Free Fire When Ready (Manor House Mystery) by Kate Kingsbury Page A

know how you are."
    What exactly did that mean
, Elizabeth wondered. Deciding that particular question could wait, she said firmly, "I'm as anxious as you are not to raise unnecessary fears in the residents of Sitting Marsh. I do, however, feel it my duty toassure them that a crime has not been committed. After all, two people have died under suspicious circumstances."
    George's bushy eyebrows shot up. "Suspicious?"
    Elizabeth leaned forward. "The door, George. The office door. It was locked. Mr. Meadows didn't seem to think that was at all odd, but in my opinion, it seems very odd for Mr. McNally to lock himself inside an office while the charlady is cleaning it."
    George took a great deal of time shuffling papers around on his desk. He actually looked embarrassed, enough for Elizabeth to demand sharply, "George? Is there something you're not telling me?"
    The constable shrugged and, avoiding her gaze, muttered, "I was only thinking; maybe McNally was engaged in a bit of hanky panky with Jessie. She was a good-looking woman. And you know what they say about gypsies."
    Elizabeth didn't. Nor did she want to know. "That's nonsense. Douglas McNally didn't strike me as the sort of man who would engage in such nefarious conduct."
    "What did Dave Meadows say about it?"
    She clasped her hands together and straightened her back. "I have to tell you, George, I was not impressed with the man. He kept insisting that there was no need to suspect arson, and yet his conclusions were all drawn on conjecture. His speech was peppered with the words 'think' and 'perhaps.'"
    "Beg your pardon, m'm, but I suppose that was the best he could do since the place was in such a mess."
    "Yes, well, I was wondering if perhaps our nasty little musketeers had anything to do with that."
    George's eyebrows twitched again. "Why would you think that?"
    "They seem to have been the cause of a lot of trouble in the village over the past few months."
    "Like I keep telling you, your ladyship, the fire at the munitions factory was an accident. Pure and simple. If the musketeers had anything to do with it they would have left their trademark. And nobody said nothing about letters being chalked on the walls or on the ground, and I can't see them going to all that trouble without letting people know they done it. They've always left three M's behind. Nope, as far as we're concerned, the fire chief's report is official. It were an accident. The case is closed."
    "How long did it take the fire brigade to get to the factory, anyway?" Elizabeth demanded. "Is that in your report?"
    Having apparently taken note of the irritation in her voice, George hastily shuffled through the papers on his desk again. "I don't see it here, your ladyship. I shall have to go through the files for it."
    "It's right here," a voice piped up from the back office. Sid appeared in the doorway, looking a little disheveled, with what was left of his gray hair standing up on end. Sid had a bad habit of raking fingers through his hair when he got confused, which was nearly all the time. He held some papers, which he waved at Elizabeth.
    George surged to his feet and snatched the papers from his partner's hand. "Thank you, Sid," he said, in a tone that suggested Sid would hear a good deal more about his intrusion later.
    Sid grinned at Elizabeth. "Just wanted to help, that's all. That were some fire the other night, your ladyship. Lit up the whole sky, it did. Looked like Guy Fawkes Night, it did. If the Germans
had
been flying around, they would have seen it for miles."
    "You saw it, Sid?" Elizabeth inquired. "Did you hear the explosion?"
    Sid nodded with great enthusiasm. "I did, indeed, m'm. Woke me and the missus up, it did. I told her, soon as I heard it, that's something big, I said. I thought it were a bomb, until I got there and the firemen told me it were an accident. Quite a few people were enjoying the spectacle up there."
    "Anyone you recognized?"
    Sid opened his mouth to answer, when George