Murder at the Hunt Ball : A 1920s Historical Cozy Mystery

by Sonia Parin

  “Maybe George Stevens and Archie Arthurs are working on a deal,” Evie suggested. “Something illegal.” Archie Arthurs hadn’t made an appearance at the ball and George Stevens hadn’t returned since the first time he’d stepped out of the ballroom.

  “And you think Caro got in the way?”

  Heaven help them, Evie thought. She would make sure they received the harshest penalties for their transgression.

  They turned and headed toward the stables.

  Evie looked down to watch where she stepped on the uneven cobblestones. “If they think Caro can identify them, then her life is in peril.”

  They reached the stables and peered inside. Tom walked in and lit another lantern. Instead of walking all the way in, he stopped at the entrance and held up the lantern. “I don’t think we should go any further. Just in case something has happened. The flagstones are covered with straw and we might disturb it.”

  Had someone come out here? To do what?

  Evie pointed toward the closest stall. She thought she could see a plaque. “Can you shine the lantern on the door, please?”

  “Mighty Warrior,” Tom read.

  “That’s the horse Sterling Wright just purchased. But I don’t see him. Light the way for me, please.” Evie walked up to the stall on tiptoes. She could just make out the shape of the horse. When it snorted, she spoke gently to it, “It’s only us, Mighty Warrior. We just want to have a closer look.” The horse snorted again and bobbed its head up and down. “He’s in the corner. There’s something odd about that. Bring the lantern closer, please.”

  Tom went to stand beside her. As he held the lantern up, they both leaned in.

  Evie gasped. “Is… is that a man?”

  Chapter 15

  Murder and mayhem

  The stables

  They looked on in stunned silence for no longer than a few seconds but those seconds seemed to drag on.

  Evie forced herself to move past her shock at the same time as the others and they all jumped into action.

  “We must see if he’s still alive.”

  Mighty Warrior snorted and shifted from side to side.

  “One of us has to keep an eye on the horse,” Lotte said.

  Tom stepped forward. “That should be me.”

  “Heavens, my first instinct is to remove him from the stall as quickly as possible but what if we disturb the scene?” Evie knew they needed to alert Sterling Wright and the police but their first priority had to be to get him out of the stall.

  “Are you suggesting this is the scene of a crime?” Lotte asked, her tone bewildered.

  With Caro injured and now a man presumably dead… Evie nodded. “We have to assume it is. I’m surprised you don’t think so.”

  Lotte shook her head when she said, “This might come as a surprise to you but my lady detective’s agency deals mostly with petty crimes.”

  “Evie’s right.” Tom agreed. “But we have to get him out of there.”

  Moving with care, Tom went into the stall. While he talked to the horse in a soothing tone, Lotte and Evie moved swiftly taking hold of the man’s arms and dragging him out of the stall.

  Neither one spoke but they both knew the identity of the man straightaway.

  Backing out of the stall, Tom eased the door closed, slid the latch into place and turned it down to secure it.

  “Does he have a pulse?” he asked.

  Evie shook her head. “I can’t feel it. One of us will have to go back inside and alert Sterling Wright. Also, the doctor should still be there.” Evie only then realized she’d been in shock. “Why didn’t I think of that before? We came out here looking for something… someone, we should have been prepared for the worst.” Without consulting the others, she rushed out of the stables and made her way across the yard.

  Bursting inside, her mere presence caught everyone’s attention. Looks were exchanged and a feeling of panic swept through the corridors.

  Focused on reaching the butler’s room, Evie managed to catch only glimpses of people’s expressions and they all looked bewildered. Given enough time, Evie knew they would realize something had happened.

  They would certainly have a lot to talk about in the morning, Evie thought.

  Stumbling into the butler’s room, she found Caro sitting up and sipping a cup of tea with the dowagers standing by while the doctor spoke to Toodles.

  Evie pressed her hand to her chest. Her relief at seeing Caro had recovered mingled with the urgency of the moment. “Doctor.”

  Everyone turned to look at her.

  “Good heavens. What’s happened?” Henrietta demanded.

  Evie gave a stiff nod. “Definitely something.” She gestured to the doctor. “Please, you must hurry.” Along the way, she explained, “We found a man collapsed in one of the stalls.” And, she thought, someone would have the difficult task of informing the man’s wife.

  When they arrived at the stables, it took mere seconds for the doctor to shake his head and declare Gory George Stevens dead.

  They all stepped back to take in the scene and try to make sense of it.

  George Stevens had come out here and had met with death.

  Had he died of natural causes?

  There were no obvious injuries. With so many people absent from the ball, Evie had no trouble imagining the worst.

  She scooped in a calming breath but she still felt on edge. First, there had been Caro’s attack and now this.

  “Countess?” Tom murmured.

  Evie recognized the prompt as Tom’s way of getting her to walk him through her thought processes. He knew she was in the midst of entertaining a myriad of suspicions.

  Had George Stevens come out to say hello to his horse? What could have been going through his mind? Had he planned to steal the horse?

  Had someone followed him?

  For what reason? To stop George Stevens? The only person who’d want to do that would be Sterling Wright and he had remained inside. Except for one brief moment, Evie thought…

  Evie persevered with the idea someone had followed George Stevens out here.

  The thought took hold of her and refused to let go.

  She would bet anything that same person would most likely also be responsible for attacking Caro.

  Detective Inspector O’Neill had once told her criminals always left something behind at the scene of a crime and, most importantly, they took something away.

  An investigator needed to discover the traces left behind and make the connections. If something criminal had taken place here, the police would look for material evidence. But only if they had reason to investigate. Only if they found the death to be suspicious.

  There would be a post mortem. Once they determined the cause of death, the police would decide how to proceed. Until then…

  Evidence could be lost.

  Evie assured herself the police, once they arrived, would take in the scene and do a thorough search to collect evidence.

  Lotte kneeled down to take a closer look at George Stevens. Evie watched her getting even closer and sniffing him.

  “I would advise against touching the deceased,” the doctor warned.

  Although visibly reluctant, Lotte stood up and stepped back.

  There had to be something here to explain what had happened. Holding on to her suspicions, Evie looked around and then fixed her attention on the stall.

  Closing her eyes, she retraced their steps. Everything had happened so quickly. When they’d seen the body inside the stall, they’d known it would have to be retrieved. Tom had stepped forward to keep the horse calm but first…

  He’d opened the door.

  Evie looked at Tom. “The latch.”

  He nodded. “I had to slide it to open the stall door.”

  Had George Stevens slid it back into place after entering the stall and why had he gone in?

  Tom brushed his hand across his chin. “It hadn’t just been slid into place. It had also been turned down to secure it.�
� He shook his head. “That doesn’t make sense. I can understand someone wanting to keep the stall door closed…”

  Evie finished the sentence for him by thinking someone had wanted to make sure George Stevens wouldn’t come out.

  Frowning, Evie stood on her tiptoes and looked into the stall. “Can you lift the light a bit, please?”

  “What is it?” Tom asked.

  “There’s no lantern in there. How did he find his way in?”

  Tom nodded. “This is definitely suspicious and we need to let Sterling Wright know and contact the local constabulary.”

  Turning to look at the doctor, Evie wondered what would happen next. The doctor had only felt for a pulse. He hadn’t inspected the body for wounds.

  “I think you should go and talk to Sterling. Lotte and I will stay here.” She heard Tom cross the cobblestoned yard. When the sound of his footsteps receded, she turned to the doctor. “What do you think happened to him?”

  He dug inside his pocket and, retrieving a handkerchief, he wiped his glasses clean. “The police will want one of their own to look at the body.”

  “You must have some idea,” Evie insisted.

  “I’m afraid I don’t.”

  Evie didn’t understand his reluctance.

  Lotte nudged her head toward the door suggesting she wanted a private word with her. Excusing herself, Evie followed Lotte outside.

  “Could you distract him, please? Take him back inside and have him check on Caro. I want to go through George Stevens’s pockets before the police arrive and I obviously can’t do it with him there. He looks like a stickler for rules.”

  They moved quickly. Although the doctor took some convincing to leave his post.

  Along the way, Evie asked, “Why was Caro unconscious for so long?”

  “Her cheek felt tender,” he said. “As I said, I suspect she received a blow to the face and that knocked her out cold.”

  Walking back inside, the place remained a hive of activity with the footmen rushing upstairs with trays of more food and glasses. Glancing toward the kitchen she saw the staff busy cleaning and wiping down surfaces. Evie hadn’t kept track of the time. She’d been too busy observing everyone.

  They found Caro sitting up and looking quite alert. Evie saw that as a good sign and the others appeared to be pleased and relieved with her recovery too. Her cheek still looked red and would, no doubt, change color soon.

  “Toodles went back upstairs to keep an eye on everyone,” Henrietta explained. “We thought it best to stay here.”

  Evie smiled at Caro. “How do you feel?”

  Caro looked uncertain for a moment and Evie remembered she’d been playing the role of Lady Carolina Thwaites. “Cousin Carolina?” she prompted with a nod of encouragement. Whatever happened, she thought it would be a good idea to keep up the pretense.

  “I’m feeling better, Cousin Evie. I’ve been trying to remember what happened.” Caro brushed a hand across her brow. “I remember I’d been following someone. Even then, I couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman because they had a big coat on with the collar turned up and they wore some sort of hat.”

  “Did you get a sense of how tall they were?”

  Caro gave a slight shake of her head and winced. “The person moved quickly and might have been slouching. Or maybe the coat was too heavy.”

  “Did you follow him down the back stairs?”

  “Yes.”

  “And where did you initiate your chase?”

  Caro bit the edge of her lip. “Downstairs.” After a moment, she gave a firm nod. “Yes, downstairs. I remember going into the library.” Caro winced again. “Wait a minute. That’s when I heard a door opening but not in the library.” She closed her eyes.

  “Take your time,” Evie encouraged.

  “I heard someone walking by. I think it must have been a woman. I sensed a lightness to the footsteps and then I became confused because I heard another set of footsteps coming from the opposite direction. I suspected it might have been a secret assignation. Wanting to be sure, I edged toward the door and tried to peer through the gap but I took too much care in not making any noise so I got to the door just as the door opposite was being closed.”

  Two people meeting in secret could be explained, Evie thought. As Caro had said, it might have been a secret assignation. They had already seen Helena Lloyd breaking away from the hunt to meet someone and house parties were notorious playgrounds for people wishing to experience the thrill of a forbidden tryst.

  Caro tapped her finger against her chin. “I can’t explain why I have this feeling there might have been someone else in the room.”

  “A third person? Did you hear voices?”

  Caro closed her eyes again. After a moment, she smiled. “I heard a chair scraping against the floor. It didn’t make the sort of sound you’d expect when someone moves a chair. Rather… it sounded as though someone had bumped into it and that happened just as the other two who entered closed the door.”

  “Are you suggesting they might have been in a dark room?”

  Caro nodded and, straightening, she gasped. “Moments later, I heard the door open again. I looked through the gap in the door in time to see someone disappear down the corridor. That’s when I took a chance and followed but they moved with haste and I nearly lost them.” She narrowed her eyes and spoke with care as if trying to keep track of her thoughts. “I went upstairs. Yes. I followed them up the stairs and caught up with them as they disappeared inside a room. Then a maid came along so I had to hide. I slipped inside a room and waited for the hallway to clear. I had my ear pressed to the door and as soon as I heard someone walk by, I peered out. The person wore the coat I mentioned. They must have gone into the room to get it.”

  “A man’s coat or a woman’s coat?”

  Caro gave a firm nod. “A man’s coat. It had broad shoulders.”

  Could a woman have tried to disguise herself in a man’s coat?

  “How did the person walk? With heavy steps or light steps?” Henrietta asked, her voice full of intrigue.

  “I couldn’t really say. I think I focused too much on the coat. I can’t say for sure, but I think they might have been wearing men’s shoes.” Caro tilted her head. “Actually, I did notice they were big. I’d even say they were oversized.”

  “I suppose the person could have changed their shoes,” Henrietta mused.

  Evie swung away and began pacing. Two or possibly three people had met in a room opposite the library. Then one of them went upstairs, entered a room and emerged wearing a large coat.

  Had Caro witnessed a meeting of conspirators and had they drawn straws?

  Evie’s imagination tried to tap into anything that might yield an idea worth pursuing. Despite not knowing how George Stevens had died, she had no trouble believing someone had killed him.

  There were too many thoughts racing through her mind as well as ongoing concerns for Caro’s wellbeing. It didn’t surprise her when she spoke out loud, “We know the guests staying here are all involved in the racing world and have some sort of association with Sterling Wright.”

  Sara and Henrietta nodded.

  “We also know…” Evie remembered she hadn’t actually, told them about George Stevens. Turning, she looked toward the door to make sure no one else would overhear her. “We found a body in the stables.”

  Sara and Henrietta gasped while Caro’s eyes widened.

  “George Stevens.”

  “He’s dead?” Sara asked. “That’s why you came to fetch the doctor?”

  “Yes. The doctor confirmed it.”

  “Do you suppose the person Caro saw went out there to kill George Stevens?” Henrietta asked.

  “It sounds like a wild idea. Especially as we don’t know what caused his death.”

  “But it’s possible,” Sara said.

  Evie nodded. And, they either had a handful or a houseful of suspects.

  When Caro closed her eyes again, Evie gasped. “Caro?” />
  “Oh, I’m still alive. I just wanted to retrace my steps to see if I missed anything.”

  “Try not to exert yourself. It will come back to you,” Henrietta smiled. “Perhaps we can make ourselves useful and take notes.”

  “We?” Sara asked.

  “Yes, I’m afraid I don’t have my spectacles. In any case, your handwriting is more elegant than mine.”

  While Henrietta and Sara sorted out the writing implements, Evie sat with Caro and tried to sort through the information swimming around her head.

  When the police arrived, she and the others would have to tell them everything they knew. Or rather, everything they had observed. That meant sticking to facts.

  As a lady detective, she would want to be taken seriously. Everything she said would reflect her abilities.

  “Now, we have what we need,” Henrietta said as she sat down.

  Sara rolled her eyes. “You mean, I have what I need to take notes.”

  “I have an excellent memory, so anything you miss I will be able to fill in later on.” Henrietta smiled at Caro. “Would you like to start from the beginning?”

  “So much for your excellent memory,” Sara whispered.

  Chapter 16

  Tom walked into the butler’s office and stopped at the door to look at Caro. His expression shifted from concerned to relieved. “The police are on their way.”

  “How did Sterling Wright take the news?” Evie asked.

  “He remained calm. His butler read the situation and directed all the footmen to fill everyone’s glasses. I’m not sure that was the best idea since the police will want to speak with all the guests. However, it’s understandable for him to want to keep everyone calm. I followed Sterling into his study and that’s when he looked at a loss. His butler had to come to the rescue and make the telephone call.”

  “How long ago did he make the call?”

  “Five minutes.”

  Evie turned to the others. “We’ll be back shortly.” Taking Tom’s arm, she led him out of the butler’s room and waited until they were outside to say, “I brought the doctor in so Lotte could look through George Steven’s pockets.”