Murder in the Manor by Fiona Grace

Author:Fiona Grace [Grace, Fiona]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fiona Grace
Published: 2019-10-07T16:00:00+00:00

*

Lacey couldn’t work out if she was crazy or desperate, but she found herself agreeing to meet Nigel that evening at Penrose Manor.

Ending the call, she looked over at Chester. He gave her an alert look of contemplation.

“What do you think, boy?” she asked. “Am I crazy or desperate?”

He tipped his head to the side, raised an eyebrow and whined.

“That’s what I thought, too,” Lacey replied.

At the end of a customer-less day, Lacey locked up the store, collected her car from Crag Cottage, and drove to Penrose Estate. It was the third time she’d visited the manor house, and far from the awe it had inspired in her on first sight, the place now looked foreboding and unfriendly. Lacey shivered.

“Come on, Chester,” she said, getting out of the car.

The English Shepherd hopped out after her and walked in perfect synchronicity beside her up the rosebush-lined path to the front door. Last time she’d been here, Nigel had accused her of killing Iris Archer herself. Returning felt extremely unwise, but with her whole life in England on the line, what other choice did Lacey really have?

Squaring her shoulders, Lacey raised her fist to knock on the door. To her surprise, it swung open. She staggered forward and slammed right into someone. Nigel.

“Oh!” she exclaimed.

“Sorry,” he said, catching her by the elbows. “I heard your car coming up the drive.”

Lacey looked over her shoulder at the old Volvo.

“I guess its engine is pretty loud,” she conceded, brushing herself down.

Nigel moved back from the door, gesturing for her to enter.

Swallowing her nerves, Lacey went inside.

They walked together into a drawing room.

“Please sit,” Nigel said.

Lacey did, perching awkwardly on the edge of the elegant couch. She felt extremely uncomfortable to be sitting on a dead woman’s furniture to have a chat with someone who might be said woman’s killer.

“Why did you call me?” Lacey asked, jumping into the deep end with both feet, in an attempt to get this over with as soon as possible.

“I realized what you said was true,” Nigel told her. “The collection of items Iris wanted to appraise was right where she left them. If you’d killed her in an attempt to steal her expensive collectibles, well then you’d done a terrible job of it because you’d left every single one of them behind.”

“Thank you,” Lacey said, relieved. At least someone was seeing sense at last!

“I can only apologize,” Nigel continued. “For being so suspicious of you. I guess I fell for all the rumors.”

Lacey squirmed. She was suspicious of Nigel, after all. She’d pegged him as a suspect.

“Will you come and look at the items?” Nigel asked. “Iris wanted them appraised by you. In a way, it was her last living wish. I feel we ought to honor that.”

Despite her wariness, Lacey felt humbled. And curious. “Of course.”

Nigel led her up the vast, sweeping staircase into a room at the front of the house. It was a very regal study—a big desk with a banker’s lamp took up one corner, a stack of papers and letters on it.

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