Seams like Murder by Tilly Wallace

Author:Tilly Wallace [Wallace, Tilly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

After dinner, Sam and I sat in the backyard on the old wooden deckchairs with a bottle of ginger beer each to enjoy the warm evening and to talk through events. Wax eyes flitted among the tall flaxes, sticking their heads into the dark red flowers to drink the nectar. I told my friend about my visit to the Cricket, and what I had learned about the animosity between Agatha and Mintie. In particular, how the latter arrived late to the party and the repair job I had taken away with me.

“So Mintie must have done it. The proof is the torn dress,” Sam said.

“I wonder what happened.” I recreated that night in my head and arranged for the warring showgirls to appear on stage at the same time. “Perhaps Mintie arrived by car, just as Agatha hurried across the lawn. They might have argued, drifting closer to the stables. Then there was a struggle which resulted in Mintie’s dress being torn. Enraged, she grabbed a nearby shovel left leaning against the building and…” I didn’t need to finish the sentence. Even in my mind, I blacked out the scene.

Sam huffed. “Sounds bloody obvious when you put it like that. Why hasn’t that detective arrested her?”

“That’s the bit that bothers me.” I chewed over the same thing. The case against Mintie seemed much clearer than the hare-brained idea of me being involved. Yet the cool blonde had danced on stage and cast a critical eye over my drawings without giving away so much as a hint of being under the detective’s suspicion. “He might not know about the torn dress. People he interviewed might have mentioned her being late, but would they notice a tear in the fabric? Especially if she did something to cover it, like wearing a shawl.”

What if Detective Archer had examined Mintie as a suspect, and discarded her for some reason I couldn’t discern? Or worse, barely glanced at the evidence against her since he had already made up his mind that I was responsible? “What if he still thinks I did it?”

Sam swung her feet to the ground and stared at me. “Have you spoken to Joseph and asked if they know about the dress?”

“No. I suspect he’s avoiding me.” And to be fair to my cousin, I only learned about the dress a few hours ago.

Sam screwed up her face at me in concern.

“This has been the first weekend he didn’t come around with his motorcycle to tinker on it with Dad and Theo.” When I was young, I thought my tall cousin was a nuisance. As we got older, I realised the importance of family and it always warmed my heart how we had become closer. There was an easy rapport between Dad and his nephew and, one day, I hoped Theo would grow up to be the sort of man they were.

“Let’s put Mintie off stage for a while and think about the other suspects. There’s her cousin who seems likely, given the argument with him was playing on Agatha’s mind that day.

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