Perhaps not, now that he mentioned it.The grooms didn’t tend to come into the house much.They certainly wouldn’t be welcome in the library or drawing room.And it wasn’t likely that they’d have their own supply of writing paper and ink in the back of the stable, was it?
“Let’s go,” Christopher said, and took my elbow.
“Where?”
“I want to see whether there’s writing paper in Wilkins’s rooms above the garage.And I want to talk to Alfie.”
“Do you think he might have gone to the village this morning?Or might have seen who did?”
Alfred was a local, so he might have had his own reasons for doing away with Doctor Meadows.He certainly knew my name, and unlike the grooms, he would have had easy access to the Hall and to the writing paper.He probably also knew that of everyone here, I was the person he could most safely accuse without repercussions.
Christopher didn’t answer, just pushed open the door to the garage and started past the motorcars, over to the staircase by the back wall.I followed more slowly, peering into and around the vehicles as I passed them.One of them might have made a trip to the village this morning, but how would one know which?
The nearest vehicle was Crispin’s Hispano-Suiza, and I put my hand against the metal covering the motor.The surface was cold against my palm, and I dropped my hand again.The motor would have been hot directly after the trip, I assumed, but that was hours ago.The fact that it was cold now proved nothing one way or the other.
Christopher headed up the stairs.By the time he reached the door at the top, I had just got to the bottom, and I stopped there and waited instead of dragging the too-big Wellies from step to step.
“Try the latch,” I suggested after a few seconds, when there had been no answer.
He squinted down at me.“I don’t want to walk into the man’s private quarters without warning, Pippa.He’s a servant, but he still has the right to privacy in his own quarters.”
“You knocked,” I said, beginning to climb.“Isn’t that warning enough?
Besides, he probably wasn’t even here.He was most likely up at the house, doing footmanly things under Tidwell’s beady eye.
“He might be asleep,” Christopher said, although he reached for the handle anyway.
I snorted as I stopped two steps below him.“In the middle of the workday?Not bloody likely, is it?”
He didn’t answer, and I added, persuasively, “Just open the door, Christopher.I’m sure the place is empty, and all we want to do is look at the desk blotter.”
“Fine.”But he took a breath before he twisted the knob and pushed the door in.And hovered on the threshold, swaying.“Oh, God.”
ChapterFifteen
“Go and get Tom,”I told Christopher, staring at the body laid out on the floor just inside the door.It was clearly Alfie—I could tell by the uniform, and also because I had seen the footman before—and he was equally clearly as dead as a door nail.The side of his head was caved in, sandy hair sticky with blood.For a moment, my vision tunneled as I remembered Frederick Montrose, and Abigail Dole, and Dominic Rivers, and their broken skulls—and then I pulled myself back together and gave Christopher a poke.“Kit!”
He blinked and turned to me, face blank.“I don’t want to leave you alone with?—”
He gestured at what was left of Alfie, but without looking at him.
“He won’t hurt me,” I said, and tried to keep my voice steady.I didn’t want to be left alone with the corpse either.However, needs must.“Go, Christopher.The sooner you can find Tom, the sooner we can both leave this to him.”
Christopher hesitated.“I know he won’t hurt you.But maybe there’s someone else…”
He glanced around the small room.
“Whoever did this is long gone,” I said steadily.“The blood is dry in patches.This happened hours ago.Go on, now.You’ll be faster than me, especially in these Wellies.”
He gave me one more look, searching my face to be certain that I meant it.I must have looked as if I did, because he gave a nod.“I’ll be back as quickly as I can.”He turned on his heel.A moment later, I heard his shoes clatter down the stairs, and then, shortly after that, the carriage house door opened and closed.
It was silent.I took a breath and turned my attention to Alfie.
I didn’t want to move any closer to him.The bottoms of our shoes—or in my case, boots—were wet.I could see the imprints of Christopher’s shoes coming and going.By moving nearer, I might destroy some sort of evidence.Or if nothing else, Tom would be able to see just how far my curiosity had taken me.
Instead, I peered around the room from the vantage point inside the door, keeping my feet planted inside the Wellies.
The body lay a few feet away.It was located stomach down halfway into the small room.His head was turned sideways, so I could see half of his face, including one open, staring eye, slightly filmed.
