Free Symptoms of Death (Dr. Alexandra Gladstone Book 1) by Paula Paul Page B

Alexandra put her arms around the slender shape, and the girl collapsed against her.
    “Tell me what happened,” Alexandra said, bringing her to her feet. “Tell me what you know, so I can help you.”
    Elsie’s surrender was short-lived. “I know nothin’, and ye’ll not make me say I do.” Her voice had become a hoarse, frightened whisper as she pulled away from Alexandra’s embrace and turned her back to her. “And ye’ll never find the bloody knife either.”
    “The knife? The one used against Lord Dunsford? You know where it is?”
    Elsie’s answer was a scream that drove hot needles into Alexandra’s spine. At the same moment she saw what had frightened Elsie. Constable Snow was only a few feet away from the ruined cottage. With him were Jamie, Nicholas, and Jeremy Atewater. The constable carried in his hand the kitchen knife Elsie had brandished the night of the dinner at Montmarsh. It was now coated with darkened and dried blood and gore mixed with damp earth.
    Elsie suddenly flailed Alexandra with her fists. “Ye led them to me, ye bloody bitch. Betrayed me, ye did. Yer no better than the rest of the bloody nobs.”
    “Elsie, please…” Alexandra grabbed the girl’s wrists and did her best to calm her, but she was interrupted as Constable Snow ducked his head to step into the doorway.
    “Step back, please, Dr. Gladstone. I ’ll handle this.” The constable handed the knife to Atewater, and he quickly reached for the heavy wrist irons the stable boy carried. With remarkable swiftness, he fastened them on Elsie’s thin wrists. A keening sound came from her, a long thin streak of something sharp and painful.
    The constable spoke as he fastened the wrist irons. “Elsie O ’Riley, you’re under arrest for the murder of Lord Edward Boswick, Earl of Dunsford.”
    Elsie collapsed. Constable Snow caught her just before she reached the dirt floor and jerked her against his side.
    “On what grounds are you accusing this girl of murder?” Alexandra struggled to keep her voice calm.
    Constable Snow glanced quickly at Alexandra. A dark frown furrowed his brow, and a muscle worked in his jaw. Alexandra read his anger in that expression, and she thought for a moment that he would refuse to answer her.
    “On the grounds that the murder weapon was known to be in her possession in the early morning hours after Lord Dunsford’s murder, and, further, that she was seen trying to hide it,” he said finally.
    “Murder weapon?” Alexandra ’s voice was tight. She glanced at Nicholas. His face was grim, and he shook his head slightly as if to warn her not to push the matter further.
    In the same instant, Jeremy Atewater thrust the gory knife toward her. “This!” He held the hilt of the knife by his finger tips, as if he was loath to touch it. “The knife that was thrust into Lord Dunsford ’s body.”
    “But how can you be sure?” Alexandra knew her question to be futile. She recognized the knife Jeremy Atewater held as the same knife Elsie had brandished in the dining room of Montmarsh Hall.
    “All of the guests have identified the weapon as the same one Elsie O’Riley threatened Lord Dunsford with.” Snow’s voice was tight and strained. For a moment, Alexandra thought it was because he resented having to explain anything to her, but it occurred to her that he could possibly be as uncomfortable with the situation as she was.
    “And beyond that—” Atewater began, but Snow interrupted him, quietly.
    “There is the fact that she was seen burying the weapon in the early hours of the morning after the murder.”
    “Yer lyin ’, ye are.” Elsie cried, suddenly coming to life again.
    “It ’s your word against Jamie’s.” Snow motioned with his head toward the stable boy. “He says he saw you burying it.”
    Jamie ducked his head and seemed to want to shrink inside himself, as if he wanted to deny what the constable was saying.
    “Jamie…” Alexandra began with first a glance toward