Free Harriett by Rebecca King Page A

usual aches and pains, that sort of thing. None of them are on
any mediation as far as I know.”
    Mark
heaved a mental sigh of relief and leaned back in his chair. “I
don’t think it is likely that the muslin cloth was left in the
glass the last time it was cleaned.”
    “ It’s too small for a cleaning cloth, don’t you think?” David
frowned dubiously.
    “ I know.” Mark shook his head. “I really cannot see that
something of this size has any particular purpose.”
    “ I know. It had to be cut for its intended
purpose.”
    He
nodded slowly and pushed to his feet. “Thank you for your haste in
getting this to me.” He watched David slowly fold up the cloth and
shuddered with revulsion. He had no idea how David did the job he
did and was very grateful that his own work was more cut and dried
– no pun intended. “I had better go and ask some questions of
Tipton Hollow’s Psychic Circle, hadn’t I?”
    David
sighed and made his way toward the door. “If you can get me the
decanters, I will study them for any trace of anything
unusual.”
    “ I will do that. In the meantime, send me the reports when you
have them. Just leave them on my desk and I will get to them when I
have conducted the first round of interviews. Thank you,
David.”
    Mark
parted company with his friend at the front door to the
constabulary and stopped Detective Brown as he entered the
building.
    “ You had better come with me. We have some investigating to
do.” He nodded down the road toward a black carriage that waited by
the kerb.
    “ What have you found out?” Isaac asked as he cast a glance at
the rapidly retreating back of Doctor Woods.
    “ Tipton Hollow, please,” Mark called to the driver and settled
back into the seat to relay his conversation with David.
    “ Good Lord,” Isaac grumbled with a sigh.
    “ Although we cannot rule anyone out, I think it is highly
unlikely that Harriett or Babette Marchington would kill anyone in
their own parlour. Not only would it be foolish to draw attention
to themselves by committing murder in their own house, but it would
have to be a very arrogant murderer indeed to take someone’s life
with so many people around.”
    “ They would have to be either very clever or incredibly
stupid,” Isaac agreed. He couldn’t see either Harriett, or Babette,
being a cold blooded killer. He hadn’t spent much time in Tipton
Hollow himself, but he had learned enough about the place to know
that the tea shop Harriett ran with her family had an excellent
reputation for miles around. The family were held in high regard,
and had excellent community relationships with businesses and
locals alike. They were the least likely people to be involved in
such a sordid event as murder.
    “ Which house first?”
    “ I need to go to Harriett’s and see if they have cleaned out
the room yet. Hopefully, the decanters will have been left
untouched. David wants them so he can run a few tests for poisons
and the like.”
    “ Or more pieces of cloth?” Isaac added ruefully.
    “ Or more pieces of cloth,” Mark sighed. Now that the cause of
death had been identified, he felt driven to get to Harriett’s
house as quickly as possible and stop her from drinking any more of
that sherry.
    It
seemed to take an age before the carriage rumbled to a stop outside
29 Daventry Street in Tipton Hollow. Mark left Isaac to pay the
driver and stalked toward the front door in hurried strides. He
tried to keep his impatience at bay, however knocked on the door
with more force than was necessary.
    Harriett
hurried through the house and wiped her hands on her apron. Her
stomach dipped as soon as she saw the outline of the person
outside. She knew who it was before she opened the door, and poked
at the random curls that had escaped the bun at her nape
self-consciously as she took a deep, fortifying breath. With a hand
that trembled, she turned the latch and pasted a cautious smile on
her face that was at odds with the thrill of