The Killer on the Bell Tower by Issy Brooke

Author:Issy Brooke [Brooke, Issy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Victorian
Publisher: Issy Brooke
Published: 2020-03-22T04:00:00+00:00

ADELIA DID ENJOY A wander around a country church. She attended services regularly, weekly if possible, and had tried to instil a sense of devotion in her daughters, too. Though she was hazy on some of the finer points of theology, and tried to keep out of the usual arguments that raged across the press as people continually tried to interpret and re-interpret the Gospels as times changed, she liked the rhythm that the liturgical calendar brought to the year. There was a reassuring certainty in the slow march of festivals and she felt comforted by knowing she was part of a larger community where everyone knew the procedures and the symbols.

She worried, sometimes, that she was more interested in the institution of the church than the figures and deeper meanings behind it, but her best friend Harriet was married to a bishop and often told her not to be so concerned with her own motives. “Just be nice,” Harriet said. “That’s all you need to do. Be kind. Everything else is window-dressing.”

Adelia sat in a pew at the front of the church for a few moments, silently reflecting on matters of fairness and justice, and how it wasn’t really up to her – or to Theodore – to mete out any punishments or cast any aspersions towards another.

But it was her duty, as a wife and a member of society, to bring events into the light.

She got up, brushed off her skirts, and headed up to the tower. She unlocked it without difficulty, the lock having been oiled recently. Theodore had warned her she had to be careful. After all, a killer might be on the loose, and though it was likely that Sir Phileas had died as a result of a targeted action, the murderer would obviously be keen that no one discovered their secret.

Danger stalked the air, unseen.

She found the height dizzying and it took all of her courage to step up to the battlements and peer over the high stones. She could see immediately that Theodore was correct in his assertion that Sir Phileas could not have accidentally fallen. Why on earth did the local police write it off as an accident? She shook her head in exasperation.

The police, of course, were mostly of working stock and they were very good at keeping order amongst men who brawled in pubs or pickpockets who made mischief in markets. They hesitated, however, when it came to crimes involving the upper classes. They preferred to keep a distance in such cases. If the crime was a newsworthy one – for example, if it involved a beautiful heiress – then an educated and clever detective would be sent from a nearby town or London itself.

If Sir Phileas had been more involved in local life, if he had not lost his influence, his money and his wife, perhaps the response from the authorities would have been different. If he had strident family members, well-connected in the local set, then they would have pressed the county commissioners or magistrates to take the matter more seriously.

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