Death of a Lady (The Inspector Felix Mysteries Book 1)

by R. A. Bentley

  'What did he do, after he held you up?'

  'I don't know. I suppose he went back to the smoking room. Or did I see him dancing? I think I may have done. You won't be able to ask him, I'm afraid; he died in the war. So many of our friends died. Were you in the war, Mr Felix?'

  'Yes, cavalry.'

  'Of course you were! You don't look much like a policeman, if I might say so. Or sound like one.'

  'I try hard not to look like one. Can I take it that as far as you're aware, Lady Genny was never seen again by the botherers, after Mr Lomas's intervention?'

  Lady George nodded. 'I think you probably can, or they would have mentioned it. You see, I didn't stay quite until the end. I saw George coming and hung back and he carried me off to the ballroom.'

  'I don't suppose you can remember what the time was, when you came downstairs?'

  'I should say it was about a quarter to eleven. People were beginning to drift away by then, although the band played for another half-hour or so. We had a few dances and the last waltz.'

  'And then he proposed?'

  Lady George laughed. She had, he thought, the most enchanting laugh.

  'Wouldn't that have been romantic! But perhaps it's just as well he didn't. It took another visit, and then the war started. We were married quietly when he came home on leave.'

  'Well, he's a lucky man. Can you give me an idea of what time it was when you last saw Lady Genny? How long before you floated away with Lord George?'

  'Oh, I see what you're driving at! You want to establish when she was last seen alive. In that case, I'd say just a few minutes before we went down.'

  'Can you put a time on that?'

  She considered. 'It must have been about half past ten. No, it was half past ten, or near enough, because I remember looking at my watch and thinking we'd got another half hour of it and wondering if I might sneak away to George. And an hour later we were all hunting for her. We were exhausted by then, of course, but we stuck it out until about three in the morning, then slept where we happened to end up. I was a bit nervous of being alone so I shared with a girl named Evelyn. I've no idea to this day who she was. George never went to bed at all, and neither did most of the other men.'

  'And who were those men? Can you remember?'

  She shook her head and sighed. 'Oh dear, I don't think I can, except for George and Andrew and my brother Cormac, who brought me over. And the Duke, of course. And the Major. I didn't know anyone then, you see. There were all the servants, and I think some guests, and some of their servants.'

  'So by dawn, would it be reasonable to say they'd searched the whole house?'

  'Oh, I should think so. Several times over, probably. We were twice disturbed ourselves.'

  'What about the attic, where they found her?'

  'That was searched, and the others. Not very well, obviously.'

  'Servants' quarters?'

  'I'm sure they were.'

  'And did you tell the police all this the first time? We have no record of it.'

  'Only to say I was with the others, and to confirm that we'd seen her. I was just one young guest among many, don't forget. They questioned the bridesmaids, but not the rest of us.'

  'Really? Well I must say, I'm quite surprised at that. I was wondering; do you know any of the other botherers, at all? It might be useful to talk to someone who carried on until eleven o'clock, even if they didn't actually see Lady Genny.'

  'In case they saw the murderer, do you mean?'

  'If there was one, My Lady, or anyone else we can question.'

  Lady George was silent for a moment. 'I might be able to help. I have a friend who was one of them. I didn't know her then, of course; we only became friendly later. I'm afraid I rather started the rot, abandoning them like that, because after I left, most of the others wandered off too, including my friend, but I have an idea she did mention someone. Let me make a telephone call, will you? She's local, so it might not take too long. Ah! Now I come to think about it, we did see someone else - a young boy. I think he must have been a boot boy or something of the sort. Pearson might know.'

  'That sounds promising. Yes, I'll follow it up.' Felix sat back and observed her with satisfaction. 'My Lady, this has been more useful than you may realise. Thank you so much. I wonder if I might impose on you a little more? If I come back at another time with Sergeant Rattigan and his notebook, will you give us a formal statement about your part in the bride-bothering? And if you can remember any other details, however small, that would be marvellous. Then, if I may, I'll ask you to sign it.'

  Her Ladyship shrugged. 'We can do it now if it suits you. Would Sergeant Rattigan be Irish at all?'

  'No, but I believe his grandfather came from Sligo.'

  'Then I'll let this draw a bit.' She went to the door and called the boy. 'Harry, I want you to fetch Detective Sergeant Rattigan for me. What does he look like, Mr Felix?'

  'About the size of your horse but not as pretty. He'll probably be in His Lordship's office, typing.'

  'What did you think of her?' asked Felix as they regained their sanctuary.

  'Sharp as a tack,' said Rattigan. 'And very self-assured.'

  'As well she might be. Someone we can rely on?'

  Rattigan eyed his boss speculatively. 'You're rather taken with her, aren't you, sir?'

  'Aren't you?'

  'I wouldn't swop her for Hannah Yates. What about the Partridge fellow?'

  'I'm not so sure about Partridge. He's a likeable old chap, and cooperative up to a point, but perhaps not eager to volunteer gratuitous information. Probably another one that doesn't want to get into trouble. He seems to have had quite a lot to do with her and is pretty upset. Sir Neville was right, by the way, the Duchess doesn't approve of Her Ladyship.'

  'I'm beginning to dislike the woman,' growled Rattigan, 'and we haven't even met her yet.'

  As with the other great state rooms, Godwinstowe's drawing room, with its mighty baroque chimneypieces, its pink marble columns and its lofty, strapwork ceiling, seemed designed to awe and intimidate the visitor rather than welcome him. The delicate Georgian furniture was dwarfed by its immensity, and even the concert grand piano appeared the merest toy.

  Sitting some yards away, severe and upright, was the Duchess, and standing beside her with one hand on her high-backed chair was a stout, purple-faced man, who proved to be Major Mortimer. It was, Felix thought, as if they'd been posed for a portrait. At sixty-two, Her Grace remained a handsome, strong-featured woman, with a figure that corsetry alone could not have achieved. Her large eyes were hooded, and her jaw – perhaps too emphatic for true beauty – was set firm, and he could see immediately that he had a fight on his hands. The usual courtesies having been exchanged, she her took up a book from the pile beside her and opened it at a place-mark.

  'Your full name is Miles Anthony Felix,' she said. 'You were born in eighteen ninety-three and educated at St Paul's and Goldsmith's, graduating in English and History. You volunteered for military service in nineteen-fourteen where you served in the 2nd Dragoon Guards, achieving the rank of Captain. Upon demobilisation you joined the Metropolitan Police with the rank of Constable and are currently a Detective Inspector. Is that correct?'

  Felix nodded. 'Yes, Your Grace.'

  'Your father,' she continued, 'is Sir Roger Baines Felix FRCS, born eighteen sixty-two, educated at St Paul's and Kings College. Surgeon: St Bartholemews's Hospital. Senior surgeon: St Cuthbert's Infirmary. He retired in nineteen-twenty and is now a country doctor. Your mother is Lavinia Rose, born eighteen sixty-eight, second daughter of Sir Montague Horsfall, baronet. You have, I see, a younger sister, and an elder brother, Charles, a barrister, called to the bar in nineteen-twenty.' She peered over her spectacles at him. 'Is that also correct?'

  Reflecting that his job still had the capacity to surprise him, Felix permitted himself a moment's pause before answering. 'Yes, Your Grace.'

  'May I ask, Mr Felix, what your grandfather did for a living?'
r />   'He was a tailor . . . Your Grace.'

  The Duchess gave a ghost of a smile. 'Thank you. Now to the business at hand. I understand it to be a legal requirement that the police investigate the cause of my daughter's death. Presumably you have now done so. What have you concluded?'

  'I have not yet come to a conclusion, madam,' said Felix equably. 'There is still much to do.'

  'But you can no doubt confirm that it was an accident? My daughter was foolish enough to hide in the trunk and the lid fell on her. Either she was killed outright or was rendered unconscious and suffocated. Alternatively the hasp fell over the staple, she was unable to free herself and again suffocated.'

  'That may be the case, madam. At the moment we have not even received the postmortem report.'

  The Duchess reached again for her side table. 'Then you will be pleased to know, Mr Felix, that I have it here.' Unfolding the letter, she replaced her spectacles. 'Now, let me find the pertinent section. It is, as you see, a rather lengthy document.' Impassively waiting, Felix could sense his sergeant's rising anger. He willed him to shut up.

  '"As far as can be ascertained,"' she read '". . . simple fracture to the lower left parietal bone of the skull . . . will in all probability have caused unconsciousness . . . . Ultimate cause of death may have been asphyxiation due to containment within the closed trunk. . . There are no other gross signs of injury or assault, or of attack with a penetrating weapon or object."' She put the paper aside. 'I think that settles the matter, does it not? You will find your copy of this letter waiting for you in Lord Welmford's office. We look forward to receiving your report in due course.'

  'I shall be reporting to my superior officer, yes, Your Grace,' said Felix. 'However, as I have indicated, our investigations may take some while yet.'

  The Duchess fixed him with a basilisk stare. 'Then perhaps you will explain to me, Mr Felix, what there is still to do?'

  'Your Grace, your theory regarding Lady Genevieve's death is interesting, but the section of the report to which you have referred by no means confirms it. There are aspects of the case that I find disquieting and I intend to follow them up. I hope that I can rely upon the cooperation of the members of your household while I do so. I will, of course, keep Your Grace and the Duke fully informed. Good morning, madam.'

  They paused for a while on the peristyle, leaning on the chill marble balustrade and gazing into the hall below.

  'Wicked old cat, interrogating you like that!' growled Rattigan. 'Who does she think she is?'

  Felix chuckled. 'She was only doing what we do, Teddy — a taste of our own medicine.'

  'That's different; we're officers of the law. And if you don't mind me saying, sir, your granddad owned a department store, didn't he?'

  'Yes, he did.'

  'Then why . . . ?'

  'He started as a tailor. Clogs to clogs in three generations.'

  'I'd hardly call a police inspector clogs!'

  Felix patted his sergeant's brawny shoulder affectionately. 'Your indignation on my behalf does you credit, Teddy, but I felt I should let her win and have done with it.'

  'You think it was a game? It can hardly be one-upmanship, surely? How do you trump a duchess?'

  'It's probably her way of squashing uppity policemen. Anyway, it seems Lady George was right; she's convinced herself it was an accident and doesn't want to be told otherwise.'

  'Or wants to convince us it was an accident.'

  'Well you do have to wonder, especially given the behaviour of her maid. If she's hiding something, it could make things pretty awkward.'

  'She knows all about the trunk. How do you suppose she'd explain why it wasn't found?'

  'I considered asking her that, but to what end? She won't have a plausible answer, and if I put her on the spot there's no knowing what she might do. We need to be careful or we could find ourselves on the wrong side of the gates.'

  Rattigan sighed heavily. 'And if we were, I doubt we'd get much sympathy from the windbag, who seems to have got his feet firmly under the table. Oh for a nice straightforward knifing in Limehouse! I wouldn't even mind if it was dragged out of the river.'

  Felix smiled sympathetically. 'You're not enjoying this, are you Teddy? You've been grumpy since we got here.'

  'No, I'm not, sir. I don't mind the ordinary gentry but this lot make me nervous. I nearly called Mrs Pardey "My Lady" this morning.'

  'I don't suppose she'd have minded; you might have got extra biscuits. Hello, what's this?'

  The Major came hurrying up to them. 'I say, Felix, glad I caught you. Look here, dash it.' He paused to catch his breath, dabbing at his brow with a handkerchief. 'I'm not one to speak out of school, don't think that, but I wouldn't want you to get the wrong impression. She's not a bad old gel really, you know, but this business has shaken her to the core. Never seen her so upset. She loved my niece, Inspector, as much as any mother, but she worries about the publicity: newspapers at the gate, tittle-tattle in the House, court case! Worries her out of all proportion. Thinks the sky will fall on our heads. Social ruin. Nonsense of course — they'll have forgotten it in a week. I just wanted to say, go easy on her, that's all. She means no harm.'

  'My Lord, I've no wish to upset Her Grace,' said Felix, kindly. 'I should prefer her to approve of our presence here, naturally, but I have my job to do and I intend to do it. She must surely want the truth of the matter, and the truth is what we're here to discover. As for the newspapers, we're just as annoyed about them as you are, and if they learn anything new about the case, I can assure you it won't be from me or my men.'

  The Major looked anxiously behind him. 'Yes, all right. Know you mean well. Look here, about the antecedents. It's just her way of judging people, that's all. Summing 'em up, what? Bit eccentric but perfectly harmless. We all do it, don't we, to some degree? Embarrassing for you, I know that.'

  'It's quite all right, My Lord,' smiled Felix. 'May I ask, did I pass?'

  The Major looked hunted. 'Not a question of that. What I say is, better have it out, good or bad. Put it behind us, what? Let me know if you need anything. I must go back.'

  'My Lord, just a minute. You were here, presumably, on the night of the wedding?'

  'What? Yes, some of it. Wife was in hospital. Operation. Left off to visit and came back to chaos. Helped with the search. Not good enough, I know that. Poor girl deserved better. Give you a statement if you want it. You're in George's office, aren't you? Say twenty minutes?'

  They watched him scurrying away along the corridor.

  Rattigan chuckled. 'He's running scared of her.'

  'If anyone was embarrassed, it was him, poor beggar. Did you see his face? Wished the floor would open and swallow him. He's brewing a heart attack if you ask me. He's a nasty colour. Anyway, she knows now we mean business. We'll take his statement, and then I think we'd best call a meeting.'

  'Thank you for coming, My Lord,' said Felix. 'Your name is Gerald Brian Mortimer, and you're the brother of the present Duke. You're retired from the army and live at Godwinstowe Manor. You were born in eighteen seventy-five, which makes you fifty-one. Is that correct?'

  The Major smiled a little wryly. 'Yes, Inspector. But do feel free to address me as Major; everyone else does.'

  Felix smiled back. 'Thank you, Major. You're rather younger than His Grace, I see.'

  'Yes, we're well spread out. Two brothers died in infancy, and we have a younger sister, Claudia. Married an Australian. Ought to write to her, I suppose. He does understand, you know, about my niece. Merriman will tell you.'

  'His Grace's illness must be distressing for you?'

  'Yes it is. One feels a responsibility. The Duchess has my nephews, of course, but it's not the same as the support of one's own generation. Not that I'm much good at that sort of thing, but I do my best.'

  'I'm sure you're a comfort to her, Major. However, I'm wondering if you agree with Her Grace that Lady Genny's death was an accident. You mentioned earlier the possibility of a court cas
e. Do I take it that you suspect foul play?'

  The Major hesitated. 'One is bound to ask oneself,' he said carefully, 'would she really have gone up there to hide? And if she did, why in that trunk? It seems unlikely to my mind, and George, I know, feels the same. But who on earth would have wanted to kill her? It's beyond all imagining. And Carrington's report does seem to suggest misadventure. He's a good man, so they say, although I've had no dealings with him personally.'

  'He wasn't your late wife's doctor, then?'

  'No, he wasn't around then; arrived after the war, I think.'

  'Thank you, Major. Now, coming to wedding day; you said your wife was in hospital?'

  'Yes, an emergency appendectomy. Only the day before.'

  'That was bad luck.'

  'Yes it was rather. I did manage to attend the ceremony, but she was extremely poorly for a while and I felt I should return to her bedside. Later she slept, so I came back here for an hour or two, only to find Genny had gone missing.'

  'Were they searching by then?'

  'Not quite, no. The bride bothering had begun, and the last people to see her were the girls at about ten-thirty. You've got all that, presumably?'

  'We're beginning to build up a picture, yes. Can you remember what time it was, when you got back?'

  'I should say around ten. Might have been a bit later.'

  'What did you do when you arrived?'

  'I keep a room here. I went and tidied up and had a bit of a rest. Then came down to the ballroom.'

  'Were you alone, when upstairs?'

  'Yes, for a time. I had Pearson with me to start with. He used to valet for me in those days. Stout fellow, Pearson.'

  'But you dismissed him, before you came down?'

  'Yes.'

  'How long were you alone, would you say?'

  The Major looked doubtful. 'Not sure. Ten, fifteen minutes?'

  'And just to confirm: neither you nor Pearson saw or heard Lady Genny during the time you were upstairs?'