A Hazardous Game: the vivid historical mystery full of twists and turns (The Alice Chronicles Book 2) by Georgia Piggott

Author:Georgia Piggott [Piggott, Georgia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Crumps Barn Studio
Published: 2024-03-21T00:00:00+00:00

24

Henry pushes a book back on the shelf and turns as Alice hurries into the winter parlour. ‘Alice! Where have you been? I delayed them as long as I could but Stanhope was fussing about getting home.’

‘It’s all right, Henry, dearest husband,’ Alice encloses him in her arms. ‘You did all that was required of you, and with no warning and no idea of what I was about. Thank you for your trust, your quick thought.’ She stands on tiptoe and kisses him.

‘I’m sorry about untutored girl, Alice.’

‘No matter. It fits Sir Malcolm’s opinion of me as a raw country wife and it persuaded him to accept that wine, which gave me the time I needed.’

‘To do what? What’s going on, Alice?’

‘First, take this, Henry. It’s the second chamber key.’ She presses it into his hand. ‘Put it in your pocket, he may ask for it. Remember, I gave it to you as soon as you arrived home. It’s been in your possession—’

‘Jerrard!’ Wipley’s voice from upstairs. Alice and Henry look at each other. She whips to the window seat and sits with folded hands as Henry slips the key into his pocket. He pulls open the door and stands ready while a low murmuring and the clatter of feet heralds Sir Malcolm and his jury gathering in the hall. The coroner approaches, his tread heavy on the flags. He enters the parlour speaking over his shoulder, ‘Very well gentlemen, you may leave. I have no further need of you.’ As Henry steps into the hall, Sir Malcolm catches sight of Alice and comes to a frowning halt. With narrowed stare, he eyes the picture of wifely obedience before him.

Blandly, Alice regards him. ‘I trust the wine was to your taste, Sir Malcolm?’ In the hall, Henry is making thanks to the men for their trouble, bidding them farewell. A muscle jumps in the coroner’s face, briefly pulling the slit mouth into a travesty of a smile. Will he say anything? Can he?

‘Somebody has washed the body.’

Alice holds herself very still. ‘Sir?’ Have they missed something between them, she and Betsy?

‘Who did it?’

Surely they tidied everything, right down to the bucket marks on the floor. ‘Why do you believe she has been washed?’

‘Who’s been in there?’

Clearly he is prepared to fly close to the flame. Well, she thinks, I too can fly close. ‘I have.’

‘So it was you!’

‘I went in there with Allan, and Robert, the head man from Freemans.’

‘What was he doing here?’

‘Robert was escorting me back from Freemans when our man Allan Wenlock arrived, carrying Sylvia. Robert carried Sylvia upstairs. We were all three together. They watched me lock the room after. Betsy undressed Sylvia to her shift later, at Master Egerton’s request, to ready her for your jury.’ The truth, if only part of it.

‘Then Wenlock washed away the signs after he ravished her, before he brought her home.’

‘Sir Malcolm, there has been no suggestion that Sylvia was ravished. And there is no stream atop the hill where he found her.

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