The Egyptian Curse by Dan Andriacco, Kieran McMullen Page B

“Is it true? Did he owe Alfie?”
    To his surprise, she smiled. “Who’s being silly now? The situation is quite the reverse, I can assure you. Charles has had a very generous allowance from Daddy ever since their reconciliation. Alfie felt quite free to borrow money from him and lend it to his free-spending friends.”
    â€œWhy does he have to borrow money? Isn’t his father a duke?”
    Her smile broadened. “Only a Yank would assume the two are contradictory.” She sounded almost bemused. Hale wished he could see the humor. He could use a good laugh. “It turns out that the Duke of Somerset is a cash- poor aristocrat with nowhere near the money that Daddy imagined when he thrust Alfie at me. The family has property, but rents are low just now. Apparently the Somersets were not as industrious as the Sedgewoods. What I am saying is, Alfie and I are quite broke. Even Daddy never knew how broke, thanks to Charles helping us to keep up appearances.”
    An hour later, Ned Malone welcomed the news of Alfie Barrington’s impecunious state as supporting his favorite theory.
    â€œAll the more reason that Alfie would have wanted to collect on money owed to him,” he said. “And therefore, all the more likely that somebody unable to pay up settled the debt with a dagger to Alfie’s heart.”
    They were sitting at Malone’s desk at the Central Press Syndicate offices, where Hale had been waiting for him when he returned from the scene of the crime.
    â€œThen why kill Lord Sedgewood?” Hale said. “And what about the fact that an Egyptian dagger of his probably was the murder weapon?” Hale had told Malone off the record, as a friend and not a journalist, everything he’d learned from Sarah. “How do you connect that?”
    Malone shrugged. “There you have me. I don’t have an answer for that. But Rollins does.”
    â€œI was afraid of that.”
    â€œHis theory is that His Lordship knew that Lady Sarah killed Alfie, which made him dangerous to her. If Rollins knew that she’d buried the dagger-”
    â€œI’ve been trying not to think about that. Say, does Rollins want you to publish that theory?”
    Malone nodded.
    â€œGood,” Hale said. “That means he doesn’t really have much.”
    â€œHow do you figure that? I’d have thought just the opposite.”
    â€œNo, he’s trying to use you. He’s hoping that if you publish that Sarah’s the prime suspect, it will rattle her and cause her to make some big mistake - maybe move the hiding place of the missing dagger. I bet he puts her on round-the-clock watch.”
    Malone put a sheet of paper in his typewriter, ready to work on his story.”If that’s the game Rollins is playing, I’m not the only one he’s playing it with. Artie Howell from The Times got to the townhouse even before I did.”
    â€œHowell! How did he know about Sedgewood’s murder?”
    â€œSomebody tipped him off. I figure it must have been one of the servants.”
    Maisie had called Sarah right after she telephoned Scotland Yard. Reynolds, the butler, had worked for the family for decades. They seemed like loyal retainers.
    â€œWhy would they do that?” Hale wondered aloud.
    But Malone was too busy pounding out his story on the Remington to answer.

The Curse Revisited
    Curses come home to roost.
    â€“King Alfred the Great, Proverbs of Alfred , 1275
    Rathbone dropped around to Hale’s desk on Saturday morning.
    â€œDid you see this?” He held up the front section of The Times . Hale was sure he meant Artemis Howell’s account of Lord Sedgewood’s murder across the top of the front page, not the story on the side of the page about the American Walter Hagan’s victory in the British Open the day before.(One old Scotsman, Hale knew, was going to be upset.)
    â€œI read every word.”
    â€œMore interesting