Chapter 14 #2
“We never use the best china on the terrace,” said Geraldine, but she, like everyone else, rose to her feet and gazed in the direction Laurette was pointing.
Vincent had lost his hat and acquired a limp. He hobbled along the gravel path from the south corner of the house towards the steps, leaning heavily on a walking stick.
Alec and Crowley ran to help him. As they reached him, he staggered. Each seized an arm to support him. Slowly they came up the steps, Vincent stumbling between the two larger men. He was dishevelled, his clothes soiled with leaf mould all down one side; it was even stuck in his brilliantined hair.
“Hop it, you three,” Alec said to the children.
“Oh, Daddy!”
“Go along.”
The trio, plus dog, reluctantly took themselves off.
Vincent slumped into a chair. Laurette hovered over him, bleating with dismay and flapping ineffectually with a napkin at the dirt on his jacket.
“My dear fellow!” said Edgar. “My dear fellow!”
“Tea,” said Geraldine, pouring a cup. “With plenty of sugar for shock. And you must send for the doctor, Edgar.”
“No,” Vincent gasped. “I don’t need a … doctor. I’ll be all right in a minute.”
Martha, distressed, said to Daisy, “Ought we to…?”
“No,” Daisy said firmly. “We’d only be in the way.”
Lowecroft appeared with a silver tray holding two decanters, a soda siphon, and a glass.
He moved at his usual stately pace but was visibly out of breath.
Ernest, now hovering on the threshold of the French windows, must have witnessed the scene and notified the butler.
“Brandy, sir?” he enquired of Vincent. “Or whisky if you prefer.”
“Brandy … yes … neat.” The brandy chased down the sweet tea, already dispatched, and Vincent held out his glass for more.
Daisy wondered whether to suggest some bread and butter to sop up the resulting cocktail in his insides.
Alec sat down beside him, while Frank helped himself to a slice of cake and went to sit on the parapet, where he had a dress-circle view.
“What happened?” Alec asked.
“I went for a stroll in the park and into the woods. I was walking among the trees when a branch … fell. I saw it from the corner of my eye and was able to dodge, so it didn’t hit me. It made me lose my balance and I tripped over something.”
“A branch fell? You don’t sound very certain of that.”
“It must have, mustn’t it? A limb broke off a tree.…”
“But…?”
Vincent frowned. “But I have a sort of vague impression that it actually came whizzing at me out of the bushes. It was quite overgrown along the path I was following.”
“Edgar,” said Geraldine severely, “you really must allow some clearing in the woods. I know your caterpillars like undergrowth but when it comes to a guest being injured—Enough is enough.”
“Yes, dear. I’ll speak to Wharton.”
“See that you do!”
Raymond, who had remained silent and apparently uninterested since Vincent’s arrival, suddenly put in a truculent oar. “What do you mean, whizzed at you?”
“We-ell, I must have imagined it. I was taken by surprise, pretty shaken up, in shock really.”
Geraldine frowned. “Are you sure you oughtn’t to see a doctor?”
“Oh yes, chéri, do!” Laurette urged.
“No, I don’t need a doctor. I’m just a bit bruised.” He patted his left hip. “Nothing to it. I’ll be right as rain in no time.”
“Lowecroft, a hot bath with Epsom salts for Mr. Vincent, in a quarter of an hour.”
“Certainly, my lady.” Lowecroft took the decanters with him, apparently thinking Vincent had had quite as much restorative brandy as he needed.
“How long ago did this happen?” Alec asked.
“I don’t know. I lay half-stunned for some time—”
“You didn’t lose consciousness completely, however.”
“No.”
“That’s good. No concussion. Sorry, go on.”
“Then I sat awhile till I felt able to move. And I couldn’t move very fast.”
“Did you notice what tripped you?”
“I can’t say I paid any particular attention. Another branch, I suppose, or a stone. Just something lying there on the path.”
“Perhaps I’d better go and have a look, to make sure whatever it was isn’t going to trip some other unsuspecting stroller. Could you describe the spot? Tell me how to get there?”
“I’m afraid not. I started out wandering at random. Coming back, I was still a bit dazed. I took the nearest path that seemed to go in the right direction, until I was out of the wood. Then I saw the house and followed the path that brought me here.”
“My dear fellow,” said Edgar again, “I will certainly make sure all the paths in the woods are cleared and all dead branches trimmed off. I must apologise for my hobby having led to your accident.”
“A hot bath will prevent any stiffness,” said Geraldine firmly. “Alec, would you be so kind—”
“I’ll give him a hand up the stairs,” offered Crowley, sauntering across the terrace from his seat on the parapet. “Come along, old chap.”
Alec looked at him with narrowed eyes, but made no comment.
Crowley hauled Vincent out of his chair and gave him an arm to lean on into the house, with Laurette fussing over him all the way. He was already moving more easily.
“I think I’ll take a stroll,” said Alec, “to work off that magnificent tea, of which I ate far too much. Coming, Daisy?”
“Darling, I was going to go and see the twins before they’re put to bed.”
“I’ll come with you, Alec,” said Edgar.
The two of them tramped off and the tea party broke up.
Daisy next saw Alec when she went to their room to change for dinner. Plumping down on the bed she said, “You think there’s something fishy about it, don’t you?”
“About what? Thank heaven Geraldine’s said no starched shirts and stiff collars.”
“Don’t change the subject. About Vincent’s ‘accident.’ You don’t think it was an accident.”
“Rubbish.”
“Then why did you march off to view the scene of the crime?”
“Nonsense. We didn’t find it. There are fallen branches all over the place. Not that I believe for a moment that there was any crime.”
“Then why did you interrogate Vincent?”
“Interrogate? I didn’t. Dammit, I’m a DCI, can I help it if my manner suggests…
” He was silent for a moment, then said in a voice intended to quell his own doubts, “It’s nonsense.
It’s your speculations making me imagine things.
A branch fell. Vincent dodged it and tripped. That’s the end of the matter.”
Daisy wasn’t convinced. She didn’t believe Alec was either.