Anne Perry s Christmas Mysteries Page 0,66

had fancied herself in love, she had felt it even more.

She smiled at Mrs. Boscombe, deliberately avoiding looking around the kitchen, though she had noticed that the good linen sheets over the airing rail had been carefully cut down the worn-out middle then turned to be joined at the sides-to give them longer life. The china on the dresser was good, but a few pieces were chipped, one or two even broken and glued very carefully together. They had had money and were now making do and mending. Even Genevieve's dress indicated the same thing. It was of good quality but had been up-to-date ten years ago.

"Thank you. I would like that very much." She thought of adding something about barley being very light and pleasing, and decided not to; it would so easily sound patronizing. "Actually I called because I hoped Mr. Boscombe might be able to help me with a little of the church bookkeeping," she said hastily. "I do so much wish to be accurate. I tried Mr. Frazer, but he was unable to offer any assistance."

"What is the difficulty, Mrs. Corde?" Boscombe said with concern.

Boscombe served the barley soup into a blue-and-white bowl and set it on the table in front of Clarice, who thanked him. Suddenly she realized how difficult it was to explain her problem without lying, at least by implication.

Boscombe was waiting, eyes wide.

She must speak. "I...I was going through the Reverend Wynter's account books and I found certain..."

He was staring at her, something in his look darkening.

She could think of nothing to excuse what she had done, except the truth. Fitzpatrick had no authority to order her silence. Everyone would have to know at some time, perhaps even by tomorrow. She plunged in. "The Reverend Wynter is dead," she said very quietly, sadness overwhelming her. "We found his body quite by chance...in the second cellar. I went for coal and the cat followed me down. I..." She looked at him and saw the shock in his face, followed immediately by a terrible regret. He turned to look at Genevieve, then back at Clarice.

"I'm so sorry," he said a little huskily. "What happened? I...I hadn't heard."

"No one has," she said quietly. "Dr. Fitzpatrick asked us not to tell anyone until the bishop has been informed, but..." This was the difficult part. "But we disagree upon what happened. However, I would be grateful if you would not let people know that I told you, at least not yet."

"Of course not," he agreed. "That is why you were going through the account books?" He still seemed puzzled, but there was an inexplicable sense of relief in him, as if this wasn't what he had feared.

"Yes." She knew she had not yet said enough for him to understand. It was unavoidable now. "You see..." What she had planned sounded ridiculous.

"Yes?"

Genevieve also had stopped her work and was listening.

Clarice felt the heat burn up her face. "You see, I don't believe he died by accident," she said. She hated the sound of her voice. It was wobbly and absurd. She cleared her throat. "I think someone hit him. He had injuries both on his face and on the back of his head. They may not have meant to kill him, but..." She was telling them too much. "...but there was someone else there, and they didn't tell anyone." She turned from Boscombe to Genevieve. "He was lying all by himself in the second cellar, but he had no lantern," she went on. "Who'd go into a cellar without a lantern?"

"No one," Genevieve said quietly. "But why would anyone quarrel with the Reverend Wynter? He was the nicest man..." She stopped.

For a moment they all were silent: Clarice and Boscombe at the kitchen table, Genevieve standing with the bowl still in her arms.

"Do you think it's the money in the church accounts?" Boscombe asked finally, his face smooth, his eyes avoiding Genevieve's. "Surely there's hardly enough there to provoke a quarrel?"

"No," Clarice agreed. "It's only pennies missing, a shilling or two at the most. But it happened a lot of times, over six months or more."

Genevieve was looking at Boscombe; staring at him.

Boscombe sat still, his back stiff.

Chapter Twelve

He knows, Clarice thought, the conviction growing in her mind. He knows the Reverend Wynter was putting the money back. But had the vicar known who was taking it? Was that what he had been trying to find out all those months, and had at last succeeded? And was