Serpent in the Garden by Janet Gleeson Read Free Book Online Page A

gold and joined to the next by a heavy gold link. What made the piece so unsettling was its unusual design. It was fashioned as a serpent, with the mouth clasping the tail. The head was formed from the largest stone, the eye, a single ruby.
    Sabine held up the necklace in front of the looking glass. A sliver of sunlight penetrated the drawn curtains and glanced off the emeralds’ facets. Shades of ultramarine, orpiment, verdigris, green earth, and bone black were juxtaposed with Sabine’s own reflection, which seemed faded by the faceted brilliance of stone. Points of brilliant green glittered with such vibrancy it seemed as if the serpent were alive.
    What could possess a woman to wear with impunity so disturbing an object about her neck? Joshua found himself appalled; the very sight of it made his flesh crawl.
    Sabine appeared to be utterly transfixed by her jewel. As he waited, the stuffy heat and sweet scent seemed to grow stronger by the minute. At length, without turning, she spoke. “It is beautiful, is it not, Mr. Pope?” she said, gazing at her reflection in the glass.
    He nodded uncomfortably. For one so used to hobnobbing with gentry, he was unsure how to comport himself in a lady’s boudoir. He felt sympathy for her, for the shock she had suffered; he didn’t want to cause offense, but neither did he want to encourage her to keep him there. For what purpose had she summoned him? Ever courteous, he attempted to draw it out of her.
    “Indeed, madam, it is a most remarkable object. Did Mr. Bentnick give it to you?”
    “Whatever gave you such an idea? The necklace doesn’t belong to Bentnick. It is mine. I brought it with me when I came.”
    “You mentioned you had some service to ask of me, madam. Does it concern your next sitting? Perhaps you would rather postpone it?”
    She gave her head a little shake, as if Joshua had awakened her from some secret reverie. “Indeed I have a request to make, Mr. Pope, and I thank you for reminding me of it. I would like you to go to the head gardener, Granger. See if he has disposed of the body. I believe I heard Mr. Bentnick instruct him to do so. Ask if he has found out anything of note about the man. Was there anything in his pockets, for instance? I cannot help feeling curious as to his identity. You may tell me what you find at our next sitting. Oh, and one more thing, Mr. Pope …”
    “Yes, madam?” said Joshua, with a polite smile and a sinking heart.
    “You will do me a great service if you say none of this to the other members of this household. Mr. Bentnick has recently suffered the loss of his wife. I wish to spare him any unnecessary disturbance. It is no concern of anyone else’s.”

----
Chapter Six

     
    D INNER AT ASTLEY always took place at the fashionable hour of three in the afternoon, and despite Sabine’s discovery of the body in the pinery, the day was no different from any other. There were only four at table, Herbert, his two children—Francis and Caroline—and Joshua.
    Having retired to her room, Sabine remained there. Violet, her daughter, had gone to London early the previous day for an appointment with her dressmaker and was not expected to return until the following afternoon.
    They ate in the morning room, an annex to the drawing room, decorated on a classical theme with swags of acanthus and friezes in faux marble depicting wrestling gods enjoying the pleasures of the senses. Below the frieze the walls were painted a vibrant shade of yellow and pasted with engravings. Scenes of the Parthenon and Mount Olympus and the temples of Zeus and Diana were interspersed with figures of sundry classical gods—Apollo, Poseidon, Athena, and Bacchus—who seemed to survey disapprovingly those assembled about the circular mahogany table to devour, in place of nectar and ambrosia, a collation of cold ham, boiled fowl, and brawn.
    Up until that moment Joshua had believed that Herbert Bentnick was as happy as any man could be, given the recent