Free The Tewkesbury Tomb by Kerry Tombs Page B

will come round to your way of thinking. I will ensure he complies with your wishes,’ said Hollinger.
    ‘I thank you all. Until tomorrow then at twelve.’

CHAPTER FOUR
LEDBURY AND BREDON’S NORTON
    â€˜Well, my dear, it seems that I am faced with a mystery that may prove somewhat difficult to solve.’
    Ravenscroft was sitting with his wife, later that evening, before a roaring fire in their small house in Church Lane.
    â€˜I am sure you and Tom will be able to find a solution,’ replied Lucy, sympathetically.
    â€˜I am afraid I cannot share your optimism, my dear,’ said Ravenscroft, somewhat gloomily. ‘It might have been wiser to have said that I was indisposed; taken ill with a serious ailment, or broken a leg, confined to bed for the rest of the month. Tom could have made my excuses. Then they would have sent someone out from either Worcester or Gloucester, to take charge of the case. I am sure they would have more success than I have had so far. We would then have been free to have undertaken our excursion to London.’
    â€˜You know you would never have done that. You are far too conscientious to neglect your duty. Now, tell me more about yourcase. It all sounds very mysterious – five strangers meeting for the first time outside the doors of Tewkesbury Abbey at twelve o’clock at night, looking for their supposed ancestor, Sir Roger de la Pole, and then finding that man dead inside one of the tombs. It all sounds like something out of a novel by Mary Shelley or Mr Stevenson.’
    â€˜I must admit that it does all sound rather Gothic. I really cannot believe that five supposedly intelligent strangers would all journey to Tewkesbury to meet one another just because some man had told them all that they are descendants of a Templar Knight. No, I think something else must have bought them to the abbey. They were looking for something that was connected with Sir Roger – and whatever it was, must have been inside that empty tomb.’
    â€˜And what about your mysterious Mr Ross? Now he appears to be very interesting, I must say. He seems like someone right out of Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights .’
    â€˜What a vivid imagination you have, my dear! But, yes, you are correct. He does appear briefly outside the abbey one minute, enters the building the next moment and is seen no more. Tom has been able to locate a Charles Ross, who is apparently living in some village with the strange sounding name of Bredon’s Norton.’
    â€˜Wherever is that?’
    â€˜Near Bredon Hill, the other side of Tewkesbury and Pershore, I believe. Tom and I must make an early start in the morning to seek out this man. Perhaps this fellow Ross holds the key to this mystery. Another thing I cannot quite comprehend – the deceased stranger seems to have used a different name when he visited each of the five suspects. Now why would he do that?’
    â€˜Perhaps he wanted to make sure that no one would know that he had visited all five of your people. What names did he use?’asked Lucy her curiosity aroused.
    â€˜Nothing so common as your Smith or Jones. Stanhope, Harding, Robarts, Thorne and Grantly, I think. Yes, that was it. Such an odd collection of surnames. You could not invent such names if you tried. Why use those names?’
    â€˜Stanhope, Harding, Thorne. Ah, I think I may have solved your mystery. Go through the names again,’ laughed Lucy.
    â€˜Stanhope, Robarts, Harding, Thorne and Grantly,’ repeated Ravenscroft looking perplexed.
    â€˜Your deceased stranger was either a man of great literary tendencies, or had a remarkable sense of humour,’ smiled Lucy.
    â€˜Tell me more; I am intrigued.’
    â€˜Stanhope, Robarts, Harding, Thorne and Grantly are all characters in the Barsetshire novels of Mr Anthony Trollope.’
    â€˜Really? How clever you are to have worked that out.’
    â€˜I remember reading most of the books when I was