Mrs. Jeffries and the Merry Gentlemen by Emily Brightwell Page B

tired.”
    â€œNo more tired than I’m sure you are, sir.” She reached for the bowler he was in the process of taking off his head. “But I’ve a roast beef sandwich and a glass of sherry waiting in the study, sir. I thought you might be a bit peckish.”
    â€œYou are an angel of mercy.” He smiled gratefully, shed his overcoat, and a few moments later followed her down the hall and into his comfortable study.
    As was her custom, she’d poured herself a glass as well. “Now, sir, we hear from Lady Cannonberry’s household that you’ve been saddled with another murder. I take it that’s where you’ve been this evening.”
    He took a sip of his drink and nodded. “The murder house is close by. Poor fellow got bashed on the head. Chief Inspector Barrows found the body and sent for me. It was quite dreadful, really.” He took a quick bite from the sandwich, chewed vigorously, and swallowed. “The victim’s name is Orlando Edison and, from what I could gather from his servants, he made his living promoting foreign mining stocks. Unfortunately, even though the man was murdered on his front door stoop, we’ve no witnesses as yet.”
    â€œIt’s early days, sir,” she murmured.
    â€œIndeed it is,” he agreed. “Mind you, he doesn’t seem the sort of man to actually get murdered; though, of course he must have been because it happened.”
    â€œWhatever do you mean, sir?”
    â€œHe seemed very well liked by his servants—as a matter of fact, he’d given all of them the night off and paid for them to go to the theater this evening.”
    â€œSo he was home alone?”
    â€œOh yes, I expect the killer must have counted on that being the case, but my earlier point was his servants seemed to genuinely care about him. He had no quarrels with his neighbors and the only family he has is a cousin who came to see what was wrong when Edison didn’t show up for supper.” He told her the rest of the details about the evening, beginning with finding the body and continuing on through his interview with Yancy Kimball.
    She listened carefully, occasionally nodding or murmuring a comment. “It’s odd that the housekeeper didn’t mention either of the arguments the victim had prior to his death.”
    He frowned thoughtfully. “She seemed to have herself under control, yet, despite her demeanor, I sensed that she was more upset about Mr. Edison’s murder than she wanted to let on.”
    â€œYou mean you think she simply forgot both incidents?” She stared at him over the rim of her glass.
    â€œNot really, no, but sometimes a terrible shock makes one forget very important details.”
    â€œWhen you speak with her again, it will be interesting to see if she volunteers this information. As you said, sir, arguing with two different people right before being murdered is a most important detail and we know from the housemaids’ statements that Mrs. Clarridge was aware of both incidents.”
    â€œTrue, but I don’t think she deliberately kept anything from me, I think the poor woman was just overwhelmed.”
    â€œDo you think his cousin, this Mr. Yancy Kimball, is his heir?” she asked.
    â€œIt’s very possible but I won’t know until I can speak with his solicitor and I hope to do that tomorrow.”
    â€œYou’ll be going back to the Edison house?”
    â€œOf course. We’ve more questions to ask, but by the time we took everyone’s statement tonight Constable Barnes and I were both so tired we felt it best to come back when we’ve had a bit of rest. We left a constable on duty by the front door and came home.” He sighed heavily. “But it doesn’t seem fair. We always seem to get stuck with a dreadful murder every year at this time. You’d think that even killers would have some respect for the holidays!”

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