‘So he suggested that a wee jaunt would be just the thing?’
‘No,’ I said icily. ‘It was my idea.’
‘Yours?’ said Rory, looking for all the world like the universe was dissolving around him.
‘I asked him to help me get the Princess away from here. With two deaths there was little chance that I wouldn’t be unmasked. I knew the real Princess and he were supposed to have had an affair, so I thought if he supposedly helped me get away and back to my own country that people would accept it. I never, ever, ever entertained the thought that you would think I had eloped!’
‘I see I might have been a wee bit hasty,’ said Rory, side stepping to put himself out of my range. ‘But you have to think how it looked.’
‘It looked how it was meant to look to those upstairs,’ I said angrily. ‘You knew it was really me. You should have trusted me.’
‘Aye well. These have been worrying times. I was ferit for yer. The safest thing I could think o’ was for yer to be with yon spy mannie.’
‘You’re going alarmingly Scotch again,’ I said. ‘Could it be you are rethinking your position. Might I suggest that an apology might be in order?’
‘Aye well. I do think yer could a left me a note. I was out o’ my mind with worry, yer ken?’
‘So do you still love me?’
‘Oh lassie, that was never in question. It’s what we do now that’s the problem.’
Rory’s face fell as he said this last piece. All the anger was gone, but in its place was a look of sorrow. I felt a cold hand clutch at my heart.
But our discussion was rudely broken in on by Merry. ‘Sorry! Sorry!’ She said, ‘But you have to come upstairs and here what Suzette’s got to say. It changes everything.’
Chapter Thirty-six
Tipton’s Secret
Merry ran out again at once, so we had no real choice but to follow her. In the corridor Rory leaned in close to speak to me. ‘We can’t marry,’ he said softly. ‘Nothing you can say will change that.’
‘What? I told you nothing happened with Fitzroy!’ I said alarmed and breathless. Merry was setting a furious pace.
‘I saw you above stairs. The way you looked, the way you spoke, the way – everything. It’s clear you belong with them not me. You should accept Mr Bertram’s offer.’
‘But I don’t want to marry Bertram!’
‘He’ll give you a far better life than I ever could. My mind’s made up.’
‘I am not a coat or a hat that can be handed out willy-nilly,’ I said angrily. ‘I love you. I want to be with you.’
‘Sssh,’ said Rory, ‘let’s not be telling everyone our business.’
‘We have to discuss this Rory,’ I said. ‘I don’t want to be lady …’
‘That doesn’t matter. You are one.’
‘What are you two whispering about?’ said Merry over her shoulder. ‘Whatever it is, it will have to wait. Come on!’ And she began to clatter up the servants’ stair. Conversation was now impossible. I tried to slip my hand into Rory’s, but he pulled away.
Merry led the way to the small study where I had been interviewed by the police. She threw the door open dramatically to reveal Suzette, Richard and Bertram! The expression on her face told us she had not been expecting this welcoming committee.
‘Ah, I heard you were back,’ said Richard. ‘I’m not sure why you thought it was necessary, but it will save me a trip.’
Bertram gave his half-brother a quizzical glance, but came forward to greet me warmly. ‘I am very glad to see you safe and well,’ he said. ‘Suzette, my late mother’s maid, has courageously made a full statement to the police and it clears matters up completely.’
‘What? What on earth could she have said to do that?’
Suzette sneered slightly. ‘I told them as how I knew Mr Tipton from before. Cos he didn’t use his actual name. Had a nickname like most of the clients. Fitted him nice I thought it did. It was …’
Bertram put up his hand to stop her, ‘I don’t think we need to go into the details again, Suzette. Suffice it to say, Euphemia, that Suzette knew something very much to Tipton’s detriment. She told my mother, who tried to warn Richenda, who angrily rejected the news. Obviously, Tipton was afraid that with time Lady Stapleford would convince her, or perhaps Richard or myself, so he decided there was only one way to silence her. Later, when Suzette came forward with her evidence he must have realised that he would be caught and took his own life.’
‘You were blackmailing him when I saw you together in the garden,’ I said.
‘I was not,’ said Suzette angrily, ‘I was telling him to give himself up.’
‘But I saw him give you money,’ I said.
‘You little snip …’ started Suzette, then she glanced over at Richard. ‘He was giving me a letter to give to Richenda to explain everything, but it was so unpleasant I burnt it.’
Richard nodded approvingly. ‘My sister should never have heard of this matter.’
‘Bertram,’ I said as calmly as I could, for it was being a most trying day, ‘will you please explain what Tipton’s great secret was.’
‘He had syphilis,’ blurted out Merry and then clapped her hand over her mouth.
‘That would explain why he had been acting so oddly lately,’ said Rory. ‘In the final stages I hear men go mad.’
‘I’m afraid so,’ said Bertram. ‘Uncontrollable and violent rages. It explains many of his previous actions, ‘ he said added emphasis to the last words and I knew he was thinking of Mrs Wilson.
‘But this doesn’t make any sense,’ I said. ‘How did Lady Stapleford know?’
‘Cos I told her,’ said Suzette. ‘She ain’t very bright, is she?’
‘But how …?’ Then an image came to my mind, the very one I’d be searching for a long time, Suzette’s face the first time she saw Tipton. She’d been travelling with Lady Stapleford and had refused to eat her meals with the Stapleford Hall staff. The first time she had laid eyes on Tipton had been that time in my room, when I had seen her go white from shock. ‘You knew him from before, didn’t you?’
‘Might have done,’ said Suzette. ‘Certainly heard of him and his doings.’
‘Yes, you are one of my successes, aren’t you?’ said a voice from the doorway. It was Richenda, dressed in full black and looking like a thundercloud. ‘Those centres Daddy hated me setting up and working with. You remember, Euphemia?’
‘But that means Suzette used to be a whore!’ said Merry. As soon as she had said this she clapped both hands over the mouth.
‘I was a gentleman’s companion,’ said Suzette, ‘though never his. But I heard how he had it. There are signs.’
‘Enough,’ said Bertram. ‘We don’t need to sully the ladies’ ears with any more sordid details.’
Suzette shrugged. ‘Seems to me the ladies are better knowing what to look out for.’ I silently thought she had a point.
‘Enough,’ said Rory loudly. ‘I’ll no have the like of you in this house.’
‘Oh, I’m off alright,’ said Suzette. ‘Going to set meself up as a milliner. Might sell you an ’at one day ladies. I’ll give you a discount!’ And with that she left the room, her nose high in the air.
‘Thank goodness that’s over,’ said Bertram. ‘Merry, I’m surprised at you.’
‘Sorry, sir. It was the shock, sir.’
‘Yes, well, now we can put all this nastiness behind us.’
‘Did you tell Tipton what Suzette had told Lady Stapleford?’ I asked Richenda.
‘I did not,’ said Richenda firmly. ‘I didn’t believe a word of it and I wasn’t going to let anyone spoil my day.’
‘So Tipton had no reason to kill Lady Stapleford?’
‘You said yourself Suzette was blackmailing him,’ said Bertram.
‘It doesn’t feel right,’ I said. ‘I saw that after Lady Stapleford was killed. If she thought he was a killer would she have risked blackmail? And how did he know in the first place?’
‘The girl must have gone to him first,’ said Bertram.
‘Then why didn’t he just kill her?’ said Rory. ‘Far easier to get the police to overlook the death of a maid of dubious background than a lady. Instead of which he gave her money afterwards. That’s not the action of a killer.’
‘He wasn’t in his right mind,’ said Bertram. ‘We have to make allowance for that.’
‘He did not kill Stepmama,’ said Richenda stoutly.
‘Listen, of all you,’ boomed Richard suddenly, ‘I have had enough of this gossip and unpleasantness. The police have closed the case and I have paid Suzette a tidy sum so she doesn’t spread rumours about the kind of man my sister was prepared to marry.’
‘You take that back, Richard,’ said his sister.
‘Moreover, as all those involved are present here, I think it is time to announce some changes. Euphemia St John, I hereby give you notice that your services are no longer required. I will not have my household disrupted by your foolish and headstrong ideas any longer. Any foolish attempts to spread rumours about myself or my family will be met with my word of the unsavouriness of your character and your propensity to throw yourself at the men around you.’ Any case that I might have made was somewhat undermined by both Bertram and Rory shouting in my defence.
‘Merry,’ said Richard, raising his voice about theirs, ‘as chief maid, will suffice to head the female staff as I am shutting up Stapleford Hall to be in town, while Rory is lent to the Earl to head up his staff.’
‘You never said I was to replace Euphemia,’ wailed Merry. ‘You only said I would be head maid.’
‘As my brother currently does not have a household, his property, as I understand it, being mostly under the Fens, you are now a person of no abode and no position, Euphemia, and as such I must ask you to vacate this house.’
I felt nothing; no anger, only shock that it would end this way with Richard winning. I had no doubt in my mind that he had killed Lady Stapleford and arranged Tipton’s so-called suicide. As I looked into his eyes, I shivered: here was a man who was getting a liking for killing. But who would ever believe me?
‘Of course, anyone who continues to associate with Euphemia will have no place on my staff or in my home.’ He came towards his sister. ‘I am planning on hiring a place in the city for a while. There, my dear sister, I hope you will be able to forget this sordid episode and move on with your life.’
‘That’s what is to happen to me, is it?’ said Richenda. ‘You’ve decided none of us will stay at Stapleford Hall – you’ve decided … ‘She inhaled deeply, gritted her teeth, and said, ‘Can you get it through your thick head, Richard, that you do not control either Bertram or me. We have every right to stay at the Hall if we wish.’
Bertram, who had been standing with his mouth hanging open, rather like a fish that has just been told fishermen exist, said, ‘I don’t want to be there.’
‘Yes, I imagine I have just rid the place of one of its primary attractions for you,’ sneered Richard.
‘Richard,’ said Richenda, and this time her voice snapped like a whip, ‘do not think for one moment I believe any of the lies you have told here. As for throwing Euphemia out, let me tell you: she has a new position with me. She will be my companion.’
‘What do you need one of them for?’ laughed Richard.
‘Because,’ said Richenda, ‘I am going to stay with the Muller family while I recover from this tragedy. You remember the Mullers? Your main banking rivals? This is my little birthday present to myself. Had you forgotten, dear brother, it’s our birthday today, and while I may have no husband I finally have my inheritance. Come, Euphemia! We have much to discuss!’
Bertram was still speechless. Rory couldn’t look me in the eye and Merry was crying silently. Richard had done his best to strip me of my allies, and in so doing had made me his sister’s best weapon. I trusted Richenda no further than I could throw her (which wouldn’t be very far, as I have said she is rather a large lady), but now she was all that stood between my family and my destitution. With tears in my eyes, I took one final look at my old friends, standing powerless before my worst enemy, and then I turned and followed Richenda silently from the room.
I did not look back.
Epilogue
I know that in my writings I have often amused my readers both intentionally and unintentionally. I feel guilty for ending this story on such a sour note, but it was a terrible time in my life and the effects of these murders changed many lives. However, it is not the end of my story nor the end of my fight. You can read about my next adventure ….
NOT THE END …
The Euphemia Martin Mysteries by Caroline Dunford
For more information on Caroline Dunford
and other Accent Press titles, please visit
www.accentpress.co.uk
A Death in the Wedding Party Page 19
