Free English Trifle by Josi S. Kilpack Page A

here; if the staff didn’t find it, surely the police would.
    “There is one inspector,” Austin said. “And he is talking to your daughter. I showed him through the sitting room and he took some pictures and samples.”
    “He came alone?” Sadie said, dejected by the proof that the police really hadn’t taken Breanna’s call seriously.
    “Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve,” Austin said. “Exeter is hosting a Hogmanay celebration and the Police Authority is in charge of supervising the road closures and such. They are apparently unable, or unwilling, to spare many of their men.”
    “Hogmanay?” Sadie said, trying to pronounce it like he did, stressing the last syllable.
    “It’s the Scottish version of New Year’s Eve,” Austin said as though she should already know this. “A loud, obnoxious festival with lots of fire and shouting and basic cacophony.”
    “So a big ol’ party trumps a murder at the earl’s estate? I thought you people were important.”
    The staff looked at her in shock; Austin gave her a slight smile in response. She couldn’t tell if he was being arrogant or if part of him liked that someone was standing up to him. Sadie put her hands behind her back and looked at the floor, preparing herself for a long and awkward wait until it was her turn to talk with the inspector. She’d rather not spend that wait talking with Austin who seemed incapable of saying anything without attaching an insult to it. Expecting several minutes before it would be her turn, she was surprised when the library door opened.
    “Your turn,” Breanna said dryly, giving her mother a look that seemed to warn her not to expect much. Fabulous.
    Sadie entered the library, and watched as Inspector Dilree repositioned a chair. He moved it a few inches to the left, pulled back to observe it, then moved it a few more inches to the left before observing it again. Then he moved it several inches to the right instead. Sadie stopped a few feet away, trying not to sigh in irritation as he repositioned the chair three more times before he finally accepted it was in its optimal location.
    “Please have a seat, Mrs. Hoffmiller,” he said, indicating the chair before scurrying to the other side of the desk and taking his own seat.
    “So, Mrs. Hoffmiller,” he said, picking up a pen and removing a piece of paper from the top file. “Please tell me, in your own words, what you encountered in the sitting room.”
    Sadie wasn’t sure whose words he expected she might use instead of her own, but she complied, spending a few minutes to give him a detailed report of exactly what had happened in the sitting room. Inspector Dilree scribbled madly on the paper as she spoke, his shoulders curving inward as if protecting the paper from a strong breeze despite the fact that he was in a library.
    “Right,” the inspector said, quickly reviewing his notes. “Did you see any blood or tissue?”
    The word tissue made Sadie grimace and she shook her head. He lifted his head enough to peer at her. “Is that a no?”
    “No,” Sadie said. “I mean yes, it’s a no, but no I didn’t see any blood or . . . or stuff—well, other than the bloodstain on his shirt and I assume there would have been blood on the wall—but the body was in the way, of course.”
    Dilree nodded. “Did you smell anything?”
    She tried to remember, then shook her head. “No.”
    “Did you hear anything?”
    Like what? she wondered. Dead body sounds? “No, I didn’t hear anything.”
    “Very good,” the inspector said, sitting up straight. “That will be all.”
    “That’s it?” Sadie asked.
    “Yes,” Dilree said, looking quite pleased with himself. “That’s it.”
    Sadie watched him for a few moments, comparing everything she knew about detectives and inspectors and investigations. Not one of them fit this man. “Did you see the sitting room wall, the missing plaster?”
    “Yes, madam,” he said. “It’s been suggested that the plaster has been