Plum Pudding & Poison: A Harriet Honeywood Christmas Novella by Kate Harper & Kate Harper

Author:Kate Harper & Kate Harper [Harper, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-01-25T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

After dinner, the air of tension that had infected the gathering continued on, which was only to be expected, under the circumstances. Talk was desultory, everybody wrapped up in their own thoughts. It was, Harry reflected, depressing to have the body of a young woman beneath the same roof. She really wanted to discuss the situation with Aubrey, Charlie and Darcy, but abandoning their remaining guests would be the height of rudeness. Wouldn’t it?

As it turned out, their guests were not inclined to linger. Mr. Frobisher excused himself quite quickly, telling them that he must see how his wife and daughter were doing, while the Darnleys also bade everybody a rather surly goodnight and took themselves off, no doubt to discuss the situation and regroup in privacy. Miss Flemming had one more restorative brandy before rising stiffly to her feet.

‘No doubt you will want to discuss this matter between yourselves so I will leave you now,’ she said calmly. ‘Remember this, however. Sylvia Morwell was a dangerous sort of girl. She did not have a spark of kindness in her and seemed to take great pleasure in hurting others. As you know, Lord Talisker, I am a church going woman who has absolute belief in our Lord meting out justice. But I cannot help but think justice found Miss Morwell a good deal sooner than anybody thought it would, and I cannot find it in my heart to regret that.’

And with that, she walked from the room, back straight, head erect.

There was a small pause.

‘Well,’ Edward said, tone dry. ‘There you are, then.’

Celeste grimaced. ‘I know it is wrong of me, but I have to agree with Miss Flemming. Miss Morwell was a dreadful girl. She seemed to delight in upsetting others and frankly, it seems as if somebody became a little too upset to deal with it any longer.’

‘Yes, but who?’ Harry demanded. ‘It isn’t as if there is a large pool of people that could have done it. If we rule out you and Edward -’

‘Thank you so much!’ Edward said with some asperity.

‘ – then really, we have only got the Frobishers, the Darnleys, Miss Flemming or persons unknown.’

‘Could it really be persons unknown?’ Darcy asked. ‘I mean, really? Look at the situation. A stranger would have had to come inside the house, go upstairs, find Sylvia Morwell’s room and poison her. It’s impossible. And as for the servants… the only servant likely to murder her is her maid and you don’t believe she is capable of it, Harry. And really, if servants went around murdering those who were unkind to them, there would be a good many dead members of the gentry!’

‘It’s true,’ Charlie agreed. ‘Servants seem to tolerate any amount of bad behavior.’

‘Which leaves a very small field,’ Aubrey observed. ‘The thing is, how do we decide which of our six contenders did it?’

‘Must you?’ Celeste sighed. ‘I know it is very un-Christian of me to say so, but the world seems to be so much nicer without Sylvia Morwell in it.

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