Spyglass Mysteries: #1 Death At The Merryworth Manor

Chapter 6: The Grace's Estate

Wednesday, May 22nd

3:00 pm. Afternoon

I was the first to get out of the car, well, Logan opened the door that I was leaning on and I fell out. While I was brushing myself off, Logan and Mrs. Grace were standing over on the terrace. The driver pulled the car into the large garage at the bottom of the sloped driveway. I stood up and followed the path up to the front terrace. I could see a man walking around the grounds with a watering hose, Mrs. Grace waved him to get his attention.

"Stephen, Oh Stephen!" yelled Mrs. Grace.

"...Uh," sighed Stephen. "Yes, Mrs. Grace. What is it?"

"Do you mind watering the flower beds in the backyard, they seem to be a tad yellow this morning."

"I already have, Mrs. Grace. If I do them again, then they'll be more than just yellow."

"Well, do them again. I need to have everything to be perfect for the party on Thursday. Oh, and don't forget the Chrysanthemums up here on the terrace."

"Just... let... me... do... my... job, please," whispered Stephen, grinding his teeth angrily.

"Don't mind him, Mr. Stephen has been in the family for generations, they're the reason this mansion even exists. The Merryworth family owned this mansion until Mr. Stephen came into some money problems," said Mrs. Grace, as an older gentlemen wearing a black suit walked up behind us.

"Good evening madam, will your guests be staying long?" asked the gentleman.

"As well as our family butler, Arthur," said Mrs. Grace.

"Please, I prefer to be nothing more than an employee to your family."

"Hes' so modest. I think of him as part of the family now."

Arthur gestures with his white gloves to enter inside. From what I saw of the outside of the mansion, I could tell money wasn't a problem for these people. Mrs. Grace handed her purse and coat to Arthur. Logan placed his hat and coat on a rack by the door. Arthur watched him closely as Mrs. Grace was done handing her stuff over, Arthur walked past Logan and fixed his coat onto a different rack. Mrs. Grace walks over to the staircase, turning to us to show off her Foyer. I noticed the table next to the front door with a small pile of mail on a silver tray. I could see a piece of the Business Times buried underneath the many letters that aligned the table.

"Well gentlemen, this is the Foyer... and over here is Williams' Study. He moved it to the bottom floor after his age caught up with him," said Mrs. Grace.

"Do you mind if we take a look inside?" asked Logan.

"Oh... uh... I can't see why not, Arthur, can you please bring some tea out for them? I'm going to go upstairs and try my new dresses on."

"I will bring them at once, madam. Uh, sir, do you request any type of flavor tea?" asked Arthur.

"Yeah, do you have lemon ginger?" I asked.

"Well, uh... I'm afraid not, sir."

"Alright then, just some apple spice."

"Uh... y-yes sir, right away."

Arthur skippered down the hallway into what I guess was the kitchen. Mrs. Grace walked up the stairs, leaving us to our investigation. Logan pointed me to go in first. Stepping inside, the room had a nice splash of blue on the walls. The large double hinged windows covered the right side of the room. The curtains were left split open to shed some light in the room. Another door followed by a dark colored bookcase covered the left side, with a small fireplace behind his desk. There were many small trinkets aligning the mantle above the fireplace. My eyes focused on a gold colored spyglass with a small plaque. I couldn't read what it said from where I was standing. Logan walked over to a chair next to the door. He pulled out a handkerchief and damped his forehead. I stood over by the desk looking over the papers lying on the top. I lift my hands in the air, giving up on any attempts to find something in this mess. Logan gazed over at me and sighed.