Page 38 of The Case of the Curate

“Indeed. You heard him cry out for help, I believe?”

“I did.”

“Did no one else?”

Kemp blinked. “I beg your pardon?”

“Who else heard Mr. Grande call for help?”

The butler closed his mouth into a thin line. “I could not say, my lady. Since no one else came out, I would guess no one else heard him.”

“But they heard you call to have Lord Chadbon informed.”

“I left the door to the house open. Dinah didn’t.”

“She came out through the laundry door, didn’t she?”

“She was shirking, as usual,” Kemp said in a rush. “I could tell she was trying to slip away and leave the others to do her share of the work. I saw her take a couple of cloths into the laundry—the first thing she’d done voluntarily all evening. So I watched for her coming back out. When I realized she hadn’t, I thought to catch her lounging at her ease in there, but she wasn’t.”

“So, since she hadn’t come out, you knew she must have gone outside?”

“I’d got as far as the drying yard when I heard the curate shout. I ran through to the garden, and there was Dinah lying there, with Mr. Grande kneeling over her.”

“What did he do?”

Kemp raised his eyebrows, almost as if he were dealing with a slow-witted servant. “Hadn’t he done enough? My lady.”

“What did you see him do, Kemp? Did he notice your arrival? Speak to you? Did you see him push the knife into her? Feel for her pulse? What?”

Kemp swallowed, clearly taken aback by her sharpness. “I didn’t think he’d noticed me. Like I said, his hand was hovering over the hilt of the dagger. I didn’t know whether he’d stabbed her or was about to pull the thing out of her. He never looked at me, only at the body. He just said, She’s dead. Send for everyone you need to.”

“How did he sound?” Kate asked. She didn’t know why. It just seemed important to know.

“Sound?” the butler repeated blankly.

“Was he brisk? Loud? Did his voice tremble? Was he visibly upset?”

At least Kemp thought about it. “Shocked, I’d say. His hand was unsteady. His voice was quiet, but I heard it clearly enough. He never looked up from the girl as he spoke. Not until he realized I hadn’t moved or spoken. Then he glanced up and his eyes and his face were—” He broke off, shaking his head at the impossibility of finding the right word.

“Grief-stricken?” Kate suggested. “Afraid? Angry?”

Kemp shook his head, almost impatiently. “Just seemed a mess of emotions. A bit wild—mad, even. I shouted toward the house for them to send for His Lordship, and then I had the sense to tell them he should come via the orangery, and I shut the laundry doors to stop them all spilling out from the kitchen to gawp.”

“And then you went to the stables personally to send a lad for the doctor?”

“I did.”

“Because you understood that was what His Lordship would want?”

Kemp nodded. “He is a public figure. Propriety and appearance are important. This could have been a terrible scandal.”

It still could be if Rupert Grande is not freed…

“Then at the time, it seemed sensible to leave Mr. Grande alone with Dinah’s body? You did not suspect him of anything untoward then?”

“Dinah was dead,” Kemp said deliberately. “What more could he do? If Your Ladyship will excuse me, I have duties, and you do not wish to be seen in such a long conversation.”

Kate blinked. Even as a child, she had never been dismissed by a servant before. “Just one more thing. Did you recognize the dagger that killed Dinah?”