The Killing at Kaldaire House

by Kate Parker

  “One of the letters purports to prove Queen Victoria was illegitimate. We don’t know the contents of the other letter, only that it fell into the hands of a murdered man by accident. Both letters are thought to have been in a safe in the murdered man’s study that was found open and empty when his body was discovered.”

  “I think you better tell us all, pet, and then tell us what you want,” my grandfather said.

  “I’ll make a pot of tea,” my grandmother said, setting aside her knitting.

  Two cups of strong tea with plenty of sugar and a half hour later, I’d told them all that had happened. Well, I downplayed Inspector Russell’s role, of which only Grandpapa seemed aware.

  “Now, pet, what do you want us to do?”

  “I want your help making certain no one is in the house and warning me if anyone returns.”

  “You don’t trust Lady Kaldaire to know whether all the servants are out of the house or not?” Uncle Victor asked.

  “No. She doesn’t know what she’s doing. She thinks you ask a lot of questions and people tell you the truth.”

  “Oh. An amateur.” He nodded.

  “So, first you don’t want anything to do with us. Now, all of a sudden, you need us and our talents, so you come and expect us to drop everything and help you,” Petey said.

  I suspected his pique was because he’d hidden his share of the loot from three jobs in my hat factory and the police had come and taken it all away. I decided to let someone else point that out. “I need your help. Either you’ll help me or you won’t. That’s your choice.”

  “I’d like to see the cabinet,” Uncle Victor said. Puzzle boxes had always been his specialty. That and safe cracking.

  “That would mean coming inside with me.”

  “Not a good idea,” Uncle Thomas said. “This isn’t our caper. We won’t get anything out of it. We’ll keep you safe Emily, you’re family, but we won’t get involved in your break-in.”

  “I appreciate it. I’ll let you know when it’ll happen. All I can say is it’ll be soon and in the evening. Lady Kaldaire would never dream of a break-in during the day.”

  This brought a round of laughter from the professionals.

  “Hey, I’m here,” a man’s voice called from the hallway. “I hope you saved me some pie.”

  I knew that voice. I sprang to my feet and headed toward the door.

  I met my father at the doorway, my grandfather right behind me.

  “Emily? What are you doing here?” my father asked in a tone of disbelief. He didn’t sound happy to see me.

  Well, I wasn’t happy to see him either. “I’ll talk to you later, Grandpapa,” I said as I squeezed past and dashed out into the night.

  * * *

  Sunday morning, Lady Kaldaire sent her manservant, Lyle, with a message.

  Prince Maximilian has given all his servants the

  evening off. He is dining out and then going to a

  musicale. There won’t be a better chance than

  tonight to find those notes.

  Roberta, Lady Kaldaire

  I contacted my grandfather. We agreed on eight in the evening as it would still be light out and everyone in Mayfair society would be sitting down to dinner.

  At the appointed time, I spotted one of my cousins in the communal gardens. He gave me the “house is empty” signal and I walked up to the servants’ entrance.

  I used the lock picks the way Grandpapa had taught me, feeling for the click of metal releasing metal. Fortunately, I didn’t need any light. I’d been taught that using a lantern called attention that I didn’t need and could be a giveaway that something wasn’t right.

  I entered the back door after only a few moments. The house was silent as only an empty building could be. I was home free.

  I hoped. Any mistake could land me in jail. Ruin my reputation. Destroy my millinery. Eliminate all my hopes for my brother.

  Light came in the curtainless kitchen window, allowing me to find the stairs without tripping over furniture. Upstairs, I opened the parlor draperies and let the light filter in so I could find my way around. Opening the curtains also told whichever family member was watching the front of the house that I was inside at work.

  I didn’t need light to find the secret drawers in the cabinet that held the scandalous letter. They could only be opened by sense of touch.

  I started at the top left-hand corner and worked my way to the right and then down. The wood was cool and smooth under my fingers, the gaps between the drawers tiny. After what I guessed was fifteen minutes, I’d found two compartments in addition to the one I’d found the first time I saw the cabinet. All were empty.

  The prince said there were four hidden places. The letter had to be in the last one.

  I worked on in desperation. A servant might return at any time and I didn’t want to be caught. Prince Maximilian was the type to call the police on housebreakers and I didn’t need to join my family as another convicted felon.

  And I didn’t want to add to their troubles.

  The last opening sprang open and with a surge of triumph, I reached inside.

  Nothing.

  A light came on, making me suck in my breath as I jumped. A man’s voice said, “Well done, Miss Gates. I think that’s a record. That last one is terribly difficult to discover.”

  I collapsed against the cabinet for a moment before I looked over to find the prince standing perhaps six feet away, holding a pistol aimed at my chest. My heart galloped out the door while my feet remained rooted to the carpet. “Your Highness. I couldn’t resist trying to find the other openings.”

  “You could have asked.”

  “Where’s the challenge in that?” I tried to sound sassy. I’m afraid I sounded pitiful.

  “Does Lady Kaldaire know of your talents?”

  “Of course. She encourages me.” I forced a smile to remain on my face, but the pistol frightened me. I didn’t think he’d use it, but I wasn’t sure. I wished I’d thought to work out an “I’m in danger” signal to my family. A mistake I wouldn’t make again. If there was an again.

  “I would have thought you were smarter than to get involved in national affairs.”

  “What?” It sounded like he knew everything.

  “I’m disappointed in you.” His eyes were cold. Demonic. But then, in nearly half an hour, he’d never moved a foot or breathed deeply. If he had, I would have known I wasn’t alone. He was inhuman.

  “I opened all four of the secret compartments in your cabinet. I succeeded at my challenge. I’m proud of myself.” Despite my trembling, I gave him a cheeky grin.

  “Pride goeth before a fall, Miss Gates.” He gestured me away from the cabinet with the barrel of the pistol. He probably didn’t want to chance hitting it with a bullet and damaging the finish.

  I moved into the center of the room. “You knew I’d come here tonight and try to open those secret compartments.”

  “I know what Lady Kaldaire wants. And so I sent my servants off for the evening, told Lady Kaldaire that ridiculous story about plans for this evening, and settled in to wait for you. Too bad she had to go out, but that will save her having to see your body when I shoot an intruder.”

  “Isn’t that a little drastic? No harm was done. And I’ve satisfied my curiosity, so you know I won’t be back.” I hoped I could talk my way out of this.

  His rock cliff of a face didn’t look like that would be possible. He reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out a piece of paper. “Is that what you were looking for?”

  “Looking for?” I squeaked.

  “Don’t become a parrot, Miss Gates. It’s not flattering.”

  I marshaled my shaking nerves and asked, “What do you have there?”

  “I said I know what Lady Kaldaire wants. A letter written by Victoria’s mother to a friend. Unfortunately for Lord Kaldaire, it was written in German. The translator he hired has long been a supporter of my family. He told me about the contents.
And where it was kept.”

  “Why would anyone want the letter? Nobody will believe it, and it doesn’t make any difference. Not a century later.” It didn’t make any sense to me.

  “The letter has political uses, whether or not it’s believed. Some of us have plans that you don’t need to know.” With those words, the prince sounded like the great-grandson of a king.

  “So you stole the letter and killed Lord Kaldaire.” I felt my eyes widen. Blast. I refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing me faint, scream, or beg. I hoped he couldn’t see me quake.

  If he killed Lord Kaldaire, I didn’t like my chances to leave here alive.

  Chapter Twenty-six

  “I stole the letter, yes, but Lord Kaldaire was already dead when I entered the room. Or so I thought. Before I could make sure, I heard someone coming and I stepped back into a dark corner near the door. Imagine my surprise to see you enter. You look quite daring in trousers.” Prince Maximilian’s smile was more of a leer. “At that time, I didn’t know you wanted the letter.”

  “I didn’t. I was after the painting of the Lady in Blue.”

  “An art thief.” He was still leering.

  “No. Yes. It’s a long story.”

  “We have time.”

  I certainly hoped so. “Lord Kaldaire owed me for several hats Lady Kaldaire had purchased. He wouldn’t pay me. I knew how much he liked the painting of his great-grandmother, so I was going to take it and hold it for ransom until he paid Lady Kaldaire’s bills.”

  “I watched you. You never glanced toward the painting that hid the safe. But then you found Lord Kaldaire and aroused the household. Why?”

  “He groaned. He was still alive.”

  “You’re a good person. I would hate to have to shoot a good person.” He spoke as if he meant it, but the pistol was still aimed at me. “After the servant answered your ring, you looked away and I slipped out of the room. With the letter. I was gone before the police arrived.”

  “How did you open the safe?”

  “It was already open.”

  “The safe was already open and Lord Kaldaire was already struck down when you entered the study.” I gave a loud sigh. “This makes no sense. There was very little time for anyone to commit a crime. Did you see anyone outside the house walking away? Any sign of anyone moving around the house?”

  “The painting had been pulled away from the wall, showing the inside of the safe. The only thing in it was this letter.” He waved the yellowing paper in his hand.

  “There were no other papers?” What about the note Lord Kaldaire supposedly received by accident?

  “None. All I had time to do was take the letter and swing the painting back over the safe before I had to hide,” he told me. “And I saw no one either inside or outside the house before you entered.”

  I think better when I pace. I hadn’t realized I’d started this habit until the prince cleared his throat and I found myself ten feet from where I’d stood before and the pistol still aimed at me. I swallowed and told him, “The safe was open and a valuable letter was left inside. Whoever the murderer was, he must have come for something else that was in the safe.”

  “And Lady Kaldaire has no idea what.” He sounded certain of this. He must have asked her. I was surprised the lady could lie so convincingly. Unless he asked her before I told her what Gregson’s publican friend told Inspector Russell, in which case she had been telling the truth.

  I resumed pacing, certain at this point Prince Maximilian wouldn’t shoot me. But he was certainly enjoying tormenting me.

  “When we find out what else was in the safe, we’ll know who killed him. Lord Kaldaire never mentioned anything to you, did he?” I asked the prince.

  “No. The translator came to his study and saw where he put the letter after they finished with it. He said he didn’t see inside the safe.”

  “Do you trust this translator?”

  “Yes.”

  Curiosity made me ask, “How would you have opened the safe if it hadn’t already been unlocked?”

  He smiled. “You are not the only one with the skill to enter locked buildings and to hide and wait to get what you want.”

  “Why would a prince need to learn such things?” His upbringing was definitely different than Lady Kaldaire’s.

  “I grew up in a time and place where such skills were necessary to survive political intrigue. However, I wouldn’t have needed to use my skills if I could persuade Lord Kaldaire to open the safe for me.”

  “Could you do that?”

  “There are many ways to convince a man to do what you want.” He was still smiling in a way that made me nervous.

  “My grandfather would like you,” I told him. “Neither of us struck down Lord Kaldaire—”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes.”

  He shook his head. “You are more trusting than I.”

  “Perhaps, but I think if you have the skill to escape that room without me or anyone else seeing you, you wouldn’t have bludgeoned Lord Kaldaire. You wouldn’t have needed to.” Then I remembered Gregson’s words. “You were shown out of the house by the butler. How did you enter the second time?”

  “What makes you think I left the first time?”

  I stopped pacing. Had Gregson lied about shutting the front door after the prince? “If you didn’t leave and come back, you saw who killed Lord Kaldaire. I can’t believe you witnessed a murder and haven’t said anything to the police.”

  Again the smile of a wolf. “You credit me with more scruples than I possess.”

  “You disappoint me, Your Highness. I would have thought with your talents, you’d have left and come back later surreptitiously.”

  “In this case, you are wrong.” He watched me in silence for a moment. “When I was ready to leave, I heard someone in another room on the ground floor. I thought at first it was the butler, but then I heard him come up from the basement. I admit to a certain curiosity, especially since Lord Kaldaire wouldn’t give me the letter I wanted. I thought perhaps there was another bidder.”

  “You were going to pay him for the note?”

  “If necessary. I grabbed the front-door handle, snapped a good night at the butler so he’d keep his distance, and shut the door. The butler hadn’t closed up the house for the night yet, so I knew the door wouldn’t lock. I just waited outside for the butler to leave the front hall.”

  “So you came back inside after only a minute?”

  “Perhaps, certainly no longer than that. I slipped into the dining room and listened for my chance. Other than voices in the study, no one seemed to be on the ground floor.”

  “Could you hear what they said?”

  “No. The sound was muffled by the closed doors.”

  “Then what happened?” It was as though he was telling me a story.

  “After a few minutes, the clock struck the hour. I heard footsteps in the front hall go out the front door and the door shut. Then someone else walked along the front hall and turned off the light in the hall. This second person sounded as though he moved away to another part of the house. A minute later, another set of footsteps went past the dining room door. Then I heard the front door open and close once more.”

  “So two people went out the front door in the matter of a minute or two?” I was trying to picture all this activity.

  “Yes. After the door closed a second time, I heard someone else walking down the front hallway. A third person. Instead of going out the door, the footsteps stopped. After another minute, that person walked away and went down an echoing, uncarpeted staircase rather than out the front door.”

  “No one spoke as they walked down the front hall?”

  “Not a word from any of them. I had the impression they were trying to be quiet. Once the house was silent, I left my hiding place and went into the study where one light was still on. I saw the safe open and when I went over to examine the contents, I found Lord Kaldaire on the rug. I retrieved my letter and
then I heard someone at the door. You.”

  I was confused by his description of footsteps going every which way. I thought that was his intention, but there must have been at least three people besides the late Lord Kaldaire and the prince walking around the ground floor at the critical time.

  “So you hid until the house was in turmoil.” I took a deep breath and said with as much authority as I could muster, “Now, will you please put away that absurd pistol?”

  “I haven’t decided yet.”

  “Decided what?”

  “Whether to kill you, turn you in to the police, or let you go.”

  “Letting me go would be the honorable thing to do.”

  The smirk on his face told me I was going to have to try harder. “No. The honorable thing would be to turn you over to the constables.”

  “Then you can’t be certain I won’t claim you kidnapped me or some other fanciful tale.”

  He snorted at my lie. “You won’t be able to prove anything.”

  “The police already know that I’m here. And I’ve had people watching the house. If I don’t come out…”

  My words wiped the smile off his face. The expression that appeared in its place sent winter winds dancing across my flesh. “Why would the police know you are here?”

  “They’ve been following me for days.” I couldn’t hide my smile. This was the first time I was glad they were watching me.

  “They suspect you in Lord Kaldaire’s death.”

  I shook my head, pacing his polished wooden floors. “They expect me to lead them to his killer.”

  “Won’t they be disappointed when they find your body instead?” The menace in his tone left me frozen in place.

  And then I grew annoyed with him toying with me like a cat with a mouse. “What could that possibly gain you?”

  “I won’t have to worry about what you will reveal.”

  “But you know you don’t have to worry. I already said I don’t think you killed Lord Kaldaire. And I don’t believe you can topple the monarchy with that ridiculous letter.”