I looked sadly at the knife. It had a three-inch blade and a lovely mother-of-pearl handle. The balance was excellent, and from what I’d learned from the classes at my club, would have made an excellent throwing knife. “You heard Perrin. Not in his house. Maybe if the weather clears tomorrow….”
Mr. Taylor tossed it back on the table with a rattle. “Well, I suppose I will go to bed. Good evening, ladies.” He might have bowed before he left the room; it might have been the curved set of his shoulders that made it appear so.
I tapped my fingers on the arm of my chair. Another week of this tedium would be untenable.
“Dash it all.” Lady Havenstone stood. “I always say, when in doubt, eat. Instead of twiddling our thumbs, let’s go see if any of the sweets remain in the dining room.”
As the dining room was just next door, I had no objection. Lady Havenstone, Miss Smith, and I went through the adjoining doors, the dog trailing behind. With a stomach full of bite-sized tarts, even those of marginal quality, I found myself in amuch better mood. It helped that Miss Smith doted on Southey, keeping his attentions, and his sharp little teeth, elsewhere. I was even amenable to Lady Havenstone’s suggestion of reading aloud for the remainder of the evening.
“But let’s not continue withFrankenstein,” I said. “I’m in the mood for something cheerier. If we keep reading that book, we’re liable to see specters and hear banshees and all manner of horrors while we’re lying in our beds.”
The horrors didn’t wait until we were snug abed. A woman’s scream tore through our cheerful reading. We ignored the crashing sound from the adjoining sitting room and ran out into the main hall, to the source of the yelling. A maid and two footmen were clustered together at the base of the stairs leading up to the first floor.
I hurried toward them as people drifted from other parts of the house to investigate the noise, as well. I paused next to the young maid, wrapping my arm around her shaking shoulders.
Because there, at the foot of the staircase, lay Lord Perrin. His eyes stared vacantly at the ceiling. A knife with a mother-of-pearl handle stuck out from his chest.
Chapter Three
Henry
The scene wasgrotesque, the brutal image an insult to the sanctity of life. The body left for all and sundry to see was a further insult. Henry Evans hadn’t particularly liked Lord Perrin, but no one deserved such.
Henry came down the steps, rubbing a towel to his hair, still damp from his bath. He perused the faces of those crowded about the body. Shock was the dominant emotion. Miss Walker had started weeping, her sobs grating in the otherwise hushed silence. Mr. Smith, still holding a cue stick in his hand from his game in the billiards room, looked more intrigued than shocked. His daughter, the lovely Miss Smith, looked ill.
And frightened.
Henry stepped carefully around the body and realized, as Perrin’s attorney, he held the most authority right now. It would fall to him to organize matters. And the first step was removing the women from this gruesome scene.
“Please, we’ve all had a terrible shock,” he said. “If you could go to the sitting room. I’m sure we could all do with something hot to drink to settle the nerves.” He started herding the group away from the body with small presses of his palm on the backs of gapers.
One woman stepped away from his prodding hands and walked closer to the body. “I recognize that knife.” Lady Mary tilted her head, a small frown pinching her face. “And stabbed inthe chest without any indication that he attempted to fight back. Interesting.”
Henry cupped her elbow. “You can tell the magistrate all about the knife when he arrives.” He tried drawing her away, but she was surprisingly adept at escaping his grip for a woman of her age.
Ignoring her for the moment, Henry turned to one of the footmen. “Can you find a blanket to cover his body?”
The young man nodded and trotted off.
Henry went to the butler, a short but plump man who hadn’t moved except to blink since seeing Perrin’s body. Henry rested a hand on his shoulder and squeezed lightly. “Can you send someone to fetch the nearest magistrate?”
The butler pointed a shaking finger at the body. “My lord was the magistrate for this county, but there’s a constable in Modbury. We could send for him. He should know what to do.”
A constable for a village of not even two thousand souls? Henry didn’t hold out much hope in the experience of the local constable when it came to murder, but as he had no other ideas, he nodded. “Send for him at once.”
Looking relieved at having a task, the butler nodded and scurried off. Henry turned to the remaining servants. “If you could serve coffee and tea to the guests and then join us in the sitting room, I think that would be most appropriate. I don’t want anyone alone at the moment.”
They nodded and set off, leaving only Lord Perrin’s body in the hall. And Lady Mary.
The earl’s sister-in-law had a presence much larger than her physical size. She was most likely half a foot shorter than he, with the snowy white hair and faded blue eyes of one who had seen quite a few years. But she held her spine ramrod straight and had an air of independence Henry was willing to bet caused consternation in her relations.
“My lady, I know this is distressing, but I feel it best that we join the others.” He held out his arm, indicating the direction of the sitting room. “The proper authorities will take the situation in hand.”
The woman snorted and pushed her spectacles higher up her nose. “Your faith in our justice system is stronger than mine, but perhaps you’ve never known an innocent person who was arrested.” She circled the body. “Does something about this seem amiss?”
Henry shook his head. “Aside from the intentional taking of a life?”
“Yes, aside from that.” She bent, stretching her hand toward the knife handle, and Henry hurried forward.
