Death at Scarlet Leaf.

Chapter 4

 I slipped on a dressing gown, and my slippers, and tiptoed out of my room and down the stairs. Nobody was about. I poked my head out of the front door. Not a police cart, not a nosey gardener. Good. I slipped around the side of the house and over to the summerhouse. There was a light drizzle in the air, and I made sure to take off my slippers when I crossed the grass. It wouldn't do for anyone to know what I was doing by looking at my wet slippers, especially Newham.

The first thing I noticed about the summerhouse was the pale pink stain on the white marble floor. Ugh. Looking around, I couldn't see anything of importance. The red roses climbing the pillars of the summerhouse looked like they held no secrets. I looked under the bench, and something gleaming gold caught my eye. I didn't want to touch it, in case I left fingerprints, but to me it looked like a man's cufflink. I made a mental note to remember that. As I stood up, there was another thing that caught my eye, on the flowerbed below. It was the corner of a photograph. All I could see was the plain white border and the top of a tree.

I carried on my careful search of the summerhouse, but I found nothing else except a little piece of white thread caught on a thorn. Never mind, I said to myself, as I sneaked back into the house, taking care to check that I hadn't left any footprints on the grass. Luckily, I hadn't. I was further on than Newham or the police were with this investigation. Ha. See how they liked that.

I just got back into my room as I heard Cooper coming up the stairs. I really hoped that nobody had seen me. One thing that hadn't struck me before was how if I had been spotted sneaking around the scene of the murder, people might suspect me of actually killing Lord Morris.

Newham would be furious, I winced. Still, I had to tell him what I knew, however much he was going to yell at me for it. I climbed back into bed and hid my slippers and dressing gown at the back of my wardrobe. They were a little damp.

I mustn't have lain there for very long, as soon I heard people moving around downstairs. I stopped myself from putting on my nice red dress, and wore my black one instead, coiling my hair into a tight bun and finding my little black hairband in the bottom of my suitcase. Once again I was faced with the prospect of having to wear my tiny black shoes, so I made another mental note to stay seated as much as possible that day.

I poked my head out of my door to be confronted with Cooper.

"You're up early, Miss Winter" he commented. I sighed.

"I woke up a little while ago" I said. "I think this murder is getting to me, Cooper."

"Don't worry about it, Miss Winter. It's got nothing to do with a young thing like you, I'm sure. And besides, Lieutenant Newham was saying most forcefully last night that you were with him at the time of the murder, so it couldn't possibly be you." Cooper smiled. I nodded, interested.

"So you've all been discussing that sort of thing already, have you?" I asked, a little put out.

"Well, yes" Cooper replied. "Unfortunately, I can't remember any of the details, you'll have to find another man for that, I'm afraid."

I gave an excited smile. Newham would know. He'd have remembered all of it, was my first thought. But then, I remembered when he'd tried to do that in the Sedgefield Carburry he was reading, and he was hopeless then. Hm. That was valuable evidence we didn't have. And bringing someone else into our confidence was a risky business, considering our situation. I slowly made my way down the stairs.