Murder at the Island Hotel: A totally gripping historical cozy mystery (A Miss Underhay Mystery Book 15) by Helena Dixon

Author:Helena Dixon [Dixon, Helena]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2024-03-04T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

The opera singer took a seat in front of Chief Inspector Greville. Her face was pale, and she was clearly making an effort to appear composed.

‘Good afternoon, Miss Monbiere,’ he began. ‘I realise that this discussion will be very distressing so soon after the recent murder of your fiancé, Sir Norman Whittier. Unfortunately, as you know, the body of another member of your party, Mr Paul Browning, was discovered this morning in the sea below the cliffs outside the hotel. On closer inspection, following a medical examination and the discovery of a weapon on the clifftop, it seems that Mr Browning was also murdered.’ The chief inspector regarded the singer with a level gaze.

‘Paul was murdered? I don’t understand. I mean, why?’ Marie appeared perplexed, her brow furrowing as she tried to understand the chief inspector’s statement.

‘Had you, or anyone else here, quarrelled with Mr Browning?’ the policeman asked.

‘No, we hadn’t. Paul could be very annoying when he’d had too much to drink but as far as I know he was on good terms with everyone,’ Marie said.

‘May I ask, when did you last see Mr Browning?’

‘Well, last night, before we went upstairs. Yes, I think it must have been last night,’ Marie said.

‘You didn’t see him at all this morning? Are you sure about that?’ the chief inspector asked.

‘No, I had breakfast in my room. I wasn’t hungry so I just had tea and toast on a tray. I thought I should catch up with writing letters to Norman’s friends and colleagues so that they could be informed of his death. If I got them ready, then they could go with the boat when it next came across,’ Marie said. She smoothed the material of her dress across her knees.

Chief Inspector Greville scribbled in his notebook. ‘I see. You didn’t give Mr Browning any money at all, Miss Monbiere? A loan, perhaps, or repayment of a debt? An advance on his wages?’

Marie looked confused. ‘No. Paul had no need of money here. Everything was paid for.’

‘And Mr Browning didn’t approach you for any money at all yesterday or today?’ the chief inspector persisted.

‘No. I mean, Paul had no money. He had asked Lambert for an advance on his salary before we came here. We refused as we suspected he would have only drunk the money away,’ Marie said.

‘When exactly did he ask Mr Pike for this money?’ the chief inspector asked.

‘Oh, about a week ago. This was when he was first offered the role. He was living freely here so until he went back to the mainland, he wouldn’t require any money, would he?’

The chief inspector gave a grunt of assent to this comment. ‘You remained in your room until shortly before lunch today? You didn’t leave it at all at any time to step outside for any reason?’

‘No, as I said I had letters to write. Norman had a cousin near Basingstoke and a very elderly aunt in Bournemouth. I wanted to write something to them so they wouldn’t be shocked when they learned of his death if something got into the newspapers.

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