The Combermere Legacy by D W Bradbridge

Author:D W Bradbridge [Bradbridge, D W]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General Fiction
ISBN: 1523241608
Amazon: B01A60ZKYY
Goodreads: 28456519
Published: 2016-01-03T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

I took Alice’s advice and returned to the library holding my stomach and feigning illness. I was in no mood for further socialising, so despite Wilbraham’s inquisitive looks, I excused myself on the pretext of needing some fresh air and took a stroll down to the lakeside with a view to gathering my thoughts on the latest developments.

It was a calm, clear night, and the surface of the lake seemed like a mirror, disturbed only by a pair of ducks paddling their way towards a clump of reeds beyond the boathouse. Meanwhile, a fox slunk silently round the side of the washhouse and disappeared amongst the trees beyond. The workmen lining the water tank, I noticed, had long since stopped work, and silence reigned supreme. I sat down on the edge of the jetty next to the washhouse and began to contemplate the fomenting cauldron of intrigue in which I now found myself.

My most immediate concern was the fact that I was still no closer to finding out what had happened to Amy. I was acutely aware of the fact that the longer she remained missing, the less chance I had of finding her alive. Her disappearance, it seemed, was linked in some way to Elizabeth’s engraving, the search for Massey’s gold, and the murders of Hassall and Crewe. But how? As time went on, things were becoming less and less clear. Where I thought I had answers, there now seemed to be only questions.

The fact that Bressy was actively searching for the abbot’s treasure was already known, and, although it had come as a shock, I suppose I should not have been surprised that Alice was involved too. But I had assumed that Bressy was the murderer and that it was he who had kidnapped Amy.

Bressy and Alice had insisted that an independent third party was responsible. Were they to be believed or was the murderer associated with them in some way? I hesitated to trust them, but could see no reason why they would try to solicit my help if they were not telling the truth; they could simply have extorted my help from me if they had Amy. Indeed, Bressy had possessed the ideal opportunity to shoot me dead in Crewe’s bedchamber. The fact that he had not done so suggested that he had good reason to let me live.

Then there was the question of what Alice was doing at Combermere with Sir Fulke Hunckes and Lord Herbert and whether her official attendance as a guest of Thomas Cotton had anything to do with Bressy’s activities. Herbert’s presence amongst this group was somewhat puzzling, for the ageing lord had made it clear that he had no wish to nail his colours to the mast of either King or Parliament.

Thomas Cotton and Hunckes certainly had the air of people who might be involved in a pact with Alice and Bressy, but it was hard to see how they would have become embroiled in the murder of Crewe.

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