A Drowning in Bath

by L. A. Nisula

  “But he’s the one who pulled her out.”

  “True. But did we see him swim over?”

  “I heard the splash when he jumped in.”

  “So did I. But he is a strong swimmer. Do you think he could have held her down, swam underwater to the edge of the pool, and made a splash somehow so we’d all think he jumped in?”

  Milly shrugged. “It seems convoluted, but I suppose.”

  “Who else was there? What about Mr. Douglas?”

  “But he was with us.” Milly seemed determined to absolve everybody.

  “No, he wasn’t. He was looking for your earring.”

  “So he couldn’t have done it.”

  “Why not? We lost sight of him when he dove under the water. He could have swum under the water. He was a strong swimmer too.” Then there was the question I knew Milly wouldn’t like me asking. I decided to sneak up on it to have a better chance of getting an answer. “What about your earring? Why did you wear them to the baths?”

  “They aren’t particularly valuable, and they have good, strong clasps. I didn’t think there was any harm. I certainly didn’t expect to lose one.”

  “How do you think it fell off if the clasps were so good?”

  “I have no idea. Tangled in my hair, I suppose.”

  “Could Mr. Douglas have done something to make it fall when he pushed your hair back?”

  “Cassie, how could you even suggest...”

  I cut her off. “So you’re not certain he did, but he could have, and you don’t want to admit it.”

  Milly opened her mouth to argue then closed it again. After a few moments, she said, “I suppose, if we’re being completely objective and even considering that Mr. Fredrickson might have left the baby on the ground like a parcel of ribbons, then perhaps he could have snagged the catch somehow, but I don’t think he did.”

  “Fair enough. Then there are the two men from town. I don’t remember where they were.”

  “The older one was near the Bates sisters. I remember thinking he was trying to get up the courage to speak to one of them. I didn’t pay much attention to the other.”

  I assumed she meant the one with the bad back was gathering his courage; the other fellow had seemed the sort to ramble on to anyone. “And since we’re not certain about the women, we should probably go through them as well.”

  “I certainly can’t see the Bates sisters doing anything like that, can you?”

  I smiled. “I think they’re full of surprises, but no, I can’t see them being able to swim well enough to cover the distance, certainly not underwater. And I think we would have noticed if they’d started swimming away from the wall. They were more or less in our line of sight until we turned to see Miss Caldwell, and that was when she was already being drowned. And Mrs. Fredrickson isn’t a strong candidate either. I would think at least one of the children would have said something if she’d started swimming away.”

  “Bringing them along would have been a terrible idea if she wanted to commit murder.”

  “Then there’s Miss Grangeway.”

  “Do you really think she could be involved?”

  I shrugged. “What do we know about her? And how much of it could be an act? And what about Mrs. Grangeway?”

  Milly shook her head. “Detecting is very confusing.”

  I grinned. “It is.”

  “So what do we do?”

  “Think,” I offered.

  “That doesn’t sound particularly exciting.”

  “But necessary.”

  “All right, what are we thinking about?”

  “At the moment, how to ask the people who were there what they remember seeing without sounding morbid.”

  “Excellent. We can do that while we go into town with Mr. Douglas.”

  That was the first I’d heard of it. “When did you arrange that?”

  “Oh, he said something about it when we were walking this morning. I’ll go down and tell him we can’t wait to go.” Milly grabbed up her room key and rushed out the door.

  I gave her a few minutes to get on Mr. Douglas’s trail, then went down to the lobby myself. If I could casually run into a few of the other guests, perhaps I could ask a few questions.

  ~ * ~ * ~

  The lobby was busy, but most everyone seemed intent on their own business and not in the mood to be chatted to casually. I realized Milly would have been good to have around at that moment. She would go right up to someone and start talking, regardless of whether to not they wanted to listen. I never quite managed that.

  I was too distracted thinking about my short-comings in the situation to notice Mr. Mulgrove step away from the front desk, and as he was busy looking at the stack of mail he’d just collected, it seemed inevitable that we would careen into each other, sending the mail spilling. He glared at me as I began apologizing but seemed to be in a better mood when I knelt to help him gather up the letters.

  When all the letters were collected and we were straightening up, I offered one last apology. “Truly, I should have been paying more attention to where I was going.”

  Mr. Mulgrove managed a polite smile. “As I should have. No harm done.”

  No sense wasting a chance at an alibi, particularly as he seemed to get annoyed whenever anyone spoke to him and had to remind himself not to bite their heads off. “Still, I am sorry. And we, my cousin and I, were so sorry to hear you’d been robbed, or I suppose it would be burgled, wouldn’t it?”

  “I don’t really know, but yes, thank you for your concern.”

  “Was anything of value taken?”

  “No, just my watch, a little money, a pair of cufflinks. All easily replaced. But I thought I should report it, in case there was a rash of thefts in the area.”

  “Oh, definitely. The more evidence the police have, the better a picture they can build. Still, though, it must have been very inconvenient.”

  “It was. I spent the entire afternoon at the police station filling out forms. I left almost directly after lunch and only just returned. Still, one’s duty and all.”

  “Quite. Well I’m quite pleased nothing too hard to replace was taken.”

  “That’s very kind, thank you.” Mr. Mulgrove started to stare at the envelopes in his hand quite pointedly.

  “I’d best go and find my cousin. I hope the rest of your trip is more enjoyable.”

  “Thank you again.”

  So Mr. Mulgrove seemed to have an alibi. I knew from personal experience that making statements to the police could take ages, and if he’d been gone from lunch until the last few minutes, then he would have been with the police during the murder. That was something, I supposed. Of course, we hadn’t seen Mr. Mulgrove anywhere near the baths at the time, so I hadn’t been looking for his alibi, but it did mean I’d accomplished something, no matter how useless, on my own. I spotted Mr. Gibson going into the lounge. That was the place to start looking for Milly.

  Only Milly wasn’t in the lounge, at least not that I could see. Mr. Gibson was looking through the selection of newspapers which the hotel provided, and I could see Mr. Armstrong was seated by the fire with his, so it did seem odd that she wasn’t there with them. I looked at the rest of the guests and saw that Mr. Douglas wasn’t there either. That probably explained Milly’s absence. Mr. Gibson looked up, “Were you looking for a newspaper, Miss Pengear? There are some very interesting ones over here.”

  Remembering our conversation about cloth, I doubted I would find any of them interesting, but I thanked him. “I was looking for my cousin, otherwise...”

  He cut me off before I could finish. “Ah, yes, yes, of course. I’ve just come down myself. I was up in my room trying to determine what would make a woolen fabric particularly suitable for bathing costumes. I believe I told you my family produces woolen fabric? Well, I had told Father that there would always be a market for it here in England, and now I can see this whole new area for us to expand into. When I think of the new opportunities...” When he
paused for breath, I was able to say,

  “I sure it’s a fascinating area of study, but I do need to find my cousin. Perhaps the Bates sisters have seen her.”

  “Yes, yes, I would try them. If you’ll excuse me, I did want to read up on the latest news.” He didn’t sound offended by my abrupt departure. As I wandered over to the Bates sisters, I wondered if that had been Mr. Gibson’s normal desire to talk about nothing I’d seen that morning, or if he had wanted to be certain I knew where he was during the murder. Not that it was a particularly good alibi. The Bates sisters were seated by the large window. I smiled and started towards them. If anyone would know where Milly and Mr. Douglas were, it was them.

  As I approached, Miss Bates gestured for me to take the seat across from them. “Miss Pengear, how nice to see you.”

  Miss Emmaline smiled at me. “We hope everything is well with you.”

  That seemed an oddly worded question. “Yes, quite.”

  Miss Bates nodded. “It’s just that Mr. Armstrong had heard you went to the police station with your cousin, and we were hoping you hadn’t been the victim of a crime or something of that nature.”

  “These hotel rooms can be so attractive to thieves,” Miss Emmaline added.

  They both looked at me expectantly, clearly hoping I would tell them what business had brought us to the police.

  I considered my answer carefully. I doubted the Bates sisters were involved in the murder, and they could have overheard something useful when they were sitting here or in the garden, but was I as bad as Milly and only thinking that because I wanted them to be innocent? But then I had to determine what they’d seen, and they would not fall for a casual lie. It had to be the truth, I decided, but I didn’t have to give every detail. “We wanted to discuss Miss Caldwell’s—incident.”

  “That was quite sad, yes,” Miss Emmaline said, “But with the police? They’re hardly the most sympathetic of listeners, I would think.”

  “We wanted to tell Inspector Sanders what we saw. You see, we saw someone with her when it happened.”

  Miss Emmaline gasped.

  Miss Bates whispered, “Oh my.”

  “You can see why we felt it was important to tell him what we saw.”

  “Of course,” Miss Bates murmured.

  “Were you able to see who it was?” Miss Emmaline asked.

  “It was only a few seconds; we didn’t get a good look. I was hoping someone else saw something.”

  “So you’re trying to question everyone?” Miss Bates smiled. “And we’re next on your list?”

  “I suppose so. Did you see anything when Miss Caldwell was struggling?”

  Miss Emmaline shook her head. “Oh dear, you’re going to think us very shallow, but we weren’t looking in that direction at all.”

  “No, I’m afraid not. You see, Mr. Langley had just come over to the edge of the pool, and he, well...

  “He has the most amazing legs, if you’ll pardon us.”

  I supposed it had been too much to hope that someone else had seen the murder. Still... “So you’re certain Mr. Langley was by the side of the bath when Miss Caldwell started to struggle?”

  “Well, she didn’t struggle much, did she?” Miss Emmaline asked. “It seemed you and Miss Prynne made most of the commotion.”

  “Not that we’re criticizing, mind. If someone had been closer, they might have saved her when you drew attention to her. But yes, we were watching Mr. Langley right up until we realized something urgent was happening.”

  It seemed Mr. Langley, or at least his legs, would have an alibi. Since Milly and I were fairly certain we’d seen a man push Miss Caldwell under, it seemed best to continue to question the women who’d been there. They were less likely to be the murderer and more likely to be honest, even if they hadn’t seen anything useful. Mrs. Fredrickson had been busy with her children, so I doubted she had seen anything but them and possibly Mr. Fredrickson, which meant it was time to find Miss Grangeway and Mrs. Grangeway. Milly would probably know where they were, and it might be easier to get them to talk if Milly was there to chat. Hopefully, it would make it seem less like we were investigating and more like a gossip session. “Have you seen my cousin anywhere? I believe she was looking for Mr. Douglas.”

  Miss Bates answered, “Then she missed him; he had a telegram to send, or so he said. However, just before you entered, she and Mr. Langley went walking in the garden. I heard him say something about taking her into town if she was interested.”

  So Mr. Douglas had some competition. “Do you think she accepted?”

  “I saw her run back inside a minute ago,” Miss Emmaline said. “Through the hall door.”

  That door led to the staircase that would bring her to the rooms upstairs. She must have accepted and run off to change. I thanked the sisters and went back upstairs still in search of Milly.

  Chapter 6

  MILLY WAS RIGHT WHERE I EXPECTED her to be; in our room, looking at her wardrobe—and my blue dress. “Were you wearing that, Cassie?”

  “I was thinking of it.” The thought had crossed my mind at some point, and I knew how loaning clothes to Milly turned out; first it would be stained or torn, then she would insist on having it repaired herself, and I wouldn’t see it again until she wore it again several months later, hoping I didn’t remember I had once owned it. I changed the subject. “Were you going somewhere?”

  “Mr. Langley offered to take me to some of the shops in the area to buy souvenirs before dinner. Wasn’t that nice of him?”

  I nodded but couldn’t say anything before she went on.

  “And did you find anything out from the old dears?”

  I was a bit irritated that she would immediately think I was questioning only the Bateses, but as I had been questioning them, I answered, “Neither of the Miss Bateses saw the incident, but they did see Mr. Langley and were watching him until they realized something was wrong, so he seems to have an alibi.”

  “That’s good. I would hate to have to suspect him. What are you going to try next?”

  And that was my opening. “That’s why I was looking for you. I thought, since we’re fairly certain it was a man, I would get the most reliable testimony from the women. So now I’m going to talk to the Grangeways before they have a chance to forget the details of what they saw.”

  “And you wanted me to come along?”

  Milly sounded enthusiastic about the idea, so I said, “If you aren’t in a hurry to leave. I’d hate to have Mr. Langley wait for you.”

  “Oh no, solving a murder is much more important. And you’re good with spinsters and I’m good with debutantes, so of course I’ll help.”

  That wasn’t quite how I would have put it, certainly not in front of the Misses Bates, but it also got her to help without mentioning my dress again, so I nodded and asked, “Do you have any ideas where they might be?”

  “The garden, I think. At least they were there when I was talking to Mr. Langley just now.”

  “Then we’ll start there.”

  Milly collected up her hat and gloves and followed me out of the room without mentioning borrowing anything of mine again.

  Milly had been right; the Grangeways were in the garden, Mrs. Grangeway reading and Miss Grangeway pretending to sketch while she watched the other guests, which at the moment was only the Fredricksons—Mr. Fredrickson helping the older children with a kite while Mrs. Fredrickson carried the baby around, pointing out flowers and trees to him. Miss Grangeway brightened up when she saw Milly approaching.

  Mrs. Grangeway looked up when she noticed her daughter’s distraction. “Miss Prynne, how nice to see you. And Miss Pengear. Do join us.”

  Miss Grangeway moved her drawing case from the chair next to her. From the way she glanced from the chair to Milly and back, I could tell that was who she wanted there, so I went to the nearest unoccupied group of chairs and brought one over for myself, putting it on the other side of Mrs. Grangeway.

  As Milly was indeed goo
d with debutantes, I let her lead the conversation. I was surprised when she went almost directly to the point. “Have you recovered from the tragedy this afternoon yet?”

  Miss Grangeway leaned in. “Oh yes, well, I mean I’m doing much better, but wasn’t it just awful?”

  For a moment I worried as Mrs. Grangeway glared at Milly; then I realized that she was also glaring at her daughter. Apparently, Miss Caldwell’s death was a frequent topic of conversation for Miss Grangeway, and one her mother understandably didn’t think appropriate for a casual chat.

  Milly pressed on without paying any attention to Mrs. Grangeway. “And so sudden.”

  “We were there, you know, when it happened.”

  Mrs. Grangeway touched her daughter’s arm. “Perhaps they don’t want to talk about it, dear.”

  Miss Grangeway tried to look abashed. “Oh, I’m sorry. I heard that you’d gone to the police, though.” She settled in, ready to hear all about it.

  Apparently, this hotel was as good a spot for gossip as any small town. Mrs. Grangeway rolled her eyes. The police were probably an even worse topic of conversation, although it was all very helpful to us.

  Milly leaned over. “That was because we were there too, in the baths when Miss Caldwell had her unfortunate accident, and looking right at her.”

  So Milly didn’t think we should tell them we suspected murder yet.

  Miss Grangeway nodded, “I think I saw you there, by the statue of Minerva.”

  We hadn’t been anywhere near the statue, which had been of Diana, and Miss Grangeway had spoken to Milly before Constable Marchcliff had questioned us. Of course, she was probably in shock over the whole incident, but I started to wonder if any of my eyewitnesses would be of any help at all.

  Mrs. Grangeway looked surprised at Milly’s answer. “Didn’t they question you at the time? They wouldn’t even let us change out of our bathing costumes before they were after us for the details.”