?’ Daphne affected her most concerned voice.

‘Oh … nothing, nothing,’ Helena shook her head. ‘Just – well, one never knows, does one.’

Daphne snorted unintentionally. One certainly never did know.

The others came out of the house, blinking and squinting now that they were back in daylight.

‘What-ho, Daphne!’ shouted Charles. ‘Enjoy yourself in there?’

Daphne said that she really rather had enjoyed herself, yes.

‘Seen Mr and Mrs Moore about anywhere?’ Charles continued. ‘They had a few errands to run in the village, but I understood that they’d be back by n— Oh, speak of the devil!’

Mr and Mrs Moore marched towards the house, a parcel under Mr Moore’s arm and a paper bag of what appeared to be carrots in Mrs Moore’s hand.

‘Right-o,’ Charles proclaimed, clapping his hands together. ‘I say we amble our way back to Maybridge. It’s what, one o’clock now? A light lunch, courtesy of Mrs Moore, before a spot of free time and then our evening commences?’

There was a collective nod, but Daphne raised her hand tentatively as if offering an answer to an algebra conundrum that she hadn’t quite finished working out.

‘I’m rather one for missing my lunch, generally.’ It was a lie, a terrible lie that Daphne regretted almost instantly. She was a creature of habit, and her habit was to have lunch at precisely one thirty every day, by hook or by crook, come rain or shine. On the odd occasion that circumstances had detained her from this routine, she had become incrementally snappier, more irrational and more prone to outbursts of sarcasm with every minute that passed. It was a risk, granted. But she needed some time away from the group.

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.