Interred With Their Bones: A Smith Investigates Mystery by Beth Byers

Author:Beth Byers [Byers, Beth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-12-20T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 7

We left the vicar’s house wincing for Anna and Bertram. We had a better picture of why Anna had struggled as she had. She must have felt abandoned on all sides. The vicar had been overwhelmed and not able to comfort her as he might have done.

The Little family—where my mother worked—was one of the major families of the area. Losing so many of their own kin would have had them unavailable to assist as they often did when someone else was suffering. It wouldn’t have been unreasonable for them to provide funds, dogs, and direction for a search.

We hurried back to the cottage and as I walked through the door, Ella was calm. The moment she heard my voice, she went from snuggled into Uncle Hargreaves’s side as he read his book to an unhappy baby, full of fury.

“She found her voice!” I crowed, scooping Ella up and smothering her with kisses. She wasn’t pleased until I disappeared into the back room and fed her. When I returned to the front with a happy baby, Smith was telling Uncle Hargreaves about what we’d learned.

“Do you recall that?” I asked. I hadn’t given the conversation a thought while I was feeding Ella. I’d been too busy talking to her and checking her over as though she’d been in danger rather than snuggled closely with one of my favorite relatives.

“Now that you say it, I do. I wasn’t as—perhaps as concerned as I should have been. I was quite distressed to not be back at work myself. I knew that Mrs. Davies would be generous and understanding, and yet, I still felt as though I was failing her.”

Mrs. Davies, the woman Uncle Hargreaves worked for at that time, had been lovely. She had been my first employer as well, and I had liked her very much. Even with my short employment, I had adored her and would have known that Uncle Hargreaves would have no need to worry.

“So, was Anna all alone?”

“We were there,” Uncle Hargreaves said. “Sort of. Your mother was back to working for the Littles, so she was encompassed by their needs. The problem was, we didn’t really think that Bertram was gone forever. We more thought that it was this temporary issue that was ill-timed with the needs of others, so we did what we could until we realized that he might not be coming back and by then—”

“The trail had gone cold,” Smith finished.

I glanced at him. If days after Bertram Crowe was gone, the trail was cold—what was it now? Glacial? I wondered for a moment if this was a good use of our time, but then I remembered that my father had asked for the help.

He never asked for anything, and I couldn’t possibly turn him away when he’d asked as he had. There must be a reason that he was asking after all of this time. Maybe it was just that Anna had been hearing tales of Smith and his abilities or maybe it was that Anna was ready to let go of this lost love and move on with her life.

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