Read Online C S Lewis and the Body in the Basement (C S Lewis Mysteries Book 1) by Kel Richards - Free Book Online Page A

collar and tie. He really thought he was a cut above the rest of us. And everyone knows he only got the job because he’s Ravenswood’s brother-in-law.’
    ‘Is he indeed?’ said Jack. ‘Now that’s very interesting.’
    ‘Oh, yes. It was Edith Ravenswood who badgered her husband into hiring Franklin. But he never really came to terms with the responsibilities of the job.’
    ‘In what sense?’
    ‘He used to make snide remarks, Mr Lewis, to this one or that about the state of their account. Well, that’s confidential, isn’t it? That’s something that shouldn’t be spoken about outside the bank. Highly improper, I considered it. He was a young man inclined to put on airs, and sneer at others. You can take it from me: there are quite a few in this town who won’t shed a tear over the death of Franklin Grimm.’
    ‘You mentioned his popularity with young women. Will any of them shed a tear?’
    ‘That’s a good point, Mr Lewis. Well spotted. He was devilishly good looking, and a big, strapping lad was Franklin. And he had a way with him. He could be charming when he wanted to be—when he thought it was in his interests. So he sort of hypnotised quite a few young women in this town. Not all of them were single neither—there were a few young married women who fell under his spell. Whether any of their husbands ever suspected or not I don’t know. Of course, if one of them did, and took his revenge, well . . . ’
    He left the sentence hanging and tapped the side of his nose as he gave a knowing wink. Then he returned to the subject of the young women themselves, the victims of Mr Grimm’s apparent ability to cast a spell.
    ‘I’m not sure if they all knew just how many women he was friendly with at the same time. Some of them may have thought they were the only one.’
    ‘And we know one of his young women was Ruth Jarvis,’ muttered Jack thoughtfully, speaking more to himself than the rest of us.
    ‘It all sounds terribly complicated and messy to me,’ I said.
    ‘There was a very hot-headed young man we saw earlier today,’ Jack said, changing the subject. ‘A young farmer named Nicholas Proudfoot. He burst into the bank and was shouting threats at the manager.’
    ‘At Edmund Ravenswood?’ said the publican. ‘That does surprise me. I would have expected him to be after Franklin Grimm, not Mr Ravenswood.’
    We nodded for him to continue. ‘Well, Nick Proudfoot has a pretty young wife—very pretty, if you ask me. Her name’s Amelia, and she’s as beautiful as one of them pin-up girls. You know how people talk in small towns: well, the talk is she might have an admirer. And if she has surely it’d Grimm, the local Lothario—the local man about town, as it were.’
    ‘What Proudfoot said in his angry outburst in the bank seemed to have more to do with a loan,’ Jack suggested. ‘Does that make any sense to you, Mr Jones?’
    ‘I know the Proudfoots had to mortgage their farm a year or two back. And since then the seasons have been bad, so he may have been struggling with payments. But that’s not the bank’s problem. I can’t quite see why he’d be shouting at Mr Ravenswood.’
    ‘Perhaps we should ask,’ said Jack. ‘Can you give us directions to Nicholas Proudfoot’s farm?’
    ‘No problem.’ And with these words Frank Jones dug a scrap of paper out of his pocket and began scribbling a rough map. Then came a flood of instructions that involved marking where we were with an X and explaining how many left- and right-hand turns we had to take.
    When he’d finished his explanation, he added, ‘But will Bill Dixon be happy about you leaving town, even if it’s only to walk out to a local farm?’
    ‘Ah, that’s a thought,’ murmured Warnie. ‘If he sees us going he might try to stop us.’
    ‘Well,’ said Jack with a gleam in his eye, ‘we must see about that.’

NINE

    We took our half empty pints of bitter through into the front bar and looked out of the window. Sure