Murder in the Afternoon by Frances Brody

Author:Frances Brody [Brody, Frances]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Mystery & Detective, Traditional, Women Sleuths, Historical, Cozy
ISBN: 9781250063328
Google: ng_XoAEACAAJ
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2015-02-03T00:00:00+00:00

WEDNESDAY

So a’ bade me lay more clothes on his feet: I put my hand into the bed and felt them, and they were as cold as any stone; then I felt to his knees, and so upward, and upward, and all was as cold as any stone.

Shakespeare, Henry V II, ii

One

On Wednesday morning, I unfolded my sheet of foolscap notes. Sykes and I had written one each the previous evening. Mine read:

APPROXIMATE TIMINGS

Ethan last seen alive: 1.10pm Saturday by Josiah Turnbull, quarry foreman

5.15pm – Ethan’s body found by Harriet

5.50pm – Arthur from farm: no sign of Ethan – sundial intact

6.30pm – MJ to quarry – sundial smashed

7.30pm – search of quarry by Sergeant Sharp, Josiah & Raymond Turnbull and two other quarrymen

QUERIES

What is going on between Col. Ledger and Mary Jane?

Significance of the “well provided woman” advertisement?

Mary Jane – opportunity to ‘visit’ Ethan at work during afternoon when children shopping. Claims not to have done so.

Miss Trimble reported seeing person (Mary Jane?) in plaid cape at 4 pm.

Who broke the sundial – is this a diversion?

Ethan A. – associates and friends?

Enemies?

Coincidence of shepherd’s death in quarry last year?

Link between Ethan’s death and Miss Trimble’s death?

POSSIBILITIES

Foul play – Ethan attacked; assailant hid when children approached; assailant hid body when children gone.

If body hidden, cannot be far away, unless moved at night – by whom?

If Ethan attacked, how? Where are his tools?

My map and matchstick men figures, with arrows from one to another, were of no great help. In large letters came the question – WHO BENEFITS FROM ETHAN ARMSTRONG’S DEATH?

There was a simple answer to the first question. Mary Jane had Ethan’s life insured, but as she had reminded me, a fit working man was worth more alive than dead. Of course if he had found out something about Mary Jane that put their marriage in jeopardy, this would change.

If Mary Jane and Colonel Ledger were having an affair, and Ethan had found out, then it may be convenient for the colonel to have Ethan out of the way.

We were off the case. But there must be something that would shed a little light, if only to satisfy my own curiosity. Once more I picked up the advertisement, that had reappeared in the Wakefield Express. A well provided woman seeking a similar mate.

The man who kept a closer eye on newspapers than anyone else I had ever met was Mr Eric Duffield, local newspaper librarian at the Herald on Albion Street. Fortunately, I had sent him a bottle of whiskey at Christmas, as thanks for his help in the Braithwaite case.

I went into the hall and lifted the telephone receiver. Moments later, Mr Duffield assured me that he would be able to see me at 10.30.

Sookie appeared on the stairs. She padded into the hall at a stately pace. The slightest movement of her head told me that something was required. I followed her into the kitchen. Now I would have to open the door, let her out, and wait for her to come back.

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