No Graves as Yet by Anne Perry

Author:Anne Perry [Perry, Anne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Suspense
ISBN: 9780345456533
Google: nEZbAAAAMAAJ
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 7106883
Publisher: Ballantine
Published: 2003-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER

EIGHT

On Monday, July 20, Joseph spent the morning in a lively albeit erratic discussion with half a dozen students in which he doubted anyone learned very much.

He found himself enervated by the exchange as he walked back across the quad toward his own room, eager for the peace of familiar books and pictures, and above all the silence. He was fourteen or fifteen years older than most of the young men he had been with, but today it seemed more than a generation. They were frightened, perhaps of the thought of war in Europe, even though it was distant and problematical.

Far more immediate was the continuing police investigation of Sebastian Allard’s murder. That could not be escaped. It was omnipresent as Sebastian’s grieving mother walked the Fellows’ Garden in black, waiting for justice, her rage and misery consuming her. She seemed in a self-chosen isolation from the rest of the world. Inspector Perth continued his interrogations, never telling anyone what he had concluded from their answers. And always was the knowledge that one of these gilded scholars, studying the collected thoughts of the ages, had fired the deliberate shot.

Joseph was almost at the door when he heard the light, rapid footsteps behind him and turned to find Perth a couple of yards away. As always, he wore a suit that fitted without elegance or grace. His hair was combed back straight and his mustache trimmed level. He was carrying a pipe by the bowl, as if he was undecided whether to light it or not.

“Oh! Good. Reverend Reavley . . . glad to catch up wi’ you, sir,” he said cheerfully. “Are you going inside?”

“Yes. I’ve just finished a debate with some of my students.”

“Oi never thought you gentlemen worked so hard, even in holiday times,” Perth observed, following Joseph in through the carved stone doorway and past the oak stairs, almost black with age, the middle of the steps hollowed by centuries of feet.

“Quite a few students choose to remain here and do some extra study,” Joseph replied, turning the bend and going on up. “And then there are always the undergraduates pursuing other studies.”

“Oh, yes, the undergraduates.”

They reached the landing and Joseph opened his own door. “Is there something I can do for you, Inspector?”

Perth smiled appreciatively. “Well, since you ask, sir, there is.” He stood expectantly on the step.

Joseph surrendered and invited him inside. “What is it?” he asked.

“Oi think it’d be true to say, sir, that you knew Mr. Allard better than any o’ the other gentlemen here?”

“Possibly.”

Perth put his hands in his pockets. “You see, Reverend, Oi’ve bin talking to Miss Coopersmith, Mr. Allard’s fiancée, as was, if you see what Oi mean? Nice young lady, very collected, no weeping an’ wailing, just a quiet sort o’ grief. Can’t help admiring it, can you?”

“No,” Joseph agreed. “She seems a fine young woman.”

“Did you know her before, sir? Seeing as you know the Allard family, and Mr. Sebastian especially. People tell me you were very close, gave him lots of advice in his studies, watched over him, as you might say.

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