Read "Strong Poison" by Dorothy L Sayers online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
There were crimson roses on the bench; they looked like splashes of blood.
The judge was an old man; so old, he seemed to have outlived time and change and death. His parrot face and parrot voice were dry, like his old, heavily veined hands. His scarlet robe clashed harshly with the crimson of the roses. He had sat for three days in the stuffy court, but he showed no sign of fatigue.