The Defaced Men by Tim Major

Author:Tim Major
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags:  
Publisher: Titan

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

At dinner, my eyes kept straying to the empty chair at the head of the table.

Edith Griffin noticed my distraction. She dabbed at her mouth with a napkin, then said, “I can only apologise for my father’s absence. I suppose that after what happened, and now that he is no longer at his work, I might at least have hoped that I would see more of him. But that has proved not to be the case.”

“Will he eat in his room, then?” I asked.

“Yes,” Miss Griffin replied. She looked down at the still half-full tureen of soup in the centre of the large dining-table, then, with a glance at the maid standing to her right, added, “He tends to eat only simple foods, which are easily transported. No doubt he will have only a bread roll, cheese and some cold meats.”

This correction struck me as odd, but I said nothing.

“Mr. Holmes,” she said, turning to my friend, “do you feel that you have learned much from examining the scene of the fire?”

“Naturally,” Holmes replied. “It is a fascinating case.”

I winced involuntarily. After Miss Griffin and I had returned to the house, Holmes had been absent for so long that I was compelled to return to the annexe to look for him. He was not there, or at the chemical store-room, and my search took me entirely around the periphery of the grounds until I located him as he emerged from a thicket halfway along the track that led to the entrance gates, holding before him like a relic a single thread, which, upon inspection, we both agreed was purple. (“Were not Chrisafis’s pyjamas purple?” I asked, and Holmes nodded happily. But he would not speculate about what Chrisafis had been doing skulking in dense bushes at some point before he perished.) When we had both finally dressed and made our appearance downstairs to be greeted by Miss Griffin, dinner had already been laid out upon the dining-table.

“You say it is fascinating, rather than tragic – an interesting choice of word,” Miss Griffin said reproachfully. “I do wonder about your priorities, Mr. Holmes, or at least whether your priorities align with my own. In what sense is the ‘case’, as you call it, fascinating?”

“I mean that it is immensely complex, and yet the simplest situation imaginable.”

Miss Griffin’s shoulders stiffened. “A guest staying in this house saw that an awful accident was occurring, and he rushed to help, then he perished in the most unimaginable manner. Where is the complexity in that?”

Holmes put down his spoon, leaving his bowl of soup untouched. “For one thing, there is the question about why Martin Chrisafis broke down the external door to the workshop.”

“Why, to gain access in the only manner he knew how!” I exclaimed before Miss Griffin had opportunity to reply.

Holmes arched an eyebrow. “I beg you, continue with that line of thought, Watson.”

“Well… this man Chrisafis saw the fire from his bedroom window, then he dashed downstairs, in his haste neglecting to rouse anybody else in the house as he passed.

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