She Shoots to Conquer Read online

  Had she wanted to confide in an old friend-and one likely to know his lordship-that contrary to the rules for Here Comes the Bride, she had a prior acquaintance with him? Or was it more likely, as I hoped, that she had not connected the name Belfrey with a man met years before… at least not until she had seen a photo accompanying a newspaper story about the proposed reality show? If indeed Georges LeBois would have agreed to such a photo, rather than leaving the physical appearance of the bridegroom up to conjecture. A more important question was why was I becoming fixated with Suzanne Varney’s personality when her motives and decisions were immaterial, given that she had been doomed never to enter Mucklesfeld as a contestant?

  Thumper looked hopefully toward the brook splashing over its stones to a tune it was making up as it went along. Its banks were low and of rock-studded grass sprinkled with wildflowers. The garden with its spacious lawns and broad flowerbeds was having its final fling before moving into October and the approach of autumn. Then it would wear copper and bronze and smell of woodsmoke and cidery windfall apples.

  “Sorry.” I led Thumper past the brook and up the drive that was of similar length to the one at Witch Haven. He looked up at me, his eyes instantly sympathetic. Trust him to know that I was downhearted. Why, I didn’t know. I wasn’t worried that Mrs. Spuds would turn out to be another nasty female avid for bad news from Mucklesfeld. Indeed, I pictured her as a kindly, motherly woman who took pleasure in doing for nice Dr. Rowley, who like most general practitioners worked too hard, skipped more meals than he should, and was lucky to get two full nights’ sleep in a row. Didn’t she always tell him it was a privilege to worry over him until the right woman came along to take on that nice responsibility?

  Her image was so clear in my mind that I started when the green front door opened and there she stood, exactly to order-the snowy white hair, cozy figure, and best of all the kind face. Even so, her first words plunged a stake through my heart. “My word! Who have you got there but old Mr. Manning’s Archie!”

  “Archie?”

  “Mr. Manning named him after the Archbishop of Canterbury.” Mrs. Spuds beckoned us inside. “He said that even as a puppy there was something uplifting in those dear brown eyes.”

  “There is.” I could not look into them. Did he sense that the moment of parting was closing in? “I’m Ellie Haskell. My husband and I are staying at Mucklesfeld for the coming week.”

  “Bless you, love, I know who you are from Dr. Rowley’s description. What a shame you were taken poorly like that! Feeling a lot better this morning, I hope? How did you come upon Archie?”

  “He came in through my bedroom window.”

  Mrs. Spuds didn’t seem to find anything particularly strange in this. Perhaps she thought I had been sleeping on the ground floor. “You’ve taken to him, I can see that. What needs explaining is that Mr. Manning died some months back and his daughter took Archie to live with her and the hubby like she promised her dad.”

  “I heard about Mr. Manning from Celia Belfrey when I went to Witch Haven at his lordship’s suggestion, but she thought that”-my voice caught-“the dog had been put down.”

  “That would be her, always hoping for the worst. How that acid-tongued woman can be related to Dr. Rowley or Lord Belfrey-although I don’t know him as well-beats me.” Mrs. Spuds shook her head. “I’m amazed you got your foot in the door, love. No wonder you’re looking in need of a sitdown. If you don’t mind the kitchen, I’ll make you a cup of tea, and afterwards, if you like, I’ll phone Mr. Manning’s daughter and let her know Archie’s turned up.”

  “Won’t she be terribly worried?” I followed her through an open door with Thumper-Archie-pressing closer than usual, and sat down on the chair Mrs. Spuds pulled back from the table. It had a yellow and white checked cloth and in the middle was a bottling jar filled with leafy twigs. Altogether the kitchen, with its wide modern window above the sink, cream Aga, and old-fashioned dresser with blue and white china, looked much more cheerful than I was feeling with that soft nose nudging my knee.

  “I wouldn’t think she’ll be in a panic, love.” Mrs. Spuds set the kettle on the stove and reached for the tea caddy. “She’s a nice woman is Linda Dawkins, though ready enough to say she’s not an animal lover. Which isn’t a crime. What would please me would be for… Dr. Rowley to get himself a nice puss.” She opened the fridge for the milk. “Both Linda and the hubby are Dr. Rowley’s patients.” I nodded before bending down to unknot Lord Belfrey’s tie from around… Archie’s collar, my fingers lingering in the black velvet fur.

  Having placed a cup and saucer in front of me, Mrs. Spuds patted my shoulder. “I also know Linda from playing whist at the church hall when they need someone to fill in. I’m not one of those keen card players, like she is. Both goers, her and the hubby. Never ones for a night by the telly.” She fetched her own tea and joined me at the table. “Home’s where I like to be when I’m not working-although you can’t call it work when it comes to doing for Dr. Rowley.”

  “He seems very nice.”

  “Kindness itself. Such a shame he’s never married. Shy with women like my Frank was until we got together. And like he’d have said, God rest his soul, it’s a good thing we’re all different. He wouldn’t have liked to hear me sounding critical of Linda Dawkins. I hope you didn’t take it that’s what I was doing.”

  “Not at all.” I smiled at her. “You were filling in the picture.”

  “Celia Belfrey’s another story, although I have tried to feel sorry for her. Imagine growing up and living out your youth at Mucklesfeld! To my mind it’s a Chamber of Horrors,” Mrs. Spuds stirred her tea, “which I’ve said to Dr. Rowley when I shouldn’t, him almost certain to come into the place one day, unless he goes before Lord Belfrey. Is the tea how you like it? I didn’t put in much milk,” she moved a small pansy-painted jug my way, “add more if you like.”

  “It’s just right, thank you.”

  “Do you have a dog of your own, love?”

  I shook my head, while a voice inside me cried out that Archbishop Thumper was my dog.

  “Understandable Linda finds it a bind having to get back from her outings to see to Archie, or that-not being used to having an animal-she sometimes forgets to keep the garden gate shut. Like she said to me when we met in the high street, the responsibility all falls to her during the day, and when the hubby gets home at night he’s entitled not to be bothered. But there, she’ll stick to the promise she made her dad.”

  “That’s something.” My heart sank and my hand went down to Archbishop Thumper’s head.

  “A finer old gentleman you’d never wish to meet than Mr. Manning. Feeling all right, love?” Her kindly face searched mine.

  “Fine. I’m interested in Mr. Manning.” How could I not be in the man who had raised such a wonderful dog?

  “Terrible what happened.” She watched me take a swallow, as I might have done when glad to see the children start downing their milk. “Crossing the road, he was, on his way to have a chat with Mrs. Jenkins from the house opposite, and mustn’t have seen the car coming, although the driver told the police he was going slow, which a couple of witnesses agreed was true. Well below the speed limit, they said. Probably Mr. Manning had his mind on his Brussels sprouts. Devoted to his sprouts, was the old gentleman, used to get worked up about them coming out in brown speckles the way a mother worries when she thinks her child may get the illness with the rash that’s going around. If only he’d looked right, left, and right again like we were taught in kindergarten. The one blessing, love, was that Archie was inside at the time.”

  “If only”… those had to be among the most agonizingly futile words in the English language. If only the exterior lights had been on when Suzanne Varney drove through the gates at Mucklesfeld. If only she had parked on the drive and sounded her horn. If only the phone hadn’t been out and medical help could have been fetched more quickly. Dr. Rowley had said death would have been instantaneous, but could that be cert
ain? Might he not have wished to provide some minimal comfort to Lord Belfrey?

  “The poor doctor, who’d have his job? is what I used to say to Frank.” She poured us both a second cup. “He was making a house call just a few doors down the afternoon the old gentleman got run down. Someone recognized his car and fetched him to the scene. Very upset he was when I saw him next.” I guessed what was coming. “And now there’s been this other terrible accident. That awful fog! I don’t know when I’ve seen one so bad in a long time. But no need to tell you that, love, when you and your hubby and friend were out driving in it like the poor young woman, just a short time before.”

  “It was like driving through a mattress,” I said.

  “I was here when Lord Belfrey came to fetch the doctor. These last few years I haven’t had Frank to hurry home to, so I’m more than pleased to stay on and put his dinner in the oven. The mercy was that he’d just got back from going on a walk.”

  “In the fog?”

  My startled exclamation roused Archbishop Thumper to place his head on my knee as if to save me from bouncing up in the air. Mrs. Spuds’s periwinkle blue eyes twinkled. “Wonderful as he is, Dr. Rowley has his odd ways. Same as most men, including my Frank-for him it was going on peculiar diets, like the time all he would eat was butter beans with vinegar. For years the doctor’s kept a skeleton from his medical student days in the hall wardrobe. When he comes in, I’ll be asking him where it’s gone because it wasn’t there this morning. The fog wasn’t so bad when he set off-saying he was stiff from sitting in the surgery late into the afternoon and a walk would help loosen his back-but between you and me, love, it had seemed to me he’d been a little down in the dumps all week.”

  “Might that have had something to do with the start of filming Here Comes the Bride?”

  “You mean that he might not have approved? I wouldn’t think so, love. What goes on at Mucklesfeld has never seemed to interest him overmuch. There was a rift, you see, between his father and grandfather that led to the change of name to Rowley, and the doctor was brought up not expecting any closeness with the Belfreys. His late lordship treated him strictly as the local GP. As for Celia Belfrey, I’ve always thought the only reason she’s accepted him halfways as a relation is he’s the only person willing to spend half an hour in her company. His mother-that wasn’t considered good enough to marry into the family-was the same wonderfully kind sort. A lovely home she made here,” Mrs. Spuds looked around the kitchen, “and bless him, Dr. Rowley has kept things just like she had them. And now,” she got to her feet, “why don’t you stay resting yourself while I go into the sitting room and give Linda Dawkins a ring?” She hesitated in the doorway when Archbishop Thumper gave a low whine before putting his head down on his paws. “Just listen to him; anyone would think he’s not keen to go home.”

  “Will she really want him back?”

  “Not want, love, but there’s that promise to her father, and Linda’s the sort who’d worry she’d go to hell if she broke it. A shame,” the blue eyes took in every inch of my face, “that he can’t be with someone who’d love him as much as Mr. Manning did. And him such a young dog-not more than two, I’d say. But sadly, life’s what it is, as my Frank used to say.”

  Mrs. Spuds disappeared and, with the kitchen door left ajar I soon heard her voice, although not what she was saying, speaking in interrupted intervals. Meanwhile, I sat with hands clenched in my lap. I must not allow Archbishop Thumper or myself to hope. For what? That Mr. Manning had contacted Mrs. Dawkins from beyond the grave to tell her he was releasing her from her promise, and that she should let the nice woman who’d found his beloved dog seek a loving home for him, if keeping him herself was out of the question. Which of course it was. Hadn’t I for years told Ben and the children that bringing in another animal wouldn’t be fair to Tobias, who was used to being a pampered only pet? That the time for a dog would be when he went to cat heaven? Besides… what to do with my new friend in the meantime? It would be too much of an imposition to take him back to Mucklesfeld, although I was sure Lord Belfrey would be nice about it-if only because I was the one asking the favor. No, I must bite the bullet.

  When Mrs. Spuds came back into the kitchen, I turned to look up at her. “Were you able to reach Mrs. Dawkins?” My voice stayed steady even when I felt the soft furry face shift to my foot.

  “Caught her just as she was about to leave for the hairdresser. Like I thought, she hadn’t worked herself into a state about Archie, but said she’d be around to fetch him after her appointment if I didn’t mind keeping him for another hour. Which of course I don’t, love.”

  “Thank you.”

  “No trouble, is he? Now,” avoiding looking directly at me, “how about you staying for a bite of lunch?” Her eyes went to the wall clock. “It’s close on noon and I always get something ready before half past in case the doctor decides to come in between morning surgery and his afternoon rounds. Most often he doesn’t, being pressed for time, his patients do like to keep him chatting, so I always do something that can be saved for his tea. Just before you arrived, I’d decided on making salmon and cucumber sandwiches. It’s red salmon. I don’t mind the pink myself, but as I used to say to Frank, you can’t expect a doctor to eat pink salmon. Especially one that works as hard as my Dr. Rowley.”

  “That’s awfully kind of you, but I should get going.” Moving would necessitate dislodging Archbishop Thumper’s face from my foot. While I was bracing myself, I remembered my reason for coming here. Putting my hand in my pocket, I felt the piece of plastic that had been in his mouth when coming up from the ravine after replacing the bouquet. My hand felt for his silken head. Then I drew out Mrs. Malloy’s note, got to my feet, and handed it to Mrs. Spuds.

  “One of the contestants asked me to give this to you.” I didn’t add that she was a friend of mine, so as not to put pressure on Mrs. Spuds. She unfolded and read it. When she looked up, I saw the uncertainty on her face.

  “I don’t know, love. Even if this lady is paying, I wouldn’t feel it right to speak to any of the ladies I know about giving a hand at Mucklesfeld without first talking to Lord Belfrey. And I’m not sure I want to put myself in the middle like that. He and Dr. Rowley have begun to establish a nice relationship-working toward becoming friends after all these years of not having contact, let alone seeing each other. No, love, I think I’d best stay out of things. Would you mind telling that to the lady?”

  “Of course not,” I said, sensing there was something held back.

  Mrs. Spuds pressed a hand to her snowy white hair. “There’s the three people now working for his lordship; I gather he’s fond… protective of them. Could be he’d worry that bringing in extra help might put their noses out of joint.”

  Silently I agreed with her on this, but still felt there was more going on. “What about the staff employed by Lord Giles Belfrey? Are they still in the area?”

  Now we were getting to the root of the matter. “Bless you, love, there wasn’t anyone for near on thirty years, excepting old Forester. He didn’t go to Miss Belfrey at Witch Haven until after her father died. The rest-butler, housekeeper, and maids-were all got rid of right after Lord Giles’s young wife left him. It was like he went mad with grief. Those that went to Mucklesfeld hoping to help-friends and acquaintances along with the vicar, not Mr. Spendlow but the one before-were met at the door by a disheveled, sunken-faced man they had trouble believing was the one they had known. Like you can imagine, love, the nightmare stories grew and Mucklesfeld became a place to be avoided as quickly as possible, even in daylight. Miss Belfrey stayed on for several years before, so she told Dr. Rowley, deciding that if she didn’t move to Witch Haven, she’d end up as crazy as her father.”

  “She struck me as unpleasantly sane.”

  Mrs. Spuds smiled faintly. “Apart from her obsession with shoes. Apparently she has stacks and stacks still in their boxes, never worn-enough to fill an entire closet to the ceiling. But then I suppose a lot of wome
n are nutty about shoes.” She paused. “There, love, I didn’t like to tell you how people around here think of Mucklesfeld-not with you staying as a guest of his lordship-but sometimes beating around the bush can make the point you’re trying to avoid. And Dr. Rowley says he’s never felt any evil vibrations or what have you, and if ever there’s a man of sense, he’s it. Like he says, it’s not as though Lord Giles murdered his young wife.”

  “But is that the local theory?”

  “That’s people for you-a young wife vanishes overnight. It makes a better story than her getting fed up and bunking off.”

  “Did you know her?” I gave Archbishop Thumper a firmly final pat and moved toward the doorway.

  “Only from seeing her at church or in the high street. I could never make out if she was standoffish or deeply unhappy.”

  There was no doubt about the whine that accompanied us along with the patter of paws into the hall. My farewell to Mrs. Spuds was speedier than politeness required, but she clearly understood, saying she would close the front door as soon as I was outside to prevent an attempt to follow me.

  It had stopped raining; but instead of thinking kind thoughts of Mother Nature, I took exception to the happy blue of the sky. Dear, dear Archbishop… no, just Thumper. That’s who he would always be to me when I looked back to our hours together. Love had been ours for one brief, shimmering moment in time. It had happened: to his lordship at the moment of looking into Eleanor Belfrey’s eyes as she turned to face him on the staircase at Mucklesfeld… to all those others down through the ages whose souls had communicated in a moment of instant recognition more clearly than the spoken word. Our bond took nothing away from what Thumper had shared with Mr. Manning. Not having witnessed the accident that took his master’s life, Thumper must have continued to expect his return. This explained his making off whenever Mr. or Mrs. Dawkins left the garden gate open. Searching, forever searching, until he came through my bedroom window and the truth revealed itself: that Mr. Manning was gone, never to return except in hallowed memory, and now was the time to live again.