Chapter Sixteen #2
“You’re getting everyone together after lunch to tell them about Cedric?”
“Yes, immediately after. In the library, I think. What about Felicity?” he asked. “Is she fit—physically fit, I mean, not emotionally—to come down?”
“I don’t know if she’s coming down to lunch, but I expect she could make it, with help. Only I’m not sure you ought to trust her reaction to the news. She is pretty fragile, and confused, emotionally.”
“I’m not surprised. You’ve taken her under your wing, haven’t you? There’s always someone.”
“What about you and Miles?” Daisy demanded indignantly. “If having him help you catch Cedric isn’t taking him under your wing, I don’t know what is!”
“Don’t you like Miles?”
“Yes, I like him very well, and Felicity, and the captain, and Godfrey’s been extremely helpful, and old Mrs. Norville’s a sweetie. And Dora’s done her best for us, and I’ve nothing against Mr. Tremayne. But Miles could have killed Calloway, even with only one arm.”
“I don’t deny it, love,” Alec soothed her. “At the time I asked his help, it seemed obvious that the heir about to be dispossessed must be our villain. I still can’t see what motive Miles could have had.”
“Nor can I,” Daisy admitted. “But none of the others had either, except … Blast, there’s the gong. I hope the children are ready.”
“I deputed Miles to chivvy them,” Alec confessed, laughing. He straightened his tie and ran a brush over the dark, crisp hair which never seemed to get disarranged.
“Darling, you won’t try to keep me away when you tell them about Cedric, will you?” Daisy asked urgently. “Another pair of eyes might pick up someone’s reaction you’d otherwise miss.”
“Yes, I think you’d better be there,” he said, to her surprise and delight. “Are you ready? Let’s go.”
When they reached the landing, Derek and Belinda were already halfway down the stairs, Miles about to start down. Turning to Daisy, he said, “You’d better not mention the possibility of going to London to Flick. My father’s dead against it.”
“Because he won’t accept any favours from Captain Norville?”
“In part, but he sees it as rewarding her for consorting with the enemy. As a matter of fact, he’s still furious with both of us for not telling him about Lord Norville’s death.”
“Oh, dear! I won’t say anything then. Is Felicity coming down for lunch?”
“I just asked her. She says she simply can’t face either food or the family. I don’t blame her, poor girl. It’s not just Father. The whole situation with regard to Cedric is perfectly beastly for her, even if he hasn’t actually been arrested yet.” Miles looked enquiringly at Alec.
With the wooden expression perfected by all detectives, Alec said, “I’ll bring everyone up to date with the investigation after lunch. I’ll want Miss Norville there, in the library.”
“I’ll see that she comes down,” Miles promised.
Lunch was an extremely uncomfortable occasion. As soon as Mrs. Pardon and the maid left, Godfrey turned on his brother. “What’s this nonsense Miles tells me about sending Felicity to London?” he demanded angrily.
“A change of scene seems…” the captain started in a placatory tone, then he glanced at Alec and went on, “… seemed a good notion.” Not so urgent since her lover was not a murderer after all, Daisy interpreted.
“I’m not surprised she doesn’t care to face her family after letting us down like that,” Godfrey snapped. “I only wonder that Miles doesn’t feel the same sense of shame! To keep his father in the dark about so important a matter…”
“Father!” Miles protested.
“Miles acted as he thought best.” The captain’s face was beginning to redden.
“An admirably lawyerly sense of discretion,” Tremayne put in.
“Miles may have his excuses.” Godfrey’s scowl at his son belied his words. “Felicity has none. She kept quiet in order to conceal her own misbehaviour, and why you want to…”
“The sky has clouded over,” observed the Dowager Lady Dalrymple loudly. “I fear we are in for more rain. This seems to be an extraordinarily damp part of the country.”
“Oh, surely not!” Dora was obviously torn between relief at the enforced change of subject and anxiety over the criticism.
Tremayne kept the ball rolling with comments on the weather of the British Isles as gleaned from reports on his wireless set.
The captain, overcoming his rising temper with a visible effort, came through splendidly with tales of typhoons in the China Seas, fogs in the North Atlantic, and hurricanes in the Caribbean.
Godfrey was silenced, though hardly calmed.
Lips pursed, he ate hardly a thing, but his agitation was betrayed by his nervous fidgeting with knife and fork.
His elder daughter’s misconduct had hit him hard.
Daisy wondered whether he was as adamantly opposed to shipping his younger daughter off to school.
Jemima, who had worn an unpleasantly gloating smile when her sister was being castigated, had lapsed into her usual sullenness.
Miles, preoccupied rather than sullen, was also taciturn.
Derek and Belinda’s quietness was good manners: Permitted to join the adults at table, they knew better than to speak unless spoken to. Daisy was proud of them, especially as the initial discord had alarmed Bel, while Derek was fascinated by the stories of storms at sea.
Those same stories dismayed Mrs. Norville, who said tremulously, “Must you go to sea again, Victor?”
“I’m not ready to retire for a few years yet, Mother. No harm’s going to come to an old sea-dog like me, don’t you fret.”
“The sea is a respectable profession,” Lady Dalrymple stated, with a disparaging glance at Alec. “My uncle was a rear admiral.”
And throughout, Alec watched and weighed and measured his suspects.
As the last bite of jam roly-poly disappeared into the captain’s mouth, Alec rose. “I should like everyone except the children to gather in the library,” he announced. “I have news for you. You need not be present, Lady Dalrymple.” He wondered whether he’d ever dare call her Mother.
“Please make use of my sitting room, if you wish, Lady Dalrymple,” Mrs. Norville offered.
“Thank you,” said the dowager, rather sniffily, “but if news is to be imparted, I have no desire to be excluded.”
Her son-in-law would have preferred her elsewhere; but if he insisted on excluding her, the others might begin to guess what he had to tell them.
“I’ll see if Mrs. Pardon will serve coffee in the library,” Dora said brightly.
“I’ll go and roust Flick out and give her a hand down the stairs,” said Miles.
Alec thanked him. “I’ll join you in a minute or two. Belinda and Derek, come with me, please.”
“Have we done something naughty, Daddy?” Bel asked, as he led the way through to the old house.
“Not that I know of, my pet. I want Sergeant Tring to take your fingerprints, both of you, just so that we don’t get them mixed up with other people’s.”
“Crikey!” said Derek, eyes glowing. “Ripping! Wait till I tell the fellows at school.”
Tring and Piper had just finished their lunch in the kitchen. They all went to Nana’s scullery, where Tom Tring fingerprinted the children. Bel and Derek then went off cheerfully with the puppy.
It only took Tom a minute to report, “Young Master Derek’s dabs on the knife, Chief. Looks like it’s the one they found.”
“Which virtually eliminates escaped convicts and lunatics, deserters, and common or garden tramps,” Alec said, as they crossed the Kitchen Court.
“It’s got to be one of the family. They’re waiting for us in the library now.
I want you to watch them like hawks when I tell them Cedric Norville’s out of the picture.
Two of them won’t be surprised: the captain and the murderer—or one, if the captain is the murderer. ”
“Him being top of the list, Chief?” asked Piper. “Along with Miss Norville and Miss Jemima?”
“That’s right,” Alec confirmed. “Unfortunately, they’re also the three we’re least likely to get straightforward reactions from. The captain already knows; Miss Jemima is too young to necessarily behave as one would expect of an adult…”
“Besides being more than a little odd,” said Tom. “I’ve heard some tales from the servants.”
“I’ll want to hear them later, Tom. Then there’s Miss Norville, whose relationship with Cedric complicates matters. She may be overjoyed to hear he’s been cleared despite the effect on her own family.”
“Cor!” said Piper. “I bet Mrs. Fletcher knows what’s what with Miss Norville, though.”
“She can hardly help knowing more than I do,” Alec admitted, silently deploring Ernie Piper’s determination to believe Daisy infallible.
He entered the library, Tring and Piper on his heels. As the murmur of voices died, he saw Godfrey glaring at Felicity. The errant daughter put on a good show of indifference, all but her clenched hands.
Before Alec could speak, Tremayne stood up and came towards him.
“Mr. Fletcher, presumably you would have told us at luncheon had you arrested Cedric Norville, so we can assume you have found insufficient evidence to do so. I assure you we shall do all in our power to assist you in gathering the necessary information.”
Damn all lawyers, Alec thought. He had forgotten he had to deal with someone accustomed to drawing conclusions from a few facts—though this time he had got it wrong.
“You’re right, I haven’t arrested Cedric Norville,” he said. “However, there is no prospect of my ever doing so. He has proved conclusively that he could not have killed Calloway.”
Felicity fainted.