Murder During the Bitter Night (A Lillian Crawford Murder Mystery Book 5) by Blythe Baker

Author:Blythe Baker [Baker, Blythe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-02-20T16:00:00+00:00

8

My stomach dropped to the floor, and my head whipped around.

I found Felix staring at me, mirroring my own expression of dread.

It couldn’t be.

But how many reasons were there for someone to scream like that? I knew the sound of that scream, the pain and terror behind it. It might have come from a different mouth every time, but it was the same…always the same.

Without another word, without a single moment to lose, Felix and I turned as one and dashed toward the door. He reached the doorway before me, with his long legs, but quickly turned away before he breached the barrier of shadows.

I looked wildly around as people moved and called out behind me, until my eyes fell upon a narrow candlestick. I snatched it off the nearby table and hurried to Felix’s side, as he moved forward.

A shallow pool of light spread out from my candle, barely reaching the opposite wall of the corridor.

I tried to swallow, but my throat had gone as dry as stone.

My hand trembled as I held the candle aloft, trying to see something, anything.

Felix reached out and grabbed the back of my hand, steadying me.

“Come on, let’s stay together…” he said, taking the candle from me, as we started down the hall.

We didn’t have to traverse long before a silhouette appeared out of the darkness.

“Mrs. Carter,” Felix said, hurrying forward, with me close behind him.

As we came up beside her…we finally saw what it was that had caused the terrible scream.

A still body lay sprawled across the middle of the corridor. In the dim, wavering light of our candle, all I could make out were a leg and an arm, stretched out across the antique runner.

The tense knots twisted around my insides all seemed to drop at once…only to be replaced with a vast, sickening hollowness.

An hour might have passed, or perhaps it was only the length of a few heartbeats. It didn’t matter, as it didn’t change the scene before me.

Mrs. Carter trembled and sobbed into her hands beside me, and it drew me out of my own shock. Felix started toward her, and as he did, I smoothly took the candle back from him, knowing we had best play to our strengths. He was better at getting information out of people who were distraught, I was better at examining a scene of violence.

I steeled myself, and approached the body.

As I drew nearer, light spilled over the figure, revealing more of it with each step. First, the trousers of a fine suit. Next, a torso clothed in a linen shirt, exposed by the hem of a suit coat folded back on itself, revealing the purple silk lining inside. Then, there were the mother of pearl cufflinks along the sleeve…

I found the man’s head last, and to my horror…I saw the face of Mr. Lee, his eyes wide, staring unseeing at some distant place.

It was clear he was gone, with no rise and fall of his back, no light in his eyes, no movement of any kind.

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