greeting.
"I can't take the chance it won't," Morgan said. "This place will be pure mud if it's not protected. The trenches would fill up and we couldn't empty them for days."
Simon introduced Julia McGloughlan to him. David acknowledged her with a noncommittal nod. She could have been seventy and walking with a cane for all the attention he paid her. Most women were insulted by this—Tessa certainly had been—but Julia seemed unconcerned. She was only interested in information.
"If you have the time, Dr. Morgan, please show me where you found the body," she said.
David obligingly walked her around the site, pointing out how and where the corpse was found.
"How could she have been buried here without anyone knowing it?" McGloughlan asked.
"The kitchen was abandoned before 1926," David said. "But you really need to ask Simon about the chronology of all this." Julia turned to Simon.
"This building had a dirt floor, a fireplace, and a wood-fueled stove. It was used for over a hundred years. A modern kitchen was added to the house right before the First World War," Simon said. "Then this building was used for storage until it burned to the ground in 1933."
"How can you be sure of that?" she asked.
"The draftsman's drawings for the kitchen addition are in the Preservation Society's library," Simon said, "and they're dated. Plus, a watercolor of the house done shortly afterward shows what the house looked like after various improvements, including the kitchen addition. There's a date on the back of the watercolor, which is hanging in the house, by the way. And we know the building burned in 1933, because it was reported in the newspaper in a story that included the information that it was being used for storage. All this is in the monograph I wrote."
David jumped into the ditch. "And look—Simon, I haven't had a chance to show you this yet—it verifies the written record." With his finger, he traced a line of black not far beneath the surface of the sides of the ditch. "This is a layer of carbon, which proves that the building did burn at about the time we believe it did."
Simon and Julia climbed into the trench to inspect the evidence. Julia knelt in the dirt for a closer look.
"Look," Julia said, pointing to another layer of black about a foot farther down the trench. "Is that another fire?"
"In the early nineteenth century," David said, "but there's no written record of it." "Detached kitchens burned all the time," Simon said. "That's why they were built away from the house to begin with."
Julia contemplated the wall of the trench while the two men climbed out of it. Simon turned and reached out a hand to help her, and she scrambled up, oblivious to the mud collecting on her shoes and stockings. David handed her a towel, and she wiped her hands carelessly, staring off in the general direction of the house.
"This all seems very suspicious to me," Julia said.
"I think so, too," said Simon.
"What are you two talking about?" David asked. "It's not suspicious, it's clear as a bell. The woman was killed and her body was hidden to conceal the crime. What could be clearer than that?"
"There's more to it. I think that we can make some other assumptions from what we know so far," Julia said. "First of all, we can assume that Anne Bloodworth was murdered that day in 1926 when she supposedly disappeared. She was shot in the back of the head, which is odd if she just surprised somebody on the property who was doing something they shouldn't have been doing. Did she even see the guy? If she was running away, why shoot her?"
"I want to know where everyone else was," Simon said. "Where were her father and the servants? Someone should have seen something. It's unlikely she was on the property alone."
"And the person who killed her knew the area pretty well, because he buried the body right here, in a building that had been abandoned except for storage," Julia added. "Hidden so well, in fact, that it wasn't
"I can't take the chance it won't," Morgan said. "This place will be pure mud if it's not protected. The trenches would fill up and we couldn't empty them for days."
Simon introduced Julia McGloughlan to him. David acknowledged her with a noncommittal nod. She could have been seventy and walking with a cane for all the attention he paid her. Most women were insulted by this—Tessa certainly had been—but Julia seemed unconcerned. She was only interested in information.
"If you have the time, Dr. Morgan, please show me where you found the body," she said.
David obligingly walked her around the site, pointing out how and where the corpse was found.
"How could she have been buried here without anyone knowing it?" McGloughlan asked.
"The kitchen was abandoned before 1926," David said. "But you really need to ask Simon about the chronology of all this." Julia turned to Simon.
"This building had a dirt floor, a fireplace, and a wood-fueled stove. It was used for over a hundred years. A modern kitchen was added to the house right before the First World War," Simon said. "Then this building was used for storage until it burned to the ground in 1933."
"How can you be sure of that?" she asked.
"The draftsman's drawings for the kitchen addition are in the Preservation Society's library," Simon said, "and they're dated. Plus, a watercolor of the house done shortly afterward shows what the house looked like after various improvements, including the kitchen addition. There's a date on the back of the watercolor, which is hanging in the house, by the way. And we know the building burned in 1933, because it was reported in the newspaper in a story that included the information that it was being used for storage. All this is in the monograph I wrote."
David jumped into the ditch. "And look—Simon, I haven't had a chance to show you this yet—it verifies the written record." With his finger, he traced a line of black not far beneath the surface of the sides of the ditch. "This is a layer of carbon, which proves that the building did burn at about the time we believe it did."
Simon and Julia climbed into the trench to inspect the evidence. Julia knelt in the dirt for a closer look.
"Look," Julia said, pointing to another layer of black about a foot farther down the trench. "Is that another fire?"
"In the early nineteenth century," David said, "but there's no written record of it." "Detached kitchens burned all the time," Simon said. "That's why they were built away from the house to begin with."
Julia contemplated the wall of the trench while the two men climbed out of it. Simon turned and reached out a hand to help her, and she scrambled up, oblivious to the mud collecting on her shoes and stockings. David handed her a towel, and she wiped her hands carelessly, staring off in the general direction of the house.
"This all seems very suspicious to me," Julia said.
"I think so, too," said Simon.
"What are you two talking about?" David asked. "It's not suspicious, it's clear as a bell. The woman was killed and her body was hidden to conceal the crime. What could be clearer than that?"
"There's more to it. I think that we can make some other assumptions from what we know so far," Julia said. "First of all, we can assume that Anne Bloodworth was murdered that day in 1926 when she supposedly disappeared. She was shot in the back of the head, which is odd if she just surprised somebody on the property who was doing something they shouldn't have been doing. Did she even see the guy? If she was running away, why shoot her?"
"I want to know where everyone else was," Simon said. "Where were her father and the servants? Someone should have seen something. It's unlikely she was on the property alone."
"And the person who killed her knew the area pretty well, because he buried the body right here, in a building that had been abandoned except for storage," Julia added. "Hidden so well, in fact, that it wasn't
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