Murder in Moreton by V L McBeath

Author:V L McBeath [McBeath, V L]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781999942656
Publisher: Valyn Publishing
Published: 2019-07-21T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

The sun was still pleasant as they walked across the green, but when Eliza and Connie reached the Wilsons’ they had to knock on the door twice before Judith answered.

“Oh, it’s you again. I didn’t expect you to call at this hour.” Judith spoke through the partially opened front door.

“No, I’m sorry, but we need to speak to Mr Wilson and we wanted to be sure he was home from work. Can we come in?”

Judith’s face was stern. “Must you? He’s had a difficult day.”

Eliza took a deep breath. “Yes, we’re aware of that, that’s why we’d like to speak to him. Have you forgotten we’re trying to help you?”

Judith hesitated before opening the door fully. “I’m sorry, it’s just that with you working with the police now … it doesn’t seem right.”

Eliza and Connie remained silent as they followed Judith into the drawing room where Mr Wilson sat by the fireplace, his head in his hands.

“Mrs Thomson and Mrs Appleton to see you.” Judith followed them into the room and closed the door behind her.

“Ladies … g-good evening…” Mr Wilson sprang to his feet. “To what do we owe the pleasure?”

Eliza didn’t wait to be asked to sit down. “We’re trying to help you, but we can’t do that if we don’t speak to you. We heard from Sergeant Cooper earlier that he came to see you in work.”

“Yes.”

“Mr Royal told them you hadn’t been in work on the afternoon of your mother’s death. Something you failed to mention. When they reminded you, you said you’d got your dates mixed up. Does that mean you don’t have an alibi?”

“I do have an alibi.” Mr Wilson’s voice was an octave higher than usual.

Eliza raised an eyebrow. “Would you care to share it with us?”

Mr Wilson drained the whisky from the glass that stood on the table beside his chair. When he failed to respond, Eliza continued. “Mr Wilson, I’m not sure you realise, but you’re in a very precarious position at the moment. Unless we can give the police a good reason for your absence from work, I fear that by this time tomorrow you could be under arrest.”

“Arrest!” Judith glowered at Eliza. “They can’t do that.”

“Judith, be quiet,” Mr Wilson snapped at his wife. “She’s exaggerating.”

Eliza studied Judith and Mr Wilson, who now sat side by side on the settee. “I’m afraid I’m not. Judith, when you asked for help, I believed you had nothing to do with Mrs Milwood’s death and that in return for our help you’d tell us the truth in all matters. How can I help you if the police keep finding new pieces of evidence you haven’t told me about? If you knew Mr Wilson wasn’t in work on the afternoon in question, why on earth didn’t you tell us … especially if he had another alibi?”

Judith stared at her husband.

“Because she didn’t know.” Mr Wilson mumbled his words.

Tears formed in Judith’s eyes. “I didn’t, not until this evening.”

“Perhaps you’d better tell us what happened then, Mr Wilson.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.