The Merry Widow Murders by Melodie Campbell

Author:Melodie Campbell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FIC022070 FICTION / Mystery Detective / Cozy / General FIC022060 FICTION / Mystery Detective / Historical FIC022040 FICTION / Mystery Detective / Women Sleuths
ISBN: 9781770866935
Publisher: Cormorant Books
Published: 2023-05-13T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

Elf appeared at my shoulder. As usual, her timing was exemplary.

“Stole the bloody shoes, ’e did. Wanker.”

I swung around and plunked my butt on the floor.

“Just the shoes, Luce? You checked the rocks?” she added.

“Not yet,” I said. “You do it, will you? I need to catch my breath.”

She did some digging in the trunk off to my left. “Rocks are safe,” she said. “Nobody tried to get inside. I set a hair. Still there, see?”

I groaned. Elf had done what I had neglected to do. “I’m losing my touch,” I said.

She shrugged and dropped the lid of the trunk. “Lots goin’ on,” she said kindly. “Did you just get back?”

I nodded. “The captain wanted to see me.”

“Convenient for the thief,” said Elf.

What she said was true. Who could have done this? I needed to think. A stranger of course, who got lucky. Or unlucky, if you wanted to look at it that way. He got the shoes but not what had been in them. Still, it was very convenient that the shoes were stolen at a time when neither of us was in the room. Since I’d stopped off to meet with the captain, I was later getting back.

“Elf, this could have been someone at my table. It could have been done right after dinner. Mr. West didn’t make a secret of the invitation to visit the captain. Amanda heard us, for sure. Anyone at the table could have overheard him.”

Elf faced me. Her odd little face twisted. “People at the table could scamper here while they knew you were away. It wouldn’t have to be planned. They took a chance, maybe.”

“That’s what I’m thinking.” I grabbed at my diadem, yanked it from my head, and placed it on the bed beside me.

“So they have a fair shot at it. Timewise. But Luce, you’re forgetting something.”

That cold feeling again. I wasn’t forgetting it. It was foremost in my mind.

“Not forgetting.” I smoothed down my hair with a hand. That was the real question, of course. And I loathed it. I hated what I was thinking.

“They didn’t take my jewellery,” I said reluctantly. “The case is intact. So it wasn’t my showing off the family jewels tonight that prompted the break-in.”

“Nope. The only thing snatched was the shoes.” There. She’d said it. We weren’t dealing with a normal burglar.

“You got a list of suspects in mind?” said Elf. “I gotta ask, though. Who would even know about the shoes?”

“Harry’s killer?” I posed it as a question.

“Maybe. But see here,” said Elf, plopping down on the corner of the bed. “Killer would have taken the shoes when he offed the guy. And he didn’t. So goes to reason he didn’t know about them shoes hiding the rocks.”

That was exactly why I was panicking. The killer had left the shoes behind. He hadn’t known they were valuable at the time of the killing.

“So who would know to go for the shoes?” she asked.

I was quiet. Elf, damn her, said out loud what I was dreading.

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