Fire When Ready (Manor House Mystery) (23 page)
Read Fire When Ready (Manor House Mystery) Online
Authors: Kate Kingsbury
"You know very well you can't shoot that thing off in here," she said, trying her best to sound confident. "Alfie will hear it if no one else does. He'll come right up here to find out what's going on."
"Maybe you're right."
To her immense relief he withdrew his finger. "Perhaps we should go for a little ride."
"I don't think so." She fought to keep her voice calm. "I'm supposed to meet someone in the bar in a couple of minutes. If I'm not there he'll come looking for me."
Ray's eyes narrowed. "You're lying."
"Can you afford to take that chance?"
"I don't have any choice." He gestured with the rifle. "Let's go."
"I'm not going anywhere," Elizabeth said bravely.
"All right, then. I suppose I'll just have to take the chance no one hears this." He raised the rifle again and once more his finger hovered dangerously close to the trigger.
"You don't have to do this, you know." Elizabeth sought frantically in her mind for the right thing to say. "I'm sure you didn't know that Mr. McNally and Jessie were in the building when you set fire to it. The police will take that into consideration, I'm sure."
His cruel gaze raked her face. "What makes you think I set the fire?"
She swallowed. "Captain Carbunkle saw the roof collapse
before he went for help. On the way he met Fred Shepperton, who was on his way back from here. Since you were in bed when Mr. Shepperton woke you up with his call to the police station, you had to be at least five or ten minutes behind him in leaving here. Yet you described in detail the roof collapsing. That meant that you were already at the factory when Captain Carbunkle escaped from the building. There was only one reason why you would lie about that. You killed Douglas McNally, didn't you?"
Ray's face seemed to shrivel up. "I didn't know Douglas was going to be there. It was Jessie I was after. She found out something she shouldn't, and she wanted me to pay her to keep quiet. I couldn't take the chance that she'd spill the beans." He gave her a fierce glare. "That's the trouble with women. They don't know how to keep their mouths shut about anything."
Elizabeth's skin crawled. "How did she find out?"
He gave her a piercing look. "She heard me talking on the telephone, didn't she?"
'To your contacts in London?"
His eyes narrowed. "How'd you know about that?"
"I know you were stealing weapons from the factory and planning to ship them to London. I assume you have contacts there to buy them. But what I don't understand is why you came all the way down here to steal them. Surely there are munitions factories closer to London?"
"Maybe there are," he said nastily, "but things were getting too hot for me in the city. That's why I was in this sodding miserable hole in the first place. I decided to move my operations down here to the middle of nowhere. Far away from anyone who might know what was going on."
"So this isn't the first time you've stolen guns and sold them illegally."
His laugh was pure menace. "Lady, everyone has a way of making a living. This is mine, that's all."
"And I presume there's nothing wrong with your heart, is there."
He looked puzzled for a moment. "My heart?" Then his frown cleared. "Oh, Polly told you. She wanted to know why I wasn't in the army. I had to tell her something to keep her quiet."
"Of course," Elizabeth said quietly. "After all, Mr. McNally would never have hired a deserter."
A flash of anger crossed Ray's face. "Conscientious objector, if you don't mind. Anyway, none of this is any of your business. Not that you're going to live long enough to tell the tale." He raised the rifle again.
"There's just one more thing I don't understand," Elizabeth said, keeping her gaze steadily on his face. "If you didn't plan on killing Mr. McNally, when you found him there, why didn't you just wait until the next night to deal with Jessie? Why did you have to kill them both?"
He stared at her for a long moment and she saw a moment of real regret in his eyes. "He saw me. I clocked out that night and hid in the men's toilets at closing time, waiting for Jessie. I thought she'd do the toilets first, but when she didn't turn up I got tired of waiting. I saw her in Douglas's office. I hit her on the head with a hammer. When I turned around to leave, Douglas was standing in the doorway." His voice broke and he took a ragged breath. "He wasn't supposed to be there. I didn't have a choice. He'd seen me hit Jessie. I had to get him, too."
She could almost feel sorry for him, realizing how much Douglas McNally had meant to this twisted young man. "So you locked them both in the office."
Ray shrugged. "What else could I do? I went back and
got the keys, locked the office in case they woke up, then set fire to the bucket of rags. I thought the whole place would burn down and no one would ever know what happened to them. The bloody thing went up so fast I almost didn't get out myself."
"Ray," Elizabeth said gently, "I'll go with you to the police station and help you explain . . ."
"Don't be stupid." Ray aimed the rifle at her again. "No one's going to hear me shoot you, and even if they do, by the time they realize what's going on I'll be long gone from here."
"I don't think so," a voice said from the doorway.
Elizabeth stared in wild relief and amazement as Earl rushed into the room, with Alfie close behind him. Ray swung around, but Earl knocked the rifle from his hands and it fell with a clatter to the floor. Alfie pounced on Ray and between them the two men wrestled the struggling young man to the bed, where Alfie sat on him.
Close to tears, Elizabeth gazed at Earl, thinking she'd never seen such a glorious sight in her entire life.
"You all right?" he said roughly, striding toward her.
She nodded weakly, but still had the presence of mind to warn him with a little shake of her head as he looked ready to clasp her in his arms.
She could see the frustration in his eyes, but he dropped his arms and went back to pick up the rifle. His voice sounded ragged when he asked Alfie, "Can you hold him?"
Alfie nodded. "George is on his way with the cuffs. He'll be here pretty soon."
"I'll wait with you till he gets here." Earl turned back to Elizabeth. "You look like you could use a drink. Why don't you go down to the bar and wait for me down there. I'll pay for it when I come down."
She didn't want to leave his side. She never wanted to leave his side again. "How did you know where I was?"
"I didn't." He exchanged a grim look with Alfie. "I stopped by to see if you wanted to share a nightcap with me. Violet said you'd gone out. She was worried. You don't usually go out on your motorbike in the dark. So I said I'd look for you. This was my first stop. I saw your motorbike in the parking lot."
So much for keeping my visit a secret
, Elizabeth thought wryly. Anyone seeing her infamous steed would know she wasn't too far away. That hadn't even occurred to her. "I'm not much of a detective," she said ruefully.
"The major came into the bar and asked me where you were," Alfie put in, shifting his position as Ray struggled beneath him. He flicked the young man's ear with his fingers. "Stay still," he ordered gruffly, "or I'll make sure you can't move."
Ray grunted something unintelligible.
"I saw Polly and Sadie," Earl said, "and they said they hadn't seen you. That's when I figured you were up to something. Alfie went to get the keys to the rooms and they were missing. We came up here and heard him . . ." he gestured at Ray " . . . threatening you. That's when we stepped in."
Words could not express her relief and gratitude. All she could manage was a weak, "Thank you. Both of you. You saved my life."
"I'll have something to say about that later," Earl promised.
She rather liked the masterful way he said that. "I'm sure you will," she murmured. She looked anxiously at Alfie. "If you're up here, who's tending the bar?"
Alfie grinned. "I commandeered your housemaid," he said cheerfully. "And your assistant and her boyfriend.
There's not a lot of skill in pulling a pint, and we don't have much else down there right now."
Heavy footsteps sounded in the hall, and a gruff voice called out, "You in there, Alfie?"
The next few minutes went by in a flurry of questions and explanations. Ray stubbornly refused to talk, so Elizabeth filled in the gaps. Then George clapped the handcuffs on Ray and led him away.
"Reckon I'd better go and see how them young'uns are doing behind my bar," Alfie said, and he followed George and his sullen prisoner down the stairs.
"We'd better get out of here, too," Earl said grimly, "before I'm tempted to forget my promise about keeping my distance. But one thing I am going to say. If you ever do something like this again, I'll personally see to it that your detecting days are over."
Elizabeth looked him steadily in the eye. "And just how do you propose to do that?" she asked demurely.
"There are ways," Earl muttered, taking hold of her arm. "Believe me, there are ways."
She was tempted to ask him for more details, but she thought better of it. Instead, she went with him into the cool, dark night, secure in the knowledge that no matter what scrapes she might get into, he would always be there for her. What more could a woman want?
Author Bio
Kate Kingsbury is the national best-selling author of over sixty books. Her work has appeared on many bestseller lists and her books have sold all over the world. She lives on a golf course in Oregon with her husband, and a rat terrier who thinks she's a Great Dane. You can find her website at
www.doreenrobertshight.com
and if you "like" her Facebook page,
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kate-Kingsbury/51478828226
where she keeps her fans updated with all the latest news, she will be delighted to answer your comments.
Other Manor House Books Available on Kindle:
A Bicycle Built for Murder
Dig Deep for Murder
For Whom Death Tolls
Paint by Murder
Berried Alive
Fire When Ready
THE FIRST TWELVE PENNYFOOT HOTEL BOOKS ARE NOW AVAILABLE FOR THE KINDLE!
The Pennyfoot hides many secrets and its downstairs staff keeps a tight lip, even when the Edwardian aristocrats are dallying with damsels in the boudoirs, or gambling in the card rooms hidden below the floorboards. Should now and then someone fall prey to a dastardly murderer, however, it is up to Cecily Sinclair to restore order before Scotland Yard steps in and shuts down her infamous seaside hotel. Eccentric characters, mysterious guests and downstairs staff shenanigans add to the merriment of your visit to the Pennyfoot Hotel.
