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

by R. A. Bentley

  'Not like that, stupid!' she wailed. 'You're hurting me!'

  Waving the footman aside, Felix crouched beside her. 'You would help yourself, young lady, by lying still. Now if I just turn the handlebars a little, you should be able to pull your leg out. Go on, then — pull it out.'

  'My knee is hurt!' she complained. 'There's blood coming out.'

  'Not very much; you'll probably live.'

  'There is so!' said the child, allowing herself to be set on her feet. 'Look, it's running down my leg. Anyhow, I scored.'

  'No you didn't,' said a piping voice. 'You put your foot down.'

  'I did not!'

  'Yes you did, I saw you.'

  Felix looked up to see three small boys, the eldest of them perhaps ten. They, too, were straddling bicycles and each held a long-handled mallet.'

  'Bicycle polo?' enquired Felix.

  'Yes, sir. And she did put her foot down.'

  'Who's "she," the cat's mother?'

  'Brigid, then. She has to hit Socrates now or she can't go on playing.'

  'I am The Honourable Brigid Charlotte Irene Mortimer,' said the child haughtily. 'And when Daddy is Duke I'll be Lady Brigid Mortimer. And he's the Honourable Edward, Brendan Mortimer and when Daddy is Duke he'll be Viscount Welmford and when Daddy's dead he'll be the Duke of Godwinstowe, and that one is the Honourable Charles Arthur Mortimer and when Daddy is Duke he'll be Lord Charles Mortimer, and that one is Walter and he's just ordinary.'

  Felix winked at the glum-looking Walter. 'Well I'm Detective Inspector Felix and I'm just ordinary too. I'm very honoured to meet you all, and now we must leave you to your game.'

  'Not while I'm here they don't,' said Sam grumpily, and marching across to the butler's room he ostentatiously flung open the door.'

  'That's not fair, Sam!' cried Edward. 'That's our goal.'

  'Well you'll have to find another, won't you? And if your ball goes in there I'm keeping it.'

  'The blood's running into my stocking,' complained Brigid. 'Look!'

  Felix sighed and fetched out his last clean handkerchief. 'Stand still, then, and I'll knot this round it. Then you'd best go to Nanny for a plaster.'

  Brigid examined his handiwork with approval. 'You'll have to carry me now,' she said.

  'Why?'

  'Because my knee won't bend.'

  'Then you'll just have to walk stiff-legged, won't you?'

  'No! You must carry me or I'll tell Daddy.'

  Felix sighed and picked her up. 'I'll bet you get on well with your grandmamma, don't you?'

  'Of course I do. I love my grandmamma. But you mustn't call her that; you must call her the Duchess. She says you're a nuisance. Why are you a nuisance? Nanny says Charlie's a nuisance because he's a slow eater and plays with his food. I'm a very quick eater.'

  'Well I can assure you I never play with my food, so the Duchess must have got it wrong.'

  'I bet you do! I bet you push it all round the plate until it falls off the edge!'

  'How do you play this game then?' asked Rattigan curiously.

  'We play three chukkars of five minutes each,' said Edward. One goal is the door to the butler's room and the other is the entrance to our apartments. If you put a foot down you must go and hit Socrates before you can play again. He's a bit knocked about anyway, so it doesn't matter much.'

  'And what does your mother think of that rowdy game?'

  'Mummy invented it. She says we won't get into mischief in the gallery.'

  Dismissing the maid, Lord George ushered them into his study; a relatively small room, decorated in the modern style and overlooking the paddocks. Here, no game-birds strutted in glass cases and no moth-eaten hunting trophies gazed reproachfully down. The few books appeared to be exclusively on subjects equine, while prints and photographs of horses and their riders filled the neutral-coloured walls. Over a fireplace of stepped brick was a large and rather fine painting of Lady George on Páraic, dashingly en levade.

  'Do sit down, gentleman. Smoke if you wish. I understand you've met my brat, Felix. Did you have to suffer the catechism? It's her present obsession, unfortunately.'

  'It was no hardship, sir,' smiled Felix. 'She's a beautiful child, and remarkably articulate.'

  'Yes, that's the Irish influence of course. Dead spit of her mother, as you no doubt noticed. However, to business. Am I allowed a progress report? Rosie tells me you think it was murder.'

  'I believe I told Her Ladyship it was too early to say, sir,' frowned Felix. 'I may not, of course, have made myself entirely clear.'

  Lord George chuckled. 'You are a model of tact, Inspector. My wife, I must tell you, is a dauntingly perceptive woman. I've learned not to have any secrets from her.'

  Felix glanced at Rattigan, who gave a barely perceptible shrug of assent. 'Then I may as well admit we think it likely, yes. I understand from Her Ladyship that you suspect that too.'

  'Yes, I do. I was pretty sure as soon as I'd been to the attic. May I ask what your grounds are for thinking so?'

  'How about if you tell me yours first, sir?'

  'All right. There's a big old wardrobe up there. I suspect it was swung in front of the last doorway, concealing it. No-one had been back there for years – generations, probably – so no-one would have known about the extra room. Still less, of course, did the police. It could surely only have been the work of a murderer or his accomplice to move it. How am I doing?'

  'Spot on, sir. Or at the least, by someone who didn't want her to be found. The builders weren't fooled, of course, because they were looking for a chimney-breast and knew it had to be there. Have you communicated this insight to anyone else?'

  'Only to Rosie. You knew this from early on, presumably? She's very impressed with you, by the way.'

  Felix smiled. 'I'm flattered, sir. Yes we did. As a matter of fact, it was my photographer who tumbled it first, before we even arrived. But it's seldom a good idea in our job to tell people what you've discovered, you know. The murderer, if he is still around, might make a useful slip; or if he learns of it, might be frightened off entirely, which we don't want. I must ask you, if you don't mind, not to let it go any further.'

  Lord George nodded his agreement. 'My own thoughts exactly. Look, I'm sorry for not mentioning it sooner, but I was curious to know if you'd get there independently. I might as well tell you I was profoundly unimpressed with Cobb, and that other fellow, Drew. Their investigations seemed perfunctory and half-hearted, as was their report. I was reluctantly prepared to believe until now that Genny might have run away, but they presented not the slightest evidence, as far as I could see, for that conclusion. My mother unfortunately jumped at it. She sees herself as the guardian of the ducal reputation. No stain of scandal must besmirch the family name, and all that nonsense. An absconding bride was, one supposes, preferable to the alternatives.'

  'And now?'

  'Now she insists it was an accident. You, of course, had more sense than to press your case.'

  'How do you know that, sir?'

  'You're still here, Inspector.'

  Felix smiled. 'Are you able to tell us when the attic was first searched?'

  'Yes, that night at about two o'clock, not long before the police arrived. I went up there myself, as it happens, but found a couple of footmen well stuck in and left them to it. I must say that we had no real expectation of finding her there. It was an act of desperation.'

  'Were the maids' accommodations on that floor searched?'

  'Yes, they were. Not by me, obviously.

  'Who were the footmen? Was one of them Mr Pearson?'

  'No, he was outside with Andrew, distributing lanterns and so on. The others all died on active service; we weren't spared here, I'm afraid. All of them, I can confirm, were downstairs during the bothering. I suppose the next step is to determine who was around at the critical time?'

  'That's exactly it, sir. Plodding police-work, I'm afraid. We're making steady progress.'

  Lord George leaned back and
observed him. You interest me, Inspector. I doubt many plodding policemen are such a good judge of horseflesh. Partridge was most impressed. How did that come about?'

  'We're a riding family, sir. I spent half my childhood on our farm near Winchester. The Duchess will be able to quote chapter and verse.'

  Lord George gave a bark of amusement. 'Felix, I apologise unreservedly for my family! Let us move swiftly on. You'll be wanting my account of the rest of the day, no doubt. I know my wife has told you about the bride-bothering.'

  'I don't expect all of it, sir, unless there's something you think we ought to know. But first of all, we've been told there was a tall, dark-haired gentleman in the church, possibly foreign. Do you know who that might have been? He came late, sat at the back, and left early.'

  Lord George looked doubtful. 'Can't think of any foreigners. My sister spent some time in Paris of course, learning the lingo. But if he was someone she met there, one would have thought he'd have made himself known.'

  'Her tutor, perhaps?'

  'No, that was a woman: Mademoiselle Dubois. Gone now. She taught me the year before, or attempted to. Bit of a lost cause, I'm afraid.'

  'What about Her Ladyship's maid, Miss Brown? Could he have been a friend of hers?'

  'Could've been, I suppose. That's not something I'd know about.'

  'No, all right. You don't happen to know, incidently, where she might have gone? No one else seems to. We'd very much like to speak to her.'

  Lord George shrugged dismissively. Lady's maids, he seemed to imply, were not his province. 'No idea, I'm afraid. Perhaps she ran off with your mysterious foreigner?'

  'Well, there's a thought. But, you know, she could be useful to our investigations. They were more in the nature of friends, I understand, than mistress and maid, and she would in any case have known Lady Genny very well. Better than anyone, probably.'

  Lord George considered this. 'Yes, I suppose that's true. But I really don't know anything about her. Have you asked Mrs Pardey?'

  Felix tried another tack. 'Yes, all the usual people. 'What was her ladyship like as a child? Were you close? Twins often are.'

  'Yes, we were, very much so. She was a bit of a tomboy, so we played quite happily together. But then of course I went to school and got my own friends — usual thing.'

  'She was educated at home?'

  'Yes, a governess.'

  'How old was she when Miss Brown came to her?'

  'About nineteen, I think. There was another before that.'

  'So they were together for four or five years, and suddenly she left. Ran out on her, so to say, on the day of her wedding. You must be able to see why we're interested in that. I'm told they used to go riding together. Did you go with them?'

  Lord George's expression distinctly darkened. 'Not generally, no.'

  'Why was that, sir?'

  'Because . . . Oh well, I know this sounds foolish. The fact is, I felt unwelcome. Three was a crowd.'

  'And so you formed a dislike for Miss Brown?'

  Lord George sighed. 'Yes all right, I resented her. I felt she'd driven us apart. I'm not defending that position; she was always perfectly pleasant and polite towards me. One has strong feelings at that age, and they persist, I find, long after they've ceased to matter. Is this really relevant?'

  'One never knows to begin with, My Lord, what might or might not prove relevant. I'm sorry if I've made you feel uncomfortable. Can I ask you about Lady Genny's gentleman friends. Did she have any, do you know, before Lord Hoddersham?'

  Lord George looked relieved. 'If you mean boyfriends, no, never. She simply wasn't interested. Mother despaired of her. She did the Season, of course, and a few chaps made overtures but she wouldn't so much as look at them, or any of my friends. We were all quite surprised when she took up with Lovell. She'd known him all her life, which perhaps helped. It wasn't a love-match, as I'm sure he'll tell you, but one felt there was a sympathy between them. It would have worked, I think. Have you seen him yet?'

  'Yes, we have. Can we now consider the night of the wedding? It's the period leading up to and including the bride-bothering that we're interested in, from your particular standpoint.'

  Lord George gave this some consideration, his head on one side. 'I don't think there's much I can tell you about that. I tried to put myself about in an equitable manner — both sides of the church, ancient aunts, that sort of thing. A good deal of dancing, of course. Unmarried peers are a magnet for young women, as you might imagine, so I was obliged to whirl the more importunate about or be thought boorish. Andrew, of course, was doing likewise; albeit, I daresay, from less pure motives. Incidentally, I've told him to present himself to you before he wanders off again; though how much he'll be able to remember, I don't know. What I wanted, of course, was to spend some time with Rosie, whom I hadn't seen since visiting her in Ireland. I sought her out and rescued her from the bothering and we returned to the ballroom, where we remained.'

  'Where did you find her?'

  'Somewhere on the second floor, I think. I had to wander about a bit first. Wherever I went, they seemed to be somewhere else.'

  'You weren't in the smoking-room party, then?'

  'Yes, for a nominal half hour or so. We mostly left that to my father, I'm afraid.'

  'Did you see anyone during your wanderings?'

  'Only my uncle. Oh, and some eccentrically dressed young woman coming out of a bedroom. I've no idea who she was. I don't think she saw me as I was behind her.'

  'Where did you see the Major?'

  'On the stairs, going up to change. He had Pearson with him.!Hf used to valet for him in those days.'

  'He keeps a room here, I believe.'

  'Yes, third floor, near my old ones.'

  'Did you speak?'

  'Only to ask after my aunt. She'd had an operation and was in a poor way. I think he only came back to tell my parents about it.'

  'But he was at the church, I believe?'

  'Oh yes, he wouldn't have missed that. Inspector, who on earth would have wanted her dead? She was so much loved by everyone.'

  'In that regard, sir,' admitted Felix, 'we're no further forward. Is there anyone at all about whom you have your suspicions, however slight?'

  'No. I only wish there were. A number of guests had their own servants with them, but those people were all known to me. I can probably give you some sort of list, if you like, but I find it hard to believe that any of them could be involved in such a dreadful crime, and they would surely have been missed while committing it.'

  'Thank you, that would be useful. Sir, I have to ask, are you familiar with a hall-boy named Henry Fry? He was employed here at the time.'

  His Lordship smiled. 'Fry of Dampleaze, would it be? Yes, I remember him. Tough-looking young fellow, hardly footman material. As a matter of fact I only recently made the connection between the child and the man. It's quite a common name around here. Not sure why he left.'

  'He was dismissed, sir.'

  'That so? Well I'm glad it did him no harm. What about him?'

  'He was running errands upstairs that night and claims to have overheard you talking to the Major, and someone else.'

  'Ah,' said Lord George, and coloured slightly. 'Oh, damn it, Felix, you really do winkle things out, don't you? Not that I'm complaining – far from it – but I was hoping this wouldn't come up. The fact is, we had some rather ticklish business to attend to that had nothing whatever to do with Genny's disappearance. It was swiftly dealt with, and then I did indeed go looking for Rosie. I didn't realise we had a witness.'

  'Can you give me an idea as to what it was about, sir?'

  Lord George sighed. 'Would just an outline be all right? A rather tiresome child decided to wander off and wreak a certain amount of havoc before being reunited with its mater. That child is now a person of some importance. It would be embarrassing all round to name names. And as I've said, it has no relevance to your enquiry.'

  'Felix nodded. 'I see, sir. Can you per
haps tell me how old this child was?'

  'Quite young. Shouldn't have been here really.'

  'And in searching for them, can you confirm that you passed through the third-floor service door onto the backstairs?'

  'Why yes, I did! Of course you would want to know that. I didn't go up to the attic, if that's what you're wondering. I shot down the stairs in hot pursuit of said child and re-entered the house on the second floor. Wasn't in there more than seconds.'

  'And captured them?

  'Er, well no. I acted more in the role of a beater, you know, driving them towards the guns. I chased them down to the hall, where they were apprehended.'

  'Anyone see you?'

  'Oh, yes, certainly, once I got down.'

  'What time was it, when you dashed downstairs? Can you remember?'

  'I'd say about ten-thirty. It was getting on for eleven when we finally entered the ballroom, I remember that.

  'And the Major?'

  'I'd set him to guard the main stairs. Not needed, as it turned out.'

  'Is it permitted to ask, sir, who the other person was you were talking to?'

  'Er, I'd rather not say, Felix, if you don't mind. It'd give the game away, so to say. I'll spill the beans if it becomes essential to your investigations, naturally, although I'd want to consult the other party first.'

  'But you and he were talking about the miscreant child?'

  'Well yes, we were.'

  They made their way back along the south gallery, now deserted.

  'Not as green as he is cabbage looking,' said Felix. 'I wondered for a moment who was interviewing whom.'

  'Well, he's his mother's son. And really, you know, most people could have worked out about the wardrobe, once they'd seen it as we did. You didn't tell her did you, sir?'

  'Lady George? Teddy, I won't deny my admiration for the lady, but it doesn't extend to giving away professional secrets. No, I didn't.'

  'I just wondered if she knows more than she's letting on, that's all. She's sharp, that one.'

  'Yes, she is. And she took the trouble to find us Miss Shaddock, without whom we wouldn't have got as far as we have. By contrast, His Lordship preferred to gloss over the matter of Miss Brown. What do we make of that?'