“But why…”
“Just as a kindly gesture,” said Henry hastily. He did not feel compelled to explain Sir John’s reasons for wishing the death of Raymond Mason to be cleared up quickly and quietly.
“And Aunt Dora?”
“I think,” said Henry, “that it will be regarded as an accident.” He paused, and then said, “I hope you won’t be too distressed over the unfortunate business of Miss Manciple and that young man. She’ll get over it, you know. Youth is very resilient.”
It was in the hall that Henry met Maud again. In fact, she was waiting for him. She said, “You know I bought the chrysanthemums.”
“Yes,” said Henry.
“I had to try to make amends, you see. Because I…”
“Please,” said Henry, “don’t say any more.”
“I love him,” said Maud. She was dry-eyed now. “I wouldn’t have cared if he’d shot me, if it had helped him to get away. I shall wait for him. They can’t send him to prison forever.”
Henry said brutally, “He never cared a rap for you. He only proposed to you to get that job at Bradwood.”
Maud turned on him like a small tiger. “Do you think that makes any difference? Do you think that to love someone you have to be loved in return?”
“Another thing you should consider,” said Henry, “is that in a few years’ time, he may well be exchanged for a British agent and repatriated to Russia. What will you do then?”
“Go with him, if he’ll take me,” said Maud.
Henry said, “It’s natural that you should feel like this now. But I do beg you not to isolate yourself. Frank Mason is really a very intelligent young man, you know, under that rather unfortunate manner of his. He asked me if I thought he might come and see you…”
“I won’t be here,” said Maud. “I’m going away.”
“Away?”
“I obviously can’t go back to Bradwood, and I can’t stay here. I wanted to ask you, Inspector Tibbett, do you know to which prison they have taken Julian? Because I shall take a room somewhere nearby and find a job. I suppose they’ll let me visit him.”
“I suppose they will,” said Henry. “But…”
“You needn’t imagine,” said Maud, “that I’m going to fit into your cozy little happy ending.”
“Then I can only hope,” said Henry, “that you find your own.”
His last view of her was standing alone in the big, empty hall with a bowl of chrysanthemums behind her.
Data Output
All the characters and events portrayed in this work are fictitious.
MURDER FANTASTICAL
A Felony Mayhem mystery
PRINTING HISTORY
First UK edition (Collins): 1967
First US edition (Holt, Rinehart Winston): 1967
Felony Mayhem edition: 2018
Copyright © The Estate of Patricia Moyes 1967
All rights reserved
E-book ISBN: 978-1-63194-160-3
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Moyes, Patricia, author.
Title: Murder fantastical / by Patricia Moyes.
Description: Felony Mayhem edition. | New York : Felony Mayhem Press, 2018. | “A Felony Mayhem mystery” --Verso title page. | “First UK edition (Collins): 1967 First US edition (Holt, Rinehart Winston): 1967” -- Verso title page.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018012269| ISBN 9781631941443 (trade pbk.) | ISBN 9781631941603 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Tibbett, Henry (Fictitious character)--Fiction. | Tibbett, Emmy (Fictitious character)--Fiction. | Married people--Fiction. | Police spouses--Fiction. | Police--Great Britain--Fiction. | England--Fiction. | Domestic fiction. lcsh | GSAFD: Mystery fiction.
Classification: LCC PR6063.O9 M83 2018 | DDC 823/.914--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018012269