Murder in the cards by Sonia Parin

Author:Sonia Parin [Parin, Sonia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-06-23T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

A s she descended the stairs, Evie peered down and murmured, “Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.” She had been taught to enter a room with confidence, but a sense of trepidation swept through her. What would she find on the other side of the door?

Talk of murder and mayhem?

She reached the bottom of the stairs but did not move. Normally, she swept across the hall and straight into whichever room she needed to go to without a second thought.

A footman emerged from the dining room. Seeing her, he bowed his head and stepped aside.

Evie knew she had to move. Producing a smile, she squared her shoulders, and put one foot forward and then the other.

She could hear the flow of murmured conversations wafting toward her from the dining room. When she reached the door, she again hesitated but Henrietta had already spotted her.

“There you are, Evangeline. I had begun to worry about you.”

“My apologies, Henrietta. I couldn’t decide which dress to wear.” A footman drew out a chair for her. She settled down and glanced around the table. “I hope you have all had a fruitful morning. I feel I should apologize. There have been so many disruptions, I can barely hear myself think. I can’t imagine how you are all managing. I promise you, these are unusual circumstances…”

Zelma gave her a bright smile. “There is no need to apologize, my lady. In fact, we are almost overwhelmed by the amount of stimulation. Our heads are buzzing with so many ideas, we can barely keep up with them.”

“I’m so glad to hear that.” Well, not really, Evie thought and wondered if the scriptwriters expected her to continue supplying them with chaos.

The less informal sitting arrangements during lunch meant Evie could sit next to Henrietta.

“Zelma did not exaggerate,” Henrietta murmured. “I watched them for nearly an hour and felt dazzled by the energy and enthusiasm. Oh, before I forget. I hope you realize you will have to invite the vicar to dinner.”

“Thank you for the reminder, Henrietta. I might actually delay issuing an invitation.”

“Oh? I would have thought you’d want to invite him as soon as possible in order to extricate all the information you can from him. He must know something. Everyone in the county will have made an effort to introduce themselves, and you know what that means. They will all have discussed recent events.”

“Yes, I suppose you’re right.” Evie looked up and noticed Edgar standing nearby. “I wonder how Edgar is coping. It must be odd to be asked to join the group and then be excluded from it.”

“I see. You wish to change the subject. Edgar is quite content with the circumstances,” Henrietta assured her. “After this morning’s session, he said he needed to devote some time to his duties for fear the others might resent him. I sat close enough to him to also hear him murmur something about being at risk of getting too big for his boots.”

“That’s just silly, but I suppose he knows best.

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