Cat Among the Herrings by L. C. Tyler Read Free Book Online

all.’
    ‘But he’d like it anyway, deep down? He just can’t quite bring himself to ask, poor lamb?’
    ‘I don’t think so. He says he’s not going to investigate it.’
    ‘Well, how could he, without my help?’
    I opened my emergency chocolate drawer. It was empty. I looked accusingly at Tuesday.
    ‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘I thought that I refilled it last night.’
    ‘The chocolate drawer has to be checked twice a day,’ I said. ‘It’s in your contract of employment.’
    ‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘Shall I nip out …?’
    ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘You most certainly shall nip out. But first, check on hotels in West Wittering. I think I’d like a little break by the sea.’
    ‘Won’t it be cold at this time of year?’
    ‘If winter comes, can spring be far behind?’
    ‘The BBC was forecasting snow,’ said Tuesday.
    ‘Fair enough. Shelley always was a crap weather forecaster. I mean, if winter comes it obviously isn’t spring yet – it’s still winter. The fact that it’s sunny tomorrow doesn’t stop it being brass monkeys today. And what sort of weather forecaster has the middle name Bysshe?Presumably the hotels in West Wittering have heating of some sort.’
    ‘So, I’ll check hotels, then go out and buy chocolate?’
    I hesitated only for a fraction of a second. ‘Chocolate first,’ I said. ‘Then let me know all about the hotels.’
    Solving murders is of course important, but they will, in my experience, often wait half an hour or so.

CHAPTER SEVEN
    I rubbed my eyes. Viewing page after page of early Victorian newspaper print on screen is tiring. At least digitisation allows for easy searching. The relevant articles hadn’t taken long to track down, even if I had to squint at the screen. The trial had been well reported.
    One Jane Taylor had given evidence first. She had, she said, been betrothed to the murdered man. They were due to be married later that year. Early on the day in question, she had met John Gittings in the churchyard and they had had some small disagreement. (She had burst into tears at this point and the judge had courteously given her some minutes to collect herself.) John had left her in order to return to the farm, which he had recently inherited from his father. Sometime later she had briefly seen John’s brother, George Gittings. George had gone on some errand to Chichester, where he had spent the rest of the day. She was expecting to see John later, for he often visited her ather parents’ house in the evening, and they would go on walks together when the weather was fine. When he did not arrive, she put it down to their earlier argument. She did not start to worry until George arrived, asking after his brother, who had not returned to the farmhouse. She knew of no quarrel between Lancelot Pagham and John Gittings. It was true that Lancelot Pagham had spoken to her a few times in the village, but there was no harm in what he had said to her – none at all, whatever people might think. She was a respectable woman. And it was well known that she was betrothed and would shortly be married. John Gittings had no enemies in the village that she knew of. He was popular with his workers, unlike his late father.
    Perceval Pagham, Lancelot’s brother, had next taken the stand. He had worked for the murdered John Gittings. He knew both parties well, and did not know of any reason why Lancelot and John should fight. He thought that the knife found by the body could be anyone’s – it was just a fisherman’s knife – but Lancelot had certainly possessed one much like it. It was always kept well sharpened. It was a good blade. He said that Lancelot did own the Herring Field though it was of little use to anyone – it flooded in the winter and nothing would grow there. It was the last remnant of the Paghams’ ancient estate and Lancelot would not sell it, though John Gittings had asked him for it, since it connected two parcels of land owned by the Gittingses. But there was