A Christmas Murder: An Eliza Thomson Investigates Murder Mystery by VL McBeath

Author:VL McBeath [McBeath, VL]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Valyn Publishing
Published: 2019-11-25T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

The sergeant had clearly made himself comfortable in the morning room. The small rectangular table had been pulled into the centre of the room and the sergeant sat in an upholstered chair in front of the fire. He indicated for Eliza to sit opposite him on one of the wooden dining chairs. Compared to the drawing room, it was warm and Eliza dropped her shawl from her shoulders as she sat down.

“Now, Mrs Thomson,” he started, “you were obviously in the room when the murder took place. Can you tell me what you were doing at the time of the incident?”

Eliza sat up straight with her hands on her knees. “As we were playing a game of Murder in the Dark, I was wandering aimlessly around the drawing room.”

“Yes, I appreciate that, but could you be more specific about your whereabouts?”

“Unfortunately, I can’t, and I would suggest that nobody else in the room should have been able to either. If they’ve told you otherwise, I’m afraid they were lying because the room was almost pitch-black. What I can tell you, though, is where I was when the lights were switched back on.”

“And where was that?”

Eliza produced a piece of notepaper from her bag and placed it on the table, jabbing her finger in the centre. “Approximately here. As you can see, I was close to Mr McRae, but not as close to the body as Mr Reed or Mrs McRae.” She stabbed at each name on the paper as she spoke.

The sergeant copied the image into his notebook. “And you collected this information at the time of the murder?”

“More or less. When we heard Mrs Appleton call out, Mr Cranford switched on the lights and we saw that she had fallen over someone. We didn’t realise what had happened straight away, or even the extent of Mrs Cranford’s injuries, but I made a rough note of where everyone was standing, which is how I produced this.”

“Why would you do that?” The sergeant’s forehead creased.

“Because Mrs Cranford wanted me to help her be the detective in the game. I needed to be prepared, but once we realised the severity of the situation, it became even more important. While we were waiting for you to arrive, we confirmed everyone’s positions, which is what you see here.”

The sergeant gave the paper a final glance before returning to his notebook. “How well did you know Mrs Cranford?”

“Not well at all; we only met earlier today. She wanted to hear about the murder investigations I’d been involved with.”

Sergeant Dixon appeared unimpressed. “And because you think you have the skills of Sherlock Holmes, you took it upon yourself to lead the questioning this afternoon.”

Eliza flinched. “I wouldn’t put it like that, but I do have experience…”

“And I understand you’re particularly friendly with Mrs Appleton.”

“Yes, we’ve known each other for many years and she’s my next-door neighbour.”

“And so it isn’t unexpected that you refuse to acknowledge she could be the murderer.”

Eliza took a deep breath. “Sergeant, I know Mrs Appleton isn’t the murderer, because she would never do anything to hurt anyone.

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