The Valet: A historical MM romance Christmas novella by Mel Gough

Author:Mel Gough [Gough, Mel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-11-25T23:00:00+00:00

8

“Mr Wymer.” Richard headed down the corridor and stopped the butler as he came back from seeing the detectives out. Mr Wymer looked up, surprised.

“Mr Elgar.” He made to move past Richard, but Richard cleared his throat.

“I wonder if I could have a word?”

“Does it have to be now?” Mr Wymer glanced up the stairs, where Ted still stood, looking dazed. Richard had picked this moment partly to keep the butler off Ted’s back until the footman had had some time to recover himself.

“I’m afraid it can’t wait.” He stood his ground until Mr Wymer sighed.

"Very well. Come in here." He opened the door to his pantry. When they were both inside and the door was closed again, Wymer came to the point without sitting down behind his desk. “How can I be of assistance, Mr Elgar?” There was a wariness in his words as if he was steeling himself for more bad news.

“I believe that I can shed some light on the, ah…unpleasant situation we both witnessed just now.” Richard mentally crossed his fingers that he had judged this correctly. Was Mr Wymer interested in uncovering the truth of this matter, or would he want it swept under the carpet and never hear another word about it?

Mr Wymer’s bushy eyebrows rose. “Oh? Do you have something to add to your statement?”

“In a way.” Richard hesitated, hoping that he had the measure of the butler correctly. “But I didn’t think that this was something for the police.” He looked down, and his uncertainty was genuine. “I hope that you won’t think I made the wrong decision with this. If you disagree with my assessment, you can call the detectives back and I shall repeat my account.” He hoped very much that this would not come to pass, but it seemed the right thing to say. Wymer’s expression smoothed out somewhat.

But he still seemed to expect a bombshell. Wymer went behind his desk and sat down. “Let’s hear the worst, then.”

“I was not being entirely truthful out there,” Richard began, sensing that both honesty and a well-told story were the way to go. “I left the others for a short while during the fete in search of some cider and beer. This doesn’t change anything regarding Ted,” he added hastily. “He was with Dorcas throughout, just like she said. But I left the church hall and went across the road to a pub I’d spotted on arrival, to buy some bottles to go with our sandwiches.” That part was kind of true. He left out that, after the tug of war, he had first spent a good while watching Ted and Dorcas from afar, enjoying the sight of Ted’s pleasure at the fair games.

Now came the tricky lie. Richard knew the essence of what he was about to tell Wymer to be true, but the sequence of events was not. “As I entered the pub, I spotted Miss Dankworth and James. They were going into the post office. There was something furtive about their behaviour, so I followed them and looked through the window.

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