A Strange Manor of Death (The Inspector Felix Mysteries Book 3)

by R. A. Bentley

  'Kill him! No I did not!'

  'It's all right, I ask everyone that. Do you think he killed himself?'

  Nanny shook her head. 'I don't know, sir. I thought he was supposed to have done. Though I shouldn't have said he was the sort for it, if asked. Oh dear, sir, you gave me a such a start, asking me that! None of us servants killed him, I'm quite sure of that! Though I daresay we've all threatened to now and again.'

  'Felix pulled forward a small box. 'Do you recognise this gun?'

  Nanny stared at it. 'Is this what . . . ?'

  'Yes.'

  'Well there's justice! That's the mistress's gun, unless it's one just like it.'

  'Do you feel he mistreated her then, that you call it justice?'

  'Not to lay hands on her, sir, no. I wouldn't have stood for that. But he neglected her cruelly, and when she got ill and couldn't get about, he'd have his pals in at all hours drinking and gambling and using bad language, though he knew she didn't like it. And he used to sneak loose women in without her knowing. Oh, he was a one for the women, sir. Though they maybe regretted it, some of them, given the dreadful noises they made.'

  Felix forbore to smile. 'Do you know where Her Ladyship's gun is normally kept, Miss Matthews, so that we can check if it's missing?'

  'It lives in her dressing table, sir, in her old apartment. Bottom left drawer. The room's not locked; you can go in.'

  'A little unwise, wasn't it, leaving it unlocked? Excuse me for a moment.' Felix stepped outside, swiftly returning. 'I've sent someone to have a look. Why did Her Ladyship keep a gun?'

  'She said she felt unsafe, sir, latterly. She couldn't walk without help in the last year or two, and she liked to keep it beside her in case of an intruder. I was always a bit afraid she'd shoot one of us!'

  'Well I'm glad she didn't, Miss Matthews. Thank you. I'm going to suggest we interview Miss FitzGreville in her rooms, if you think that would be acceptable to her. She'll very likely feel more relaxed and confident in her own surroundings, which might help. But first, as we have you here, I wonder if you will kindly give me an account of your movements last night, say from about seven-thirty or so. I've interviewed the other indoor servants, including Mr Fudge, so you're the last.'

  Nanny gave him a look which eloquently said: what wasn't I doing?

  'Well,' she sighed, 'at seven-thirty I'd have been finishing my little break, which I usually have from five or six when I get the chance. I went to Miss Joan to help her dress for dinner and when she came downstairs I did a bit of tidying while she was out of the way. What did I do then? Oh yes, I came down myself and found the Colonel and Miss Charlotte in the entrance hall and chatted to them for a minute or two. Then they went in to dinner and I went and talked to Mr Fudge and Cook about what we'll need from the butcher this week and helped with putting the puddings ready and then we had our evening meal. Afterwards I went up to sit with Miss Joan for an hour or two, which I usually do, until she went to bed. That was about twelve. Then I went up to my own room.

  'I hadn't been in bed very long, though, when I woke up to hear the men fighting in the great hall, though I couldn't work out what it was at first. My room is on the attic floor, so it wasn't as loud as it probably was below but I knew something queer was going on. I hurried down and found Mrs FitzGreville's little boy, Emmett, on the gallery. He's a nice boy and very bright, but also rather naughty and will wander about at night when he shouldn't. I'd looked in on him at about twelve, before I went up, and he seemed to be well away then, but maybe he was pretending, I don't know. Anyway, he'd heard the fighting and he'd come and looked down, and of course it frightened him, seeing his father and uncle bashing at each other with swords and shouting like they were. He said he went to tell Miss Joan about it, she being the nearest, but unfortunately he took her unawares and she got herself into a bit of a state. She has a nervous disposition, sir, and things bother her that wouldn't most people. Anyway I hurried him back to his room and then I realised that Mr Tony was hurt so I rushed upstairs to get my first-aid box and then down to patch him up. It was bedlam for a while, sir.'

  'Sir,' interrupted Rattigan.

  'It's all right Sergeant, I know what you're going to say,' said Felix. 'Didn't Miss FitzGreville wait rather a long while before conveying the news of this alleged assault to the others, Miss Matthews? It must have been some minutes.'

  'Yes it was,' admitted Nanny. 'Quite ten minutes, I should say.'

  'Likes to draw attention to herself, I understand?'

  'Yes, sir. I'm afraid she does. Will that be all, sir?'

  Felix noticed that the high colour in her cheeks had distinctly spread. 'Was there something else, Miss Matthews?'

  Nanny pursed her lips, then sighed resignedly. 'Oh, sir, I can't be sure, but I'd better tell you about Emmett. He said he'd been playing in the library when he heard the fighting. He often does, and I've caught him in there at night before this.'

  'Ah! Now that's very interesting.' said Felix, exchanging glances with Rattigan. 'But why didn't you tell me before?'

  Nanny took out a handkerchief and began to pat her brow with it. 'I know I should have, sir, but I hoped it'd turn out I didn't need to, what with me supposed to be looking after him. Although how I'm expected to keep him in bed short of locking him in his room I don't know. It was bad enough him running loose about the house with the sword-fighting going on and all, but then to find Sir Jasper in there, and who's to say how long he'd been dead in that chair? They do make things up at that age – don't they? – and I hoped he had, although he did say that his Auntie Emily came in for a book while he was there, which seems a bit unlikely. Then again, I suppose she might have, what with them all mad to win that foolish quiz. I've been meaning to ask her, but what with one thing and another I never got round to it.'

  'I see,' mused Felix. All right, Miss Matthews, thank you. And if you care to have a word with one of your colleagues, or Mr Killigrew if you can find him, you may hear something to your advantage. Yes, Sergeant, what is it?'

  'Can I speak to you for a moment, sir?' said Nash.

  They went out into the entrance hall.

  'The gun's still there, sir, where it's supposed to be. It's the same make and model as the murder weapon. It doesn't appear to have been fired lately, but we've dabbed and bagged it up.'

  'Damn! Maybe they were bought as a pair.'

  Felix returned to Nanny Matthews. 'My sergeant informs me that Lady FitzGreville's gun is in its appointed place. Were you aware there was a second identical one?'

  Nanny shook her head bewilderedly. 'No, sir, not at all. I don't know where Her Ladyship's gun came from, sir. It just appeared one day and I had no call to ask. Might the other one have been Sir Jasper's?'

  'I should say that's quite likely, Miss Matthews. Tell me, did you have much to do with Sir Jasper, day to day?'

  'No, sir, not a great deal. I left that to Mr Fudge, and very glad to.'

  Felix smiled. 'All right. Now in view of young Emmett's story I think I'd best see him and his parents next, and we'll have a word with your mistress a little later.'

  Felix critically studied the blond-headed nine-year-old. Looks sharp enough, he decided. Hasn't got that vacuous expression some of them have. 'I'm sorry to drag you back again, Mr and Mrs FitzGreville,' he said, pulling up an extra chair, 'but I need to investigate the nocturnal activities of this young gentleman, whose name, I believe, is Emmett. How do you do, Emmett?'

  'How do you do, sir?' said Emmett. 'I'm not just nocturnal, I'm diurnal too, although I don't think there's a name for being both.'

  'No, I don't believe there is,' agreed Felix. 'Someone should invent one. However, it's the nocturnal side of things I'm interested in at the moment. I want you, if you will, to give me a full account of what you did last night, starting from when you first went to bed. Sergeant Rattigan will take down what you say, and then type it up nicely for you to read. If you approve of it, we'll ask you to sign your name to it. Do you understand?'

/>   'Do you mean, like a police statement, sir?' asked Emmett, causing Rattigan to quietly chuckle.

  'Yes, Emmett, that's exactly what I mean. Off you go now. And I need hardly say that I expect you to be completely honest and not make things up because this is very serious and important.'

  Emmett sat in thought for a moment. 'I went to bed at seven o'clock, which is my bedtime,' he began, 'and Daddy came and tucked me in because Mummy was doing puzzles and too busy. I was quite tired so I slept until about eleven-thirty, I think. After that, I lay awake for ages which was really boring. Then Nanny came to see if I was asleep so I pretended I was and when she'd gone I got up. I wanted my gun but couldn't find it and I thought I might have left it in the library, so I went there to look for it and I had. Am I going too fast for you Sergeant?'

  'That's just about the right speed, sir,' smiled Rattigan. 'Thank you.'

  'Good. Anyway, it was quite light in the library because it was a full moon last night and it was all silvery and casting shadows and everything, which was really brill, so I stopped there and played at vampires for a while. Then I heard someone coming in and I was afraid it might be Nanny, so I hid, but it was only Auntie Emily.'

  'Auntie Emily?' frowned Elizabeth. 'What time was this?'

  'I don't know — quite late. She'd come for a book, so I expect she was bored too, or perhaps it was for the quiz. She didn't see me, although she might have heard me because she asked if there was anyone there. Then she went away and I went on playing ans then I heard a noise and went and looked down into the great hall and Daddy and Uncle were fighting with swords!

  Here he glanced at his father, who adopted a detached expression and gestured to him to continue.

  'Anyway,' he said, 'I was a bit frightened because I thought it was real and wanted to tell a grown-up about it, but I didn't know who to go to, so I went to Auntie Joan instead. She was in the bathroom but she didn't see me and when I went to tap her on the back she moved and I sort of got her bottom and she jumped and got really cross with me and I ran away and Nanny came and she got cross with me and took me back to my room, so I thought I'd best stay there, and I did and then I went to sleep.'

  'I see. And where did Nanny come from? Did you see?'

  'She came from upstairs, where her room is. She had her dressing gown on.'

  'All right. And tell me, while you were playing in the library, did you see or hear anyone else, apart from your Auntie Emily? Someone passing by outside, or looking briefly in? That's quite important.'

  Emmett considered this. 'I don't think so. But it's ever such a creaky house so there might have been.'

  'Thank you, Emmett,' smiled Felix. 'You've been very helpful. And thank you, also, to your longsuffering parents. I think you had best become a policeman when you grow up, because we have to be diurnal and nocturnal and everything in between.'

  'That would be brill!' said Emmett. 'Inspector?'

  'Yes, Emmett?'

  'When Sergeant Rattigan types the report, may I have a copy of my own to keep?'

  'Of course you shall,' said Felix. 'All witnesses get that. Now I wonder if you will kindly pop outside for a minute while I talk to your parents. Constable Evans is out there and you can annoy him. Don't run away, now.'

  Felix waited until Emmett had left the room. 'Mr and Mrs FitzGreville, in case it isn't obvious, which it probably is, I have rather limited experience in dealing with small boys, albeit I was once one myself. The fact that Emmett appears to have been in the library from something after twelve until about one o'clock makes him rather crucial to our investigation, and I should have liked to ask him if he heard a gunshot while he was there. However, it's one thing to play with a cap-gun and quite another to be in the vicinity of a real-life murder and it may, of course, frighten him. Would you permit me to do that?'

  The FitzGrevilles looked at each other.

  'I've no objection myself,' said Tony. 'He's fairly sensible for his age, and I expect he'll soon forget about it.'

  'Mrs FitzGreville?'

  'Yes, I suppose so,' said Elizabeth.

  Lady FitzGreville's long-unused pistol had been dusted for prints, cleaned and loaded.

  'Four cartridges missing from the box, sir,' said Nash.

  'They'll have wanted to try it out, I daresay,' said Felix. 'Has everyone been warned?'

  'Yes, sir.'

  'Then I think we're ready. Rattigan, do the honours please. Sir Jasper's bedroom, I think. All doors closed. Come with me and your father, Emmett. We're going to see if you can hear the bang of the gun from inside the library. Did you have the library door open or closed when you were playing?'

  'It was open, sir, I think.'

  'Well, we'll try it both ways. Give us a minute or two, Rattigan, then two shots please, a half-minute apart. Nash you go onto the gallery and Yardley down to the great hall. I want to know how far into the house the sound carries.'

  They waited, Emmett nervously taking his father's hand. 'Coo!' he said, jumping. 'That was loud! It doesn't sound much like my gun though.'

  'I don't suppose it does. Be quiet now and I'll close the door.'

  'I can still hear it,' said Emmett as Rattigan fired again. 'It's not really much different with the door closed, just a bit more thuddy.'

  'Now think very hard,' said Felix. 'Did you hear anything like that last night?'

  Emmett immediately shook his head. 'No, definitely not.' He looked thoughtful. 'Is that what it would have sounded like when great uncle Jasper was murdered?'

  'Yes, it is. And thank you for being a brave young man.'

  They sat in contemplation over their pipes.

  'Interesting, that,' observed Felix. 'Quite loud in the library, even with the door closed, but a good deal quieter outside of the new wing and scarcely audible downstairs. The original walls look about two feet thick if the archway is anything to go by, which probably explains it. At all events, assuming Emmett was telling the truth, and bearing in mind that no-one else heard anything either, I think we can safely say no shot was fired before about one o'clock.'

  'And it wouldn't take much noise down below to mask it after one o'clock,' said Rattigan. 'Although thinking about it, if you can't hear a gunshot from downstairs, would Emmett have heard a sword-fight from upstairs?'

  Felix sighed. 'Teddy, you're too damned clever sometimes. Evans!

  'Sir?'

  'Grab my sergeants for me please.'

  They were once again in the library.

  'Can you hear that?' said Felix. 'I can. It's not very loud, admittedly, although Emmett's young ears are probably sharper than ours and it was otherwise quiet.'

  'Yes, sir, I can. But it's coming up through the windows, I think.'

  'They went to the window and looked to their left at the great hall. There were two good-sized windows on its ground floor and it was quite clear the noise was coming from them.'

  'Funny things, noises,' said Rattigan apologetically.

  'No, you were quite right to make the point,' said Felix. He led the way back to the gallery and leaned over the rail. 'All right, you chaps, that'll do.'

  'I'd have had your head off, if it'd been real,' said Nash, putting down his sword.

  'Rubbish!' rejoined Yardley. 'Those were feints. You'd have likely lost an arm.'

  Chapter Fourteen

  Joan FitzGreville's apartment seemed not to have altered since she was a young girl. Sentimental pictures hung on the walls, dressed dolls filled a glass-fronted case and the living-room walls were painted a disquieting shade of pink.

  Felix offered his hand. 'How do you do, Miss FitzGreville? Thank you so much for seeing me.'

  Joan kept her arms folded in front of her. 'I'm not doing any fingerprints,' she said. 'It's mucky.'

  'It is a bit, isn't it?' agreed Felix. 'Well we won't worry about that just now.' There was an awkward silence, and he glanced at Nanny. 'I wonder, may we . . . ?'

  'Aren't you going to ask the gentlemen to sit down, Miss Joan?' prompted Na
nny.

  Joan looked surprised. She indicated two chairs at a little occasional table. 'You can sit there I suppose. Are your coats and trousers clean?'

  Felix assured her that they were. Like the decor, the chairs seemed to have been intended for a child. Rattigan, he noted, overhung his on both sides. He prayed it wouldn't collapse under his weight.

  'First of all, Miss FitzGreville, please accept our sincere condolences on the death of your father. I do realise what a shock it must have been.'

  Joan appeared to ignore him. 'What's that book?' she demanded.

  'It's my notebook, miss,' said Rattigan.

  'What's it for?'

  'Well now,' said Felix avuncularly. 'What I'd like you to do, if you will, is tell me what you were doing last night, and anything you saw or heard that you think we ought to know about. The Sergeant will write down what you say, type it up nicely and give it to you to read. If you think it sounds accurate we'll ask you to sign it. Can I ask you first of all – and this is very important – whether you were in your apartment between about twelve and one o'clock last night?'

  'Why?' said Joan.

  'Because if you were, you might be able to tell me if you heard a loud bang from a gun between those times, like the one you heard earlier.'

  'What bang? I never heard a bang.'

  'Yes you did, miss,' said Nanny. 'I warned you it was going off and when it did you jumped. Don't you remember?'

  'Oh that. It was that nasty little boy again.'

  'Not that time, Miss FitzGreville,' said Felix. 'We were trying out a gun like the one that killed your poor father, to see if it could be heard by someone in the library, or the rest of the house.'

  'The library is next door,' said Joan. 'Right next to this room! Nettie found him there.'

  'Yes, I know, but we're not sure now that he was killed there. We think perhaps he was killed somewhere else and put in the library afterwards. Did you hear a bang, last night?'

  'No,' said Joan.

  'But you were here between twelve and one, were you not?'