Read Online Thou Shell of Death by Nicholas Blake - Free Book Online

coat. I reckon you must be right.’
    Cavendish, looking through the door, said, ‘Some of the others are on the veranda. They must have heard our voices. You’d better tell them to keep off those footprints. Oh, God, there’s Lucilla. She mustn’t see this.’
    Nigel went to the door and hailed the guests. ‘Stay where you are a minute. Yes, all of you. Arthur, just walk round the hut and see if there’s any trail up to the back. We’d better make sure, before they all start tramping about.’
    Arthur moved away. ‘But look here, Strangeways,’ Cavendish protested, ‘you can’t let those women come in here and see—’ He shuddered.
    ‘I can and I propose to,’ said Nigel brusquely. He did not intend to lose this golden opportunity for studying reactions. Arthur returned and informed him that there were no footprints at the back of the hut. Nigel spoke to the guests huddled on the veranda.
    ‘You can come out now, but keep well away from that single track of footmarks. O’Brien has met with an accident.’
    There was a gasp, and Georgia Cavendish came running out ahead of the rest. They were all dressed, except for Knott-Sloman, who was wearing an overcoat over his pyjamas, and Lucilla Thrale, who had on a magnificent grey mink coat over what looked suspiciously like nothing else at all. With her silver-gold hair and white throat and frozen expression she was a veritable Snow Queen.
    Nigel put his back to the far wall of the hut, and said, ‘You can come in. But stand still and don’t touch anything.’
    They filed in and stood fidgeting in a row, like a company of amateur actors with bad stage fright. For a second they did not know where to look. Then Georgia pointed a trembling finger, bit her lip hard, said in a small solemn voice, ‘Fergus. Oh, Fergus!’ and fell deathly silent. Knott-Sloman’s face grew taut and his pale blue eyes seemed to turn to stone. ‘Good God! Dead! Is he dead? Who—did he do it himself?’ Philip Starling pursed up his lips and gave a long whistle.
    ‘He
is
dead,’ said Nigel, ‘and everything points to suicide.’
    Lucilla Thrale’s frozen expression suddenly broke up like a landslide. Her scarlet mouth dropped open; and with a violence that appalled everyone she screamed out: ‘Fergus? Fergus! You can’t! It’s not true! Fergus!’ Then she reeled and fell back into Knott-Sloman’s arms. The little group split up. Nigel glanced at Georgia. She was gazing at her brother now with an indecipherable look. Suddenly aware of Nigel’s scrutiny, she dropped her eyes and walked out, bending and just touching O’Brien’s hair on the way.
    ‘Look here, Strangeways,’ Knott-Sloman exclaimed angrily. ‘What the devil do you mean by letting these ladies come in and—it’s outrageous.’
    ‘You can all go out now,’ said Nigel impassively. ‘Stay in the house, please. You will be needed for the formality of questioning. I am just going to ring the police.’
    Knott-Sloman’s face grew purple, and knotted veins stood out. ‘Who the hell are you to give orders here?’ he roared. ‘I’ve stood just about enough of your buck.’ He broke off. Nigel was looking at him, a very different proposition from the mild, bespectacled, amiable creature of the day before. His tow-coloured hair stood on end berserk fashion, his boyish expression had been left behind with the jokes and crackers of last night, his eyes looked dangerous as the muzzles of machine guns. Knott-Sloman capitulated, and retired to the house grumbling. The others followed. Lucille Thrale, who was getting full emotional value out of the occasion and behaving like a tragedy queen, was being supported into the house by Georgia and Philip Starling. Nigel told Arthur to stay on guard in the hut and to see if he could find anything missing there or out of place. He himself went into the house and phoned up Taviston. He was put through to Superintendent Bleakley, who promised to come at once with a police doctor