Dr. Morelle Takes a Bow: An enthralling murder mystery by Ernest Dudley

Author:Ernest Dudley [Dudley, Ernest]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Endeavour Media
Published: 2018-01-25T00:00:00+00:00

17

Dr. Morelle had a lunch appointment in London and at midday he drove away in the rakish-looking, yellow Duesenberg. He would be back early afternoon.

The blue skies clouded over after lunch so that when Miss Frayle, with some shopping to do in the town, set off, she wondered whether to take her raincoat or not. She decided against it, estimating that the storm in the air wouldn’t develop for two or three hours, when she intended to be back at the Workshop in readiness for Dr. Morelle’s return.

As she turned out of the entrance-gate she saw Isobel Ross ahead of her. At first she thought to call out with the object of accompanying her into the town, since she too was going in that direction. Then she changed her mind and remained silent, keeping Isobel Ross in view, walking behind her.

The woman ahead was walking quickly. It was about half a mile to the town, and presently Isobel Ross was lost to Miss Frayle’s view. Without quite knowing why, Miss Frayle quickened her pace. She found the air suddenly hot and stifling. She felt the palms of her hands become moist and she dabbed her upper lip with her handkerchief. Was the early summer heatwave about to break in a storm? It would be a relief, she thought.

She rounded the corner and then stopped. Some fifty or sixty yards ahead Isobel Ross stood, and beyond her, her back to Isobel and Miss Frayle, there was Elspeth Finch, sitting on a low gate. She was obviously waiting for someone. The man she had been talking to that morning? Miss Frayle experienced a tremor of excitement. She drew into the side of the footpath which ran along the lonely road.

Isobel Ross, too, moved closer to the hedge overhung with the branches of trees, as if she was seeking concealment. There was an air of suppressed impatience about Elspeth Finch which was not lost on the two secretly watching her.

Anybody would think she was waiting for a boy-friend, Miss Frayle thought. Which didn’t add up to what she’d overheard that morning. Then she started, as Roy Allen appeared at the gate. He had obviously been walking across the fields, poring over the manuscript which was under his arm. He looked startled as Elspeth jumped off the gate, and seemed to pull himself away from her grasp. But she was persistent, she pulled open the gate and accompanied Roy Allen back the way he had come. They went out of sight.

She seems determined to get her hooks into him, Miss Frayle mused. Waylaying him like that. Then she saw Isobel Ross draw closer still to the hedge. A man had come out of the gate on the other side of the road, opposite the gate through which Elspeth and the unwilling Roy had gone.

It was Theodore Willard. He paused, looking across the road at the retreating pair. Then he crossed the road, opened the gate and halted irresolutely.

Miss Frayle could see Willard’s narrow face,

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