Read The Villa of Death: A Mystery Featuring Daphne du Maurier (Daphne du Maurier Mysteries) for Free Online

me. Such a vibrant man, reduced to an inertness that did not suit him. I didn’t know where to look or what to say so I sank to my knees also. “Charlotte?” I whispered.
    “She’s abed. She doesn’t know. Maybe there’s still hope?” She smiled through her tears at the man she loved. “He’s such a kind man, oh, I can’t bear it! Not now when we’ve found each other again.”
    I searched for words but none passed my lips. I wanted to give her hope. I wanted to share her grief.
    Others pressed around us. Seeing my father hovering in the doorway, I flung my hands out in exasperation. Ellen didn’t need an audience. Roused to action, my father shepherded all the genuinely concerned friends and family farther down the hall.
    “This is murder,” screamed a voice. “That bitch killed him.”
    Rosalie Grimshaw pushed past my father into the room. She swayed there a moment, red-faced and bearing the ill-effects of too much champagne. “It’s the truth. She only married him to get his money. That’s why you had Daddy draft up that new will. Oh, I know all about the will.”
    Rising to her feet, Ellen faced her stepdaughter. “The new will has not been signed, Rosalie, which still makes you the chief benefactress.” Bristling, Ellen squeezed my hand tighter. “Don’t you care? You haven’t even looked at him!”
    Wrath frothing around her mouth, Rosalie glanced at the dead man. “You killed him and I swear you’ll pay for it.”
    Twisting on her heel, she sauntered away.
    “Make sure she is all right,” Ellen said to me. “It’s a big shock.”
    Following the staggering Rosalie down the hall, I soon left her in the care of her cousins. All their faces resonated their shock and absolute disbelief. The two aunts, Teddy’s sisters, had taken the vapors and were sitting in chairs pinched from some room in the house. Leaning over one of the aunts, Major Browning was checking her pulse.
    “The doctor’s here,” my father announced.
    The crowd separated to let the doctor and Harry through, and I hastened to meet them. “Harry, it’s bad,” I warned.
    Ellen’s long-term estate manager turned very pale. “Ellen. How is she?”
    “In shock. I don’t think there’s anything the doctor can do…”
    My voice trailed off and it carried no hope. Perhaps if the doctor had been on hand when Teddy had the heart attack? It was difficult to know and I was no medical expert.
    There was something very reassuring about my father’s presence and I know it comforted Ellen, too. She’d always looked up to my father throughout the years and often said he reminded her of her own father before he became ill.
    “I’m sorry,” the doctor murmured.
    I gathered Ellen into my arms while my father talked to the doctor. I tried to strain my ears over Ellen’s sobbing. The doctor said he’d visited Teddy once or twice and that he suffered from angina. He asked if anyone knew where Teddy kept his medication and if he’d taken it today.
    “He keeps it in his room by his bed,” Ellen wept. “I usually make sure he takes it but we’ve been sleeping in separate rooms leading up to the wedding.”
    “It’s his heart then?” my father persisted.
    “Yes, Sir Gerald, from what I can see. The coroner will make a full report. Shall I do the duties?”
    “If you will.” Reaching inside his coat, my father slipped out a card. “Here’s my details if there’s anything I can do. I’ll be staying here at the house.”
    “Very good, sir.” Shaking his head, the elderly doctor packed up his little black bag and departed.
    Persuading Ellen to sit down, I called for a glass of water. “Do take the sedative the doctor gave you,” I said, gently pressing the pill into her hand. “It will help you sleep.”
    “Sleep,” she echoed, her face white. “After today, I don’t think I’ll ever sleep again.”
    I met my father’s gaze across the room. He’d also taken a seat. “I do advise, Ellen m’dear, you go to your room