Stolen Remains by Christine Trent Read Free Book Online Page B

Harper.”
    Recognition dawned in his eyes. “Of course. So it is you the queen has sent to care for Father? I’d never have imagined you as an undertaker, of all things. I more imagined you’d have ended up helping your father run an estate somewhere. I remember all of the endless questions you used to ask of the gardener, the beekeeper, the footmen. As though you were trying on each of their positions and deciding which one you’d take. How did you end up an undertaker?”
    “I came by it through my deceased husband, and together we enjoyed some success. The queen was pleased enough by my work on Prince Albert’s funeral, which I believe is why she summoned me to help you.”
    “So you are a widow?”
    “Not anymore. I married an American by the name of Samuel Harper. We’ll be returning to the Colorado Territory soon. We just happened to be visiting in England when the queen asked me to do this service for you.”
    “You married an American, you say? Another surprise from my childhood comrade-in-arms. Sweetheart, Violet Sinclair’s father was once my father’s estate manager.” He looked down at the prone body and swallowed. “Violet, this is my wife, Katherine. We had just arrived from Sussex when all of this bedlam occurred. She’s held up well under the shock.”
    “A pleasure to meet you, I’m sure.” Katherine shook Violet’s hand, studiously looking toward the drawing room, away from both Violet and her father-in-law’s covered body. Her tone indicated that shaking hands with an undertaker was far from pleasurable.
    There were now two grieving family members, two detectives, an undertaker, and a dead body in the Raybourn entry hall. This was ludicrous. Violet opened her mouth to suggest that Stephen and Katherine might be more comfortable waiting elsewhere while she attended to her duties, when Mrs. Peet reappeared from the dining room carrying a wood tray.
    “I found a navy linen, Mrs. Harper. Mr. and Mrs. Fairmont, would you also like some tea? I’ll fetch the silver tray and be right back up.”
    Katherine lifted her chin. “I believe it is now Lord and Lady Raybourn, Mrs. Peet. Yes, we’ll have tea upstairs in our room.”
    Mrs. Peet set her mouth in a grim line and scowled as she placed Violet’s tray in the drawing room and returned silently to the servants’ staircase to retrieve a more elegant tea service for the Fairmonts. Katherine visibly shrank, her apparent experiment with boldness quite over. “Mrs. Harper, I hope you’ll forgive me, but I don’t think I can remain here a moment longer.”
    Violet sympathized with the new Lady Raybourn. She herself had once had a housekeeper named Mrs. Scrope, who was extraordinarily competent yet thoroughly intimidated Violet.
    Stephen kissed his wife’s hand. “I’ll join you momentarily,” he said before Katherine floated back up the stairs in a rustle of velvet-embellished satin.
    “My sisters, Dorothy and Eleanor, will be coming up from Sussex. Do you remember them? They were older than we were, and far too sophisticated to be bothered with their youngest brother, far less the estate manager’s daughter.”
    “Vaguely, but I look forward to making their acquaintances again.”
    Stephen glanced up the stairs. “I must join Katherine. She’s in a very agitated state. We both are, I suppose. Please send Mrs. Peet up if you need anything.”
    Again on cue, Mrs. Peet appeared with another tea service, this time on a heavily ornamented silver tray. Stephen went upstairs with the morose Mrs. Peet a few steps behind him.
    Violet was now alone with the officers. “Now if you will quickly assist me before Mrs. Peet returns, I’d like to move Lord Raybourn into the dining room.”
    She knelt and rolled down the blanket covering the body, maintaining her composure despite what lay before her. Poor Lord Raybourn. All that remained recognizable on the man’s face was his cleft chin, a trait shared by Stephen. The rest of his face was