Murder in Abbot's Folly Read Online Free PDF Page B

Stourdens inspired the gothic Northanger Abbey in Jane Austen’s novel, but we don’t have evidence to that effect. So far as we know no priory or abbey has ever existed on the site.’
    â€˜If one did,’ Tim joked, ‘it surely wouldn’t be a monstrosity like this, would it?’
    Georgia could see his point as they reached the folly. She thought it more of a fantasy than a monstrosity though. It was a stone building, with a large tower on either side at the rear and a forest of smaller turrets shielding a central domed roof. Overall, the effect was gothic in the extreme. The centre of the building with its domed roof might on its own have been imposing, but with the army of protecting turrets it looked more like a child’s witch house than one in which any self-respecting abbot would want to immerse himself. The gothic effect was made worse by the fact that the building was surrounded by tall trees looming so close that they seemed to form an aggressive guard of their own.
    Tim managed to find the ramp and beckoned them inside the folly. Georgia assumed that Peter would be eager to shoot in first, but for some reason he was hesitating, letting Dora, Elena and Gerald precede him. As he followed them, he turned his head to call out sharply: ‘Georgia!’
    There was a warning tone in his voice, but it was too late. As she went in, a wave of nausea and dizziness swept over her, which was all too familiar. ‘Fingerprints on time’ was the name she and Peter had given to the sixth sense they shared, which kicked in usually where violence or injustice had taken place, both of which were present here. Abbot’s Folly reeked with them. The atmosphere felt dank and evil. It would be easy to claim that this was sheer imagination, she thought, or that these ‘fingerprints’ had no such cause, but for Marsh & Daughter they sparked off the cases they investigated. This initial instinctive reaction was an unwelcome pivot, although from then on facts would take over in their investigations.
    There were fingerprints here. No doubt about that. Max Tanner had been convicted for Robert Luckhurst’s murder, but he had maintained he was innocent. A miscarriage of justice? She’d talk it over with Peter later, when she had recovered from the nausea that still overwhelmed her.
    â€˜Darling, you don’t look well. What’s wrong?’ Elena said anxiously, fluttering around her as they stood in the entrance hall to the folly.
    â€˜Nothing,’ Georgia muttered. ‘Hunger pains, I expect.’ She forced a laugh, but Elena did not let it drop.
    â€˜You were always a nervous child. Come outside,’ she urged.
    â€˜No,’ Georgia replied. ‘I’ll be fine.’ She wanted to see how badly Peter was affected, but he was following Tim and the Clackingtons into the room on their right.
    â€˜Did Jane Austen know this folly?’ she managed to ask Jennifer. This would be safe ground, for the girl was still exhibiting all the signs of wanting to be a hundred miles away. Change the subject, get away from murder, she thought, and this feeling will pass. Think about Jane, talk about Jane, forget fingerprints. And yet she couldn’t, because the dizziness was clogging her mind. To her horror she realized she was clinging to Elena’s arm as they followed the others.
    â€˜Robert Luckhurst’s study,’ Tim told them.
    Despite herself, Georgia was impressed. Mahogany bookcases lined the three straight walls of this oddly shaped room, and where the semicircular entrance hall arched into the study, there were tables, cupboards and office equipment. The central desk had a large computer on it, and yet nothing in this room struck a false note. She felt Jane Austen could stroll in at any moment and feel at home.
    Dora clapped in enthusiasm. ‘Oh look ,’ she said, ‘the very place where Robert must have communed with dear Jane. Now where, oh