Midnight Secrets Read Free Page A

case? Were you constable at the time?”
    “Yes, an assistant. And there is nothing about the case that needs to concern you.”
    “You don’t think it odd that while working for the Killdarens my cousin has suddenly disappeared?”
    “Lady Helen died eight years ago. She did not die easy. I hardly see a connection with your cousin’s drowning.”
    I threw my hands up. “You don’t know that she did drown! There is no body. And how can you expect to find a connection between Mary and Lady Helen if you aren’t investigating the matter?”
    We glared at each other. After a week of hard travel and several days of searching, I knew little more about Mary’s death than I had upon receiving the telegram. Mary had supposedly drowned while swimming alone.
    “Constable, you aren’t giving the facts of this case serious consideration. Apart from Mary’s fear of the sea, why would a woman go swimming alone in the chilly May water? Why has her body never washed ashore?”
    “Since you’re asking me to spell it out for you, Miss Andrews, she may have deliberately drowned herself. And not all things the sea claims find their way to the shore. I can tell you this, though. After this long in the water, you don’t want her body to return to you. Now, I have a number of things left to do today. So unless you have evidence implicating someone in your cousin’s death, I suggest you refrain from wasting my time or spreading any more rumors. The Earl of Dartraven doesn’t take kindly to anyone who besmirches the reputations of his sons.”
    Dizzied by anger, I grasped the edge of his desk. “So, their wealth rules the law here?”
    His dark eyes glittered. “Woman, you try my patience. Shall I have you escorted out?”
    “Unnecessary, sir. You’ll have your evidence.” I marched from his office, my heart and cheeks burning with ire. I didn’t know the least thing about investigating a crime, but I was certain something terrible had happened to Mary—and I refused to return to the inn where Andromeda and Gemini comforted Aunt Lavinia until I had more than Constable Poole’s obstinacy to report.
    For the past six years as a journalist, I’d made it my business to read a great many newspapers, some concerning crime. With those in mind, I went directly to the mercantile store and perused the available publications. The Police Chronicles caught my gaze first. Glancing through the front page article, I found a detailed account of the investigation into the murder of a prominent business man in London. That should help me to investigate Mary’s death.
    Noticing the clerk eye me with suspicion, I picked up The Crime Gazette and The London Report as well and made my way to the counter.
    “Ya asked about that teacher a day or two ago, didn’t ya?” The clerk surprised me, for I’d given up on finding out about Mary from the villagers. I’d asked a number of people who only said that Mary had rarely visited the town.
    My pulse raced with hoped. “Yes. Did you learn more about her disappearance?”
    Her gaze darted between me and the newspapers I clutched, then her eyes grew wider than a king’s gold piece. “Yar one of those fancy newspaper reporters, aren’t ya. Had a few of them around years ago when Lady Helen was murdered. They were men, though.” She spoke as if being a woman wasn’t proper then she lowered her voice. “It’s the maze, I tell ya. My bet is that teacher went in there and never was seen again and the Killdaren doesn’t want folks to know.”
    “The Killdaren?” I wondered what sort of man could evoke such awe—or was it fear?
    “Mister Sean Killdaren. He’s the second son of the Earl of Dartraven by only a blink of an eye. Ye’ll know why folks call him the Killdaren rather than mister iffen you ever catch a glimpse of him.”
    “Did someone see Mary go into the maze?”
    Shrugging hard enough to bounce her sausage ringlets, she leaned on the counter. “Well, not first hand that I’ve