The Sign of Death by Callie Hutton

Author:Callie Hutton [Hutton, Callie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books

* * *

Amy tiptoed up the back stairs, avoiding the boards that she knew from years of sneaking out of the house made noise. Perhaps William did have a point about Aunt Margaret’s supervision.

She kept Persephone’s mouth clamped shut with her hand wrapped around the dog’s nose. They were too close to safety to have the dog start barking again. Holding her breath, she stepped onto the second-floor landing. Everything was quiet.

She moved quickly past Michael’s room, Papa’s room, and Aunt Margaret’s. She breathed a sigh of relief and opened her door.

Aunt Margaret sat in a chair by the now-dying fire, sound asleep with a book in her lap. Keeping her eye on her aunt, Amy quickly divested herself of her clothing, pushed it all under her bed, and slipped on a nightgown. Easing the counterpane up, she climbed into the bed with a sigh of relief.

“Where were you?”

Amy almost jumped from the bed at the sound of Aunt Margaret’s voice. She placed her hand over her heart. “Good heavens, Aunt, you scared me to death.”

Aunt Margaret stood and walked toward her. “Is there something I should be concerned about? Do I need to begin wedding preparations?”

“Goodness, no! Why in heaven’s name is everyone suddenly talking about weddings? It’s making me itchy.”

Her aunt sat on the bed. “Perhaps because you were out of the house all night, and I have a strong suspicion that you were not alone.”

“Maybe.”

“Is this the murder investigation again?”

Amy nodded. “Yes. William and I returned to Mr. Harding’s house to look for a ledger or some sort of book. We learned that Mr. Harding carried such a thing with him in which he wrote information—probably payments—when he accepted money from his victims.”

“Did you find it?”

“Yes. We did find it, but unfortunately we were not the only people there looking for the book.”

Aunt Margaret groaned.

Amy shifted so that her head rested against the headboard. “There was another person in the library when William and I returned after finding Persephone, who had run off.”

“Were you seen?”

“Yes. The thief grabbed the ledger and then climbed out the window. William gave chase, but the burglar stumbled and dropped the book.”

“Did William manage to get the book back?”

“Yes.” There was no point in further distressing her aunt by telling her that William had been shot and that they had no intention of stopping their investigation. William was on the police detectives’ list of suspects, and it was up to him and Amy to clear his name.

Aunt Margaret sat and, taking several deep breaths, appeared to calm herself. “Now I will tell you why I spent the night in that chair.” She pointed across the room. “When I got home last evening from the Mallorys’ musicale, you father was in the library. He waved a letter at me and was quite upset by its contents.”

Amy did not have a good feeling about this.

“Since he thought you were already abed”—her aunt stopped and glared at her—“he said it could wait until this morning. I thought perhaps I would give you a warning about what the letter said.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.