Read Superfluous Women for Free Online

shocked.
    â€œWhy?” asked Isabel, making tea. “We’re the ones who are going to be interrogated. At least, I imagine it must have been there since before you even came to Beaconsfield.”
    â€œProbably. It’s not a subject I’ve studied intensively, but considering the cool, dry conditions in the cellar, I should think it must have been there quite a while.”
    â€œUgh!” Willie shivered.
    â€œBut Alec found the body, so he’s a witness. He can’t possibly keep it from his superintendent, and Mr. Crane will blame me, as usual.”
    â€œBlame you for what?” Vera demanded. “He has no reason to blame you for anything!”
    â€œHe doesn’t need a reason. Whenever I’m within a hundred miles of a case Alec’s involved with, he’s convinced I’m interfering.”
    â€œThat’s not fair.”
    â€œFairer than you might suppose,” Willie put in a trifle maliciously.
    â€œBut never mind,” Daisy said hurriedly, to forestall any questions from the other two on the fairness or otherwise of Superintendent Crane’s strictures. “It’s not likely Alec will have anything to do with the case, apart from giving a statement about finding the body. The local police almost always want to run things themselves, and he can’t just butt in without being invited. Their first question’s going to be: Who is it? They won’t get very far without identification. Any ideas?”
    â€œExcept you, Daisy, we haven’t had any visitors since we moved in.” Isabel had been stowing away the unwanted meal in the larder. Now she came to sit with the others, pouring herself a cup of tea. “Not even the vicar, though Vera goes to church.”
    â€œHe’s a rector, not a vicar,” Vera said. “He did drop by once, one evening when you two had gone to the cinema. I didn’t mention it because I didn’t think you’d be interested. And you were so busy telling me about the films … I gave him a cup of tea. He didn’t go anywhere near the cellar door.”
    â€œAnyway, he hasn’t gone missing,” said Willie.
    â€œNo one else has called,” Isabel continued. “I’m here most of the time.”
    â€œDo you lock all the doors when you go out?”
    â€œWell, no, not if I just pop round to the shops. But why would anyone come into the house uninvited?”
    â€œTo snoop,” Vera suggested. “Or burglars, of course.”
    â€œIn daylight? When I might return any moment?”
    â€œYou ought to get a watchdog,” said Daisy.
    â€œAnyway, nothing’s gone missing and no bag of swag found lying about the house.”
    â€œNot to mention,” said Willie, “that to get into the cellar a burglar would have to have a key—”
    â€œNot if he had a lock pick,” Daisy pointed out, “or a picklock, or whatever it’s called. Alec easily managed with a coat hanger.”
    â€œHe’d have to have locked the door again behind him, barring his own escape route, then fallen down the stairs and broken his neck.”
    â€œI remember the stairs being steep,” said Isabel, “but we don’t know that that’s what happened. Maybe he had a heart attack or something.”
    â€œHe’d still have had to lock the door behind himself. It doesn’t sound likely.”
    â€œSuppose he heard me coming home,” Isabel mused, “he might have thought he could hide there until the coast was clear. Oh dear, you don’t suppose he died of asphyxiation, do you? The cellar’s supposed to be nearly airtight.”
    They were all silent for a moment. A slow death from asphyxiation was much more horrible than a quick one from a broken neck or a heart attack.
    Daisy broke the silence. “Do you think a burglar would try a locked cellar before ransacking the house? It doesn’t sound likely to me. If he’d