A Fatal Winter by G. M. Malliet

Author:G. M. Malliet
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 16

A Star Is Born

Cotton stood, his backside to the fire, reading from a sheaf of notes.

“Jocasta and the twins Alec and Amanda inherited quite a few pounds from Oscar—nicely judged to be enough to keep them quiet, but not what they would have seen otherwise. The solicitor seems to have known what he was doing. The lion’s share went to Oscar’s sister: to Leticia, Lady Baynard.”

He peered at Max over the top of the pages.

“I’ve asked the solicitor, Wintermute, to drop by sometime today,” Cotton said. “I’m hoping you get a chance to talk with him.”

Max’s mind was elsewhere. He took a sip of the fragrant coffee, which had been delivered and poured out by Milo, and replacing his cup carefully on the saucer said, “You would think Jocasta and Randolph would have something in common, apart from being cousins. She’s spent her career in front of the camera, and he behind it.”

“Or it would guarantee hostilities between them. Those jobs require differing personalities. Who can say? In any event, there is no shortage of suspects, within the castle walls or without. Oscar has been called the Voldemort of Fleet Street by both friends and enemies. He was apparently ruthless in all his business dealings.”

“What do you know about the knife used to kill him?”

“Only that it came from the kitchen—a long, thick blade, a sort of all-purpose butcher knife.”

“All-purpose, indeed,” said Max, sadly shaking his head. “Including the purpose of butchering a man.”

“My team found it in the garden, in one of the topiaries—a heart-shaped topiary,” Cotton told him.

“A clue, perhaps hinting at unrequited love, or a broken heart?” wondered Max aloud. “Or a blind? Or simply the most expedient way to lose the most incriminating item? A quick nip out to the garden on the pretext of an invigorating stroll, and a quick thrust of the knife in among the tightly packed branches.”

“Hmm. Something like that. The team didn’t find it until late yesterday afternoon, just as they were getting ready to pack it in because of darkness.”

Cotton turned back to the pages he’d been riffling through, now propelling his lean, restless frame toward a seat near Max. “So, we have Lady Jocasta Jones née Footrustle, by Oscar’s first wife Beatrice Briar. Then, completing the family tree on that branch, there are the twins (and they seem almost universally to be called The Twyns) who are Alec, Viscount Edenstartel, and his sister Lady Amanda. Jocasta is of course their much older half sister.”

“I met her briefly at breakfast.”

“Did you now? Once met, never forgotten, I’d say. Let’s get her in here.”

Jocasta’s entrance was very different from her cousin Randolph’s. Where he had entered with loping, forceful strides, taking control of the room, Jocasta possessed the room in quite another way. Preceded by a waft of perfume strong enough to substitute as tear gas for the police force of a chic nation-state, Jocasta twirled her way into the library, petticoats swirling about her knees, her manner fluttery, winsome, and coy.

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.