Page 88 of Dead Serious Case 4 Professor Prometheus Plume
As if synchronised, everyone’s eyes fall to the stiff corpse partially wrapped like a mummy in black bin bags that’s still on the floor.
“How did he end up in there?” Mr Meadow frowns, tearing his eyes from the body to eye the formerly concealed entrance. “And what is that, exactly?”
Ellis bounds across, stepping neatly over the corpse and peering inside. “It’s—oh.” His voice sounds a little disappointed. “It’s not another secret passageway, just some sort of hidden storage cupboard.”
“Places like that’re all over the house, lad.” Bertie claps him on the back heartily and sends him crashing into the bookcase.
He beams as he rubs his shoulder. “Really?”
“Certainly are.”
“Amazing,” he whispers reverently.
“Yes, well, this is all very interesting,” Mr Meadow cuts in, “but what I want to know is, who killed Plume and how did he end up in the secret cupboard? That sort of suggests it was a member of the staff, doesn’t it?”
“No,” Ellis says crossly as he stamps his foot. “None of the staff here at The Ashton-Drake would harm a guest or hide a body. In fact, none of the staff even know where the secret passages and hiding places are. They were only rumours until now.”
“A likely story.” Mr Meadow narrows his eyes at Ellis. “Awfully convenient, don’t you think?”
“Actually, I don’t think anything about this night has been convenient,” Danny interjects. “And while the staff might have had opportunity, they lack motive.” He turns to the ghosts. “Bertie, do you know if anyone here had knowledge of the concealed cupboard?”
“No, young man, can’t say that I do, but I know who will. She doesn’t miss a thing.” We watch as Bertie puts her fingers into her mouth and blows, but instead of letting out a shrill whistle as I would have expected, there’s silence.
I’m about to ask what she’s doing when the air shimmers and Leona Falberg-Black, the silent screen actress who basically looks like the human version of Betty Boop, appears and looks questioningly at Bertie.
“Leona, did any of these chaps here know about that hidden cupboard?” Bertie hikes her thumb over her shoulder in the direction of the open door.
Leona turns towards the assembled guests and actors. She sails across the room, light on her toes, and then, with a very dramatic flourish of her arms, she stops beside Mr Greyson and points accusingly.
“Shocker,” I murmur to Danny.
Mr Greyson flushes guiltily and backs towards the door as if he’s going to make a bolt for it, but Danny steps into his path and grabs his arm, swinging him around and pinning his arms at his back.
I watch as Danny reaches into his trouser pocket and retrieves his handcuffs.
“You carry your handcuffs with you?” Ellis asks in fascination.
“I like to be prepared.” Danny looks at me and smiles.
I avoid everyone’s gaze as my face heats.
“You can’t arrest me, I haven’t done anything wrong. I didn’t kill Plume,” Mr Greyson protests.
I raise my brow at his words. “But you did move the body?”
“And how did you know about the cupboard?” Ellis says.
Leona glides back towards the bookshelf to the side of the hidden door and mimes something fairly X-rated before turning to Bertie and giving a rapid series of gestures.
“Ah, I believe what Leona is saying is that Greyson there had the pretty filly, Ruby, pressed up against the bookcase at one point. They must have released the mechanism, thereby discovering the secret cubby’s existence.”
“So they both had knowledge of it.” Danny looks across at Ruby as John the Maid manoeuvres himself behind her, possibly to stop her from making a break for it too.
“Told you,” Dusty says, her eyes lighting with amusement as she watches the drama unfold. “It’s always the wife and the lover.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ruby says in desperation. “Yes, Grey and I discovered the hidden cupboard the day after we first arrived, but I certainly didn’t move my husband’s body or murder him.”
“She’s telling the truth,” Essie says, consulting her notebook. “During the time period in which the body was moved and we were in the kitchen, I was keeping a close eye on Ruby. She was my number one suspect in the murder, but she couldn’t have moved the body since she was with us the whole time. But him…” Essie’s eyes narrow on the handcuffed Mr Greyson. “I didn’t see him.”