Nursery Tea and Poison

by Anne Morice

  ‘Is he out searching as well?’

  ‘Oh yes, not that he had any more notion than the rest of us where she might have got to, but he couldn’t just sit here doing nothing. How about you, Robin? You’ve had more experience than the rest of us, have you any idea where someone in that state of mind might have made for?’

  ‘None whatever, but I’m quite ready to join in the hunt as soon as someone gives me my orders. These operations can only hope to succeed when they’re co-ordinated, so there’s no point in going off in a haphazard way on my own. Perhaps I should go down to the lake and offer my services to the Superintendent?’

  ‘Wait a minute, Robin,’ I called as he moved towards the door. ‘Just hang on while I get a coat and I’ll come with you.’

  ‘Hadn’t you better stop here and look after Serena?’

  ‘Oh no, let Tessa go too, if she thinks she can help. I’d offer to go myself if I didn’t know how useless I’d be. It would be more than I could stand.’

  ‘I thought it would be unwise to mention this in front of Serena,’ I explained, as we hurried towards the lake, ‘but I’ve a sort of idea where Lindy would have gone, if she’d really intended to do away with herself.’

  ‘Presumably any hunch is worth following up.’

  ‘I think she might be in High Copse. You know, the place where they found Alan Thorne. It had a morbid fascination for her and the setting would have appealed to her sense of drama. Anyway, I think it’s far more likely than the lake.’

  ‘So it’s worth a try, although personally I feel that the Ophelia role would also have had its attractions.’

  ‘Then you agree with me that this may turn out to be a case of straight exhibitionism?’

  ‘Couldn’t say, but there’s always a good chance.’

  ‘Yes, and that was another thing it was best not to say in front of Serena. It would be a shame to raise false hopes, but I would never be surprised if this turns out to be one of those scenes where she scares everyone silly and then contrives to get pulled back from suicide in the nick of time. That pathetic farewell letter was pretty prominently displayed.’

  ‘Let’s hope you’re right.’

  ‘I am full of quiet confidence,’ I confessed. ‘Not only is she a show-off by nature, but I would have sworn she had become reconciled to motherhood and was revelling in the situation. Well, you saw yourself what she was like yesterday, Robin; radiance zooming out all over her. I can’t believe it was all just an act, or that the mood could have changed so drastically in twenty-four hours.’

  ‘Let’s hope you’re right,’ he said for the second time. Unfortunately, repetition did not make it true, although one hunch, at least, had been correct. They found her lying under the spreading branches of a sycamore tree, close by the one where Alan had been tied up and left to die. She had been shot through the head at very close range by a gun which belonged to Pelham and which lay on the ground beside her outstretched hand. The only part of me which remained unshaken by this news was the conviction that she had not been in a suicidal frame of mind.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  ‘We think it’s about time you came clean, Serena,’ Robin said. ‘No need to look scared,’ he added, though unfortunately not in time to prevent its happening.

  ‘Is this an official enquiry, Robin?’

  ‘No, on the contrary.’

  ‘Then kindly don’t address me as though I were a hostile witness.’

  ‘Is that how I sounded? It was not intentional because I speak as a friend.’

  ‘And what is it you want to know?’

  ‘Nothing.’

  ‘My dear boy, do stop playing ridiculous games.’

  ‘There is nothing I want to know because Tessa and I believe we have worked it out for ourselves. All we want is for you to own up. In my opinion, keeping quiet any longer can do nothing but harm, both to yourself and Primrose.’

  The needle, which had been plying relentlessly in and out, now quivered and stopped, but she managed to retain a governessy tone of voice as she asked:

  ‘Is there some connection between these riddles and that poor child’s death, by any chance?’

  ‘Which poor child?’

  ‘Lindy, of course. Who else?’

  ‘There may be a link of kinds.’

  ‘Perhaps you can help me, Tessa? I can’t seem to get any sense at all out of Robin.’

  ‘I am afraid the trouble is that he is trying to get some sense out of you and all you have done so far is ask questions.’

  ‘Then let me ask another. Is he hinting that . . . that the police are not satisfied that it was suicide?’

  ‘They have not admitted it,’ Robin said, answering for himself, ‘but I daresay the possibility has passed through their minds, as it must have passed through everyone’s. However, they can’t build a case on that. It is an odd situation in a way because on the one hand we have a death which will probably go down in the annals as accident, but which meanwhile has been classified as murder, and on the other we have a death in slightly more suspicious circumstances which is likely to be written off as suicide.’

  ‘You really think so?’ Serena said, letting out her breath in a long sigh.

  ‘Don’t bank on it because I was wrong before, but the signs all point that way. The gun had her prints on it and the letter is authentic, no possibility of forgery. No one can dispute that it showed a mind most seriously disturbed and in fact the American doctor has been contacted and will send written testimony to confirm that she was unbalanced and had attempted suicide at least twice before.’

  ‘So what more proof could anyone need?’

  ‘It’s true that attempted suicide is a different matter from the real thing, but I’d say you’ll be all right. The trouble is it won’t end there. There’ll be talk, won’t there? Rumour, gossip, people staring at you when you’re out shopping, old friends mysteriously dropping off. All the things you dread most, in fact. And the curious part of it is, you know, that none of this would have arisen if it hadn’t been for Nannie’s death and all the publicity that followed it. One neurotic young woman’s suicide would soon have been forgotten in the ordinary way. Coming so quickly after the other it is bound to cause a stir.’

  ‘Oh yes,’ Serena replied bitterly, ‘I grant you that. It was only to be expected that her malevolent spirit would haunt us for years after she was dead, I’ve said so all along. Well, I suppose we must grit our teeth and get through as best we can.’

  ‘I think you can do better than that,’ Robin told her. ‘A little frankness on your part would at least clear the air. For a start, how long is it since you became convinced that Pelham really was Pelham and not, as in Tessa’s romantic version, some stranger impersonating him?’

  Serena reacted like someone who had been led blindfold to a ditch and then told to jump. She was over it before she had seen what it consisted of.

  ‘Since the night of Nannie’s death,’ she replied promptly. ‘Why? What does that matter?’

  ‘I’ll tell you in a minute, but let’s get a few other things clear first. Up to that point you’d suspected he was a fraud, is that right?

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘And when did the suspicion start. From the day he and Lindy arrived here?’

  ‘No, not so soon. The idea took hold of me very gradually and I can’t tell you exactly when or how it began. Perhaps it was his not wanting me to invite any of his old friends who still live in the neighbourhood; all he asked was to spend every free minute in the nursery, churning over ancient history with Nannie. It seemed so unnatural. Then he would join us for meals and regale us with another stack of reminiscences about his boyhood, and it made me wonder if it was a deliberate policy to get Nannie to burble on, so as to pick up all sorts of knowledge that he ought to possess if he were truly Pelham. Lindy’s behaviour rather bore that out. She never appeared to resent his neglecting her; she seemed perfectly content to spend her time with me, a stranger and not even her own nationality
or generation. Naturally, I began to think they were in the plot together.’

  ‘So you panicked?’

  ‘No, I didn’t, that’s much too strong a word. I became a little uneasy, that’s all, and worried about what steps I should take.’

  ‘So you sent for Tessa?’

  ‘Yes. I badly wanted someone to talk it over with. Or rather, I thought if Tessa came to the same conclusion, without any prompting, it would give me the backing I needed and that between us we might work out what action to take.’

  ‘However, in between inviting Tessa here and her arriving, you had begun to see the light?’

  ‘What light? I don’t understand you.’

  ‘I mean that knowing Tessa was on her way here gave you the confidence to study the problem in a more sober fashion. By the time she arrived you had realised that your best interests depended on Pelham alive rather than dead, and that a spurious Pelham was better than no Pelham at all.’

  ‘Really, Robin, a mind reader as well! That must be a great advantage in your job.’

  ‘No, you flatter me because your actions speak for themselves. How else can one explain your reluctance to discuss Pelham with Tessa? Normally, the pair of you would have spent hours pulling him to shreds and any doubts she had expressed as to his being the genuine article would have made it all the merrier. Yet, whenever she approached within miles of the subject you fobbed her off, or pretended not to hear. The fact was that by then you didn’t want it raised, by her or anyone else, but most especially by her, with her awkward police connections. Legal investigations might have followed and, had it turned out that your real brother-in-law was dead, where would that have left you and Primrose? Up the creek, most likely, with a completely strange family at Chargrove, owners of the house you live in and powers to cut off your income overnight, if they chose.’

  ‘If all that is true,’ Serena said, ‘I don’t appear to have been very successful in my duplicity, do I? Since you have seen through it without my saying a word.’

  ‘Ah, but it doesn’t matter to you now, does it? You have become much more outspoken about the number of heirs around, alive and kicking to replace Pelham, now that you know he is what he claims to be. It was only when you had doubts that you were a little evasive as to who would inherit. There is one thing you can tell me though, if you will?’

  ‘How very surprising!’

  ‘You said it was on the night of Nannie’s death that you decided he was the true Pelham. What in particular happened that evening to make you change your mind?’

  ‘Oh, it was when he brought up the subject of Alan Thorne.’

  ‘Because you knew that was the one topic she would never have discussed with him?’

  ‘So you’re not surprised after all? My one poor bubble of triumph has been burst before it even got off the ground.’

  ‘Well, at least you can explain to us why he couldn’t have learnt about it from that source.’

  Serena looked from one to the other of us, as though turning over the answer, or maybe various alternative answers in her mind and I said:

  ‘I am sure it is my turn to have a small triumph now. Was it because she knew the truth about Alan’s birth that the subject was forbidden?’

  ‘What a team you make!’ she sighed. ‘Quite irresistible when you combine forces. Yes, I am sure she did know, although we never discussed it. It was one reason why she was so jealous and resentful of poor Alice and, for anyone who had known Pelham as a child, the resemblance was unmistakable. I believe a lot of people believed Rupert was the father, which was sheer nonsense, of course, although he did take full responsibility.’

  ‘And that was why you insisted on our calling her Mrs Thorne instead of Alice?’

  ‘Yes, I knew I could rely on her discretion and her sad, difficult life has changed her looks so much that there was small risk of his recognising her. The name Thorne meant nothing to him, you see. He had only known her as Alice.’

  ‘Was that why he went to Canada?’

  ‘Partly, I daresay, though not of course the main reason. You see, this happened at about the time that Rupert and I got engaged and Pelham was bitterly jealous. He simply couldn’t tolerate anyone else taking first place with his brother. Then on top of this blow there was the unpleasant fact of having got one of the maids into trouble, as they used to call it. They’d left it far too late for an abortion and anyway I doubt if Alice would have consented to such a thing, with her strict Methodist upbringing. Pelham always lacked moral fibre when it came to the testing point and presumably he thought the simplest way out was to cut loose and leave someone else to clear up the mess.’

  ‘Which Rupert obligingly did?’

  ‘Yes, and in a typically practical, no-nonsense way. He offered Ted Thorne one of the best cottages on the estate, dangled a nice fat cheque, to start him off in married life and had him and Alice at the altar in a matter of weeks. It wasn’t altogether a successful match, but that’s another story. And really, you know, I do wonder why we are talking about it at all? I can’t see what bearing it has on our present troubles.’

  ‘Quite a lot, in my opinion,’ Robin said, ‘but there is still one thing that puzzles me. If Pelham didn’t hear about Alan Thorne’s death from Nannie, who did tell him? He said the news must have come in a letter, but was it from you?’

  ‘No, such a thing never occurred to me. There was absolutely nothing he could do about it and I concluded that he had long ago put the whole episode of Alice out of his mind and would hardly welcome such an unpleasant reminder of it.’

  ‘Could Alice have written herself?’

  ‘No, certainly not. One of Rupert’s conditions was that Ted should accept responsibility for the boy and she would never have gone behind his back. Besides, none of us knew his address. Letters could only be sent to him through the lawyers or the bank.’

  ‘All the same, he did hear about it from someone, so who could it have been.’

  ‘If you want my candid opinion, Robin, I think he read it in a newspaper.’

  ‘Oh, surely not? A story like that would hardly rate the Los Angeles Times, would it?’

  ‘No, but I remember that most of the London dailies carried a line or two on it and naturally the local papers had a field day. Pelham always had a shifty side to him, you know, not a bit like Rupert in that respect, and it’s my belief that he’s been in this country at least once during the past twenty years. I actually caught sight of him myself, at any rate I could have sworn it was he, in a taxi which passed me in the Brompton Road. Of course he had a perfect right to come here whenever he chose, I’m not denying that.’

  ‘Only why all the secrecy?’

  ‘Well, that’s his way. He always liked to play the lone wolf, but you can easily imagine how, if Alan’s death had happened to coincide with one of these visits and he had read something about it in a newspaper, his recollection of the event would have become blurred over the years, so that it merged into all the other Chargrove memories. You have to remember that he had left here before the child was born, so the name wouldn’t have made any impact on him, to make the episode stand out.’

  ‘And what was the purpose of these clandestine visits, do you suppose?’

  ‘Pure sentiment, most likely. He’d made a new life for himself in America and a lot of money and no doubt he was enjoying it all hugely. Nevertheless, for an expatriate, he’s stayed almost aggressively English and I am sure there were times when he hankered for his native air; but not to get involved in the old life any more, that was never his object.’

  ‘So why has all that changed? Why come here quite openly this time, practically force himself into your household and spend all his time raking over past history?’

  ‘Enough questions, Robin. I shall give you the privilege of answering that one.’

  ‘Perhaps Tessa should do so instead? She has been abnormally silent all this while.’

  ‘A change of heart?’ I asked, endeavouring to rise to the occa
sion. ‘Getting married was one indication of that. Perhaps the thrill had gone out of money making and he was ready to pack it in. Naturally, he would be drawn to this country as a possible place to settle down in and so his visit was a form of reconnaissance, a way of breaking down some of the barriers and seeing what lay behind them. Nursery gossip and soaking up the atmosphere of the place wasn’t such a bad way of beginning.’

  Serena nodded approvingly: ‘I agree.’

  ‘Do you?’ Robin asked. ‘Then why was it that until he knew about the baby he was so insistent that he never meant to stay for more than a week or two?’

  ‘I think we were taken in over that, you know. It was really Lindy’s version, not his. She was appalled at the prospect of living here and maintained that she and Pelham thought alike on the subject, but I never saw any evidence of it on his side, did you, Serena? I think he had fallen in love with the place all over again and secretly hoped that as time went by he would convert Lindy to the idea. It was a vain hope, in my opinion, but I doubt if he realised it.’

  Serena nodded again: ‘Quite so, my dear, I agree with every word. So now that we have thrashed it out and have found that our views coincide, I will ask you once more: what was the purpose of these questions?’

  ‘You have answered that yourself,’ Robin told her, ‘and I am so relieved to have dragged it out of you, even though it took so long. As we’ve agreed, there’ll be a lot of unpleasant talk about Lindy’s death, whatever the official verdict, and some misguided people, including your double barrelled Superintendent, might be under the impression that if any two people stood to gain by it they were you and Primrose. You have now revealed that this is not so and that you were under no illusions as to where your interests lay. In short, Pelham and his heirs were far more valuable to you alive than dead.’