Murder at Thornton Park by Ellen Read

Author:Ellen Read [Read, Ellen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Easy Reads Publishing
Published: 2023-10-14T16:00:00+00:00

Alexandra turned the key and pushed open the heavy door to the muniment room. An impenetrable wave of darkness swelled and flowed around her, encasing her in its shadowy embrace and drawing her into the room. She lit a lamp and then a second and a third, carrying them in turn to the centre table. The yellow glow pushed back the folds of blackness, and she stood in the pool of light they cast. For a moment she was certain she heard murmurs from the unlit corners of the room, as if urns, vases and statues complained jealously that they weren’t favoured with illumination.

She crossed to the bars that caged the title deeds and other documents. When she took the key from its hiding place and inserted it into the gate’s lock, the bars creaked in protest as she opened the gate. The Ming dragon beckoned her. Apart from the blood on its claw, which added a menacing twist to it, the statue was unimpressive. It was unimposing compared to the writhing dragon on the Imperial Seal Box.

Alexandra dragged her gaze away. The creature did have its appeal. However, she hadn’t come here to look at the artefacts. She wanted to find her great-grandfather’s journals. Her father, before he left for his meeting at the Royal Society of Victoria, had told her they were in here. She thought they would have been in the library, but it seemed they resided more comfortably in the company of their mysterious relics. Her great-grandfather must have thought so, in any case.

What she hoped to discover in the journals, she wasn’t totally certain. Perhaps some clue to why the sword was worth killing to possess. Or even an unexpected find that would reveal more facts about the pieces that her great-grandfather had brought from China.

There were shelves from floor to ceiling along one wall and crates stacked on top of each other. Surely the journals would be easily recognisable? A good half-hour later, Alexandra finally laid her hands on three black leather-bound books. When she opened the cover of the first and saw her great-grandfather’s name scrawled in bold ink, she felt her heartbeat leap in delight. The journal was dated 1842.

She placed them on the table, moved the lamps into a tighter circle so she could read more easily, drew up a chair and sat down. Alexandra turned the first page and began to read. Excitement surged through her. She’d always felt a connection to ancient artefacts, but this was her great-grandfather’s book, his writing. This was about his life and written by his own hand. The force of that realisation made it difficult to go beyond the first words, but she pressed on.

Why did I sail to Hong Kong? I asked myself that question countless times when I first arrived in the East. There was no one left in England for me. I had planned to go immediately to Australia but a happy circumstance changed my mind. The cessation of the First Opium War, which later lead to Hong Kong becoming a British Colony, offered a chance for adventure.

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