High Marks for Murder (A Bellehaven House Mystery Book 1) (7 page)

"I happened to notice," she began, as he touched his forehead with his fingers, "that the flower beds are in need of a good weeding. I'm quite sure it's an oversight on your part, but Miss Duncan was so particular about her flower beds. I know you would want to keep them in excellent shape as a tribute to her memory."

Tom took off his hat and scratched the back of his head. "I sent Davie to weed them," he muttered. "Don't know why he didn't do it."

Remembering the young lad's stricken face, Meredith said quietly, "He's most likely suffering from shock over Miss Duncan's death. Perhaps you could have a word with him? Tell him that he would be doing Miss Duncan a great service by keeping her flower beds neat, and free from weeds."

Tom shook his head. "Doubt that would do any good, m'm. I don't think he's feeling too kindly toward Miss Duncan at the moment. She scolded the lad for picking flowers last week. He'd picked them to give to her. It were supposed to be a surprise. After she told him off, he went off by hisself and he ain't been the same since."

Meredith stared at him. "I'm sorry to hear that. I'm quite sure Miss Duncan would have understood if she'd known. We all know the boy is bashful, and she wouldn't have wanted to hurt his feelings that way."

Again Tom shrugged. "There's no telling with young
sters these days. I'll get on him to weed the gardens. He'll do it fast enough if I threaten to sack him."

"Oh, I wouldn't want you to do that." Meredith raised her head as the sound of the school bell echoed across the field. "Please, just tell him I would like him to weed the beds. I'll have a word with him myself next time I see him."

"Very well." Tom pulled his hat on his head again, and Meredith hurried away. Poor Davie. Kathleen had a sharp tongue at times. Meredith decided she would have to make sure to be gentle with him when she saw him again.

Arriving back at the school, she found Felicity waiting for her in the hallway.

"We'll have to find a replacement for Kathleen as soon as possible," she announced, as soon as Meredith was within earshot. "Essie is doing her best but honestly, what does she know about home management? She's never had to think for herself in her entire life, much less run a household."

"Well, she won't have to take Kathleen's class after today." Meredith hunted in her pocket for the key to her office. "We have a replacement starting tomorrow."

Felicity stared at her in surprise. "How did you manage that so quickly?"

"I didn't. Mr. Hamilton hired the new instructress. He seems to think she's qualified and experienced." She pretended to examine the key in her hand in an attempt to avoid Felicity's shrewd gaze.

"Ah, the charming Mr. Hamilton." Felicity snorted. "I suppose you had no objection to him taking matters into his own hands without consulting us?"

Meredith winced. "I'm aware that it was a little presumptuous, but he is the owner of Bellehaven and so I suppose he should have the last word."

"The last word, perhaps, but certainly not the first and only word. Obviously he regards all of us as lowly teachers who can't be trusted to judge the qualifications of an associate. Really!"

"I'm quite sure he had no intention of insulting our intelligence—"

"Oh, bosh, Meredith." Felicity jammed her hands into the pockets of her skirt. "In every other matter you have a strong mind of your own, yet all that man has to do is raise his little finger and you crumble. If I didn't know better, I'd wager you have a fancy for that arrogant creature."

Meredith's laugh strangled in her throat. "Don't be absurd, Felicity. As I said, Stuart Hamilton owns this school and has a perfect right to dictate the way this establishment is run, as well as who shall work here. As headmistress I'm obligated to bow to his wishes. In any case, I trust his judgment. I'm quite certain Miss Montrose will be an admirable addition to our faculty."

"Well, I hope you're right." Felicity turned away so sharply her skirt swished about her ankles. "These girls only have to sniff weakness in a tutor and they'll take full advantage. I hope your precious Mr. Hamilton and his protégée are fully aware of the effort it takes to keep them under control."

She stalked off, leaving Meredith ruefully shaking her head. She was used to Felicity's abrasiveness and paid no attention to it, but she had to agree with her sentiments. Stuart Hamilton had no idea the effort it took to control the students. She could only share Felicity's hope that Miss Montrose was up to the task.

Chapter 6

Outside the town hall a swarm of women jostled
each other to get a footing on the wide stone steps. Their voices rose in a clamor of chanting slogans and shouts of outrage, unsettling more than one horse as they trotted past the unruly group.

Grace stayed close to Olivia's side, terrified they'd be separated by the angry women. Why she'd ever agreed to come on this ridiculous escapade she couldn't imagine. They were going to end up in prison. She just knew it.

She could hear Olivia chanting something, but couldn't make out the words. Not that she wanted to understand them. All she wanted was to get out of there and go back where they belonged. These women scared her, with their wild eyes and harsh voices.

Someone thrust a post in her hands. "Here," the woman said, her cheeks a fiery red, "take this and get up to the door. You're younger than me. My old legs won't carry me past that mob."

Grace looked up at the placard in her hands. It said "Votes for Women" in large letters and underneath that in smaller letters it said, "Down with Parliament!"

Treason. That's what it was. Terrified, Grace tried to give the placard back to the woman but she'd disappeared in the crowd. Twisting her head, Grace did her best to catch Olivia's eye, but she was staring up the steps at the three women near the door. They stood with arms linked and seemed to be urging the rest of the women to shout louder.

If it got any louder, Grace thought, she'd go completely deaf. She tried to edge closer to Olivia, but a couple of hefty women blocked her way, and the heavy placard slowed her down. She tried yelling at Olivia, but her voice got lost in the roar from the crowd.

A commotion off to her right caught her attention. She heard screams, men shouting, women swearing in a most unladylike way. She tried to see what was going on, and not for the first time cursed her lack of height. She couldn't see Olivia now, as the women pushed closer together, all trying to see where the uproar was coming from.

Then suddenly, the women parted right in front of Grace. She was about to step into the space when someone else loomed up in front of her. With a frantically beating heart, Grace looked up into the stem face of a constable. In his raised hand he held a thick black baton.

She uttered a squeal of fright and without thinking, thrust the cumbersome placard right into the bobby's chest. With a shout he staggered backward, tripped over a woman behind him and crashed to the ground.

Grace took one horrified look at his furious face, then turned and plunged into the crowd. By some miracle she spied Olivia on the lower step and grabbed her by the hand.
At first Olivia resisted her tugging, until Grace gasped, "Quick! I knocked a bobby over. He's coming after me!"

Olivia's eyes widened. "What on earth did you go and do that for?"

"I didn't mean to—" Grace froze as a man's deep voice shouted out behind her.

Olivia leapt from the step and together they fought their way through the struggling women until they reached the corner of the street. After one quick look back at the struggle going on behind them, they lifted their skirts and ran.

Meredith paused in front of a fidgety student and
frowned at the lumpy pile of clay in front of her. Normally Amelia Webster was a model student—talented as well as intelligent—but this afternoon she appeared to have lost all control of her nimble fingers.

"I see you have hardly begun your sculpture." Meredith prodded the offending lump with her finger. "Is something wrong? Are you not well?"

Amelia kept her head down when she answered. "I'm quite well, Mrs. Llewellyn, thank you."

Now that she really looked at the girl, Meredith noticed her cheeks were quite flushed. Concerned that she might be taken ill, she laid her palm on the girl's forehead.

Amelia jerked back as if she'd been stung.

Meredith looked at her in surprise. "There's no need for alarm. I was merely testing your forehead to see if you had a raised temperature."

Amelia promptly burst into tears.

The girl seated next to her leaned over and patted her arm. "She's upset over what happened to Miss Duncan," she said, with just a tinge of reproach in her voice. "We all are."

Of course. How insensitive she had been. Meredith felt a twinge of guilt. She had been so engrossed in her own problems she had failed to consider that Kathleen's pupils might not have recovered from the shock of their teacher's death.

She walked to the front of the class and cleared her throat. "I share your grief over losing our beloved instructress. Miss Duncan was very fond of you all, and I know you all cared just as much about her."

"Not really," one of the girls muttered. "Not when she shouted at us, we didn't." She glanced over at Amelia. "I don't know why you're crying over her, Amy. Remember how she screeched at you when you brought weeds instead of flowers to class? You were upset all day long."

Some of the girls tittered behind their hands. Amelia sobbed louder, and dabbed at her nose with a white, lacy handkerchief.

"Made her look really stupid," the girl told her companion seated next to her.

The companion snickered, then cut it off when Meredith glared at her. "I'm sure everyone has borne the brunt of Miss Duncan's tongue lashings at one time or another. That doesn't make our grief for her passing any less painful. I'm sure we all miss her dreadfully."

Two or three heads nodded solemnly in agreement.

Meredith decided this was a good time to impart the good news. "I'm happy to tell you that a replacement has been found, and that Miss Sylvia Montrose will arrive at Bellehaven tomorrow morning. She will be taking over Miss Duncan's classes in home management. I'm sure you will all make her feel welcome, and I trust you will do your best to ease her transition into Bellehaven."

Whispers hissed about the room until Meredith held up
her hand. "There is just one more thing. We would very much like to know more of the details of how Miss Duncan died. If anyone remembers seeing her that evening or has any knowledge that might be helpful, I'd appreciate it if you would come to tell me. We would like to know as much as possible about her last moments."

Aware of the curious glances sent her way, Meredith hurried to add, "For her family, of course. I'm sure they'll want to know exactly what happened."

"Reggie said someone hit Miss Duncan on the head with a branch," a voice declared from the back of the room.

Shocked gasps greeted this startling statement, while Meredith glared at the girl who'd delivered it. "It is unwise to pay attention to gossip," she said, inwardly cursing Reggie's loose tongue. "One rarely gets the truth from such an unreliable source."

"Then it's a lie?"

Meredith hesitated. "Since Miss Duncan was apparently alone, we have no way of knowing what happened. Which is why I would like to talk to anyone who might have seen her walking the grounds that evening."

"Maybe she was meeting with a suitor," someone said, earning snickers from several of her closest companions.

"I think that's extremely unlikely," Meredith said sharply. Though she had to confess, the idea had merit. Perhaps Kathleen had planned to meet someone that evening. Someone who had taken advantage of the darkness to strike her down.

Another girl timidly held up her hand. "Do you think someone from the school killed Miss Duncan?"

The bell rang at that moment, saving Meredith from answering. Uneasily she watched the girls file out in sobering silence.
Someone from the school?
Good Lord, she prayed
that wasn't so. It was unfortunate that the seeds of doubt had now been sewn among the pupils.

Then again, it would have been only a matter of time before word got out. If knowing the truth helped find out who had attacked Kathleen, however, perhaps it wasn't entirely a bad thing.

The dining hall was exceptionally quiet that evening throughout supper. The pupils spoke to each other in low voices, without the laughter that normally punctuated their conversation. It was as if a cloud of doom had settled over the students of Bellehaven, and Meredith was very much afraid that it would remain there until the mystery of Kathleen's death had been uncovered.

Although she waited in her office for quite some time after supper, no one appeared to report having seen Kathleen the evening she died. Frustrated by her lack of progress, Meredith could do nothing but retire to her room for an early night. The new day would bring the new teacher, and yet another set of problems.

After rising early the following morning, she took
her usual stroll in the gardens before breakfast. The walk helped clear her head and prepare her for the long day.

Telling herself that she needed to make sure the weeding had been done, she tingled with expectation as she approached the flower beds. Tom was nowhere to be seen, for which she felt relieved. It seemed that Kathleen only visited her when she was quite alone.

Having had no success so far in her quest to find out the truth, she hoped to see Kathleen's apparition again. Much as the idea unnerved her, she felt compelled to communicate with Kathleen's ghost.

For one thing, she needed to know that she was still of sound mind, and that her visions were real and not caused by some malfunction of her brain.

Then again, perhaps this time she could actually converse with Kathleen's ghost, though she had no idea how one went about such things.

Since she had no previous experience with the spiritual world, she was rather at a loss about how to proceed. Nothing had prepared her for such an implausible situation.