The Twelve Clues of Christmas by Rhys Bowen

with unabashed curiosity. Was this the first visitors arriving so early?
    The aged butler went to the door and I heard a young woman’s voice, thick with the local accent, saying, “Oh, Mr. Dickson. Terrible news. It’s Miss Effie. We just found the gas turned on in her bedroom and Miss Effie stone dead. We don’t have a telephone in the house so Miss Florrie sent me to call the doctor—though what he can do, I can’t imagine. Stone dead, she were, God rest her poor soul.”
    This outburst brought Lady Hawse-Gorzley through from the dining room. “What’s going on, Dickson? What’s this all about?”
    “It’s the girl from the Misses Ffrench-Finch, my lady,” Dickson said, his voice wavering a little with emotion. “It seems that one of the ladies has been found dead in her bed, and this girl wishes us to telephone for the doctor.”
    “How awful. I’m so sorry,” Lady Hawse-Gorzley said. “Come on in, my dear. What a shock for you. Which of the Misses Ffrench-Finch was it?”
    “Miss Effie,” the girl said, swallowing back a sob that rose in her throat. “I don’t know what the other two are going to do without her. She was always the strong one, the one who bossed us all around.”
    Lady Hawse-Gorzley put an arm around her shoulder. “Well, she was no longer young, was she? I suppose it was her heart?”
    “Oh, no, ma’am. Like I were telling Mr. Dickson, we found the gas turned on for her gas fire, but no flame lit. She must have been breathing that gas all night.”
    Lady Hawse-Gorzley sprang into action. “Dickson, please telephone Dr. Wainwright and tell his receptionist he is wanted immediately at the Misses Ffrench-Finch. I had better come over right away, hadn’t I? I imagine there is chaos.”
    “Well, ma’am, Miss Prendergast is already there. I expect she’d be comforting Miss Florrie and Miss Lizzie. She just happened to be passing on her usual morning walk, so she went straight inside and was her usual efficient self. But of course she doesn’t have a telephone neither, so that’s why she sent me here.”
    I didn’t wait a second longer, but headed straight back to my room. Queenie hadn’t got around to laying out my clothes. “I thought you was taking a bath, miss,” she said when confronted. I didn’t have time for explanations and hurriedly put on the kilt and jumper I had worn the day before, then ran down the stairs and along the drive to catch up with Lady Hawse-Gorzley. The snow now lay several inches deep and I wished I had taken the time to put on sturdier shoes.
    “You heard the ghastly news, I take it,” she said, hearing my footsteps behind her. “They must have made a mistake. The poor old thing probably died in her sleep from natural causes. It wouldn’t be like Miss Effie to forget to light the gas or to turn it on by mistake. She’s the efficient one of the three. She was the one who looked after the other two and kept them in line.” She sounded genuinely upset. “It’s not right,” she added. “Three deaths in three days. We’ll have people really start to believe in the Lovey Curse and then my guests will all want to go home.”
    “I’ve always heard that bad things come in threes, haven’t you?” I said to her. “Three deaths in a row is not unprecedented, especially as they are all so very different. Perhaps we’ll find there was a malfunction with the gas fire. Perhaps the wind blew out a low flame. All kinds of simple explanations.”
    She looked at me as if she had only just realized to whom she was speaking. “Lady Georgiana, I really can’t expect you to get involved in our local unpleasantness. Why don’t you go home and have breakfast? I’ll join you as soon as I can.”
    “I thought maybe I might be able to help,” I said.
    “Well, all right. Won’t say no. Could use the company. Dashed awful, isn’t it?”
    We were just crossing the road when I heard my name being called and saw my grandfather waving. “Just been out to