4 Camera ... Action ... Murder!

by Faith Mortimer

  “Perhaps there’s a mouse in there,” quipped someone.

  “Water rat!” said another.

  Caroline was by now holding all her skirts up in one hand and leaning forward.

  Duncan walked right to the edge of the lake and gestured to the crew on the motorboat, trying to attract their attention. “Quiet, everyone!”

  “What’s the matter with her? It looks like she’s going to shift to the front of the boat,” muttered Diana. She moved out of her chair and walked a couple of steps forward while shading her eyes with her hand against the glare of the sun. Steve joined her.

  Caroline’s voice came to them more clearly as she shouted.

  “What now?” said Steve. “She’s making a fuss about something. Why doesn’t she sit still? She’ll fall in if she’s not careful.”

  Duncan threw his hands up in the air in disgust over the ruined scene and swore loudly.

  Caroline turned towards the shore, and this time everyone heard her. “Water’s coming in, I’m getting wet!” There were a few chuckles from the watching crowd and some helpful suggestions.

  “It’s only a bit of water.”

  “Even Tudor maids could swim! It won’t take you long to get to the shore. Ha-ha!”

  “Call for the coastguard!”

  Looking cross, Caroline stood up straight and put her hands on her hips. “Ha-ha! Bloody funny, I don’t think. It’s all right for you lot, but the water’s cold, and my shoes are wet through.”

  “Take them off then. Take everything off.”

  “Oh bugger off!” she yelled. “Is that the best you can think of?” There was a general roar of laughter especially from the males.

  Caroline made a lunge towards the bench seat. She put one foot on it, and as she did so, the boat gave an almighty wobble and heeled over on to one side. Caroline screamed in alarm as she toppled from the boat into the water. There was a huge splash, and within seconds she had disappeared.

  There was a loud agitated murmur from the crowd on the shore, and Duncan gave a startled yelp. “Caroline!”

  For a moment everyone stood exactly where they were, and then people began to shout and dart around. The crew on the motorboat rushed to look over the side before the helmsman scrambled back to start the engine. Despite his efforts nothing happened. The engine refused to fire.

  Diana looked over to where Caroline had disappeared and was horrified. Caroline hadn’t surfaced. She was nowhere to be seen.

  “Steve. Caroline’s not come up yet! She’s got to be found.”

  Steve immediately began to strip off his heavy brocaded coat and embroidered shoes. He turned and ran down towards the shore then paused on hearing another splash. Glancing up he saw that two men had already jumped into the lake from the motorboat and were frantically swimming towards the spot where Caroline had disappeared. By now, Duncan was yelling and waving his arms around. Isabelle stood next to him looking tense and gazing at the water.

  Diana joined Steve and placed a restraining hand on his arm. “It’s all right, Steve. Sebastian and someone else have jumped in to get her. They’ll reach her much quicker than you, and besides, you’re not a strong swimmer. Look, they’re at the rowing boat already.”

  “Yes, but where is she? God! I can’t see her.”

  Diana suddenly felt cold. “Oh no, Steve, it’s that dress! It was so heavy. It must have pulled her down. She’s been under for over a minute now. She must be trapped somehow,” she cried putting a hand to her mouth in horror.

  There was silence, and everyone standing nearby looked appalled at Diana’s words. Within seconds, everyone was shouting and screaming at each other. More people began to pull off garments and boots, and then there was an excited shout.

  “They’ve got her!” The crowd turned as one and gawped towards the water. There was a collective groan when one of Caroline’s rescuers held up her parasol. The swimmers drew deep breaths and dived once more.

  Duncan was beside himself as he paced by the lake. Isabelle remained standing on the same spot with a face as white as a sheet.

  ***

  The police frogmen found Caroline’s body near the bottom of the lake. They said her skirt and legs were entwined in long thick reeds, trapping her in the water. When she was brought to shore, a tremor ran through those people still waiting to see what was happening. Duncan moved towards her as if in slow motion, while Isabelle hung back, holding a hand to her mouth in stunned horror.

  Diana was shocked when she saw Caroline. She realised she had never seen a drowned person before and was unprepared for the blueness in her face. When the frogmen laid Caroline down on the grass, Diana thought she had never seen anything so tragic or distressing. Her long hair had escaped from the hood she had been wearing and lay in thick sodden tresses across her shoulders and breasts. The wet dress seemed to be moulded to her body and clung to the gentle mounds of her stomach and hips and the length of her legs. Caroline had been slim and beautiful when alive; now, she was nothing but a pale, grey shadow.

  Diana was reminded of an eighteenth-century poem, The Bridge of Sighs, by the poet, Thomas Hood. How did it go?

  Take her up tenderly,

  Lift her with care;

  Fashioned so slenderly,

  Young, and so fair!

  Look at her garments

  Clinging like cerements,

  Whilst the wave constantly

  Drips from her clothing.

  Take her up instantly,

  Loving, not loathing.

  Duncan gave a loud cry of denial, and hearing it, Diana shuddered. Steve immediately put his arms round her.

  “Sorry, my love, but there’s nothing they can do. She was under too long.”

  Diana fought back her tears. “I know, I was just remembering her this morning, that’s all. She seemed such a vital person. I know we didn’t really know her well and…and yet, she was so young.”

  “Come on, let’s go and get out of these clothes. I think you need a strong cup of tea or a drink. I know I do.”

  “Poor Duncan. He’s devastated. I’ve never seen him shattered and so lost for words. I’ll never forget that look on his face or hearing his cry. And earlier, when he kept on and on saying it was his fault. Isabelle looked shocked too, but she got herself under control much more quickly.”

  “Hush, it was an accident. Come on, Di, let’s go up to the house. We’re probably in the way here.”

  Diana took a last look around her, taking in the terrible scene. Apart from a few bystanders most people had already begun leaving the lakeside. They trailed in silence up to the house; Caroline’s drowning had touched everyone. The two frogmen were stripping off their dripping equipment, while the female police sergeant was waiting near the body, her notebook and pencil in her hand, jotting down details. An ambulance had arrived and was driving over the grass towards her. The motorboat was tied up to the jetty, the engine now working, and the rowing boat retrieved and secured alongside. With so many people watching, it shouldn’t have happened. And Diana thought it was all because of a long dress and reeds.

  Di nodded and allowed Steve to lead her away. She felt completely washed out and realised she was probably suffering from emotional shock after seeing Caroline drown. Bother the tea, she thought. A very large brandy would be more beneficial.

  Chapter 8

  In the end, it was tea that helped Diana overcome her trauma. She decided brandy would only give her a headache, and since she never drank it normally, why would she now? After two large mugfuls of the amber nectar, she felt a lot better and suggested Steve might like to accompany her on a walk in the grounds of Havershall. All around the house, small groups of people were huddled, talking in muted tones about that afternoon’s disaster. Nobody felt like moving or doing anything much. There was some talk about leaving, but so far, only a few of the extras had left, no doubt dying to get home to tell their families and friends about the disaster.

  “Going over and over the event isn’t going t
o help her,” she grumbled. “Let’s get out for half an hour, Steve.”

  Pleased to see Diana’s colour had returned to normal, Steve was happy to comply and didn’t even object when their walk naturally led them towards the lake.

  Five minutes later, they were staring at a serene scene. A pair of swans and three cygnets were feeding along the lake edge, while a deer and her fawn nibbled at the tender new shoots on the nearby rhododendron bushes. It was as if the afternoon’s tragedy had never occurred. The heat of the day had dissipated, leaving a calm and cool evening

  “How lovely,” Di breathed. “It’s hard to imagine something terrible happened only a few hours ago, isn’t it?”

  Steve held her close. “Life must go on, darling.”

  Nodding, her eyes bright with unshed tears, Di led him nearer the lake. The jetty was empty, and she suggested it might be soothing to sit with their feet dangling in the water for a while. As she stepped onto the rickety wooden pontoon, she saw both boats were still alongside, so she wandered to where they were tied up. The motor boat was unscathed, but the rowing boat was half submerged in the water.

  She studied the boat. “I can’t believe they allowed Caroline out in a boat that was so wobbly.”

  “Well, it only wobbled because she stood up. It was fine up until then.”

  “Yes, that’s true, but why did she stand up?”

  Steve shrugged. “I don’t know. Someone suggested she’d seen a mouse. Some women are terrified of them.”

  “Yes, but she said her feet were getting wet.”

  “You know most old boats leak.”

  “But surely both had been checked, don’t you think? The little boat had been repainted especially for today’s filming, after all. What did Caroline do to cause it to fill with water?”

  “I don’t know.” Steve leaned from the jetty and nudged it with his foot. “Tell you what—to satisfy your curiosity, let’s bring it ashore and take a proper look.”

  Holding onto the rope attached to the craft, Steve walked the boat along the jetty and onto the shore. Being wooden and half-full of water, it was heavy and unwieldy, but soon as it was beached, water began to stream from it.

  “It looks fine to me, but there must be a hole somewhere in the hull for the water to run away,” he said.

  Diana knelt down next to him. “There’s no sign of anything in the front, but there again Caroline was sitting in the stern. What about looking at the back? Do these boats have a bung hole?”

  “I think most do. Yes, look, this one has two in the back. They’re called scuppers, and they’re used to drain rainwater. A little water often seeps in once the boat is actually in deep water. Both the bungs are in place on here and unless—”

  “What if there’s a hole under one of the seats!”

  Steve raised his eyebrows at her suggestion. “There might be.”

  There were two bench seats, and Di and Steve remembered Caroline sitting on the one nearest the back. This was where the water seemed to appear when she had leapt up, startled. Diana felt along the wooden bench; it was covered with a canvas-type cloth, which doubled as a storage bag. The bag was screwed into the topmost piece of the seating and hung down to the bottom of the boat. The seats had a wooden front and back to it, and Diana slid her hand along both sides. The front was clean and intact with the studs still in place, but when she moved her hand along the back part, she found there were gaps where the studs should have been and…pushing her fingers in right under the seat she found a…hole. It wasn’t a big hole, barely an inch long and hidden with a covering piece of felt, but it was most definitely a hole.

  She looked up in excitement. “Steve, you’ll never guess.”

  “There’s a hole,” he said calmly.

  “No wonder she was getting wet.”

  “I think we ought to tell Duncan.” Di sat back on her heels, looking up at Steve. “He needs to know there’s a hole. Whoever checked the boats over didn’t do a good enough job. Someone’s to blame.” She stood up. “Ow, I’ve got cramp.” Di walked a few paces away, hobbling as she stretched her calves.

  While Diana was staggering around, Steve took the opportunity to take another look at the boat. He felt along the seam where the hole was. “Yes, I suppose we should. We better get back to change for dinner. The light’s fading now, anyway, so we won’t find anything else.” Steve was about to go on when he stopped. He peered beneath the canvas covering the seat and examined the wood. Warning bells rang in his mind when he looked across to where Diana was still stretching her legs. A thought occurred to him. No, it couldn’t be. Swearing under his breath, he stood up. All he had wanted was for them to have a few nice quiet days away.

  ***

  Back at the house, they were about to enter through the brightly lit front door when they met Russell coming across the lawn from the direction of the maze.

  “Hello, Russell. Been in the maze?”

  “Hello, you two. Hell no, I was walking along the side of it. Mazes terrify me ever since I was a young lad and got lost in the one at Hampton Court. Did you know that Hampton Court’s is the oldest and most visited in the world? The maze here is modelled on one in Italy. Il Labirinto it’s called. That’s supposed to be one of, if not the trickiest in the world. Sorry to lecture, it’s the teacher in me again. Have you just come back from a constitutional walk?”

  “Yes. We thought it was a good time to clear our heads. Caroline’s death was a bit of a shocker,” Steve said.

  “Yes, wasn’t it? Duncan’s in the drawing room, I believe. He knows everyone’s shocked because of the terrible accident, and he was going to make an announcement telling everyone they’re free to go. He thinks he has enough material for the advertising. I’m not so sure. I would’ve thought one more day would wrap it up.”

  “Yes, but I don’t suppose anyone really has the heart for it now,” Diana joined in.

  “No. I guess you’re right. Even so, he won’t get another opportunity like this. He’s making the film because there’s been such a huge revival of costume drama, and his play did so well all those years ago. He’s sure he’ll make an absolute killing. But the public are fickle. They soon forget and move on to brighter and better things. Anyway, where did you get to on your walk?”

  “We went down to the lake. The boats are tied up, and we took a look at the rowing boat. We were surprised over Caroline’s reaction to a bit of water, and apart from its stability, we wondered if the boat was as solid as it looked.”

  “Yes, I think most people thought she was messing about.”

  “Anyway, we found there’s a small hole in the bottom where the water must have come in.”

  “A hole, really? How big is it?”

  “It’s a small one, just big enough to let water in and get her feet wet. We were on our way to let Duncan know. Someone should have checked the boat over more thoroughly before it was used. I don’t suppose Health and Safety was consulted, because this is all private land. Anyway, Caroline must have seen it, and that was what she was shouting about. Unfortunately, as you saw, no one took her seriously. When she stood up and panicked, the boat wobbled, and she fell in. The rest you know.”

  “But don’t you see what this means? Why was there a hole in the boat in the first place? I know it’s used regularly by a couple of the gardener’s boys for fishing. If it leaked at any other time, then they wouldn’t have used it, surely?” Russell looked from one to the other and spread his hands out, palm uppermost. He looked surprised at Di and Steve’s slow reaction.

  “How do you know that? About the fishing I mean,” Diana asked.

  “The boys use the same pub as me. One of them was crowing about the whopper he caught only a week or so ago. So it was fine back then.”

  Steve knew what he was hinting. He had thought along the same lines himself when he saw the hole but dismissed them once he realised where the train of thought was taking him. It couldn’t be. And the last thing he wanted was for Diana to get wind of that.<
br />
  “Er…I suppose so,” Steve said eventually.

  “Are you two hinting at what I think you are?” Intervened Di, looking from one man to the other in exasperation. “Because if you are, then I’d already thought the same thing, only earlier, and I think we ought to phone the police. And, especially if what Russell says about the boat being okay before today is true. Let’s get them down here and check the boat over.”