Page 14 of Secrets of Capell Manor
Devlin felt as if the tables had turned in the space of just one morning. Last night he had gone to bed thinking that the cook was weak and could hardly walk, the lady of the manor was timid and meek, the old manservant was feeble and slow-witted, the young girls were frightened little mice, and the kitchen boy was unintelligent.
But now he looked around the room and saw that the cook was ready to take on a ferocious dog with a frying pan, the lady of the manor and the children were fearless, and the manservant and the kitchen boy were quite clever and possibly hiding a serious misdeed or even worse-a murder.
Devlin sat down in the chair closest to him. “Ridley!” he bellowed. “Bring me some ale.”
Ridley ran to the kitchen with Marta following right on his heels.
Bum leg, my arse!
Benton, who had arrived late to the scene, looked at Rosalind, the girls, and the dog, shook his head, and announced to the room, “I will return with the meal. my lady, Kaylyn and Luella, you may want to wash a bit after your enthusiastic attention to the killer hellhound.”
Devlin rolled his eyes. The children and Lady Rosalind rose and strolled toward the kitchen.
“And you, Grim,” Benton said with authority. “You may rest here in the hall as long as you present yourself with impeccable manners during your stay.”
Grim’s ears perked up, and he looked at the servant with his head tilted to the side.
Then Benton tottered over to the large wooden chest that sat left of the fireplace. He opened the lid and took out a largewoolen blanket. He unfolded the blanket halfway and laid it in front of the fire. Grim stood until his bed was ready. Then he dropped clumsily to the pallet, his head resting between his paws.
Devlin’s head ached.
The girls returned with their non-stop chatter. Ridley followed with a tray of food and Marta was behind him with mugs of ale.
Lady Rosalind sat at the head of the table, and the girls assisted Benton in ladling the stew into the trenchers. The girls weren’t much help for old Benton, more stew was spilled than made it into the bowls, but Devlin had to admit that the food smelled delicious. Marta added two round loaves of rich brown bread to the table and then called Ridley and the girls.
“Come, children, I have your bowls in the kitchen.”
The children left amicably, and the room was suddenly silent. Alden dove into his meal with enthusiasm, and with each bite placed in his mouth, he emitted a content sigh.
“Will you stop doing that?” Devlin scolded.
Lady Rosalind came to his defense. “Nothing wrong with showing your appreciation for a warm meal on a cold day, is there, Mr. Danby?”
“I agree wholeheartedly, but he can keep his groanings to himself.” Devlin snapped back.
Alden gave Lady Rosalind a quick wink, and the action was not unnoticed by Devlin.
“So, Mr. Danby, did your questioning of the tenant farmers and villagers provide any insights into our mystery?” Lady Rosalind asked curiously.
“We were able to find out that Lord Edmond’s horse was returned here to the manor the morning after he disappeared. A farmer by the name of Henry woke to find the animal eating hay with his goats early that morning.”
Rosalind’s face paled.
Alden continued, “Henry secured the horse, then saddled his own nag and looked for Edmond. He figured the Lord had been thrown from the horse and was lying injured somewhere. But his search yielded nothing.”
Devlin turned to Rosalind. “Did you know Capell’s horse had been found?”
Rosalind swallowed, “Yes. Yes…of course, I did.” With a barely noticeable tremble in her voice, she said, “And we sent out our own search parties immediately after we discovered the horse was found riderless.” Her hand shook slightly as she made a feeble attempt at eating her meal, and her gaze was fixed on the trencher in front of her.
“And you searched the lands around the manor thoroughly?” Devlin asked.
“Yes, we did. As best as a ninety-year-old servant and I could. We didn’t get much help from the village, either.”
Devlin thought her point was a good one. A lady and ancient Benton could not search the surrounding farmland thoroughly. And seeing that Lord Capell wasn’t well-liked, he didn’t doubt that the villagers were less than enthusiastic about helping.
“So, where do you go from here?” Rosalind asked.
“I still need to interview Benton and Marta. I plan on doing that now,” Devlin replied.
