A Drowning in Bath

by L. A. Nisula

  That seemed like something the hotel should have offered a maid to do. “Would you like me to put her things somewhere for you?”

  Miss Morrison looked around again. “You wouldn’t mind? I thought if they were all in her trunk, I could shove it in a corner or something.”

  “Of course. Which is hers?”

  Miss Morrison showed me which trunk was Miss Caldwell’s and which wardrobe she’d hung her clothes in. As I started folding things up, I kept an eye on Miss Morrison. The Bates sisters had been right; she was subdued since the last time I’d seen her but not inconsolable. It seemed Miss Caldwell had been a friend but not a close companion. I took the chance to ask a few questions while I worked. “How well did you know Miss Caldwell?” When she hesitated, I added, “It was rather obvious that you weren’t old enough to have been her governess.”

  “Oh, we didn’t think of that. No one really looks at the chaperone, do they?”

  I pretended to be very interested in folding up a voluminous petticoat properly so I didn’t have to answer. I supposed that girls like them didn’t.

  “We were at school together. In the same dormitory and everything. She wrote to me a few weeks ago and said she’d been invited to Bath but didn’t want her father to know she was going, so could she say she was staying with me? And then we could both come here. Of course I said yes. There was nothing happening at home, and it sounded like an adventure. And while we were on the train, we realized it would seem odd for us to be here without a chaperone, so I said I’d pretend to be hers. It all seemed like a capital joke.”

  “Do you know why she had the idea to come here?”

  Miss Morrison shook her head. “I think someone invited her here, but I didn’t ask who. I thought if she wanted to have a few secrets, it didn’t bother me.”

  “Did you have a guess who it might be?”

  She shook her head. “We rather did our own things while we were here. I wasn’t really her chaperone, so I didn’t keep track of her, and she didn’t bother with what I did either.”

  “And you didn’t go bathing with her?”

  “No, she asked me, but I can’t swim, and I didn’t want to look awkward in front of Mr. Langley.”

  Mr. Langley again. “Could she have been meeting someone there?”

  “I don’t know. I didn’t pay enough attention when she said she was going. I suppose she might have. I thought at first that perhaps that was why she came here, but she hadn’t really spoken with anyone, no one that could be a candidate anyway.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I doubt her secret paramour is one of the Bates sisters, or Miss Grangeway. She didn’t really spend any time with the gentlemen, not even Mr. Langley, and everyone seems to like Mr. Langley.”

  “So you don’t think she intended to meet someone here?”

  “If she had, they hadn’t arrived yet. But what other reason could she have for sneaking away?”

  It was getting a bit confusing, so I tried asking directly, “So you think there was someone?”

  Miss Morrison nodded. “She hinted that there were letters, but I never saw them. I don’t think she brought them with her.”

  “Did you ask about them?”

  “Once or twice, when she hinted at them, mostly because I thought she wanted me to. But we weren’t really close enough for those kinds of confidences.”

  That seemed odd for a pair that were traveling together and sharing a deception. “Did you travel together often?”

  “Not very, although we did take the occasional trip into town together when we were at school.”

  That didn’t really seem to qualify as travel. “Do you know how she decided to come here?”

  “I think it was quite spontaneous, really. She said she’d gotten a room here but she didn’t want to come alone and would I like to, although I suppose it may have been the gentleman who got it for her since it seemed rather sudden. It sounded fun, and everything was so dull at home, so I said yes. We weren’t going to tell our parents where we were. I have no idea what she told hers, but I said I was going to Brighton with another school friend. Her uncle is an earl, so my parents didn’t question it at all, and I’d been there before so I could pretend I did the same things.”

  Perhaps that explained the pictures I’d seen them drawing. “I saw the pair of you sketching.”

  “That’s right. Her idea. Send sketches to our parents so they’d think we really were where we said we were. Come to think of it, I think she was sketching the Lake District, so perhaps that’s what she told them.”

  I nodded. “It’s certainly possible.” I wasn’t certain how that fact could help, but it was a better clue than any I’d found in her clothes so far. There were no letters or secret tokens or anything out of the ordinary hidden among the skirts and shirtwaists. Then I spotted a bathing costume bunched up on the floor near the wardrobe. That would be the place to look for clues. I was wondering how to examine it without being obvious when Miss Morrison said,

  “Oh, don’t bother with that. It’s rented. I suppose she couldn’t bring hers if she was pretending to be in the Lake District, could she?”

  “I’m surprised you got it back.”

  “The inspector dropped it off with a few other things. Her earrings, and shoes, and a ring. They’re on the dresser.”

  I draped the suit over the chair and went to look at the items. The earrings were small pearl ones, six little pearls arranged like a flower, even less suitable for bathing than Milly’s had been. The ring was a small gold one with a single garnet, pretty and somewhat valuable but not unusual. Probably a birthday gift if she had been born in January. The shoes were on the floor. Plain slippers with ribbon ties, of the sort worn for bathing, very similar to what we had rented. I gathered up the jewelry and added it to the trunk. “Is there anything else I should pack away?”

  Miss Morrison nodded at the dresser. “The brush and things are hers. Mine are on the vanity.”

  I collected up the rest of Miss Caldwell’s personal items, but none of them were particularly revealing. When I had the trunk packed and closed, I turned back to Miss Morrison. “Would you like me to have someone come and take this away? I’m sure they can keep it in storage until her family can collect it.”

  “Yes, I think that would be best.”

  I picked up the bathing costume. “And I’ll return this to the shop downstairs. I am very sorry for your loss.”

  Miss Morrison smiled and walked me to the door, which really wasn’t necessary as I was only a few feet from it. As I reached for the knob, I found out why she had when she asked, “Do you think it would be terrible of me to go out a bit?”

  She certainly needed to get out of the room, at least. “A bit of fresh air might do you some good.”

  “I mean it isn’t as if we were related, right? She was a friend from school.”

  “No one would expect you to go into full mourning, I’m sure. And it might help you to think of what to tell your parents.”

  She gave me a look of horror. I’d wondered if she’d realized they would hear of this.

  “They’ll be worried when they hear about Miss Caldwell, and I think it would be better for you if they heard about your—holiday directly from you, not Inspector Sanders or Mr. Caldwell.”

  Miss Morrison nodded, but I could tell she was still trying to think of a way to avoid the inevitable. “Thank you for all your help.” At least she was still being polite.

  “It’s no trouble at all. Let me and my cousin know if we can be of any assistance.”

  I let myself out of the room before Miss Morrison could ask me for help telling her parents about her foolish deception. That was the sort of thing she definitely needed to do on her own, or at least without my assistance. As I went down to the lobby, I folded the bathing costume as small as I could so it wasn’t readily apparent what it was. I didn’t want anyone offering to return it until I was ready to be rid of it. At the concierge desk, I asked for someo
ne to collect Miss Caldwell’s trunk and hinted rather strongly that it might be a good idea to offer Miss Morrison a different room. With my duties discharged, I hurried up to our room with the bathing costume.

  When I got there, Milly was putting on her hat. “Hello, Cassie. Where have you been? I was going to ask if you wanted to go downstairs and have tea in the garden.” She glanced at the bathing costume. “Haven’t you returned that yet? Would you like me to drop it off?”

  “It’s not mine; it’s Miss Caldwell’s.”

  Milly stopped fiddling with her hat. “How did you get it?”

  “The police returned it to Miss Morrison.”

  “That seems somewhat thoughtless, doesn’t it?”

  I nodded. Even Inspector Wainwright would have been more tactful, but then even he wouldn’t have let a murder go uninvestigated. “At least it means we can have a look at it, though.”

  Milly sat down on the bed beside me, and we went over the entire suit, turning out the pockets and even turning the whole thing inside out to inspect the lining, but other than a torn left pocket, it was nothing more interesting than a light-weight wool bathing costume, very similar to the ones we’d rented except for the piping, which was blue instead of white or red.

  Milly flopped back on the bed, almost crushing her hat which she hadn’t removed. “That was disappointing.”

  I turned the suit right-side-out and started to fold it. “At least we’ve determined that there’s nothing interesting about it. Otherwise, I might have thought I needed to try and get Inspector Sanders to let me see it, and I don’t think there’d be much chance of that. I’ll bring it back downstairs.”

  “Make certain they know where you got it. It looks about my size, and I would hate to accidentally rent that one.”

  “Indeed.” I considered further ripping the suit to be certain they wouldn’t rent it out again, but if Inspector Sanders ever did come around to our way of thinking, I would hate to have tampered with his evidence. That thought gave me the very good idea to tell the man at the shop in the lobby to put the suit aside in case the police wanted it for evidence in Miss Caldwell’s “unfortunate occurrence,” which would remind everyone of just what had happened to the last person to wear it.

  Chapter 10

  AS I WAS RETURNING to our room after returning the bathing costume to the gentleman minding the till at the lobby shop, and managing to mention the fate of the costume’s previous owner no less than three times, I heard my name called. I turned to see Mr. Douglas coming across the lobby. When he realized I’d seen him, he waved and sped up. “Miss Pengear, I was just going to come upstairs and see if Miss Prynne would like to go into town for a little while, get away from the hotel. You’d be welcome to join us.”

  Going into town sounded nice; spending time with Milly and one of her gentlemen less so. “I’ll ask her for you.”

  “That’s very kind of you. I just need to drop this off at the concierge desk and then I’ll be at your disposal.”

  I glanced at the object he was holding. It wasn’t any sort of letter or instructions as I would have expected, but a silver case of some sort. “What is it?”

  Mr. Douglas held it out for my inspection. “A cigarette case. Not yours, is it?”

  “Neither of us smoke.”

  “I didn’t think so. It’s heavy for a lady’s case.” He hefted it in his hand so I could see.

  I held out my hand to take it. Mr. Douglas placed it into my palm. It was a silver case, not unusual in its design, with an etched pattern of Renaissance vines curling across it, unremarkable except that it was heavy, much heavier than I would have expected. Without asking for permission, I opened it and looked inside. There was nothing to see, not even any cigarettes. I ran my finger down the interior, but I didn’t feel any imperfections that would have suggested an extra layer or hidden panel to explain the weight, only a layer of oilcloth that seemed to be intended to keep whatever was inside dry. I closed the case and handed it back. “I almost expected it to be lead lined.”

  “I know, but it’s nothing more than thick silver. Makes the engraving stand out more, I think. But there are no initials or anything to identify the owner.”

  “Where did you find it?”

  “In the baths. After Miss Caldwell...” He glanced around the lobby and changed what he was going to say. “When the proper help arrived, I went back to look for Miss Prynne’s earring, and this was at the bottom of the bath. Which reminds me.” He reached into his watch pocket and pulled out Milly’s missing earring. “If you’d be so kind.”

  I held out my hand so he could drop the earring in my palm. “I’ll be sure she gets it. And I’ll ask if she’d like to go into town.”

  “Thank you. I’ll be in the lobby for a short while at least, if either one of you are interested.” Mr. Douglas gave a small bow then headed off in the direction of the concierge’s desk.

  I slipped the earring into my pocket as I went towards the staircase and wondered about Mr. Douglas. I hadn’t thought he was particularly interested in Milly, but perhaps I had been wrong. Why else would he go back to look for her earring? Unless he had wanted to get another look at the bathing pool and that was the best excuse he could find. Was the cigarette case what he went looking for? An odd thing to have in the bath, and why wouldn’t someone notice it falling? I patted my pocket to make certain I could still feel the earring. Then I paused, considering everything Mr. Douglas had just told me. It was possible... I hurried up to the room to tell Milly what I’d just figured out. Normally, I would be running to Scotland Yard, but as Inspector Sanders seemed to be the best I could get at the police station, Milly would have to do.

  When I got to our room, Milly was fussing with her hair. I didn’t wait for her tell me the outcome of her meeting with Miss Grangeway but immediately blurted out, “Milly, I know what we saw in the baths.”

  Milly didn’t grasp the significance of what I’d said. “We saw someone push Miss Caldwell under and hold her there. We already know that.”

  “And we know there was no one there when help arrived. That’s why the police don’t believe us.”

  “And that’s what you’ve figured out?” Milly sounded a bit more interested, at least interested enough to stop fussing and sit down on her bed to wait for an answer.

  “When I spoke to Miss Bates this morning, she said when she saw the body at the funeral home, there were burns around Miss Caldwell’s mouth.”

  “I heard that from Miss Grangeway. She said Miss Morrison said Miss Bates thought it was a side effect of drowning.”

  “I don’t know about drowning, but I do know it’s a side effect of chloroform administration. I think that’s what we saw, someone giving her chloroform. A rag over her mouth or something. And that could explain why she died so quickly, if she was unconscious and breathed in too much water at once. If we were in London, I could ask Inspector Burrows if that makes sense.”

  “All right, so she passed out and he dragged her under so she would breathe in water until she drowned. We saw him pull her down, why wasn’t he there?”

  “He probably intended to be there, but when we raised the alarm, he had to leave, to swim away so he wouldn’t be caught.”

  “But she didn’t float.”

  “That’s what I’ve just figured out. I saw Mr. Douglas in the lobby just now. He went back to look for your earring, and he found a very heavy cigarette case on the bottom of the pool. I think it would be heavy enough to make it hard for her to float if she didn’t have the use of her limbs to swim with.”

  Milly perked up at the mention of Mr. Douglas’s name. “Did he find my earring?” So much for her interest in the case.

  “What? Oh, yes, I have it here.” I fished around in my pocket and handed it over. “In any case, I think our killer realized he needed to get away when there was so much activity in the water, signaling that we knew something was wrong, so he shoved the case into her pocket and swam away. Remember the pocket on her bath
ing costume was torn? The case must have been too heavy and fallen out, so Mr. Douglas was able to find it. Unless it was his case all along. But then why turn it into the concierge, why not get rid of it altogether?”

  Milly interrupted my deducing. “Is Mr. Douglas still in the lobby?”

  “What? Oh, yes, he wanted to know if you wanted to go into town with him.”

  “That sounds like a wonderful idea. Let’s get away from here for a few hours.”

  “I was going to...” I wasn’t certain what I had intended to do, only that it didn’t involve trailing along after Milly.

  “But you have to come. How will it look if I go without a chaperone?”

  I glared at Milly. I hardly qualified as a chaperone; I was only a few months older than her. And Milly never worried about chaperones when they were an inconvenience.

  “Besides, it will give you the chance to find out if he knows anything else about the cigarette case.”

  I sighed. Milly could be very good at convincing me when she wanted to. “All right. I’ll come along.”

  Mr. Douglas was still in the lobby when we went downstairs, sitting by one of the potted palms with a newspaper. When I spotted him, I had the distinct impression that the newspaper was being used as a prop, not something he was interested in reading, and I wondered what his real purpose was. Before I could speculate too much, Milly hurried over to him. I followed in time to hear her say, “It’s so kind of you to ask.”

  Mr. Douglas looked over at me as soon as I was close enough to speak to. “Were you coming as well, Miss Pengear?”

  “If it isn’t too much trouble,” Milly answered for me.

  “Of course not. How could such charming company be a bother? What did you wish to see?”

  I let Milly babble out her list of shops while we exited the hotel, but I had the impression that Mr. Douglas was only half listening to her. The rest of his mind seemed to be somewhere else, but I didn’t see anything in the lobby that could have distracted him. Perhaps he was waiting for another of his telegrams. Or perhaps he simply wasn’t interested in Milly’s list of shops.