Goodly and Grave in a Deadly Case of Murder

by Justine Windsor

  The meeting-room door crashed open, making everyone jump. For one wild moment, Lucy expected the murderous angel to burst inside. But instead, the Beguildy twins rushed in.

  “Where have you two been?” Lord Percy snapped. “We’ve had a real emergency here.”

  “We decided to have dinner with friends. Lady Sibyl’s coachman flew us back as soon as we heard. Is Lord Grave all right? Where is he?” Prudence said breathlessly. The small ship she wore in her piled-up silvery hair had tilted sideways and her cloak was hanging half off one shoulder.

  “Don’t worry, Prue,” Lady Sibyl said, patting Prudence’s arm. “He’s safe in bed at the moment, with a rather large bandage round his head. Young Bertie’s with him; the boy won’t let him out of his sight.”

  “What happened exactly? Did you make a hash of it, Lucy?” Beguildy asked.

  “She couldn’t have made less of a hash of it. Lucy saved Lord Grave’s life and her own,” Lord Percy said sternly. “I’ll explain later. Come and look at this.”

  Beguildy looked decidedly pouty as he and Prudence joined everyone else at the table, where Smell was still meandering around the notebook, stopping every now and then to gingerly sniff at it.

  “If only my detector hadn’t been broken.” Lord Percy sighed regretfully. The silver pencil-like detector had been smashed to pieces when the angel attacked Lord Grave.

  “I don’t need no detector, not with my nose,” Smell replied. “This thing reeks of magic. But not a type of magic I’ve smelled before.”

  “What does this mean? Does anyone know?” Prudence asked, pointing to the symbol that decorated the edges of the notebook’s pages in a repeating pattern. It was a snake holding its tail in its mouth.

  “The snake ouroboros,” Lord Percy said thoughtfully. “An ancient symbol in alchemy. It can mean a number of things: infinity, creation, destruction.”

  Before anyone could ask any questions about the snake ouroboros, the door opened once again. This time, Lord Grave wobbled into the room. He was dressed in his nightshirt, dressing gown and slippers and had a large bandage wrapped round his head. Bertie was hovering anxiously behind him.

  Prudence rushed forward to help Lord Grave. He resisted at first, but then leaned on her arm and tottered over to the table where the notebook lay open.

  “You should be in bed, Lord Grave!” Prudence said.

  “That’s what I told him!” Bertie agreed.

  “Too much to do,” Lord Grave said, half falling into the chair that Lord Percy had hastily pulled out for him. “Lucy. Are you all right? You look exhausted.”

  “I’m fine,” Lucy said, although in truth she was feeling horribly tired now and was finding it hard to concentrate.

  “Now, has anyone any ideas about this notebook?”

  Prudence began fussing around Lord Grave. “Your bandage is coming loose, let me just—”

  “Prudence!” Lord Grave said a little snappily. Then more gently, he added, “I appreciate the concern, Prue, my dear. But there’s no need for it. I’m perfectly well.”

  Prudence looked rather upset. As she dejectedly sat down next to her brother, her gaze met Lucy’s and they exchanged sympathetic smiles, although Prudence’s was slightly tremulous round the edges.

  “Smell is certain that the notebook has magical properties,” Lord Percy said. “But we haven’t progressed any further than that.”

  Lord Grave rubbed his forehead wearily, as though his head ached. Which was quite possible given he had recently been clonked over the head by a stone fist. “I think we should call in Angus Reedy.”

  “Good idea,” Lord Percy said. “An experienced bookbinder like him should be able to give us some insight. I could send him one of my chits?”

  “Yes, thank you. I believe he’s on his way back from France, but the chit should still find him.”

  Lucy was very curious to find out what a chit was, so she watched carefully as Lord Percy went over to a writing bureau that stood against the wall next to the window. He opened it, took out a sheet of paper from one of the numerous drawers inside, and wrote a message on it, before rolling it up. He then carried it over to the window, which he unfastened. He placed the tube of paper in the palm of his hand and spoke to it. “Angus Reedy. Believed to be travelling back to England from France.”

  There was a buzzing noise. The paper trembled and sprouted two tiny wings. It flew out of Lord Percy’s hand and buzzed off out of the window.

  “That’s amazing!” Lucy said. Although she was becoming more and more used to seeing magic now, much of it still surprised and delighted her.

  “Another of Lord Percy’s clever contraptions,” Lady Sibyl said, looking fondly at him.

  “It really is excellent,” Lucy said to Lord Percy, whose face creased into a rare smile.

  “I suppose there’s not much more to be done tonight,” Lord Grave said, bracing his hands against the arms of his chair and easing himself upright. “I suggest we all get some sleep.”

  Lucy made her way to bed, feeling more exhausted than ever. Her bedroom, which she shared with Becky Bone, was high under the eaves at the front of Grave Hall. Lucy didn’t like sharing a room with Becky, who could be grumpy and unpleasant, but she loved the view her from bedroom window as she could see out over to Grave Hall’s wildlife park. She could have happily spent hours watching the animals. There were so many fascinating creatures roaming around. Elephants (Lucy once had an unfortunate run-in with one of them), giraffes (ditto), lions, zebras and numerous other animals, as well as an abundance of birds. And Bathsheba was there too at times, of course. Although the panther spent her days padding around after Lord Grave, at night she slept in her hut in the wildlife park, because she had a regrettable habit of raiding the kitchen when everyone was asleep.

  Lucy always liked to have a last look out of the window each evening before going to bed. Treading carefully so as not to wake Becky, who would give Lucy a bad-tempered earful if woken, she went to the window and opened the curtains a little. Under the bright stars, the wildlife park was calm and still apart from the shadowy outline of one of the giraffes strolling along. Bertie had informed her that giraffes only slept in short bursts because they had to get up frequently to keep their circulation moving.

  Eventually Lucy yawned and closed the curtains. She changed into her nightgown and slipped into bed. Narrowly escaping death at the hands of a stone angel really was a tiring business and she was looking forward to having a good rest.

  It seemed as though she’d only been sleeping for a few minutes when the screaming woke her.

  CHAPTER SIX

  THE BREAK-IN

  Lucy leaped out of bed and stood shivering in the dark. Something banged in the house below.

  “Did you hear that, Goodly?” Becky asked, sounding frightened. Lucy could see the housemaid’s shadowy form sitting up in bed.

  “Y-yes.”

  Usually Becky would have made a nasty comment about Lucy’s shaky reply as she never missed a chance to be horrid. But fear seemed to be bringing out her best side as she simply said, “We need some light.”

  There was the scrape of a match and welcome candlelight began to flicker and glow. United for once, Lucy and Becky hurried out into the hallway. Mrs Crawley was already there, carrying a candle. She was wearing a pair of unlaced boots and had flung a coat over her beribboned nightdress, but her beard was still in the three plaits she always wore it in for bed. She looked unusually stern.

  “You girls stay here,” she said as she headed towards the stairs. “I mean it, Lucy!”

  Mrs Crawley clattered off, almost tripping over her bootlaces in her haste. Lucy waited for around a minute before setting off after her with Becky in tow. They followed the sound of voices and commotion, which led them to the bottom of the house and the entrance hall.

  The whole household had gathered there. The enormous front door stood open. A huge hole had been gouged out where the lock had once been and the lion’s-head knocker ha
d a dent in it. Vonk, the butler, was sitting on the tiled floor, a blood-soaked handkerchief held to his head.

  “Oh,” Becky whispered. “Look at Vonk. All that … all that … I think I’m going to …” She slumped to the floor. Nobody noticed apart from Lucy, who quickly bent over Becky to make sure the housemaid had simply fainted. Lucy knew she should really attract the attention of one of the grown-ups, but she wanted to take the chance to have a closer look at what was going on. Becky would come round on her own soon enough with no harm done.

  She moved closer to the knot of Grave Hall residents and guests. Mrs Crawley was helping Vonk to his feet.

  Lord Grave was there too. He was very shaky still from his own injuries and was having to be steadied by Bertie. Lady Sibyl and Lord Percy were carefully inspecting the damage to the front door. Lucy spotted Smell, nipping between people’s legs and sniffing around. He trotted over to her, casting a cautious look at Becky.

  “It’s all right; she’s only fainted.”

  “That your doing, Luce? I know you don’t like ’er, but—”

  “No! I think it was the blood that set her off. What’s happened to Vonk?”

  “Tussle with a burglar. Don’t know ’ow they managed it; that door is as strong as they come. Vonk was ’aving ’is bedtime cocoa in the butler’s pantry. ’E ’eard a kerfuffle. Someone was out ’ere, about to take off with that notebook you found.”

  Lucy gasped. “It’s been stolen? Oh, but it was our only clue!”

  “What’s been stolen?”

  The sleepy voice behind Lucy made her flinch in surprise. She wasn’t the only one to be startled. Being a cat, Smell’s reflexes were much sharper than Lucy’s and he leaped several metres into the air, his back arched.

  “What you doing, creeping up on people like that?” he said irritably as he landed neatly back down on the tiled floor.

  Rivers yawned. “Sorry. But what’s going on?”

  “I was just explaining to Lucy ’ere. There’d been a break-in. Someone tried to nick –” Smell paused, blinking up at Rivers – “that painting hanging over the fireplace. But Vonk challenged ’im. There was a bit of a fight. Vonk’s got a nasty cut and maybe a busted rib.”

  “Poor Vonk. I hope he’ll be all right.”

  Everyone was bustling towards the stairs now and as Becky was beginning to stir Smell lapsed into silence. Mrs Crawley flashed a stern look at Lucy as she passed by, carrying a protesting Vonk in her arms.

  “I can manage the stairs on my own, Mrs C! There’s no need for this.”

  “Come on, Vonk, be sensible. You’re in no fit state to be climbing great flights of stairs. It’ll be bed rest for you for a few days.”

  “She’s right, Vonk,” Lord Grave said wearily as Bertie helped him up the stairs too. Becky was on her feet now as well.

  “No need to help me up or anything, Goodly. I’m going back to bed,” she snapped before tottering off.

  Rivers yawned again. “I’ll be off as well. You take care, Miss Goodly.”

  When Rivers and Becky were both out of earshot, Lucy turned to Smell. “Why did you lie about what the burglar tried to steal?”

  “Thought it best not to say anything about the notebook. Lord Grave did say ’e wanted to keep the investigation quiet for now. You should get off to bed yourself, Luce. It’ll be sun-up in a couple of hours.”

  “I’m going to take a look around first.”

  “Lord Percy and Lady Sib ’ave already done that. No clues to be found.”

  “I’d like to anyway.”

  Lord Grave had ordered that the lamps in the hallway should be kept burning until dawn as a precaution, so she would have plenty of light to see by.

  Smell swished his tail and half closed his eye thoughtfully. “I’ll stick around. Don’t think you should be here alone.”

  With Smell trotting at her heels, Lucy began her investigations with the front door. Although the locks had been destroyed, the bolts on the inside were still intact and Lord Percy had refastened them. They were very stiff and heavy and Lucy struggled to undo them. Once she had managed it, she examined both sides of the door

  “I reckon they used an axe to smash the lock in,” Smell told her.

  When Lucy tried to shut the door, she had some difficulty because of the strong wind that had picked up outside, blowing bits of twig and other debris into the house. Once the door was finally bolted again, she turned her attention to the rest of the entrance hall. Apart from a broken vase, which had been knocked from the hall table during the struggle between Vonk and the burglar, everything looked as it always did. The wood-panelled walls gleamed, the grandfather clock ticked soothingly, even the paintings on the walls remained hanging perfectly straight.

  Lucy was about to give up and go to her room when she noticed a tiny movement on the floor as something drifted along in one of the many draughts that blew though the house. At first she thought it was just dust or fluff (one of Lucy’s duties was to sweep the entrance hall, but she never made a very good job of it). When she looked more closely, she saw that it looked more like the remains of a broken spider’s web, but a spider’s web strung with tiny multi-coloured drops of rain.

  “Smell, look at this!”

  Smell padded over to her side. “Can’t see nothing!”

  “There! That webby thing!” She pointed, but Smell still couldn’t see it. Lucy watched whatever it was twist and turn in the draught. After a moment or two, she bent down to take a closer look. Then she lightly touched it with her fingertip. The web erupted into a shower of sparks and vanished so quickly she wasn’t sure what it was she had really seen.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  COCKROACH CRUNCH

  “It’s very scary. I hope Lord Grave and Vonk get better soon,” Violet said a few hours later, when the servants were in the kitchen having their elevenses. Of course, Violet and Becky had no idea that Lord Grave’s head wound had been caused by a violent encounter with a stone angel; they both thought he’d been hurt during the attempted robbery along with Vonk.

  “What about me?” Becky said. “I was out cold for hours from the shock of it all. I still don’t feel right.”

  “I’m glad I wasn’t here when it happened. They might have stolen Caruthers!” Violet clutched the knitted frog to her chest.

  Becky opened her mouth, no doubt to make some scathing comment, but Rivers spoke over her.

  “I think Caruthers is safe, Miss Worthington,” he said. “We’ll all be on our guard from now on.”

  “That’s right, Violet,” Mrs Crawley said reassuringly. “Now, Rivers, would you like another of my special crunch biscuits?”

  Rivers held up his plate “No need to ask me twice, Mrs Crawley!”

  Everyone else refused the offer and Lucy had to wonder whether Rivers knew that the special crunch element of the biscuits he was enthusiastically munching was, in fact, baked cockroach.

  When elevenses had finished, everyone began to drift back to their various chores, leaving Lucy and Mrs Crawley alone in the kitchen. Lucy itched with impatience. She wandered around, picking things up and putting them down again. Lord Grave was still asleep and being jealously guarded by Bertie, but she was sure that he’d call a MAAM meeting once he was awake.

  “Lucy! If you’re at a loose end, you could be cleaning out Bathsheba’s hut,” Mrs Crawley said.

  She was standing at the kitchen table, kneading a small piece of dough that would later miraculously become enough bread to feed the whole household. Once, Lucy would have wondered why such a small amount of food was being provided for everyone, but now she knew that Mrs Crawley had a very special skill and was able to make a small amount of food go an unexpectedly long way.

  “What if Lord Grave wakes up and calls a meeting while I’m not here?”

  “Someone will come and fetch you.”

  Lucy sighed, but went off to put her armour on. The armour was necessary to protect Lucy as she had to go inside the Grave Hall wildlife park to muck
out Bathsheba’s living quarters. Although Lucy knew Bathsheba well enough now not to be afraid of her (and the panther was with Lord Grave at the moment, as she’d refused to leave his side since last night) there were still lions and other potentially dangerous animals to contend with.

  As she raked up Bathsheba’s dirty straw, Lucy mulled over what had happened so far. Someone was stealing grave dirt for nefarious purposes. There was possibly a magical notebook involved in those nefarious purposes, but no one knew exactly how. It was almost certain that the same man who was robbing the graves had tried to steal the notebook back last night. Lucy wondered again about the silvery web she had noticed at the scene of the break-in. What could it have been? Perhaps some sort of magical residue? But the attacker hadn’t used magic to break in and try to steal the notebook, just simple brute force. It was all so confusing and frustrating!

  Lucy was considering all this as she pushed the wheelbarrow full of Bathsheba’s used bedding back to the house when she saw Rivers hurrying towards her. She raised the visor of her helmet.

  “Is everything all right?” she asked, suddenly afraid that something had happened to Lord Grave.

  “Nothing to worry about at all. Lord Grave’s awake and called a meeting of MAAM to discuss last night’s break-in. Young Bertie’s most annoyed, but his Lordship insisted. Here, let me take that wheelbarrow for you.”

  “Thanks,” Lucy said, taking off her helmet.

  “It’s all very mysterious, isn’t it, Miss Goodly?” Rivers said.

  “What is?” Lucy replied cautiously, remembering what Smell had said about keeping the investigation quiet.

  Rivers chuckled. “No need to be evasive. I had a meeting with Vonk this morning. I’m going to cover all his duties until he recovers. So of course he had to fill me in on everything that’s been going on. Graverobbers and magical books! I must admit I envy you, Miss Goodly. I’m sure it’s terribly exciting to be involved in MAAM!”

  “It is exciting,” Lucy agreed.

  The wheels on the barrow squeaked as Rivers pushed it along. “How did you come to be involved, if you don’t mind me asking?”