Walking Into Murder by Joan Dahr Lambert

old lady’s the only one who can handle her.
    “Mind you,” she added with a knowing look at Laura, “there’s some as say the Baroness is too stiff, but I’m not one of them. Dignity, I call it, and I like a spot of dignity. Know where you are then, don’t you. Some of those royals are too chatty for me. My Daisy used to act like that poor Lady Diana was her best friend. All the girls did. But then, she encouraged it, poor girl.”
    “What do people think of Nigel?” Laura asked, once again steering the conversation back to the matter at hand.
    “He’s a good boy,” Maude declared firmly, “talented, too. He came in here one day and the bell was broken and he fixed it right up. And those faces he makes! Hard to believe they’re not real. Does those tours, too, and they’re a real attraction. He’s going to do mystery ones next summer, I hear. People like that. Brings tourists into town. Mind you, there’s some who criticize him because he hangs out with those hippies that live up in the woods, but I don’t pay any attention to that. Not bad kids, just mixed up. There’s new ones now, though, I’ve heard, and people aren’t so keen on this next lot. Bit of a bully, one of the kids, so they say.”
    “How about the gardener?” Laura asked. “He seems a hostile fellow too, or at least he didn’t seem to like me.”
    “You’re right about that,” Maude agreed fervently. “They hired him to be the butler first. He scared the guests off, so they got another butler and used him as a gardener. I can’t think why they didn’t just get rid of him instead.”
    A customer entered and she hustled away. “Good talking to you,” she called back as she disappeared behind the curtain.
    “Thank you so much!” Laura called after her. “I’ll be off now.” Leaving a generous tip on the table, she retrieved her boots and found the trail again. The second half of today’s walk was easy, the notes said, and she was glad. She felt too full of scones and undigested information to walk fast. Maude had been a veritable goldmine!
    Questions poured into her mind. Why had a man as surly as the gardener been hired as a butler and then kept on instead of fired? Had he found out about Antonia’s affair with the groom and the other unknown man, and had threatened to blackmail her if she didn’t let him stay on? Or did he know something incriminating about the missing cook? Was the body hers? And where was it?
    A horn brought Laura back to the present. Without noticing, she had turned onto a narrow road that accommodated only one small car going one direction at best. Both she and a six-wheeled lorry, English for truck, were trying to proceed along it. Worse, a car traveling the other way was almost upon them. Laura stepped into the bushes. Both drivers waved politely before they sped on at a pace that made her shudder.
    Another car approached, going even faster. It was sleek and low, a sports car, a brand new and very expensive one, she suspected. Royalty and rock stars were reputed to live in this area, and she watched with interest as it sped by.
    Her eyes widened in astonishment. The man driving it was the surly gardener! How could a gardener afford a car like that? The answer came quickly. The license plate spelled out Lady T . It must be Antonia’s car. Why was a gardener driving his employer’s high-priced car? More blackmail? And if Antonia could afford a car like that, why was Torrington Manor taking in paying guests?
    Laura’s curiosity deepened. She would never be able to concentrate properly on her walking trip, she realized, until she had gone back to Torrington Manor to look for answers to her questions. But how was she to do that without bumping into Thomas? That she refused to do, at least just yet.
    Inspiration struck. She would go on one of the tours they advertised. Viewing Torrington Manor as a tourist would provide excellent cover for snooping around. She wasn’t likely to run into Thomas,