A Thrust to the Vitals by Geraldine Evans Read Free Book Online

man Mr Bignall described had an invitation. There was no reason not to let him in.’
    Rafferty, desperate to cover all the bases for Mickey’s sake, had earlier questioned the security guards on this very matter and asked them if they had got a good look at the man’s invitation.
    Indignantly, they had both replied that they had and that it was a genuine invitation.
    ‘And his name?’ he had asked next, which was where their indignation slackened off and they confessed that they didn’t actually read it. It was late, they had explained by way of mitigation for this failure. But as they had pointed out, his name would be on the guest list and it would simply be ‘a process of elimination, wouldn’t it?’
    Rafferty had, of course, furtively checked for his brother’s name at the earliest opportunity, but it hadn’t been on the guest list. So how had he come to receive an invitation? He doubted the explanation his brother had proffered: that Sir Rufus Seward himself had sent it to him.
    Questioned about this, Canthorpe shrugged and admitted he had no idea. ‘I don’t know how this stray, unknown guest managed to turn up with an invitation. Ivor Bignall and I were jointly responsible for the guest list, he for the council and me for Sir Rufus. I spoke to Mr Bignall earlier and, when he mentioned this late arriving guest and that he had asked to speak to Sir Rufus mere minutes before I found my boss’s body, he told me he wasn’t one of his invitees. He certainly wasn’t one of ours, either. I don’t have any idea who he could be.’
    Rafferty thanked heaven for small mercies as Canthorpe shook his head unhappily. At first, Canthorpe said that he had no idea how the late arriving stranger could have got his hands on an invitation. But, shortly after, he decided he might have the inkling of an idea.
    ‘On Sir Rufus’s behalf, I was responsible for the invitations and the guest list,’ he reluctantly admitted. ‘But my office in Sir Rufus’s estate, which is a few miles north of Norwich, is pretty much a thoroughfare between the front door and Sir Rufus’s office. It’s possible that anyone passing through could have helped themselves to a blank invitation if they were so- inclined.’
    He gave a weary shrug. ‘Maybe we should have been more security conscious, but how could I, or any of us, have guessed that a violent maniac would conspire to get his hands on an invitation so he could kill Sir Rufus? It’s the stuff of fiction.’ He paused, then added, ‘Or it was, before tonight.’
    Somehow, Rafferty doubted that his brother would have had reason to visit Rufus Seward’s estate or that he would have been likely to gain admission if he had made such a visit. But it was becoming increasingly clear that someone had wanted Mickey’s presence at the evening’s reception. But it was a conundrum to which he, for now, had no solution, and he had no option but to put it aside. It was evident that security over these party invitations hadn’t been a big issue. Equally clearly, somehow, Mickey had been in receipt of one of them. Rafferty could only hope his brother would be able to shed some light on the matter when he finally had a chance to question him more thoroughly.
    ‘You said this late night visitor asked to speak to Sir Rufus as soon as he arrived?’
    Canthorpe nodded. ‘Though, as I said, I only learned this from Ivor Bignall later, after I found Sir Rufus’s body. Mr Bignall told me the man seemed more than a little drunk. But such late visits weren’t unusual. Sir Rufus often did private business at functions. I would barely have registered Mr Bignall’s remark, but for—’
    ‘Quite.’
    By now they were all way past the time of being able to pose much in the way of useful questions or to have much hope of receiving useful answers from those they questioned, who mostly seemed out on their feet. More for the form than the expectation that they would gain any useful information, they