Murder on the Candlelight Tour Read Online Free Page A

he marched to Yorktown where, as you know, he was defeated and thus the war ended with his surrender. But he left some of our brave soldiers down there in that dungeon. Some were able to escape by means of the tunnel that leads to the river."
    "I've heard rumors about a tunnel. So it does exist?"
    "Oh, it exists all right. I've been in it. A truly gruesome place. Not for the faint of heart, nor anyone with claustrophobia. I can't imagine what it would be like to be locked up there. Or in prison."
    His chin trembled. Overnight he seemed to have aged a decade. "You do believe I didn't kill Sheldon, don't you?"
    I reached out a hand and patted the rough texture of his jacket. "Of course, I believe you, Binkie. You couldn't harm a fly. And the police will believe you, too. We have to find a way to make them see the truth. At heart, Nick is a fair man. It's just that he becomes overzealous when performing his duties."
    "I hope you're right, Ashley, but it all looks bad for me. And I've only my ill temper to blame. I hated Sheldon, and everyone knew it. I attacked him earlier in the evening. You were a witness to that, and I will not permit you to lie on my behalf. Scores of people have heard me swear I'd like to see him dead." His chin dropped. "But saying you'd like to see someone dead and killing that person are worlds apart."
    "I know, Binkie. Tell me exactly what happened. You didn't get a chance to last night."
    He cleared his throat. "Well, the tour seemed to be over. Rachel came through on her way to the kitchen and said you had locked the front door. I hastened upstairs to use the bathroom. That's the trouble with these old houses, only one bathroom to a house and it's always on the second floor. And the trouble with us old men is we have to use it too often."
    He raised a palm in answer to my unspoken question. "No. No one saw me. The last of the stragglers was in one of the bedrooms. I heard someone moving about. When I returned to the library, the door was closed. I pushed it open and stepped inside, and immediately tripped over the poker. I didn't see it laying there on the floor."
    "Did you fall?"
    "Yes, down on my knees."
    So that was the thump I heard. "Go on," I prompted.
    "Well, I picked up the poker and carried it around the sofa to return it to the hearth. And then . . . then I saw Sheldon. He was lying so still, and there was so much blood. I think I froze."
    "That's when I came in."
    "Yes."
    "Oh, I wish you hadn't picked up that poker. It is the most damning evidence of all."
    "My wish, precisely."
    "We're going to work this out. We'll make Nick see it couldn't have been you."
    He looked encouraged. "I couldn't kill anyone, you know that."
    I nodded and gave him a hug.
    "As far as I'm concerned, Sheldon killed my baby sister, but I could never kill him over it. Yet, I couldn't forgive him either. He was no good, Ashley."
    "He was always kind to me," I said thoughtfully, recalling how Sheldon had been instrumental in getting me the commission from the Historic Preservation Society that launched my career. I still couldn't believe the illustrious Sheldon Mackie, Wilmington's legendary decorator, was dead.
    The first stage of the grieving process, I recalled from when Daddy died, was disbelief and denial. Later, the tears would come. I knew that one day the flood gates would open and I would grieve freely for Sheldon. But right now my major concern was for the living, for preventing Binkie from being prosecuted for a crime he didn't commit.
    "Come, sit down," I said. We climbed the stone steps to the Burgwin-Wright House's front porch. No one was around. We sat on a bench.
    Binkie, so distinguished with his thick white hair, his handsome herringbone jacket and knit tie, reached out to take my hand in his. "Yes, I know that Sheldon recommended you to the society. So did I. I'm a charter member, if you recall. You deserved the nomination. You're talented and dedicated, Ashley. It may have seemed like a magnanimous