Read Online Cherringham--Mystery at the Manor by Neil Richards - Free Book Online Page A

tour.”
    “Tomorrow morning?”
    “Perfect. I’ll pick you up. And no worries … I put the top up. I’m all set for my English fall.”
    “Good. Say half-ten?”
    “Right.”
    Then Jack was quiet for a moment and Sarah, beginning to understand how Jack worked, guessed there was something he wasn’t saying.
    “And tonight, Jack, just some telly, a walk for Brady?”
    He cleared his throat.
    “Well, I had an idea. If Terry was rummaging around the place looking for something, something of value, then maybe I should try to find it first.”
    “Going to call Hope? To let you in again?”
    “No. If I do find something, and if we want to use it, then best she knows nothing about it. Make sense?”
    “Yes. Okay, I can meet you there, but not till …”
    “Um, I think … no again. Just let me noodle around, on my own. If I do get spotted, you won’t have to run down to the police station with me, yes?”
    “Okay. But be careful.”
    Sarah just realized she echoed the words her mother said.
    “Always. But there is one thing you can do. This evening, or maybe in the morning.”
    “Go on.”
    Standing by her front door, Sarah again realized how much she enjoyed all this. It was, amid the quiet of her business and village life, exciting .
    Funny how things work out, she thought.
    “Maybe you can make a few calls, see if you can find out what firm did the plans, and who booked them.”
    “Tough one that.” Then she had an idea. “Wait, I could use Grace in the office. She’s in touch with quite a lot of the companies, checking on their web and printing needs. And any architectural firm will have their own P.A.s. A little friendly chit-chat, and maybe she could find out who did the plans …”
    “And who commissioned them? Great.”
    Again, that sound, and Sarah thought that Jack was probably near the manor house, sitting in his sports car, lights and engine, off.
    Waiting for night, about to go in.
    And that too … was exciting.
    Then: “See you in the morning Sarah. Half-ten,” he said.
    But his ‘half-ten’ didn’t sound quite right.
    “Ten thirty it is,” she said laughing. “Good hunting.”
    “You bet.”
    And then, the called ended, and Sarah went back to the kitchen and the clean-up.
    Though she would much rather have been walking alongside Jack, in the dark, straight into Mogdon Manor.

13. Hidden Treasure
    All Jack had to do to get the back door of the manor open was put a little weight against it, and the ancient latch popped free of the frame.
    He had a flashlight in his back pocket but as he entered what seemed to be a storeroom that led into the kitchen, he kept it off.
    Better to let his eyes adjust, and use the flashlight only when he had to.
    Never know who might be taking a walk, spot the light … or the place might even be on the cops’ local rounds.
    He could still smell the fire, the sodden stench from the hoses that had sprayed the library, ruining the carpet, furniture, and hundreds of volumes of books.
    The man’s entire life of reading, turned into soggy mush.
    And Jack guessed that … all that motivated him to do this. Decades of being a detective, and he hated it when someone’s life was taken from them, a near personal thing with him.
    It always felt good to see a suspect finally found guilty.
    At least the dead had that bit of peace.
    Though Jack guessed, it was more about his own peace, the way he wanted the world to be. Crimes solved, people punished.
    He shook that thought off — never one to indulge self-reflection for long — and he started for the main staircase.
    He walked up. The hallway was so black, just the faint light from the two windows at either end of the long corridor. His eyes had adjusted, but still he took very small steps, taking care not to stumble into a chair or lamp positioned to blockade his passage. At one end of the hallway was Victor’s bedroom.
    Breathing low, moving as silently as he could, he reached the door and slowly turned the