Shrouded In Thought (Gilded Age Mysteries Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

reaction, Bayne took the paper and examined it briefly. “Well, well. Does it now. Surely, Mr. Allworthy, you’re not such a babe in the woods that you’d believe everything you read in the newspapers.” He handed the paper back. Martin placed it next to his breakfast plate, his hand trembling slightly in the process.
    Bayne continued speaking, more to himself than to his host. “Accident they’re calling it? Murder is what I call it. I saw the place where it happened with me own eyes. Went there after the police dragged little Miss Nora, God rest her soul, out of the river. Saw the guard rail broken clean in half, it was. Snapped like a twig. And I’ve been asking meself ever since, ‘Desmond,’ I says, ‘Desmond, why would a wee thing like that run full-tilt against a wood rail?’ Who knows if the poor girl had enough strength to break it at all, even if she tried. That is, unless she had a bit o’ help.”
    “Well, that’s something no one will ever know for sure, is it.” Martin bridled at the implication. “Sheer speculation on your part!”
    “Ah, but there’s more.” Bayne paused for effect.
    Martin raised an eyebrow and waited.
    The visitor leaned in closer to Martin’s chair and put a finger to his lips as a sign for secrecy. “I saw it happen,” he whispered.
    Martin felt himself blanch at these words. “You, you what?” he whispered back, nearly deprived of the power of speech.
    “Aye, that I did. Saw it all from a corner of your loading dock. Saw the wee thing go into the river and a man standing over her all the while. Heard her, too. I did. I can still hear her piteous little voice crying out clear as a bell.” In an exaggerated falsetto, he mimicked, “’Help me! Why won’t you help me? You know I can’t swim!’”
    Martin felt his forehead break out in a cold sweat. He began to dab at his face with the triangulated napkin. “This is unbelievable!” he gasped. “How could this have happened?”
    “Is it now, Mr. Allworthy? Is it so unbelievable as all that? I’m wondering why, seeing as how you were there all the while. You were the one who shoved her in!”
    Martin jumped up at the accusation, his chair falling backward. He hastily righted it and began to pace around the room. “Are you mad? What are you suggesting?”
    “Oh, I didn’t see a face clear that night, but I’m guessing it was you all the same. Aren’t you asking yourself how I come to know that fact? How I come to be here with you at all?”
    Martin, still pacing, spat back, “That’s easy! You could have asked anyone the name of the man who owned the factory. You could have asked anyone where I lived.”
    “Aye, that I could have, but that wasn’t the way of it,” Bayne replied with great aplomb. “I found my way to your door by following a man that night. The man who pushed Miss Nora into the river came straight to this house. I saw him go in the back door and never come out again that night. You can be sure I waited to see.”
    “The servant’s entrance?” Martin shot back in disbelief. “You saw a man go in through the servant’s entrance? I am the master of this house! I have no reason to use that door!”
    “Maybe you did that night, though.”
    “This is utterly ridiculous. I can see right through your little game. You found out the factory was owned by a wealthy man and you decided to capitalize on this unfortunate event by concocting this ridiculous story!” Martin could feel his face turning an unhealthy shade of fuschia.
    Bayne maintained his serenity despite the attack. “Maybe the police won’t think the story is so ridiculous.”
    “Look at you! You’re a common vagrant! I’m a respectable businessman. It’s my word against yours. Who do you think they’ll believe?”
    “Oh, aye. There’s that. I don’t cut as dashing a figure as you, to be sure. Not yet anyway. But ‘tisn’t just my word against yours. It’s my word, your word, and this.” With a quick motion of his