Murder at Newstead Abbey Read Online Free PDF Page B

there’s lunacy in the family. He might have caught it.”
    “Would he have sent you over there if he knew there was a corpse buried so poorly?”
    “It wasn’t buried all that bad. I’d not have found her if it wasn’t for the earth being soft from rain, and the yellow flower coming out by the roots. The thing to do, we’ll watch him like a hawk when we tell him, and see if he looks guilty.”
    “Well, I don’t believe for a moment that Byron is involved, but he might have some idea who the girl is.”
    He became less certain of Byron’s innocence as lunch time came and still the riders didn’t return. His real fear was that Corinne was having such a good time with the handsome poet that she might decide to break their engagement. There was certainly no counting on that wretch of a Reg to keep them in check. He reveled in romantic intrigues.
    “An odd way to treat company,” he said, when the hour for lunch passed and still there was no sign of the three miscreants.
    But when at last they arrived, the story of Byron’s being shot at was enough to banish Luten’s fit of pique.
    “He might have been killed!” Prance said. “The bullet actually took his hat off his head. Show them, Byron.”
    Byron held out his curled beaver, poking a finger through a hole in the rim.
    Coffen could no longer hold in his announcement. “You was luckier than the body on your island. It’s dead.”
    An excited clamor of voices rose, demanding an explanation, which Coffen gave, with full details. Nor did he forget to keep a close eye on Byron to gauge his reaction. All he could see was shock. No guilt, unless he was a good actor. Which he was, of course.
    He was always acting. Letting on he ate nothing but biscuits to make himself interesting, when you could see by the size of him that he ate like a horse.
    “We had better go and investigate, n’est-ce pas?” Prance said, looking all around.
    “We will, as soon as we’ve eaten,” Coffen replied.
    Byron gave a disparaging frown. “What a charming appetizer! I had no intention of involving you all in such unpleasantness. Let us hope there’s no murder involved.”
    Coffen just smiled. He had high hopes there was not only a murder but an attempted murder on Byron as well. No poacher would be out in broad daylight. Nossir, someone had taken a shot at Byron. And two murders in one place suggested that the two were linked somehow, with Byron right in the middle of it. Pity, really. He liked the fellow better than he had thought he would. He was pretty sensible, for a poet.
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Chapter 4
    Cook's excellent luncheon was wasted on all but Coffen and Mrs. Ballard. It would take more than a corpse to destroy his appetite, and Mrs. Ballard considered it immoral to waste good food. Corinne feared that this visit was going to turn into another case for the Berkeley Brigade, Prance never ate much, and Luten and Byron were busy discussing what ought to be done. If Byron was innocent, and Luten believed he was, then Luten’s job was to protect his reputation, for the party’s sake.
    “There’s a police magistrate in Nottingham. I expect we ought to call him in,” Byron said.
    “The sooner the better,” Luten agreed. “Is he a good man?”
    “I’ve had no contact with him thus far. I know only that his name is Eggars,” Byron replied. A footmen was immediately dispatched with a message to Eggars.
    After a hasty lunch the group was eager to get to the island. “The boat will only hold four, and even then one of us would have to row,” Byron explained.
    Coffen had no intention of being left out. “I have to go to show you the place,” he said.
    “Corinne won’t want to go. The four of us can fit into the boat,” Luten said.
    “I do so want to go!” she announced at once.
    “The boat leaks pretty bad,” Coffen said, in an effort to deter her. It also deterred Prance.
    “Someone must be here to meet Eggars,” Prance pointed out. “The boat will have to be brought back