Chapter 13 #2
I left, waited five minutes, then returned to the shop.
There was no sign of the herbalist or her client.
I quickly slipped behind the counter, pulled out the appointment book, and scanned the column of names.
There was no mention of Lady Wrexham so she’d probably just returned to replenish her supply of the herbalist’s cure.
I flipped back through the pages until I came to the fifteenth, the day of Pearl’s death. Lady Wrexham’s name appeared with the time of three-thirty written next to it. The exact time Pearl was pushed over the balcony at the Piccadilly Playhouse.
Lady Wrexham couldn’t have killed her.
Something slapped the back of my head, pushing my hat forward over my forehead. I swung around and caught the broom before the bristles smacked me in the face. The herbalist pulled the broom free from my grip and aimed it at my chest like a shotgun.
Her face took on an even more witchy appearance with her sneer. “I knew there was something strange about you. Get out! Get out of my shop before I put a curse on you!”
Keeping the counter at my back, I slipped out of her reach and hurried from the shop. I raced to the street and didn’t stop until I was safely inside a hansom, heading home.
While the ordeal hadn’t been pleasant, I’d come away with a new appreciation for our kindly family doctor in Cambridge and a vital clue that eliminated Lady Wrexham from my list of suspects.
It wasn’t much, but it was something.
But I’d given up the case, of course. Striking Lady Wrexham off my list didn’t make me want to resume.
It bothered me leaving the matter unfinished, however. Lord Rumford was right to be upset with me for giving up. I just wished I could see a way forward.
“Cleo, there you are!” Flossy cried when she spotted me in the hotel foyer. “I’ve had Harmony looking all over the hotel for you.”
I shrugged out of my coat and slung it over my arm. “Why?”
“It’s time to get ready for the Caldicotts’ dinner, silly.”
“Is that tonight?”
She gave me an exasperated look. “Yes! And we both need to get ready.”
“But it’s just gone five.”
She grabbed my arm and dragged me to the lift. John the lift operator waited with a smile and took us up to level four.
The door to my suite was unlocked and Harmony was inside, arranging things on my dressing table.
“I found her,” Flossy announced. “She was out.”
They both scowled at me as if I were a naughty child who’d dodged her chores.
“Do your best with what time you have, Harmony.”
I watched Flossy leave then turned to Harmony. “I don’t know what all the fuss is about. We have over two hours before we have to leave.”
“Miss Bainbridge wants me to wash, dry and arrange your hair. She told me to make sure you look your best tonight.” She frowned. “Will there be gentlemen there?”
“I believe so.”
“Then it’s no wonder. We’d best get started.”
“It takes hours to dry my hair completely in winter. We won’t wash it tonight.”
Harmony waited for me to bathe then helped me dress in a black evening gown with pearlescent beads arranged in swirls and clusters across the bust and down the front.
It was very elegant and appropriate mourning-wear.
Despite Flossy urging me to set aside my dark mourning clothes, I wasn’t yet prepared to do so.
My grandmother hadn’t even been gone two months.
While Harmony curled my hair with the tongs, I told her what I’d learned about the Wrexhams and their illness, and about Lady Wrexham’s visit to the herbalist.
Five minutes before I was due to meet the others in the foyer, there was a brisk knock on my door. I opened it to see my uncle, looking troubled. Harmony excused herself and slipped out.
“I’ll just collect my cloak,” I said to Uncle Ronald.
“I’m not here to escort you down.” He entered my suite, closing the door. “I’m here to have a word about something very disturbing.”
I suspected I knew what this was about, but gave him an innocent smile anyway. I would have to brazen my way through the scolding that was coming.
“You know we’re very happy to have you here with us, Cleo.”
“But?”
“But I’ve received a complaint about you from Lord Wrexham.”
“I see.”
“You’ve been bothering him and Lady Wrexham, it seems.”
“I’ve been making inquiries as part of my investigation into the death of Lord Rumford’s mistress.”
“What do the Wrexhams have to do with it?”
“That’s what I’m trying to find out.”
He tugged on his cuffs as he waited for more. I merely waited too. “You must end that line of inquiry,” he eventually said. “Wrexham is a powerful fellow. I don’t like upsetting him.”
“Of course. I have no evidence against him anyway, so if he did do it, he’s going to get away with it.”
He winced. “Let’s assume he didn’t do it. Now, to the other matter.”
“There’s another matter? Who else has complained about me?” In truth, there could be a number of people, from Mr. Culpepper to the Larsens, although I doubted they would approach my uncle.
“Mrs. Short says you’ve been associating with the maids.”
I blinked at him, not quite sure how seriously to take him. He appeared quite serious, however. “Harmony is my personal maid. She does my hair and cleans my room. That’s all. I don’t keep her from her duties.”
“Mrs. Short says you’re becoming too friendly with the girl.”
“Is that a problem?”
“I know things were different for you in Cambridge, and this is all new. But here, family do not become friends with the hotel staff. It’s not wise.” He gave me a sympathetic smile. “I see that notion upsets you.”
“It confuses me. Why is it unwise?”
He took my hand in both of his and patted it. “You’re a kind-hearted girl, so it’s not surprising that it never occurred to you, but it’s my duty to warn you about people who befriend you simply so they can gain something.”
I snatched my hand away, bristling at his condescending tone and his sweeping assumption. “That isn’t fair. Harmony hasn’t asked any favors from me.”
“She will. I don’t blame her, of course. Her situation is such that, if presented with the opportunity to befriend her employer’s niece, she’d be mad not to take it.”
He reached out to pat my shoulder, but I shrugged him off.
His lips flattened. “I know you miss your friends in Cambridge. That’s only natural for an amiable, intelligent girl such as yourself.
You’re like your mother, in that regard.
She enjoyed having her friends around her.
But there’s no need to go searching for friends among the staff.
You have Flossy, naturally, and all of her acquaintances too.
Tonight will do you good. I hear Caldicott’s sons are very upstanding young men and are at an age to move to the next phase of their lives. ”
My entire body deflated with a silent groan. He could only mean they were on the hunt for wives. And Flossy and I were being offered up like lambs to the slaughter.
Perhaps I was being overly dramatic, but after enduring such a trying conversation with my uncle, I was not inclined to be optimistic.
“As a thank you to your aunt and me, I would appreciate it if you put on your most charming manner tonight. This dinner is important.”
“Why?”
“Sir Lawrence Caldicott is my banker.” He didn’t elaborate as to why he needed to curry favor with his banker. I knew the hotel business wasn’t an easy one, but surely the hotel wasn’t in dire financial straits.
Uncle Ronald escorted me down to the foyer via the lift.
He fell into conversation with the night lift operator, and I tuned them out.
Every part of me silently cursed the Caldicotts for inviting me to their infernal dinner party, as well as Lord Wrexham and Mrs. Short for their complaints.
Lord Wrexham I could understand, but Mrs. Short had no right to interfere.
Why couldn’t I be friends with whomever I wanted?
It wasn’t the nineteenth century anymore, and I wasn’t a society debutante searching for a suitable husband.
People moved across different social levels all the time nowadays.
Pearl, for example, had risen so far above her station that she’d attended parties with princes and dukes.
It wasn’t lost on me that Pearl had only been able to attend those parties because she was a gentleman’s mistress.
I sighed. I was a fool to think this century was any different to the last. I was fortunate to have been sheltered from the worst of English snobbery, having parents from different backgrounds who’d defied society’s so-called rules to marry.
But here, in this most elite of settings, I was surrounded by that snobbery.
I put such thoughts from my mind, or tried to. I had a dinner party to endure and it required my full attention. If I so much as lowered my guard just a little, I might find myself engaged to one of Sir Lawrence Caldicott’s “upstanding” sons.
It was clear from the beginning that I was to be matched with the younger son and Flossy with the elder, even though I was older than my cousin.
The eldest must be in line to inherit something over his younger brother, hence Flossy was earmarked for him.
As Uncle Ronald’s niece, I was only entitled to second best.
I didn’t particularly care which son I was seated next to at the dinner table. They were both fine young men, well-spoken and educated. If only they were interested in something other than finance, I might have enjoyed their company more.
Although they engaged Floyd in conversation about the Stock Exchange and property transactions, I suspected even he grew tired of their conversation after a while.
It continued over dinner too. My gaze met Flossy’s across the table and I rolled my eyes.
She pressed her lips together, but a giggle still escaped.