So Bad a Death by June Wright

Author:June Wright [Wright, June; Sussex, Lucy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781891241604
Publisher: Verse Chorus Press

CHAPTER EIGHT

I

“Tell me about the inquest,” I requested John, after dinner.

“Nothing much to tell. I was relieved at the coroner’s finding.”

“I’m sure you were. Why did you detain Ernest Mulqueen?”

John began to fill a pipe slowly, staring into the fire.

“I could make a case against him if I cared to. The man has no alibi for the time of the crime. Furthermore, we have a witness to say that he was as far from the house as the gates.”

I snapped my fingers. “That much for Nugent Parsons’ evidence. A prejudiced witness. What about all the others who lack alibis?”

John said ruefully: “I would be glad to find someone with a watertight alibi, if only to try and disprove it. So far the field is crowded with suspects. When the shot was fired, we were the only ones in the drawing-room.”

“Not the only ones,” I corrected. “Daisy and Mrs Potts-Power were there. How about those for watertight alibis?”

“Quite so, but unfortunately can’t disbelieve my own eyes. Unless Mrs Potts-Power split herself into a dual personage and one part went off to commit the murder while the other stared at me rudely, I fail to see how to break her alibi. The same goes for the daughter and Ames.”

“What exactly is Ames’ position at the Hall?” I asked presently. “He seems rather an oddity to me. A jack-of-all-trades. It’s a wonder he is content to be so. He fills so many jobs expertly.”

John put his feet to the ground and rested his hands on either arm of the chair as though to rise. “If you are really interested in a few routine inquiries we have made, I’ll get some papers from the study. They may or may not be relevant to the case.”

“Go ahead. I am very interested.”

He threw a warning look over his shoulder. “No more than a wifely interest in your husband’s work, Maggie.”

“Of course not,” I said innocently. “Whatever can you be thinking about?”

John shook his fist and went out.

The telephone rang in the study, but it did not delay John long.

“Who was it?” I asked, when he came back with a file of papers.

“Braithwaite. He was dining at the Hall. He has something to tell me. He’ll be over presently.”

I avoided John’s eye. “Perhaps you could ask him about buying the house. Don’t you think it is time we started pushing things along? It would be terrible if the family sold it over our heads.”

“They won’t,” John stated calmly. “I’m not doing anything until this case is finished. You are not going to get into mischief a second time. Certainly not now you’re married to me.”

I said on a sigh: “I can’t think why I did. Marry you, I mean.”

John swept my feet off the couch and sat down. “My money, darling, and my good looks. Very rarely do they go together. Do you or don’t you want to have a look at these papers?”

I sat up beside him. “I do, Midas-Adonis. What’s this one?” I unfolded a typewritten sheet of paper bearing the Russell Street letterhead.

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