Page 74 of Dead Serious Case 4 Professor Prometheus Plume
“Professor Plume, one of the actors from the murder mystery event,” Danny answers.
“He was stabbed right in the neck, Aggie. It was awful!” Ellis’ eyes are wide as he gestures wildly. “And it was one of your knives!”
“Yes, thank you, Ellis,” Danny interrupts. “I’ll take it from here.”
“My knife?” Aggie repeats. “Fuckin’ ‘ell, that was my best carving knife too.”
“How do you know which knife he’s talking about?” Danny asks.
“Because it’s the only one missin’. It doesn’t take an idjit to figure it out.” Aggie scowls, seemingly more upset about the knife than the fact someone was murdered with it.
Danny continues to cut through the tape. “When did you discover it was missing?”
“Well,” she considers aloud, “I carved the meat with it for dinner, then served. Once all the mains went out, I washed up my knives by hand and put them away in the drawer wrapped in their roll. After the desserts were served, I went out back for a cigarette. When I came back in, the drawer was open, the roll was laid out on the side counter, and my largest carving knife was missing.”
“And you didn’t see who tied you up?” Danny sets the scissors down and begins peeling her out of the tape.
Aggie scowls even more. “No, I didn’t, but when I get my hands on them, they’ll wish they hadn’t.”
“That seems awfully convenient,” Major Dick sneers.
“Well, she didn’t tape herself to the chair.” Danny shakes his head and offers his hand to help Aggie to her feet.
Now that she’s standing, I can see she’s fairly short—maybe five-two— and quite plump and is wearing chef’s whites with various stains splattered across the front of the jacket.
“No, she didn’t,” I mutter and throw a look Bertie and Roger’s way.
Danny follows my gaze to an empty corner of the kitchen and his mouth forms an ‘O’ shape, so I’m pretty sure he’s just caught on to who—or ratherwhat—the culprits may be.
“You know, Bertie,” Roger says pensively as he lights another cigarette. “I’m beginning to think we might have been a little hasty. I mean, it’s not as if Aggie has murdered anyone before.”
“That we know of,” Bertie points out.
“Touché.” Roger blows out a thin stream of smoke. “You know what we need?”
“Reinforcements!” Bertie booms. “Golly, that’s a brilliant idea!”
“Exactly.” Roger grins. “Let’s round up the troops and we’ll have this solved in no time!”
Oh my god, it’s like watching a slow-moving car wreck that I’m powerless to stop. I can’t say anything with all the other guests crammed into the kitchen and watching intently. So I’m forced to glare at them, widening my eyes in warning as I give a tiny shake of my head.
“Good grief, is the lad alright?” Bertie points at me as she asks Dusty, who’s looking incredibly entertained. “He looks as if he’s about to have a fit of the vapours or something.”
“I had that once,” Edwina pipes up. “But it turned out my corset was just laced too tight.”
“He’s fine.” Dusty grins. “But I think what Tris is trying to say is that’s a genius idea, you should definitely call in all the other ghosts to help.”
“Dusty!” I hiss out in a strangled voice.
“What was that?” Essie sidles up next to me.
“I-uh.” I clear my throat. “I saidclearly. I agree with Danny. Aggie couldn’t have taped herself to the chair that thoroughly on her own.”
“Perhaps she has an accomplice,” Martha offers.
“Oooh.” Essie’s eyes widen. “Do you think they’ve been bumping people off like Sweeney Todd and Mrs Lovett?”
“It’s probably why they’ve got no guests.” Martha purses her lips and eyes Aggie suspiciously.