Page 54 of Beyond the Grave
He barked a harsh laugh. "Glad to know you've found a use for me." He lifted his empty glass. "Fetch me a drink and I'll answer one question. Fetch an entire bottle, I'll answer a dozen."
"Where?"
"Billiards room, through the music room on your right."
I took the glass and headed back inside. No one had come searching for me yet, but it wouldn't take long before the butler grew suspicious or Lincoln became worried. I wondered if he was enjoying his tea while the dour Yardly watched on.
I grabbed the first decanter I could find from the sideboard in the billiards room and returned to the terrace. "Will this do?"
"Nicely."
I handed back the glass and poured an amount that I'd seen Lincoln drink at a time. Edgecombe waggled the glass until I poured more. He then downed it in one gulp and held the glass out again. I hesitated.
"Don't pretend you care, Miss Charlotte Holloway. Just fill the damned glass. And be quick about it. My assistant will be back soon, unless he's forgotten about me. He's stupid enough that he may have."
"Why hire a stupid man to assist you?"
"I hired him for his brawn, not his brain."
I poured another then set the decanter down. "I've fulfilled my side of the bargain, now you fulfill yours."
He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Of course. A gentleman doesn't renege on a promise."
I swept aside my skirt and sat on the terrace step that led down to the lawn. I twisted so that I could see him. "Andrew Buchanan disappeared a week ago. We have evidence to suggest that he wanted to come here on the morning of his disappearance, but no firm proof that he took the train. The stationmaster doesn't remember, and the butler said he never called at the house. I rather think he's lying, however. Do you remember him coming here?"
"No, but I don't come downstairs often. It's not easy when one has to rely on an assistant who'd rather be in the kitchen with the maids. My previous fellow wasn't quite so bad as Dawkins, but he very inconveniently died, and I had to hire the fat-headed Dawkins in rather a hurry. As you can probably guess, I can't manage the stairs without him."
"Your sister didn't mention Buchanan calling?"
"No."
"Your brother-in-law?"
"We rarely talk."
"May I ask why?"
He hesitated. "I don't like Donald, and he doesn't like me."
"Yet he allows you to live under his roof."
"Yes." His brittle chuckle sent a chill down my spine. "Yes he does."
I smoothed my hands over my skirts then clasped them over my knees. While I felt some sympathy for Edgecombe's plight, I was very glad that he couldn't reach me from his wheelchair unless he rolled it forward. I suspected I could leap out of the way faster than he could move. "Did you see or hear anything unusual a week ago? Did the servants act strangely, or was there more activity in the house than usual? Anything?" My desperation was getting the better of me, and I spoke more harshly than I meant to. I suspected Buchanan had made it to the house, but time was running out to find proof.
"A week ago, you say? Yes, I suppose there was something out of the ordinary." He pointed at a low rise in the distance, well beyond the formal garden and parkland. There seemed to be a small folly built on it, but it was difficult to tell from a distance. "Do you see that mausoleum?"
"Mausoleum?" I squinted at what I'd thought was a folly. "Who's buried up there?"
"Everyone who matters, according to Donald. All the Buchanans, going back centuries. But that structure itself is new. It was built only a few years ago."
"Five years ago?"
His eyes turned cloudy. "So you know?" he said quietly.
"About Marguerite's baby? Yes." But how much didheknow? According to Estelle Pearson, no one outside of herself, Marguerite and Donald knew the baby was full-term. I decided to take another risk and said, "Marguerite told me she had him christened Hector before he died."
"After our father." He lowered his glass and stared toward the mausoleum. "Marguerite told me he was full-term. Not at the time, but later, when she was…upset. She never quite got over the baby's death, you see. It affected her greatly." He tapped his temple. "Up here. It hasn't helped that she doesn't seem to be able to have more children. She's taken her barrenness very hard. Andhehasn't helped."
