𝗠𝗨𝗥𝗗𝗘𝗥, 𝗦𝗛𝗘 𝗪𝗥𝗢𝗧𝗘

𝘉𝘓𝘖𝘖𝘋 & 𝘊𝘏𝘈𝘔𝘗𝘈𝘎𝘕𝘌

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"Miss, you must be extremely tired. Wouldn't you like to rest tonight?" said Bobbi pleadingly, serving a hot cup of tea to her restless employer, who was trying on the finest dresses in her wardrobe. They've been in England for only a couple of hours, but Miss Richardson showed no intention of wasting any time.

"I can rest when I'm old, or when I'm dead, Bobbi," she pointed out. "I've been looking forward to this party. Since we are here, we might as well make our debut in the English high society. Now, moving on to more important things, should I wear the sparkly black dress or the champagne one? Or maybe the white one?" Adele asked, her eyes constantly switching between the dresses she picked.

One month ago, Miss Adele received a letter from her overseas friend, Doctor Katherine Hamilton, who invited her—and her staff—to attend her engagement party in Holmes Chapel. Naturally, she agreed to come. The last time she saw her best friend was during the First World War. Back then, they were both on nurse duty, tending the wounds of the brave soldiers that returned from the battlefields. The memories they had together weren't exactly the happiest, but it was surely something worth remembering. After the war came to an end, Katherine moved to England with a soldier she fell in love it, and that was the last time Adele heard from her until recently. She was, however, happy to find out Katherine was finally getting married.

And the timing couldn't be more right. A change of scenery was very much needed in Adele Richardson's life. In New York, her schedule was occupied with several events like cocktail parties, endless gambling, playing golf or tennis, and many other things ridiculously rich people did every day. But this was not enough to satisfy her hunger for mystery and adventure.

A short sigh left her companion's lips. "I think the white one is prettier, Miss."

That's all she wanted to hear. The engagement party was two days away, but Katherine offered to throw a welcoming party for her, on the day of her arrival. And parties were one of the very few things Adele Richardson could never get bored of. The others usually implied her sticking her nose into suspicious business. The woman was a magnet for trouble, after all.

"Thank you," said Adele. "Now let's pick something that will bring out the beautiful pink in your cheeks, shall we?"

Sounds of laughter echoed in the ballroom. Champagne bubbles, sparkly chandeliers and the noblemen of the English society—the party was a real success. Miss Richardson reunited with her old acquaintances, Katherine and her parents, and she got to meet the groom's family and friends as well. She enjoyed the delightful music and she was introduced to new people. It was lovely to see how interesting her old friend's clique was, the soon-to-be-married woman was surely living an exciting life in Holmes Chapel.

But the night wouldn't have been complete without a hint of trouble—Howard Coleman, introduced to Miss Richardson as the groom's best man, disappeared at the same time as Alycia Westminster, the groom's sister. At first, it seemed like a coincidence. Howard was married to Mary Coleman, and wherever Adele went, everybody was talking about what a lovely couple these two were. Not to mention that the Colemans were expecting their first child. No one thought he had something to hide, but Adele didn't believe in things such as consequences or the faithfulness of men.

She wasn't sure Howard and Alycia had an affair—or, at least not yet—but they were surely hiding something and they were doing quite a poor job at it. Maybe she would have minded her own business, but this affected Katherine Hamilton in one way or another. That's how things worked in high societies. People never went down by themselves, they dragged all of their friends with them. Everybody had secrets, Adele Richardson included, and the digging she was about to do was for the best if she wanted to protect her friend's current and future reputation.

Howard and Alycia seemed suspiciously uncomfortable moments before they made themselves unseen, and Adele figured it's time to look into it more closely. She excused herself, claiming that she could use some fresh air, then sneaked out of the party and discreetly followed them on the hallway. Careful not to make any sounds with her high heels, she hid behind a large marble pillar and listened to their conversation.

"She is what?!" Alycia whispered a little too loud. "Dear God, Howard. What do we do?"

The man looked lost deep in his thoughts. "It's not like we can do anything, what's done is done," Howard said. "If you ask me, I don't even want to find out what happened. I'm sure she deserved it, but we can't let this incident ruin the party, Alycia. Nobody can find out about this. The police will find her in the morning, but you can't say a word about this. Did you hear me? No word!"

Now that's what real trouble sounded like.

There was no turning back now. She had enough evidence to be sure that something bad was going on and she was determined to find out just what that might be. The only thing she had to do was to find more clues before jumping to any conclusion, even though her gut feeling told her that blood had been spilt tonight.

Alycia was pacing back and forth on the corridor, and her cheeks lost their lovely color. Worried might not be the most fitting word to describe the state she was in.

"Where is she?" she asked.

"Laura is still upstairs, in one of the guest rooms. After everybody leaves, I'll move her body. You go and make sure nobody goes upstairs until morning, alright?" said Howard, rubbing his temples.

Bingo.

Where there's a corpse, there had to be a murderer too.

Before she spoke, the raven-haired woman wiped a tear that threatened to fall from the corner of her eyes. "It was him, Howard! He did that to her. I told you there was something going on, that he was stalking her, but none of you listened and now she's dead! You better do something about it. Her blood is on your hands too! This wouldn't have happened if you actually gave a damn about what I told you!"

"Shhh, quiet!" Howard urged. "Have you lost your mind, woman?! Somebody could hear us, for God's sake! Do you want to be charged with murder? I told you I had a talk with him and the guy was nothing like you described him to be. There was nothing more I could do. Listen to me, Alycia. May her soul rest in peace, but this is none of our business. Let's go back before someone notices that we've been gone for too long."

So they were not hiding an affair, but a murder case.

Miss Richardson held her breath as the man and the woman passed by the pillar she was hiding behind, then made sure the hallway was empty before she rushed to the stairs. There were only a few guest rooms in this wing, about four or five. The dead woman had to be around here somewhere. Adele put a pair of white gloves on, so she wouldn't leave any prints behind, then decided to try her luck. Since the lights were off, she held her small-sized flashlight in between her teeth while she picked the lock to one of the doors. And as soon as she opened the door, she knew she was in the right place. Drops of blood guided her to the bathroom.

She reached reached her hand forward to the doorknob, but the door opened before she could touch it, and it revealed a very tall, quite handsome, dark-haired gentleman that looked pissed to see another person here. He blinded her with his flashlight, and Adele reached for the pocket gun she was carrying, intending to use it to defend herself.

"Inspector Harry Styles, Scotland Yard. Drop the gun and put your hands up!" he warned her, right before catching both of her wrists and pushing her into a wall. Not too rough, but enough to keep her still for a while. "Identify yourself before I charge you with murder."

"Pardon me, Inspector, but I'm not the person you're looking for." She assumed it was her strong American accent that made him roll his eyes. She shifted a bit, but she couldn't release herself from his grip, so she introduced herself. "I'm Adele Richardson, good friend of Katherine Hamilton."

Shortly after he heard her name, Inspector Styles let go of her and took a step back, a clear hint of annoyance in his tone. "My apologies for the rather unfriendly welcome, Miss, but may I ask what are you doing at a crime scene and why do you carry a gun with you?" Harry rose an eyebrow, his eyes focused on her gun as she placed it back in its holster, underneath her dress.

"First of all, it isn't polite to stare at a lady's legs for so long," Adele teased, politely smiling at the man before she continued with her explanation. "Second, I've heard whispers about a poor woman that has been murdered upstairs, and I figured out it wouldn't hurt to check it out. The gun is for self-defense. You can't really blame me for mistaking you with the murderer, can you?"

Lovely. The last thing Inspector Styles wanted was for a curious American to stick her nose into police business. He would have usually went for a different approach, but he was not supposed to draw too much attention to himself tonight, so he couldn't allow her to blow up his cover. He didn't come here for the cake or for the champagne, he was investigating something else when he came upon the murder, and the instructions he received were pretty clear, he had to keep a low profile. He couldn't risk having Miss Richardson slip and talk about what she had just witnessed.

"Miss, you do understand that civilians are prohibited from interfering with police matters, do you?" Harry sighed, then gently shook his head. "That being said, I'm going to ask you to leave and not tell anyone about what you saw tonight. Have I made myself clear?"

Adele nodded. "Of course you did, Inspector, but I'm afraid I can't do that. I mean, I wouldn't even consider talking to someone about tonight's events, but who knows what I might do after a few more glasses of champagne? A backstabbing friend, the alcohol!" Adele said. "But if you let me stay and keep an eye on me, that will lower the chances of anyone finding out about the murder. Am I wrong?"

Was she making fun of him? Inspector Styles found it hard to believe that she was seriously trying to convince him to let her stay at the crime scene, only so she wouldn't talk about what she saw. This was ridiculous.

"That is unacceptable, Miss. This is the last time I'm politely asking you to—"

"Did you know that Laura was being followed by a man?" Adele interrupted him, glancing over his shoulder before stepping aside and heading to the bathroom. She turned on the lights and sighed when her eyes came upon the woman's lifeless body. When she took a closer look, she furrowed her brows. "She has been moved, Inspector."

Incredible, he thought. She had the nerve not only to interrupt him, but also to question him and his authority, then give him advice about a murder case.

"May I ask who told you that?" Harry followed her in the bathroom, then placed himself in front of the bathtub, blocking her view as he crossed his arms over his chest. "As a matter of fact, I have already noticed that. It is my job to inspect dead bodies, Miss. Not yours. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the party downstairs thrown for you? And if so, why would you waste your time here, at the scene of a murder, instead of celebrating with the bride-to-be? This bloody bathroom isn't a sight fit for a beautiful young woman."

Adele tilted her head to one side, slightly pouting her lips as she spoke. "How disappointing. Then I assume you don't want to find out who plans to compromise the murder scene before dusk, do you?" she said, then shrugged. "Pity."

Adele faked a sigh, then turned around on her heels, as if she was getting ready to leave.

"Wait," Inspector Styles stopped her, rolling his eyes one more time before she would turn around and look at him. He refused to believe that he was, in fact, doing this, and the extremely pleased smile the woman had on her lips didn't make the situation any better. But she seemed to carry valuable information, it was his duty to ask her about it. "Please, go on."

"I believe Howard Coleman was the man who found her. For some reason, he thought it would be a good idea to tell Alycia Westminster about this, but she panicked when she found out what happened, and he tried to calm her down by telling her nobody would suspect Laura died at the party, because he will move her body by sunrise, which means he is going to mislead the police. If you ask me, Howard will most likely throw her in a nearby lake."

Harry furrowed his brows. As if the murder wasn't enough for one night, the groom's best man planned to ruin the crime scene and lower the police's chances of finding out what really happened to Laura Hall. And he was pretty much stuck with a sidekick he didn't want and certainly didn't ask for.

"Alright, Miss Richardson," he started. "I appreciate your sense of duty, but I don't see how your presence here would come to my aid."

"Two pairs of eyes are always better than one," she replied happily, then took another look at Laura's body. The years she spent as a nurse really came in handy now. Otherwise, she probably wouldn't have recognized this strange detail about the woman's wounds so quickly. "Inspector, some of these wounds were made after the victim's death and I'm not a hundred percent sure about this, but I think that the man who allegedly stalked her had nothing to do with her death."

Her comment caught his attention. He knelt before the bathtub, carefully studying the wounds again. He didn't have enough time to analyze the body before she showed up unannounced and decided to play Nancy Drew with him, so there were a few details he surely missed. This one included.

"Well, Miss Richardson, you are indeed right," he said. "She was stabbed post-mortem in four places. What makes you think that he isn't the man we are looking for?"

"Because the culprit is a woman," she stated. Inspector Styles opened his mouth to speak, but she went on with her explanation before he could say anything. "Not an ordinary woman, but one with medical experience. The cut wounds are clean, but not deep. Also, they were most likely caused by a small pocket knife, the type women usually carry around."

As much as he didn't want to admit it, she had a point. A valid one.

"And now, Inspector," Adele said, "I believe it's time to lock up this room and start asking questions downstairs. Wouldn't you agree?"

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this chapter was edited.

thank u for being patient enough to finish the first chapter! i was planning to fit the whole case here but i figured out it will be waaaaay too long so you'll hopefully find out who the culprit is in the second chapter. anyways, i plan on writing a different case every two/ three chapters!!! i hope u will fall in love with this story as quickly as i did. i can't wait to hear ur thoughts about this so feel free to let me know what u think in the comments below!