Powder Island : A Sherlock Holmes and Lucy James Mystery (The Sherlock and Lucy Mystery Book 26) by Anna Elliott & Charles Veley

Author:Anna Elliott & Charles Veley [Elliott, Anna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wilton Press
Published: 2021-04-13T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 18: LUCY

I was alone in the Rexford family carriage. Mrs. Thiel had elected to ride to Rexford Hall with the injured man in a farm cart, so she could sit alongside and help support his broken leg.

We drove up the sweep of gravel drive at the front of the Hall, a handsome building of red brick, with two wings flanking a central, gabled entrance, making the footprint of the house resemble the shape of a letter E.

Legend had it that Queen Elizabeth had considered it a delicate compliment and been more likely to bestow her royal presence on manors built with her initial in mind. Although from the large scale of the construction, and from the fresh-looking exterior, I thought Rexford Hall was a newer imitation rather than an authentic Elizabethan manor home.

A slender, fair-haired young woman, dressed in black, came hurrying out to meet us. She went straight to the cart, and I heard her issuing brisk orders to the workers who had ridden along.

“Yes, bring him straight inside—carefully, now. I have the sofa in the downstairs parlour all ready. Yes, mother, I’ve already telephoned for the doctor, he should be here any moment.”

This, then, must be Amy Thiel. She certainly seemed to be well in command of the emergency, her manner assured and entirely unruffled.

I got out of the carriage, watching as another girl hurried out of the house. The new arrival made for a striking contrast to Amy. Her dark-haired colouring was the exact opposite of Miss Thiel’s fair complexion. She was small, and on the plump side, while Amy was willowy and fair. And her expression held all the worry and distress that Amy’s lacked.

“Paul!” She reached to take the injured man’s hand, and her voice, heavy with a broad Yorkshire accent, was also shaky with tears. “What’s tha’ done to thyself?”

“I’m all right.” Paul Jeffries’ face was white with pain, but he made an effort to smile. “Nothing wrong that can’t be mended.”

“Yes, Eliza, I’m sure he’ll be all right,” Amy said. She spoke more gently to the other girl than she had to the workmen. “Go along, you can sit with him and keep him company until the doctor arrives.”

She stood back and watched as the workmen carried Paul’s makeshift stretcher inside the house. Mrs. Thiel followed, with a murmur about asking Cook to prepare some tea and other refreshments for everyone.

Amy turned to me.

“You think this accident wasn’t anything of the kind. Someone deliberately caused that ladder to break.”

My eyebrows rose. Sabotage, of course, was precisely what the evidence seemed to prove. But it was unusual for an outsider to jump immediately to the same conclusion—especially since Amy hadn’t seen the cuts made to the ladder’s upper rungs.

“What makes you say that?”

Amy gestured impatiently. “I should have thought it obvious. You are an investigator, here with Mr. Holmes. Yet instead of going to join him on Powder Island, you came here with Paul. Therefore, you must have observed something about his fall to make you suspicious.

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