Murder at Ridley Hall: A 1920s Historical British Mystery by Leena Clover

Author:Leena Clover [Clover, Leena]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-05-30T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

Vicky suggested a walk to clear their heads and Bess agreed. There was a lot of extraneous information floating around and she felt they needed to get rid of the chaff.

The cold air made her gasp at first. Bess took deep breaths, taking in the smell of pine mingled with smoke from burning leaves coming from a corner of the garden beyond a hedge. Rays of pale sunlight dappled the ground before them, adding a bit of warmth.

“We are in over our heads, Bess.”

“How about meeting Grandmother and the aunts today, old girl?”

Vicky admitted she missed spending time with them. She had come to Buxley Manor hoping to meet her father but had discovered a whole new family instead.

They followed a meandering path, neither paying attention to where they were going. After a while, they realized they had entered the woods.

“Things don’t look good for Cedric,” Bess frowned. “We will have to convince the Inspector to consider other suspects.”

Vicky thought they must have already done that. Clearly, they had not found anything incriminating.

“Nothing as bad as what they have against Cedric,” she pointed out. “What’s next, Bess. Shouldn’t you be honest with the Ridleys? Why give them false hope.”

Bess leaned against the bough of a dead tree and paused to catch her breath.

“We need to do two things, Vicky. First prove that just having the prints on the pistol does not make Cedric guilty.”

“And come up with other viable suspects,” Vicky summed up, always in tune with Bess. “Where do we begin?”

They walked deeper into the woods, noting how lonely the place was. Bess remarked how they had not come across anyone, wondering which path the servants coming to the hall from the village took.

“They must have come to work long ago,” Vicky reasoned. “And there must be several paths through the woods. I think these paths form a criss cross pattern of sorts, Bess. A person may not even take the same path every day.”

“I say, does this mean we have been going around in circles?”

Vicky pointed to plumes of smoke rising in the distance.

“Those are the Ridley Hall chimneys. As long as we walk back in that direction, we should be okay.”

Bess wasn’t taking any chances. She thought it was time they went back.

“Let’s think about motives. Cedric had none.”

Vicky reminded her about the poor opinion Sir Lawrence had about Cedric. Bess brushed it off.

“Young men like Cedric are thick skinned. Their primary goal in life is to eat, drink and be merry. I doubt he would pay attention to an old fogey like Sir Lawrence.”

“He would if the money well dried up,” Vicky argued.

Bess thought Cedric would borrow from friends or run up debts in town before he thought of killing anyone.

“The main point being, there is not a single coherent thought in his mind. Men like Cedric don’t think, Vicky.”

She thought they should follow the money trail. Simon Watkins stood to gain a lot since he was heir to everything Sir Lawrence owned.

“He might appear warm and friendly but I am sure he has not been upfront with us.

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