Peter was staring at me, frowning. ‘If you don’t believe me I can show you some of the bruises.’
‘I believe you. But where was Richards heading? That steep hill, it’s a dead end, only goes to Vantry.’
‘He said he was going to see Lady Vantry.’ And I told him about the Glasgow hospital who had no record of treating her after her accident.
Peter was wide-eyed, thinking: ‘But that accident of yours. It’s serious. You might have been killed.’
‘That was the intention. The man at the bicycle shop said that the brakes cable had been deliberately severed.’
‘But if that is true, this is incredible. Why should someone at Vantry want to kill you, Rose? You hardly know them.’
I nodded. ‘That’s true, but if they wanted rid of me then it is because they think I know something that scares them.’
Peter shook his head. ‘I don’t understand.’
‘Neither do I. I have no way of knowing why or what for, but I am determined to find out.’ So saying I started the engine. ‘However, I will never find that out or if they had any connection with Mr QVE if we just barge in as you suggest.’
‘You think the attack – for that was what it was – on you might have some connection with the dead man?’
‘I haven’t much to go on as yet, beyond a strong feeling that Vantry is the link between my accident and Mr QVE’s murder.’
The hotel was approaching and we had already received a fair amount of strange looks: a motor car was one thing but – with a woman at the wheel!
As I parked neatly outside and Peter helped me dismount he said: ‘I’ll leave you and get back to the station.’ He looked bewildered. ‘Where to go next? Should we bring Rudd in?’
‘Not advisable at this stage. As you’ve said yourself, he’ll probably laugh at you. Wait until we have concrete evidence to offer and need help.’
‘You have certainly given me a lot to think about.’
‘It’s the way most of my cases begin, Peter. So you just have to have patience. It’s slow at first, maybe, and then the clues begin to emerge.’ I smiled encouragingly. ‘Think of it as a bit like going through a labyrinth, a few false starts until you strike the right path.’
He groaned. ‘How on earth do you hope to achieve anything positive when you are leaving next week?’
‘I might have to stay.’
His eyebrows rose. ‘Your husband will be expecting you home again and you have a little daughter. She’ll be missing you.’
‘Leave that to me.’
And leaving him, I smiled with a confidence I was far from feeling with my additional reason for helping Peter solve this murder. If, as I was almost certain, there was some connection with Vantry, then there might be two mysteries to solve, a link between the murdered man and the attempt someone had made to kill me, all of which, as Peter had pointed out, was going to take more than a few days to solve. The alternative was to sit around and do nothing until it was time to catch the ferry, pretend, except when my bruises and sore legs told me otherwise, that nothing had happened.
I had to find an excuse to stay. If Sadie was now well enough, she could return on her own. I realised I had come a long way from that original plan of proving her innocence, only to be almost certain that my accident and Mr QVE’s murder were all linked to Vantry. More than a coincidence.
However, without Sadie as an excuse I also had to find something very plausible for Jack waiting impatiently at Solomon’s Tower. The last thing I wanted him to know was that his scornful prediction that wherever I went, murder was waiting, had once again come true.
So I had to think of something – fast.
But nothing happened as planned. There were to be unimagined events and a tragic death – hidden, as yet – which was to bring Sarah Vantry into focus on Rothesay again.
I looked in to see Sadie. She greeted me cheerfully, but when I said: ‘Well, all ready to go back to Edinburgh? I need to check the ferries, let Jack know when we will be arriving—’ I was aware that she wasn’t listening.
‘I may not be coming back, Rose. Harry wants me to stay. You remember Uncle Godwin recognised me? And he knows about us,’ she added awkwardly. ‘Harry and me, that is.’
Two men in the same family of different generations and both had found Sadie irresistible. It was remarkable. I closed my ears to what I could imagine would be Jack’s comments. In a few short days, I had not been alone in observing what was happening. They had made no secret of their attraction.
‘The dreadful old man has been watching us and he tackled Harry in no uncertain manner.’ She gulped. ‘It was after he knew he was getting no more money from me and I told him to do his worst. And he did. He told Harry and Gerald that I was Sarah Vantry who had committed a murder and got away with it twenty years ago.’
I was appalled but she went on, smiling now. ‘And do you know what Harry said to him? “I don’t care who Sadie was twenty years ago. It’s the Sadie Brook now that I love – yes, love – and I want her to stay.”’
Her eyes were wide and tearful. ‘When Harry told me, I cried. I was so relieved. I love him and he loves me. It is just … just wonderful.’
I looked at her. I could think of no words. He wanted her to stay, they were in love but there was no commitment. I thought about the difference in their ages, love but without marriage, and Sadie seemed to have forgotten all about her sailor lover whose ship was about to land in Leith any day now and was the reason for luring me to Bute to prove her innocence. She was saying: ‘Yes, Rose, I’m in love for the first time in my life – and best of all, with someone who knows my real identity. And doesn’t care. Rose, he doesn’t care a damn. Do you know what that means?’
I knew. As far as she was concerned there was no longer any need to prove that not-proven verdict should have been not guilty. She could stay here with Harry, perhaps even persuade him to marry her, and not always be haunted by the fact he might get to know.
‘Er … what about Robbie?’
A shrug of indifference. ‘Oh, I told him all about the past, you know – in that letter you posted for me the other day. I had to be honest with him, I owed him that much. Even though Harry hasn’t asked me yet,’ she smiled determinedly, ‘I could never marry Robbie now.’
‘You’re sure about marrying Harry?’
‘Absolutely!’ she trilled excitedly. ‘Look at this!’ She held out an elegant hand, now with a large sapphire. But not on her engagement finger. She saw my expression and must have known. ‘It’s a bit too big,’ she said apologetically. ‘A family heirloom, belonged to Harry’s mother. Isn’t it lovely?’
It was indeed. The rather old-fashioned heavy setting reminded me in size and shape of the rubies worn by Lady Adeline and Beatrice. As Sadie proudly stretched out that beringed hand, suddenly something clicked. A something that needed a great deal of thought, far too nebulous and outrageous to pursue at that moment.
‘I must tell you what happened, how it all started.’ And she began to eagerly report the conversation, in what sounded like word for word, that Harry had had with Uncle Godwin. After what he thought was dropping the bombshell of Sadie’s identity, he was very ready to reveal that he was a great hoarder of old newspapers and especially anxious to produce those relating to the trial with all the details, including a sketch of Sarah in the dock. Like the one I had seen, Sadie said it was almost unrecognisable and would not have convinced anyone, much less her lovelorn Harry, that the sixteen-year-old depicted was also Sadie Brook.
‘Harry said he didn’t care, that it didn’t matter in the slightest. Of course, he’s quite a bit younger than me, as I expect you know.’ I had counted fifteen years as she paused and added thankfully: ‘He was too young to remember anything about the trial, but Gerald knew. Anyway, Godwin went on to ask Harry what were his intentions. And that was the best bit. Harry replied that they were honourable.’
I looked at her. If she was reporting Harry correctly, honourable intentio
ns usually meant marriage.
‘Uncle Godwin said that’s a pity. Probably thought Harry was like himself, dreadful man – you know he tried to seduce me when I worked here and I knew from the other maids that he had sometimes succeeded to have his way with them because they were afraid they would lose their jobs.’
She paused. ‘No wonder his wife left him years ago. Anyway, Harry said, “Finding Sadie is the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to me.”’
Eyes shining, she clasped her hands. ‘And me, Rose. Just wonderful. I can hardly believe it.’
She wasn’t the only one, I couldn’t either. I wasn’t convinced about the wonderful bit but hoped for her sake it was true.
‘What happened then?’ I asked.
She smiled. ‘Harry just reminded Godwin that he had always complained about him spending far too much time with Gerald, his best and only real friend. Now at last he had found the woman he wanted and said that he should be happy for me. “Happy!”, Uncle shouted. “Happy to see you throw away your life and your reputation with a … suspected murderess,”’ she added in hushed tones. ‘Then he said, “You are my heir but I certainly am not going to leave this hotel and everything I possess to you if you associate with this woman. I’m not leaving everything to an idiot, and let me remind you the hotel and all its assets are mine until I die, but if you are determined to include this woman, then my will can be changed.”
‘Harry then told him, “Your newspapers there recorded the not-proven verdict and I believe her, so what have you got against her?”’
Sadie paused and whispered, ‘Harry said he believed it was jealousy, because when I was a maid I had rejected his advances. He couldn’t think of a reply to that one.’ Laughing happily, she shook her head. ‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned – seems it can also apply to a man!’
Leaning over, she clasped my hands. ‘Oh, Rose, you look so solemn. Be happy for me. I thought you would be glad for me, glad for us both.’
I looked at her, too stunned to do more than nod weakly. ‘It’s a bit of a shock, Sadie. I really had no idea and I need time to take it in.’
‘But you are pleased, Rose, say you are pleased.’ She frowned. ‘Although this means you’ll need to find another housekeeper.’
I laughed. ‘That’s the least of my worries.’ I took those elegant hands and looked at the ring again. ‘And I’m sure Jack will be pleased for you too. Am I right in presuming that now you are well again and going to … stay here with Harry’ – I knew ‘marry’ was the appropriate word, but neither of us had said it – ‘we no longer need to go out to Vantry and try to find the truth?’
When it was too late I was to remember her words. ‘Oh no, Rose, surely you understand, I still am determined to prove that I didn’t kill Oswald. I owe it to Harry, even though he believes I am innocent. If I am to go on living here, becoming one of the community, the truth is sure to come out, especially if old, spiteful, wicked Godwin has anything to do with it. I will still carry that stigma and it won’t do Harry any good either. No, Rose, we must go ahead as we planned and I’m sure Gerald will give us a hand. He knows what it means to me.’
I had been thinking about Gerald, too. ‘Is he pleased with this arrangement?’
She laughed. ‘Of course, he’s devoted to Harry, regards him like a younger brother. And Uncle Godwin can’t harm him. He’s part of the Clovis family.’
I couldn’t think of anything to say, mention of Gerald and the Clovis family had raised new problems. How was I going to fit this in with my promise to help Peter find the killer of Mr QVE?
Sadie watched my expression and laughed delightedly.
‘I know how you feel. It’s so marvellous, it’s quite unreal. I can hardly believe it is happening to me.’
The same thoughts with a grimmer foundation were mine exactly, and I said again: ‘What happens next?’
‘Of course, I’ll let Aunt Brook know that I am moving to Bute for good. That I am to be housekeeper at a grand hotel.’
Umm, I thought, so that was the respectable intention to be publicly received. It had not been mentioned before.
Sadie went on. ‘She will be thrilled and we’ll invite her to come and stay.’ Leaning over, she took my hand. ‘Oh Rose, don’t look so solemn. I do beg you, please say you’re pleased. I know it doesn’t look as if I will be coming back to Edinburgh ever and I am sorry to let you down – and Mr Jack and dear Meg, but I am sure they will understand.’
I could guarantee that they would be as surprised as I was. ‘Don’t worry about that, Sadie, they will be very happy for you to have found an excellent situation with people who care about you in your native land,’ I ended awkwardly.
‘Will you find someone to take my place?’ she said anxiously.
‘I’ll do my best, but you will be hard to replace.’
She looked pleased at the compliment. ‘Harry realises that my experience as a housekeeper, cooking and so forth will be of great value in the hotel. We have so much in common, Rose.’ A sigh. ‘It is almost unbelievable that in just a few days one’s whole world could change like this.’
I had to agree, in danger of forgetting Shakespeare’s words in Romeo and Juliet about falling in love at first sight. Strange as it seemed now, I had done it myself much younger than Sadie. I was twelve years old when Sergeant Danny McQuinn rescued my sister Emily and me from one of Pa’s villains. I knew I loved Danny then, and when I was grown up I would marry him. I even told him and, determined there was no other man I could ever marry, I followed him to America’s Wild West against his wishes for my safety. But we had our ten happy years together and then … and then I lost him.
When I came to Edinburgh, Jack Macmerry entered my life. He was the one to fall in love and we married. I hadn’t been keen on the idea; being – candid, in current terms – his mistress would have been enough for me. But we were happy now, and we had Meg as an unexpected bonus, but I could not pretend to myself that life with Jack could ever be like the ecstasy and the agony of first love.
And so, Sadie was determined to go ahead with this new love and I went along too. Living together in a solid relationship with Harry was almost as good as ‘happy ever after’ in marriage, consolation to take back home to Edinburgh while resigning myself to accepting two mysteries as unsolved.
But along with all the ‘best laid plans o’ mice an’ men’ it wasn’t to work out quite like that.
The day after that conversation between us, I was standing on the landing waiting for Sadie to go down to breakfast. She came out of her room, and looking down into the lobby, I saw a flurry of people gathered and heard anxious voices. ‘Who is it? What happened? Do we know him?’
Harry was below, standing anxiously alongside of Dr Wills and Gerald. They were bending over a man’s body lying spreadeagled at the foot of the stairs. He was face down, wearing a dressing robe, and his twisted limbs looked ominous – even that I could see from the landing. As if aware of us at the top of the stairs, Harry looked up and saw Sadie.
She put her hand to her mouth. ‘Oh, how awful. One of the guests must have fallen downstairs in the night. There was a private party, a lot of drinking, it kept me awake.’
I had heard it too, wakened I thought not from party revellers but from angry voices raised in argument coming from the direction of Sadie’s room.
‘Poor chap,’ she sighed, ‘must have been drunk.’
We both stood there, neither of us making any attempt to go down. ‘How terrible!’ she said.
It was indeed terrible, more terrible than we could have imagined.
The man lying dead at the foot of the stairs with his neck broken was Uncle Godwin and I kept on seeing the expression on Harry’s face, and remembering how I had turned sharply to look at Sadie. It was on her face too.
She knew.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Sadie didn’t go down to him. She ran into her room, sobbing, and I followed her, bewildered, sat down on the bed and pu
t my arm around her.
‘What happened?’ I asked.
She stopped crying and stared at me. ‘You saw it yourself, Rose. What does it look like? Uncle Godwin fell down the stairs. He drinks too much, it was bound to happen.’
I was silent for a moment. ‘Bound to happen, Sadie, but with curious timing.’
‘I don’t know what you mean,’ she said coldly.
‘I hope you are not the only one and that no one else sees the significance.’
‘For heaven’s sake, Rose,’ she said irritably. ‘It must have been obvious to everyone that he’d kill himself someday.’
‘Indeed yes, and he’s dead, the very day after Harry told you he was going to change his will, disinherit him. A piece of luck for Harry, this very convenient accident.’
Sadie looked at me angrily. An exclamation of horror. ‘What a dreadful thing to say, Rose! How could you even think such a thing?’ I said nothing. ‘It’s sheer coincidence, surely you realise that these things happen?’
‘Oh yes, they do indeed.’
‘And what is that supposed to mean?’ she demanded sharply.
‘Think about it, Sadie. There are certain implications – which concern you and that surely you recognise – about accidents on staircases.’
She put a hand to her mouth, as if realisation had just dawned. ‘No, Rose. No,’ she whispered. ‘Not me.’
I said as gently as I could. ‘Yes, Sadie. It was the first thing that occurred to me, this weird coincidence that the very thing you came to Bute to try to prove your innocence over, should happen again in the hotel where you were staying.’
She stared at me, horrified, and I said as gently as I could: ‘Now, suppose you tell me exactly what happened before anyone else gets here.’
‘He tripped and fell down the stairs, we presumed it was a guest from the noisy party—’
‘Yes, I know that. But I think you knew who it was all the time we stood on the landing, speculating – all this was pretence about a drunken guest. You see,’ I said carefully, ‘I woke up and heard noises, voices, but they were from your room. I recognised Uncle Godwin’s voice, it was always penetrating and he didn’t bother to keep it down.’ I paused. ‘I think you were there when he fell down the stairs, and so was Harry. He sent you back to your room because he panicked and didn’t want you involved.’
Murder Lies Waiting Page 19
