Move Your Blooming Corpse by D. E. Ireland Page A

death.” Sybil lowered her gaze. “It wasn’t suicide. She had a return railway ticket and planned to help her sister in France care for her new baby. Emily felt strong in her views, though.”
    â€œAt Ascot, people booed when Hewitt was carried off the track,” Eliza said. “Especially since he carried that flag.”
    â€œWe often encounter hostility. One suffragette at the Derby was chased and beaten by a mob. She would have been killed if not for a railway porter who hid her at the Epsom train station. The police didn’t help at all.”
    â€œFor good reason,” Jack said. “They were outnumbered. People were downright livid after they lost their bets on Anmer.”
    â€œRotten luck,” Colonel Pickering said. “Like losing out on seeing Tracery beat Prince Palatine. Lost a guinea or two myself.”
    Jack drew a photograph from his coat pocket and handed it to Sybil. “I meant to show you this earlier. Do you recognize this man? From a suffrage meeting or the funeral?”
    She studied the photograph. “He seems familiar.”
    â€œIt’s Harold Hewitt. We had the newspaper print blown up using the magic lantern, but it’s a bit grainy in quality.”
    â€œDid you find any connection between Hewitt and Diana Price?” Eliza asked Jack.
    â€œWe’re still looking into that.”
    â€œSince she was a former Gaiety Girl, there are all sorts of stories circulating now about her,” Pickering said. “I heard Lord Cavendish drank champagne out of her slipper during a party at the Griffin Club. Shortly after, she married that Longhurst chap.”
    Sybil tapped an index finger on her teacup’s rim. “The WSPU asked her to sing at the suffrage rally once, but she refused. She actually laughed in Christabel Pankhurst’s face. That didn’t endear her to anyone. The actress Lena Ashwell did a dramatic reading instead. Good thing, too. She’s far more sympathetic to the cause.”
    â€œI read in the Times that Miss Price was quite vocal about how ridiculous the suffragettes are, smashing windows and the like,” Eliza said. “It seems she once gave an interview to the paper about her opposition to them.”
    â€œShe was right.” Clara lifted her chin in defiance. “They’re silly women.”
    Ignoring Clara’s careless remark, Sybil turned to the others. “I wonder if Mr. Hewitt read that article in the newspaper. If he was so obsessed about Miss Davison’s death, that might have tipped him over the edge.”
    Jack shrugged. “We can’t prove that without questioning him.”
    Eliza wasn’t convinced. The conversation then split into two. Higgins, Pickering, Jack, and Sybil discussed the latest suffragette violence, while Eliza focused on Clara’s and Freddy’s plans for the summer season.
    â€œYou’ll come watch me at the next rowing practice, won’t you?” he asked Eliza. “I’m so worried the club will throw me off the team. I missed twice due to that blasted wedding, but if you and Clara come, they wouldn’t dare. Will you wear our colors? You’d look wonderful in blue and white stripes.”
    â€œOf course.” She squeezed his hand.
    â€œPractice isn’t much fun. It’s bound to be hot, and there’s no shade.”
    â€œWe’ll bring parasols.” Eliza caught the drift of conversation between Jack and Higgins and shot them a quick question. “By the way, how is Mr. Hewitt?”
    â€œDoing quite well, even though a surgeon at the Royal Victoria Nursing Home removed a piece of bone from the base of his skull,” Jack said. “It seems his injuries were not life threatening. We’ll question him once the doctors allow it.”
    â€œAnd arrest him to stand trial for murder,” Higgins said with satisfaction.
    â€œI only hope our fingerprint expert finds something on the