Murder at Missleberry Manor

Part 1

Cecilia Allanson hurried up the stairs, doing her very best to ignore the stares of the numerous Woodworth ancestors whose portraits lined the staircase. She'd been staying with her closest friend Lizzie at her family's grand estate of Missleberry Manor for five days now and still couldn't get used to the sense of history and magnificence that surrounded her here. It was like being in a museum only the fact that it was also a family home made everything seem that much more vivid and alive. Only yesterday she'd seen a copy of the Woodworth family tree. Lizzie's name and date of birth, along with that of her brother and sister, were inked proudly at the bottom of a line which went all the way back to the time of William the Conqueror.

Cecilia didn't know anything about her own family before the great grandfather that moved from Ireland to England in the 1850s after mysteriously acquiring a small fortune. It seemed nobody saw the need to look too deeply into the matter for fear of discovering the unsavoury source of the money. And of course no good at all could come from investigating their Irish ancestry.

For all the grandeur of their awe inspiring home Lizzie's family were as lovely as they had been the previous times she'd met them. Cecilia had been so looking forward to this visit ever since it had been arranged at the beginning of the year. After hearing so much about them she would finally be attending one of the legendary Woodworth summer costume parties except it was now doubtful whether the party would even go ahead. Then again the discovery of a dead body would throw even the best laid plans into chaos.

Silently opening Lizzie's door Cecilia peered inside.

"It's alright," said a hoarse voice. "I'm awake, you can come in."

Cecilia entered the room, closing the door behind her. Lizzie's room was bright, airy and cheerful and suited her entirely. There were windows in two of the walls which were right now letting the early morning sun stream in. The walls were a pale green which matched the leafy pattern of the curtains, bedspread and comfy armchair before the fire, while the orange poppies that dotted the fabric added splashes of colour. There was yet another Woodworth ancestor on the wall but even this young woman, with her green silk dress and mysterious smile, suited the room. There was nothing dark or gloomy at all in the room. Nothing that is apart from Lizzie herself.

She was half sat up against a mound of pillows, the bedspread pulled up to her chin, surrounded by a multitude of handkerchiefs. Her blonde curls were in disarray around her face which was flushed and clammy with a slight fever. She wore such a look of thunder that Cecilia couldn't help but laugh as she perched on the end of the bed.

"Not feeling any better?"

Lizzie shook her head.

"Did you get much sleep?"

Lizzie shook her head again and then sighed. "Then again I'm guessing nobody really got much sleep last night. Mummy didn't even want to invite the Hanburys, at least not to stay anyway. And quite right too after the way they haven't stopped bickering since they arrived. And now their maid's gone and got herself murdered."

A shiver that had nothing to do with her fever wracked her body and Cecilia patted her leg through the bedspread.

"It's just horrible," Lizzie exclaimed. "How could something like that happen here? Who could do something like that?"

Cecilia hesitated and then said, "Do you know the police have taken one of the maids, Bess I think her name is, down to the station?"

"Yes mummy and Cat came in to see me and told me. But I can't understand how she'd do that. Not Bess, she's worked here as long as I can remember and she's as gentle as a lamb. I just don't think it can have been her."

Cecilia felt rather unnerved at the possibility that it wasn't Bess that had killed the other maid. If it wasn't her then presumably whoever did was still in the house.

Lizzie plucked up one of the less used handkerchiefs to wipe at her bright red, dripping nose.

"I suppose at least if the party's cancelled I might be able to persuade Mummy to reuse the theme next year and then I'll be able to wear my dress after all."

Every year the Woodworths picked a theme for their costume party and this year they had gone for the cosmos. On learning that Cecilia would be coming to the party the two friends had gone to great lengths to design and make their costumes.

Cecilia followed Lizzie's gaze to where her dress stood on the frame in the corner of the room. Lizzie had found a fabric printed with scientific diagrams of the planets with which she'd made her bodice. Her underskirt was going to be a simple ankle length skirt in shimmery dark blue fabric but to wear on top of that she'd created an intricate 3d model of the planets all suspended on hoops that attached to her waist which Cecilia couldn't help but admire even as she wondered how Lizzie had planned to sit down in it.

"I suppose-" Cecilia began but was interrupted by Lizzie's sneeze that was so loud and strong it propelled her up into a seated position. She fell back against the pillows with a groan and scrambled around for a handkerchief that hadn't fallen to the ground.

"I'm sorry Cee," she said mournfully. "I invite you here to stay and then spend all week ill in bed and now this happens!"

"You're hardly to blame for any of this," said Cecilia. "And as long as I'm not the next one to be found like the maid I can hardly complain."

"Oh don't even joke about something like that," said Lizzie around a yawn almost big enough to split her in two.

Cecilia stood up. "I'm sorry, but really don't worry about it. Try and get some sleep and I'll come and see you later."

***