An Unmentionable Murder Read Online Free PDF

early this morning, your ladyship. Has Martin turned up, then?”
    â€œNo, he hasn’t.” Without waiting to be invited, Elizabeth sat down on the visitor’s chair. It was a particularly uncomfortable chair, and she never sat in it longer than she had to, which prompted her to come straight to the point. “I want to round up as many villagers as I can to help find Martin. I need you and Sid to help me do that as quickly as possible. The longer we delay, the worse off Martin will be when we find him.”
    George’s expression frightened her. “We did a pretty thorough search last night, m’m. I don’t know as if he’ll be all that easy to find.”
    â€œExactly, which is why—” She broke off with a start as the telephone on his desk jangled in her ear.
    â€œExcuse me, your ladyship. I’d better get that.” George reached for the telephone and stuck it against his ear. His voice turned pompous when he announced, “Sitting Marsh police station here. P.C. Dalrymple speaking.”
    He listened intently for a while, his expression gradually changing from slightly bored to interested to downright excited. “Very well,” he said after a lengthy pause, “I’ll be there right away. Don’t touch anything until the doc and I get there.” He replaced the receiver and ran a hand over his glistening bald head. “Well, I’ll be blowed,” he said softly.
    Watching him, Elizabeth felt annoyed that whatever message he’d received had apparently taken his concentration away from the matter at hand. “George, about Martin—”
    She was rather rudely interrupted by George’s raised hand. “Begging your pardon, your ladyship, but a rather important matter has come up. I’m afraid the search for your butler will have to wait.”
    Bound and determined that nothing was going to stand in her way, Elizabeth leaned forward. “Nothing can possibly be as important as finding my butler quickly enough to prevent a tragedy.”
    George slowly got to his feet. “Well, m’m, I don’t like to disagree with you, but I reckon a tragedy has already occurred. There’s a dead body up at the munitions factory and I have to get up there right away before someone messes about with the evidence.”
    Shock froze Elizabeth to her chair and it was a moment or two before she could get the words out. “Who is it?”
    George shrugged. “Don’t know, your ladyship, do I. The men up there are from North Horsham so they wouldn’t know if it was someone from the village. In any case, I shouldn’t think it would be anyone from Sitting Marsh. After all, it’s a couple of miles out there and who would want to be hanging around a burned-out building anyway? It’s not like anyone’s gone missing. . . .” His voice trailed off and his eyes widened as he stared at Elizabeth. “No,” he said, violently shaking his head. “No, it couldn’t be Martin. How would he get up there?”
    Elizabeth shot to her feet so fast she almost lost her balance. “I’m going with you.”
    George held up his hand. “Now, now, your ladyship, you know I can’t allow you to go poking around up there. Besides, it’s probably some tramp got in there for shelter and passed away. Happens all the time, it does. I’ll tell you soon enough if it’s . . . if there’s anything you should know.”
    He was talking to thin air, as Elizabeth had already charged out the door without waiting to hear what else he had to say. The roar of her motorcycle almost drowned out his next words when he reached her.
    â€œLady Elizabeth, I have to order you—”
    â€œI’m going up there, George. You have no right to stop me and you know it.”
    Straining to be heard over the noise of the engine, George yelled, “I need to take a look before you go messing about up