Thomas Pitt Buckingham Palace Gardens by Anne Perry

Author:Anne Perry [Perry, Anne]
Format: epub
Published: 2010-05-29T07:32:45.353000+00:00

"Are you all right, Gracie?" he asked as soon as she had closed the door. "Tyndale said the other servants are making things difficult for you."

"In't nothing as matters, sir," she said, surprised that Tyndale should have told Pitt. "I came about summink I found wot could be . . . I dunno. Mebbe I'm bein' a bit daft meself, but it don't seem right, or make no sense."

A flicker of hope lit his eyes. "What is it?"

"I were scrubbin' out the still room an' I found eight empty bot-tles wot 'ad 'ad port wine in 'em," she replied. "Five of 'em smelled like wine, real nice, an' three of 'em 'ad flies all around, an' smelled dif-ferent. I tipped 'em out, an' they 'ad blood in 'em."

"Blood!" He was stunned. "Gracie, are you sure?"

"Yes." She frowned. "Could the cook 'ave mixed blood an' wine ter make summink? A sauce, or summink like that?"

"Three bottles of port! I don't think so." He shook his head. "And why put the blood into the port bottles anyway? Wouldn't she have mixed it in a bowl or a pan?"

"Yer gonna ask?"

"Yes, I am! Where are the bottles now?"

"I 'id 'em." She told him exactly where. "D'yer know anything else, sir?" She would never have asked him such a thing even a month

ago.

"Not much," he admitted, defeat flattening his voice in spite of an obvious effort to keep it up. "It could still have been any one of the three men. Dunkeld told me where he heard of the prostitutes and that he took them on recommendation of an acquaintance. Never saw them before. Mr. Narraway's been looking into it to see if any-thing about them would help. He questioned the two women still alive, but they never saw or heard of any of the men before, and Sadie had said she didn't know them either. They talked about it on the way

here."

"A man wot in't mad don't kill tarts," she said flatly. "Don't care

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enough, for a start. Why would 'e? Don't make no sense. But someone smashed summink I thought were one o' 'em dishes with a stand on, made o' blue, white, and gold china. But Mr. Tyndale says as they in't got any like that." She frowned. "I over'eard it were done upstairs an' taken down in a bucket, all in tiny bits. Someone were goin' up an' down wi' buckets o' water too, but when I asked Mr. Tyndale about that 'e got all white an' quiet an' told me it was 'Is Royal 'Ighness be'avin' badly. Said I weren't never ter think of it again, never mind say nothin'. But I know about it 'cos Mrs. Sorokine were askin' Walton today, an' got ever so excited about it when she 'eard. Kind of excited an' upset at the same time." Pitt frowned at her. "Mrs. Sorokine?"

"Yes. She's detectin', sir, I'd swear to it, but I dunno if it's got any-thin' ter do with the murder, or jus' 'er own life, wot's nuffin' like it should be.

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