Goodly and Grave in a Deadly Case of Murder. Justine Windsor
Чтение книги онлайн.
Читать онлайн книгу Goodly and Grave in a Deadly Case of Murder - Justine Windsor страница 4
Название: Goodly and Grave in a Deadly Case of Murder
Автор: Justine Windsor
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Детская проза
isbn: 9780008183578
isbn:
“Hold this for a moment please,” Lord Grave said, handing the as yet unlit lantern he was carrying to Lucy. He dug around in his pocket and pulled out a small illustrated pamphlet that he passed to Lucy, taking the lantern back off her. The pamphlet was for St Olaf’s Church fete and had a drawing of the church on the front.
“This is St Olaf’s, Lucy. Do you think you can manage it?”
“Manage what?”
“A shortcut, of course.”
As part of her magical training with Lord Grave, Lucy had been practising shortcuts, a method of travelling that very few magicians were able to perform. Lucy had found out by accident that this was something she could do when she’d had to escape from a wicked magician called Amethyst Shade. Now Lord Grave was helping her learn to control this power.
“I think I’ll be able to. Is Bathsheba coming too? Won’t she be in the way a bit?”
“I’d prefer she came with us.” Something in Lord Grave’s tone suggested that he was secretly a little worried about what they might find at St Olaf’s. This made Lucy a little worried too, but she tried not to let nerves ruin her concentration as she thoroughly studied the picture of the church. Then she closed her eyes, fixed the image firmly in her mind and imagined herself there as strongly as she could.
“Excellent,” Lord Grave said softly after a few moments.
Lucy opened her eyes. Sparks fizzled in the crisp evening air, signalling that magic was afoot. They began to join together, forming a slash, which widened into a hole. Lucy gave a quiet whoop of victory. She’d done it! St Olaf’s Church and graveyard lay on the other side of the opening. Her very first official investigation of magical crime was about to begin.
Lord Grave and Bathsheba climbed through the opening, followed by Lucy. She always found it a strange sensation to grab the rubbery edges of a shortcut as she stepped through to the other side. When the three of them were standing safely in St Olaf’s graveyard, Lucy reversed the shortcut by closing her eyes and this time imagining the opening growing smaller and smaller. Sure enough, when she reopened her eyes, the hole she’d made was shrinking rapidly to a pinpoint. There was a gust of wind, which ruffled Lucy’s hair, followed by a loud sucking noise as the hole sealed itself shut.
“So what do we do next?”
“We need to speak to that gentleman over there,” Lord Grave said. The gentleman in question was trimming the grass round the edges of the graveyard. Lord Grave strode over to him.
“Good evening, my man, are you Mr Brakespear?”
Mr Brakespear didn’t reply. He was too busy staring goggle-eyed at Bathsheba.
“That’s a … a …” he gibbered.
“Panther. Yes. Perfectly tame, I assure you. Could I ask a few questions about what happened here yesterday evening?”
“But I’ve already spoken to the parish constable!”
“Yes, of course. But we’re detectives. Different area of expertise. Would you mind explaining again what happened?”
“C-certainly,” Mr Brakespear replied, continuing to eye Bathsheba warily. “I had a busy day yesterday. I’d buried Mr Shannon and Mrs Munt in the afternoon. So I was down at the Bird in Hand having a quiet pint before going home to bed. Then one of the other regulars came in, said they’d seen light in the graveyard. So I thought I’d better have a look.”
“Do go on,” said Lord Grave.
“Someone was standing on Mr Shannon’s grave over there, digging away.” Mr Brakespear pointed to a fresh grave on the other side of the graveyard. “Couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman; they were too far away. I called out to warn ’em off. Soon as they heard my voice whoever it was scarpered. When I went to check I found that Mr Shannon’s grave had a big hole in the soil. But the coffin hadn’t been touched. Reckon I disturbed the thief before they could get to it. It’s quite shook us all up. The vicar’s going to get some more mortsafes in, like that one on Mrs Munt’s grave. There’s a good offer in the Penny—”
“Most disturbing,” Lord Grave said. “Do you have any thoughts on what might be happening?”
“Well, have you read the Penny? Sir Absalom—”
“Ah yes, I’m well versed in Sir Absalom’s crackpot theories. Well, thank you for your help; we won’t keep you any longer. Oh, just a second, there’s a fly on your forehead.” Lord Grave reached out and placed the tip of his right index finger between the gravedigger’s eyebrows. Sparks crackled up the middle of his forehead, over his cap and down to the back of his head. Mr Brakespear’s eyes grew wide and unfocused. After a few seconds, Lord Grave removed his finger. The gravedigger silently turned on his heel and walked off.
“Why did you do that?” Lucy asked. “And what was it?”
“I didn’t want him remembering us, just in case. If he mentions anything to the parish constable about detectives making enquiries, it could raise awkward questions. So I tweaked him.”
“You did what?”
“Tweaked him.”
Suddenly Lucy realised what he meant. Lord Grave had tweaked the memories of the children she’d rescued from the clutches of Amethyst Shade to remove all traces of their ordeal from their minds. But until now, she’d never seen a tweak performed. It was most impressive how effortless he made it seem. She suspected it was harder than it looked.
“Can I learn how to tweak?”
“Yes, when I think you’re ready. It’s a very delicate skill you know. Multi-purpose too. You can tweak personalities as well as memories, for example. But get it wrong and you’re in dire straits. Now, let’s get on. We need something to hide behind, just in case my instincts are right and our graverobber makes a reappearance.”
“Look, we could hide behind that,” Lucy said, pointing to a statue of an angel, which stood near Mr Shannon’s grave. The statue was somewhat disturbing to look at. It was green with lichen and had holes where its eyeballs should be. However, the handy thing about the angel was that it stood on a tall, wide plinth, which could screen Lucy and Lord Grave as well as Bathsheba while affording a decent view of Mr Shannon’s grave.
The СКАЧАТЬ