Lord Scoundrel Dies by Kate Harper Page B

of those squeals you are
so inclined to? For I have had a harrowing evening and I doubt my
nerves could take it.’
    ‘You don’t have any nerves,’ Sarah had
pointed out, but her curiosity was clearly stirred. ‘What
happened?’
    ‘You promise not to make a noise?’ Harry had
reiterated warily.
    ‘I promise,’ her cousin had returned
impatiently. ‘Dear me, Harry you make me sound as if I am entirely
foolish.’
    ‘You can be,’ Harry had retorted. ‘And it
can be very disconcerting.’
    ‘Just tell me, for heaven’s sake!’
    ‘Oh very well. When I arrived at Lord
Sutton’s house I found Lord Sutton –’
    ‘Oh Harry, he caught you?’ Sarah had
said in dismay.
    ‘No, he did not catch me. He was in no
position to catch me.’
    ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘I mean that when I arrived I found Lord
Sutton on the floor of his library. He was – and this is the part
where you remain mute, if you please – he was dead.’
    Sarah stared at her with round blue eyes.
‘What do you mean… dead?’
    Harry had arched an eyebrow. ‘What do you
think I mean? Dead. On the rug.’
    ‘Dead on the… no! You cannot mean it.’
    ‘Of course I mean it. It is hardly something
I would make up.’
    ‘But… are you sure he was dead? Was he
breathing?’
    ‘He was dead, Sarah. That tends to preclude
breathing.’
    ‘But why? Was he ill? I mean, did his heart
fail or… or…’
    Harry was positive that Lord Sutton’s heart
had failed but it had not been an illness that had stopped it. ‘He
had been murdered, Sarah. With a candlestick.’
    ‘A… candlestick?’ Sarah had
breathed, going rather white. ‘ Murdered ?’
    Her voice had gone up on that last word.
‘You said you wouldn’t make a noise! Pull yourself together or
we’ll have Aunt Margaret in here and then I will have to explain
these clothes to her.’
    It had been enough of a threat to quell her
cousin for she had no desire to explain to her mother why she was
clutching a necklace that, by rights, should currently be in the
family strongbox. Just the same, she had been exceedingly
ruffled.
    ‘You poor thing, walking in to discover a
body! It was a wonder you did not faint on the spot.’
    ‘I don’t faint.’
    ‘Yes, but… a body. How utterly dreadful. Was
there… did you see anybody? The… the...’
    ‘Killer? No, they had gone before I got
there.’ Harry wondered if she should mention the presence of Mr.
Lampforth or Lord Talisker but decided against it. There was no
point in telling Sarah that she had company for she would be sure
to speculate on the presence of both gentlemen, especially that of
the viscount for whom she, rather like most of the other young
females in London, harbored romantic ideas. Now that she had
actually met him, Harry thought they were rather ridiculous ideas
for, as handsome as he was, his abrasive manner had definitely
grated. Sarah would probably think the whole thing utterly romantic
if Harry mentioned Lord Talisker had been on the scene although
romantic had been the last thing it had been. With this in mind,
she had abbreviated how she had discovered the necklace and did not
show Sarah the other items she had brought with her. She might have
to ask Sarah’s help in identifying the jewelry but she really did
not want her cousin reading those letters and notes. Fond as she
was of Sarah, she was a dreadful chatterbox and might inadvertently
blurt out the wrong thing at precisely the wrong time or, worse
yet, make herself look important by revealing to somebody that she
knew more than she should about Lord Sutton’s death.
    The bag had been stowed safely in the back
of her wardrobe. She intended to go over the contents when she had
a moment to herself.
    ‘Well I think the entire adventure too
thrilling,’ Sarah had said, when Harry had finished her story. ‘But
dear me Harry, how dangerous! What if you had arrived a little
earlier? You would have seen the poor man killed.’
    ‘Lord Sutton was not a nice man at