02 - Flight of Fancy Read Online Free PDF Page B

but I’m not
one to listen to that nonsense and here I am as fit as a fiddle!”
    “I appreciate the story, but my
legs aren’t ever going to work again.”
    “You don’t give them a chance
with that attitude. If I was you I would be trying to walk every day and who
knows, just maybe, I would manage it if I tried hard enough, but the important
thing is not to give up.”
    “Quite right.” Clara
interrupted deciding it was time to change the subject and deflect Tommy’s
thoughts from his legs, “Now, I do believe you have a mystery for me to solve
Mr O’Harris?”
    “Oh yes, where are my manners!
Come in, come in! Would you like tea or coffee?”
    They followed him into the
house and through into the dining room where they had sat and eaten the day
before.
    “I thought we should start
here.” O’Harris explained, “Scene of the crime, well almost. Though, I confess,
after sleeping on the matter I wonder if I have sent you on a wild goose chase
Miss Fitzgerald.”
    “Most mysteries look that way
at the start, but the answers are usually to be found if you hunt hard enough
for them.”
    “I admire your confidence. So
where do we begin?”
    Clara had been mulling this
moment over in her head since the night before.
    “I was wondering at maybe
recreating the scene?” She said, “Tommy can be Colonel Brandt, I shall play the
part of aunt Florence and you…”
    She tailed off as she realised
what she was suggesting.
    “I shall be Uncle Goddard. Do
not be perturbed Miss Fitzgerald, I am not morbid and it is quite logical I should
play the role. Shall we sit at the table?”
    “Yes, but… ah, is the table in
the same place it was back then?”
    O’Harris stared at the table
for a long moment.
    “Now you mention it, I believe
it was more to the right. Yes, yes, we moved it when the new sideboard came to
make it more convenient for serving, but it was indeed a good two foot further
towards the far wall.”
    “Meaning the colonel could have
had a clear view of Goddard walking down the terrace steps.” Clara moved across
the room, assessing how the bars of the windows and the heavy stone balustrade
of the terrace obscured the view.
    “Is it important?” O’Harris
asked.
    “Well, that’s just the thing. I
can never be sure if it is or isn’t until I rule it out.”
    “Do you want to move the
table?” O’Harris glanced at the heavy mahogany dining table, decorated with an
elaborate floral centrepiece and candlesticks, “I’d have to call a servant.”
    “No, let us just move the
chairs.”
    Clara took a chair, as did
O’Harris and Tommy carefully wheeled himself into place.
    “Now we have an issue.” Tommy
said, “We don’t know where they all sat.”
    “Uncle Goddard would have been
at the head of the table.” O’Harris motioned to the space where his uncle’s
chair would have been, “We can assume Colonel Brandt and my aunt sat opposite
each other either side of him, that was the usual arrangement.”
“So, here, maybe?” Tommy wheeled himself into a position roughly in the middle
of the imaginary table.
    “Not so far down, my uncle
hated having his guests at a distance. He was getting deaf and it meant he had
trouble following the conversation. No, they would have been right next to
him.”
    Tommy re-positioned his wheelchair
to one side of the head of the table. Clara sat opposite him. O’Harris was last
to take his place.
    “Right, we have had our supper
and we are contemplating a glass of brandy, or at least the colonel is.” Said
Clara, “Goddard is thinking about his cigar.”
    The captain, suddenly getting
into the swing of the action, pretended to produce a cigar case and remove one.
    “I say Florence, I think I will
have my evening cigar.” He said, lifting his voice and flattening his accent.
    “Not inside Goddard, you know
how it discolours the wallpapers.” Clara said in her best disapproving voice.
    O’Harris got up and walked to
the terrace windows. Without looking