Read Online The Evil That Men Do.(Inspector Faro Mystery No.11) by Alanna Knight - Free Book Online
Authors: Alanna Knight
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families shared one bedroom and the poor of the High Street tenements lived out their lives in one room.
Doubtless Cedric had his own reasons for not wishing to reside in one vast wing of the family home.
‘Perhaps the reason that they have a close business relationship makes living apart desirable. Or possibly their wives wish to be independent,’ Vince had told him. ‘Grace tells me that her parents moved into Charlotte Square soon after Theodore remarried. Now don’t you feel that is significant? The young wife with new young ideas. I fear Maud is a little conventional, rather rigid in her outlook.’
Alerted by footsteps above, it was Grace Langweil who stared down at him from the upper floor. Running lightly down the stairs to greet him, he fancied that she kissed his cheek with less enthusiasm than she had done hitherto.
‘I was expecting Rose to be with you. I hoped to take her shopping with me. I presume it is Mama you wish to see.’
Faro was aware of a coolness about his future stepdaughter-in-law that he regarded ominously. He had hoped that the pleasant interlude of Rose’s arrival had put them back on their former easy footing. However, her manner said plainer than any words that he was already regarded as the one to blame, the instigator of the reign of terror her father’s unfortunate demise had inflicted upon the family.
‘Rose was still abed when I left the house. She will be arriving later.’ And taking her hands in a determined manner, he asked: ‘And how are you this morning, my dear?’
‘None of us is sleeping well. That’s hardly to be wondered at.’ Her reply and slight withdrawal from him indicated that asking after her health was lacking in tact and sensitivity.
‘You will need to return later if you wish to see Mama.’
‘Dr Wiseman has prescribed a sedative. You must realise how terribly upset she is, by all this - this business,’ she added reproachfully. ‘Bad enough for her knowing how ill dear Papa was for months, without these ridiculous suggestions that he has been poisoned.’
Faro laid a hand on her arm. She was trembling. ‘Grace, my dear, you must believe me, I feel deeply for you in all this. And Vince t oo, but the law must proceed whatever our personal feelings. And the law calls for an enquiry in such circumstances.’
‘Surely with all your influence you could have spared us—’ she began hotly.
‘That I cannot do, much as I would wish to out of regard for your family, not if there is any possibility, however great or small, that death did not come about by natural causes.’
‘Oh, this is intolerable,’ she cut in. ‘You mean you really do believe someone in Priorsfield poisoned dear Papa. One of our servants , perhaps. If you knew how devoted they were to him. |The idea is so preposterous, only a policeman who did not know us could give that a second thought.’
Faro winced from the contempt in her voice, the anger in her gaze, but he said gently as he could, ‘My dear, I have had second, third, and even fourth thoughts, believe me. Murder is an endless chain, once established with a link, it has an unhappy tendency to lead on and on—
‘Murder? In this family? You must be mad – or entirely wicked – to even imagine such a thing. If it wasn’t so terrible, it would be laughable.’
Her face pink with anger, Faro regarded her with compassion. Poor innocent child, how would she ever cope with the even more monstrous truth: that the most probable explanation to which the scanty evidence thus far pointed was that for some reason as yet unknown, her father had been murdered not by a servant, but by one of his, and her, close kin.
‘You must believe me, my dear, what I am hoping to prove is not who is guilty, but who isn’t.’
What else could he say? But his words had the required effect and Grace, mollified, shrugged.
‘Very well. You can start with me. I adored my father. I have absolutely no motive for wishing him - him—’ Her
Doubtless Cedric had his own reasons for not wishing to reside in one vast wing of the family home.
‘Perhaps the reason that they have a close business relationship makes living apart desirable. Or possibly their wives wish to be independent,’ Vince had told him. ‘Grace tells me that her parents moved into Charlotte Square soon after Theodore remarried. Now don’t you feel that is significant? The young wife with new young ideas. I fear Maud is a little conventional, rather rigid in her outlook.’
Alerted by footsteps above, it was Grace Langweil who stared down at him from the upper floor. Running lightly down the stairs to greet him, he fancied that she kissed his cheek with less enthusiasm than she had done hitherto.
‘I was expecting Rose to be with you. I hoped to take her shopping with me. I presume it is Mama you wish to see.’
Faro was aware of a coolness about his future stepdaughter-in-law that he regarded ominously. He had hoped that the pleasant interlude of Rose’s arrival had put them back on their former easy footing. However, her manner said plainer than any words that he was already regarded as the one to blame, the instigator of the reign of terror her father’s unfortunate demise had inflicted upon the family.
‘Rose was still abed when I left the house. She will be arriving later.’ And taking her hands in a determined manner, he asked: ‘And how are you this morning, my dear?’
‘None of us is sleeping well. That’s hardly to be wondered at.’ Her reply and slight withdrawal from him indicated that asking after her health was lacking in tact and sensitivity.
‘You will need to return later if you wish to see Mama.’
‘Dr Wiseman has prescribed a sedative. You must realise how terribly upset she is, by all this - this business,’ she added reproachfully. ‘Bad enough for her knowing how ill dear Papa was for months, without these ridiculous suggestions that he has been poisoned.’
Faro laid a hand on her arm. She was trembling. ‘Grace, my dear, you must believe me, I feel deeply for you in all this. And Vince t oo, but the law must proceed whatever our personal feelings. And the law calls for an enquiry in such circumstances.’
‘Surely with all your influence you could have spared us—’ she began hotly.
‘That I cannot do, much as I would wish to out of regard for your family, not if there is any possibility, however great or small, that death did not come about by natural causes.’
‘Oh, this is intolerable,’ she cut in. ‘You mean you really do believe someone in Priorsfield poisoned dear Papa. One of our servants , perhaps. If you knew how devoted they were to him. |The idea is so preposterous, only a policeman who did not know us could give that a second thought.’
Faro winced from the contempt in her voice, the anger in her gaze, but he said gently as he could, ‘My dear, I have had second, third, and even fourth thoughts, believe me. Murder is an endless chain, once established with a link, it has an unhappy tendency to lead on and on—
‘Murder? In this family? You must be mad – or entirely wicked – to even imagine such a thing. If it wasn’t so terrible, it would be laughable.’
Her face pink with anger, Faro regarded her with compassion. Poor innocent child, how would she ever cope with the even more monstrous truth: that the most probable explanation to which the scanty evidence thus far pointed was that for some reason as yet unknown, her father had been murdered not by a servant, but by one of his, and her, close kin.
‘You must believe me, my dear, what I am hoping to prove is not who is guilty, but who isn’t.’
What else could he say? But his words had the required effect and Grace, mollified, shrugged.
‘Very well. You can start with me. I adored my father. I have absolutely no motive for wishing him - him—’ Her
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