Chapter 23
TWENTY-THREE
Picking up Edgar’s letter from Tommy, Daisy glanced at the clock. Forty minutes since she had told Lowecroft half an hour. She hoped Geraldine wasn’t waiting for her somewhere else, adding tardiness to her causes for complaint.
But Geraldine came in, looking a bit frayed at the edges. She sank wearily into a chair by the desk. “I vow, if Vincent is Edgar’s heir and Laurette wants to move into Fairacres, I’m moving out! What was it you wanted to tell me, Daisy? Thank you, by the way, for coming home with Raymond.”
“I imagine Laurette told you about his fall.”
“Never stopped talking about it! How is he? I’ve been too busy since I got home to—Daisy! What is it?”
“Raymond. He … he died on the way home.”
“Oh, my dear!” Geraldine sprang up and swooped on Daisy to enfold her in her arms. It was a somewhat bony embrace, but for the first time Daisy could imagine her mothering Edgar’s pupils, not just disciplining them.
“You shouldn’t have had to cope with that.
I’m glad Alec came back to see what was going on.
I presume he’s … dealing with things now? ”
“Yes. I’m afraid he’s having to deal with it as a police matter.”
“As I anticipated. Sir Nigel said he was going to talk to the Assistant Commissioner at Scotland Yard about what’s been going on here.
I would have expected the local police to manage, with Alec’s help.
After all, what we described to him was just a string of odd accidents.
Now that a death is involved, I’m glad he took that step. ”
“I’ve just taken a call from Superintendent Crane, at the Yard.
Alec’s officially on the case. I must go and tell him, but first …
Geraldine, I’m most frightfully sorry.” She handed over the opened envelope.
“I read Tommy’s letter to Edgar. Apparently it went to the bailiff by mistake so it was delayed, and it’s marked urgent, and neither you nor Edgar was here, and considering everything that’s happened, I decided …
Shockingly bad form, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. ”
“In the circumstances…” Geraldine took out the letter and quickly read it. “Ah, the missing Samuel. In the circumstances, I consider your action entirely justified. After all, Mr. Pearson might have written to tell us Frank Crowley’s been unmasked as a kidnapper and forger—”
“What! You don’t like Frank, I gather.”
“I like him very well. He’s an amiable, obliging sort.”
“You don’t trust him?”
“Not as far as I could throw him. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if he were a forger. However, I’m certain Derek and Belinda would know by now, and have told us, if Ben had been kidnapped, so we can acquit Frank of that. In any case, that was not what Mr. Pearson wrote about.”
“I can’t help feeling he would have sent a cable!”
“Very likely. You’ve broken the news of Samuel’s coming to Martha?”
“Yes indeed. She’s tickled pink. And now, if you’re not going to haul me over the coals for reading the letter, I must go and tell Alec.”
“Tell him if there’s anything I, or Edgar, or the household can do to help, it shall be done.”
“Thank you for being so understanding.”
“Believe me, Daisy, the thought of going through all this without you and Alec to support us is … inconceivable!”
“All the same, it won’t hurt to have Tommy here too. If I were you, I’d wire him to come at once.” She pushed the telephone towards Geraldine.
“You’re right. I think I will.”
Daisy went to find Alec. Ernest, never the most wooden of footmen, told her with obvious curiosity that Smethwick had brought a message from Mr. Fletcher: He was going into Morton Green to send some cables from the post office.
“Mr. Fletcher got a lift with a gentleman that came about the same time as the ambulance. They was round at the stables. Smethwick wouldn’t say what was going on.
Said the Chief Inspector—Mr. Fletcher, I should say—swore him to silence.
But I cou’n’t help noticing, madam, Mr. Raymond didn’t come home with the rest. He’s not been took ill, I hope? ”
“Sorry, Ernest. I’ve been sworn to silence as well. Did Mr. Fletcher intend to walk back from the village? I think I’ll go to meet him.”
It was a beautiful afternoon, sunny and warm but not humid and oppressive.
Daisy started out across the park on the path that led to the Dower House, then took the right-hand branch towards the village.
The beige Jersey cows lay chewing the cud under the scattered oaks and chestnuts or paced slowly across the slope, bright green after the rain, cropping the grass short as they went.
The distant crack of a rook rifle, familiar from childhood, reminded Daisy that all was not as peaceful as it seemed. In the orchards, birds were gorging on ripe fruit. She hoped the shooter had scared them off without killing any.
Before she reached the top of the hill, Alec came over the crest. She waved but, lost in thought, he didn’t respond.
“Alec!”
He looked up and his pace quickened. The only spectators being bovine, they met with a kiss before walking down towards the house, arm in arm.
“Who did you send cables to, darling? Let me rephrase that: To whom did you send cables?”
“Haven’t you left something off the second version?”
“To whom did you send cables, darling?”
“That’s better. First I rang up Sir Nigel to make sure the county force would pay for them, because I wired South Africa and Jamaica and Trinidad, as well as Scarborough.
Pearson investigated their ancestry. I want more information about their present-day families, their backgrounds, their way of life. ”
“Raymond’s as well?”
“If his death was no accident, it was not necessarily associated with the inheritance.”
“Diamonds!”
Alec reached into his inside breast pocket and produced a small wash-leather pouch, closed with a tightly tied drawstring. “Diamonds.”
“Let me see.”
He opened the bag and showed her a handful of grey and yellowish pebbles. Some looked like lumps of glass or quartz, some just like bits of gravel. “Not very spectacular.” He retied the string and returned them to his pocket.
“Have you any idea what they’re worth? Where did you find them?”
“Not a clue. He had a secret pocket sewn into the lining of his jacket—all his jackets, I expect. Dealers in gemstones often choose to carry their merchandise on their persons when travelling, rather than trust an unknown safe. I assume Edgar has a safe I can lock these in?”
“Father did. I doubt he’s got rid of it. Do you think Raymond could have been the target of a thief? It was rather a public place for robbery.”
“Lots of people and general confusion, perfect place for an expert pickpocket. One to push him at the tram—the police surgeon, Pardoe, found a suspicious bruise on his back.”
“He said ‘Someone pushed…’ The bobby assumed he meant someone pushed him out of the way of the tram.”
“One to push him towards the tram; one to save him and abstract the loot at the same time, then scarper with it.”
“Only he was foiled by the secret pocket.”
“At any rate, it’s not a possibility I can dismiss, though the chances of identifying the putative culprits are dim. The local coppers are working on it, but not exactly enthusiastically.”
“Was his wallet pinched?”
“No. Either the whole theory is bosh, or they were after bigger game and not interested in the few pounds it contained.”
“Someone who knew he had diamonds on him. Someone at Fairacres?”
“They might have found out about the diamonds. They’d have a hard time summoning up an expert pickpocket, though, in the few days they’ve been here.”
“Unless one of them is already a pickpocket. Frank? We don’t know anything about how he makes a living—at least, I don’t.”
“One to push and one to pick. In collusion with…?”
“Martha’s Sammy. I hate to say it but … They both come from the West Indies. Sammy travels a lot. He could well know that one of the family emigrated to Trinidad and go looking for descendants. Oh, wait, Frank isn’t a descendant.”
Alec laughed. “No. Much more likely to be someone Raymond had business dealings with in London, or on the Continent, or someone from South Africa.”
“Hence the cable? To the Cape Town police?”
“To them, and to the business. He had business cards in the wallet, so I thought I’d better inform them of his death.”
“I sent a wire to Tommy, telling him. I expect he’ll notify Raymond’s immediate family.
Alec, I’ve just thought: Could he have been stabbed with something very thin, like the Empress Elizabeth?
She walked on and then collapsed and died, just like Raymond.
If I’m remembering it right, the wound hardly bled at all. ”
“Dr. Pardoe would probably have seen it, presumably in the centre of the bruise. He’d certainly find out when he does the autopsy.”
“I suppose so.” Daisy didn’t care to think about the autopsy.
She changed the subject. “Darling, there was a letter from Tommy to Edgar, but as he’s still out with the children, Geraldine read it.
” The truth, if not quite the whole truth.
“He says Martha’s Sammy has turned up! That’s really what I was coming to tell you.
Sammy was supposed to reach Worcester this morning and should arrive at Fairacres this afternoon. ”
“Hmm. I’ll take another look at a possible connection between Frank and Sammy. Pearson’s satisfied with his credentials?”
“To a degree. He’s apparently sure enough of his descent from Julian, but he wanted more time to study the papers he brought, which he wouldn’t leave with him. Sammy wouldn’t leave with Tommy, that is. I think Geraldine’s inviting Tommy to come down as soon as possible.”
“Good idea.”
“The other thing I have to tell you is that the Super rang and gave me an earful.”
“The local man, or Crane?”
“Crane. As you weren’t immediately available, he said I’d ‘do.’ He just wanted someone to rant at. He said you can assist the locals, but you won’t get days off to make up for it.”
“What cheek!” said Alec. “Worcestershire will pay the Met for my services, but they’ll take it off my holiday!”
“Perhaps he’ll relent. He refused to send Tom and Ernie, though, till you’re certain it’s murder.
In that case, he’ll make sure you get the two of them.
Because they’re accustomed to my … assistance in your cases, he said, rather snarkily.
All the same, he actually sounded almost genial in the end. Do you suppose he’s getting resigned?”
“Resigned?”
“To me.”
“I doubt it, love. He’s been told blowing up is bad for his blood pressure. Blood pressure—Great Scott! I wonder whether…”
Daisy waited a moment for him to finish, then asked, “Whether what?”
“Never mind. The autopsy will tell us. As for the Super,” Alec added sourly, “no doubt he’s enjoying ruining another holiday for me.”
“Come on, darling, you know you’re dying to get your teeth into it.”
“Always supposing there’s actually something to get them into. And you keep your teeth out of it! I wish you could take the children home, but you’ll have to appear at the inquest.”
“We could send Bel and the twins home with Mrs. Gilpin. But what about Derek? Vi really isn’t well enough to handle him. And more to the point, what about Ben? He’s a target, if anyone is. We can’t leave him here on his own.”
“Nor send him with the others. He’d carry the risk, if any, along with him.
To tell the truth, I have a ‘hunch,’ as the Americans say, that he’s safe here, and the others as well.
If that damn butterfly net had been intended to kill, it would have been placed at the top of the stairs, not so near the foot.
It was a feint, and I don’t know why. I just can’t work out what’s going on. ”
“It is strange. The butterfly net is the only actual clue, and Edgar was always leaving it all over the place. Anyone could have got it. He’s already sent for a new one, by the way. His old spare is full of holes. Bigger holes than it’s supposed to have.”
“Moth holes?”
Daisy laughed. “Holes big enough for moths to get through, at least.”
“Just like this case. If there is one.”