The Talking Board by Issy Brooke

Author:Issy Brooke [Brooke, Issy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Gothic, Victorian, Historical, Mystery
Publisher: Issy Brooke
Published: 2018-10-05T22:00:00+00:00

Sixteen

Simeon was ecstatic for around three whole minutes when they arrived with the cabinet and his money. He directed them to place the box on a set of trestles, and he immediately began to open and close it, trying to find the source of the problem. Russell sank into a chair, and Jack prowled around, poking at things, until a fake rabbit closed its teeth onto his fingers with a mechanical snap, and he yelped and drew away. He pulled the stolen knife from his pocket and said, “So, Simeon, do you need a knife?”

“Um, thanks, why not,” Simeon replied. “Can you put it on that table near the kettle?”

“Other people ask where the knife has come from,” Marianne pointed out.

“Well, I assume it’s from a kitchen or a shop. Oh, look, the problem is with the runner here, do you see? It has warped. The wood was not dry enough. What a bother. I shall have to undo this whole side of the box...”

Marianne took what was owing to her from the envelope and lodged the rest on the table, next to the knife. She said, “You ought to be careful who you do business with.”

“I don’t have a great deal of choice. You told me to make things for others.”

“This whole affair is hardly my fault.”

“All’s well that ends well,” Jack said, suddenly the peacemaker.

Simeon stopped and stood straight up, wild-eyed and fearful. “They know where I live! They will come back for the money! They will!”

“They will not. Anyway, you are not alone here any longer. Where is Tobias?” Marianne asked. “Dear God, please tell me that you’ve released him from wherever he was trapped.”

“He is hiding.”

“From us?”

“Yes. I told him to.”

“But why?”

“Just in case. After all, your father did menace me.”

“Oh, Simeon. You are infuriating.” She looked around the chaotic workshop and called, in a loud voice, “Tobias, ignore what this buffoon tells you. You can come out. Anyway, I need to ask you something.”

The boy sidled out from behind a mirror. He looked at Jack and Russell in alarm, and didn’t say anything.

“Come, come. Sit with me. Um, Simeon, is this couch safe to sit on?” She indicated a long sofa with floral patterns of pink and red.

“Yes, but don’t press the panel on the end,” he said.

She took a seat, and gingerly patted the cushion next to her. Tobias came over reluctantly and sat with his hands clamped on his knees, his legs together, and his shoulders hunched over.

“Tobias, who do you think killed your great aunt?”

“I don’t know.”

“I know that it wasn’t you,” Marianne said, trying to sound confident. Did she know? Did she really? “I suspect that it was someone else in the household. What do you think?”

“I don’t know.”

“Mrs Peck had no reason to do it, of course.”

“No, she wouldn’t.”

“But what of your aunt, Mrs Newman?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you get on with her? Do you like her?”

“She’s loud. She tries to be kind, in her way. I don’t know.”

Russell had been listening to his daughter’s painful attempts to establish a rapport with the young man.

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.