A Quiet Life in the Country (The Lady Hardcastle Mysteries Book 1)

by T E Kinsey

‘So they say,’ said the inspector, finally looking up from his notes. ‘Well, sir, that was quite comprehensive. Thank you. Is there anything else you think we ought to know. Anyone else you noticed?’

  ‘Not really.’

  ‘What about Clifford Haddock?’

  ‘Old Fishface? What about him?’

  ‘I believe he’s known to the band,’ said the inspector.

  ‘He’s a pal of Rolie’s. Seems to be quite keen on the music so we see him about quite a lot.’

  ‘He’s an antiques dealer I understand.’

  Dunn laughed, a genuine, heartfelt laugh. ‘Is that what he’s been telling you? Well he’s got some neck, I’ll give him that.’

  ‘So he’s not, then?’ said the inspector, looking up once more from his notes.

  ‘He owns a junk shop on the Old Kent Road. Antiques dealer. Wait till I tell Skins.’

  ‘His story is that he was invited to The Grange to appraise some of Sir Hector’s “knick-knacks”.’

  ‘Fishface is more likely to nick his knick-knacks, I’d say. On the plus side, he wouldn’t know a Chippendale Whatnot from a bowl of peonies so he’s unlikely to pinch anything of real value except by blind chance.’

  ‘He was introduced to Sir Hector by your Mr Richman,’ said the inspector.

  ‘Then they’ve got something cooked up between them,’ said Dunn. ‘But appraising Sir Hector’s prized possessions won’t be part of it, I can tell you that.’

  ‘Well, Mr Dunn, you’ve given us a lot to think about. I’m asking everyone who is still at The Grange to remain here for the next few days, but I understand from Mr Richman’s reaction that that won’t be too much of an inconvenience.’

  ‘Indeed no, Inspector.’ He gave me a conspiratorial wink. ‘I’ve got a little something to be getting on with right now, in fact.’

  ‘Then please don’t let us keep you,’ said the inspector. ‘Thank you for your time. We’ll find you if we need you again.’

  And with a cheery wave, Dunn all but bounded out of the room.

  ‘I wonder what he’s so eager to be getting on with,’ said the inspector when he had gone.

  ‘Her name’s Dora,’ I said. ‘I think he’s hoping to comfort her after her shock this morning.’

  ‘Poor thing,’ said Lady Hardcastle with a grin. ‘I imagine that experiencing something like that would require a lot of comforting.’

  ‘I think I interrupted them before any proper comforting could begin,’ I said. ‘But from the look of her, I’d say she was more than ready for a serious comforting.’

  ‘Which would account for his haste,’ she said. ‘Sometimes comforting cannot wait.’

  The inspector laughed. ‘You two have a way about you that I find most refreshing in this rarified world of ballrooms and tiffin.’

  ‘Thank you, Inspector,’ said Lady Hardcastle graciously. ‘I’m greatly enjoying your company, too.’ She consulted her wristwatch. ‘I say, it’s getting on, isn’t it. I really ought to be going or I might get stuck here for dinner. You don’t mind if I toddle off, do you, Inspector? You know where I am, after all.’

  ‘By all means, my lady. I shall be leaving here soon myself, but I shall be returning tomorrow morning at about ten o’clock. Perhaps you might join me?’

  ‘I should be delighted,’ she said.

  ‘And please allow today’s events to percolate through your mind, in the meantime. I should be most grateful for any insights you might have.’

  ‘Of course, Inspector. And what are your initial thoughts?’

  ‘At the moment, my mind is entirely open. Richman and Haddock are up to something, I’m sure of that. I’m less certain of Miss Montgomery now that we’ve spoken to Dunn, too; I think I might make some more enquiries about her. But beyond that, I’m rather stumped.’

  ‘Oh dear.’

  ‘Oh, no, nothing to worry about,’ he said with a chuckle. ‘It’s always like this at the beginning of a case.’

  ‘That’s a relief,’ she said, standing up. ‘Come, servant, let us away.’

  ‘Yes, my lady,’ I said with a curtsey, then with a friendly bob in the inspector’s direction, I followed her out into the passage.

  We walked through the hall and out of the front door. Lady Hardcastle had wondered briefly about saying goodbye to her hosts, but reasoned that since they’d not been the ones who invited her in the first place and that they’d been keeping themselves very much out of the investigation so far, it would probably be just as awkward to seek them out as to slip away without a word.

  As it turned out, her deliberations were redundant. As we started on our scrunchy way across the gravel in front of the house we were intercepted by Sir Hector who had been out walking the dogs.

  ‘What ho, Emily, m’dear. Leaving us already? Won’tcha stay for dinner? Cook’s already making such a fuss about having to feed the band and a few unexpected stragglers that another mouth won’t hurt. Be honest with you, it would rather amuse me to see if I could make her turn a new shade of purple. She’s an angry woman, what? Very angry.’

  ‘It’s a lovely invitation, Hector,’ she said, ‘and ordinarily I’d love to take you up on it, not least for the effect it might have on Mrs Brown. But I fear we have matters to attend to back at the house. Another time, perhaps?’

  ‘I shall insist upon it, m’dear,’ he said, jovially.

  ‘And we shall see you tomorrow, anyway.’

  ‘You shall? How so? Visitin’ Clarissa?’

  ‘No, didn’t you hear? We’re helping Inspector Sunderland.’

  ‘Are you, by jove. Well I never. Tryin’ to keep out of it m’self.’

  ‘He must want to speak to you, though,’ she said.

  ‘Oh, he’s had a word or several with me and the memsahib, and I don’t doubt he’ll want a few more, what? But I’ll keep out of his way until then. Sufficient unto the day, what?’

  ‘Quite so, quite so.’

  ‘But listen to me prattlin’ on, m’dear. Mustn’t hold you up, what?’

  ‘Thank you, Hector, we ought to be on our way. And I’m sure we shall bump into you again tomorrow.’

  ‘Lookin’ forward to it, m’dear. Toodle-oo for now.’ And with a cheery wave, he was off across the gravel towards the door.

  ‘So much for us being involved in the investigation,’ said Lady Hardcastle when he had gone.

  ‘My lady?’

  ‘Well, he never said anything about speaking to the Farley-Strouds. He’s not sharing everything with us, is he?’

  ‘Perhaps they didn’t say very much. Sir Hector would have been cheerfully oblivious to pretty much everything that went on, and Lady Farley-Stroud was so busy trying to make a good impression that she wouldn’t have noticed much, either. I doubt there was anything very much worth sharing.’

  ‘Hmm,’ she said, doubtfully. ‘Perhaps.’

  We were walking along the grass beside the long, winding drive, enjoying the late afternoon sunshine and Lady Hardcastle was wondering, now that we’d turned down the offer of dinner, just exactly what we were going to eat. I reminded her that there were some pork chops that needed eating, and some of the last of the new potatoes. As we walked out of the gate and down the hill, she remembered that there was a bottle in the recent delivery from her newly appointed Bristol vintners which would complement such a meal very nicely.

  Back at the house and with gloves and hats removed, Lady Hardcastle rummaged in her voluminous handbag and produced duplicate sketches of the people involved in the case.

  ‘I thought these might come in useful,’ she said, and set about replicating the crime board on her own blackboard in the dining room while I prepared an early dinner.

  Less than an hour later we were tucking in to our meal, which also included peas which Mr Jenkins had kindly given us from the Farley-Strouds’ kitchen garden, and sipping at the newly delivered wine which did, as promised, complement the simple food perfectly.

  Between mouthfuls, Lady Hardcastle gestured
at the crime board with her knife.

  ‘The thot plickens,’ she said.

  ‘It does at that,’ I agreed.

  ‘The inspector seems to be focussed very much on the friendship between Richman and Haddock.’

  ‘You have to admit that Haddock sounds like a right rum ’un,’ I said.

  ‘He does, but I can’t quite see how he fits into all this. If he’s here to case the gaff or lift a few of the Farley-Strouds’ more portable knick-knacks, what was he doing going through the band’s instrument cases? And if he was caught mid-rummage, why the scuffle? Holloway knew him. There might have been stern words but no one would have been smacked on the back of the head and left for dead.’

  ‘It might have been an accident,’ I suggested.

  ‘It might, but my money’s on Sylvia Montgomery.’

  ‘Really, my lady? Why?’

  ‘It’s always the one that the police least suspect.’

  ‘In the stories, my lady. But you’re saying that because she’s the new girl and because Dunn thinks she’s a street tough, you think she’s a killer?’

  ‘Well…’ she said, doubtfully

  ‘There she was, rummaging around her own band’s cases, looking for… for what?’

  ‘Looking for somewhere to stash the jewels she’s just pinched from the party. She’s an international jewel thief, you see, who has joined the band because of the opportunities it gives her for sneaking about in posh houses.’

  ‘And why did she make such a mess of all the cases and then hide the trumpet case?’

  ‘She was looking for somewhere to hide the jewels and Holloway disturbed her. She clobbered him in the struggle, then had to make it look like something else was going on, so she made a mess and then slipped out with the trumpet case.’

  ‘What did she do with it?’ I asked, doggedly.

  ‘I haven’t the foggiest notion,’ she admitted.

  ‘Well,’ I said, thoughtfully. ‘What if she stashed the stolen jewels in the trumpet case and then clumped Holloway, and then someone else came in–’

  ‘Haddock,’ she said, excitedly.

  ‘For instance,’ I said. ‘And then Haddock tries to loot the place, because he knows Sylvia has just been in there and he knows she’s a jewel thief because he fences stolen goods through his junk shop and she’s one of his major suppliers? Oh, oh, that was how she got the job with the band in the first place: he introduced her.’

  ‘So Haddock knows Sylvia was there to steal, and he thinks he can save himself a few bob by stealing from her instead of paying for the stuff. He suspects she hides the loot in the instrument cases so he’s the one that rips them up, looking for the sparkle.’

  ‘“The sparkle”, my lady?’

  ‘The very same. They both assume that Holloway is merely out cold – neither of them even suspects that he has a fatal head injury – and they both get back to their business hoping that they’ll be able to explain everything away later. It was Haddock that you saw disappearing into the library, I’ll bet.’

  ‘It all sounds like a bit of a stretch to me, my lady,’ I said. ‘But it’s nice to have something to show for our first day on the job.’

  ‘We’ve made it fit all the known facts, though,’ she said. ‘That puts it part way to being an actual scientific theory. If we can make our theory predict something we don’t already know–‘

  ‘Like perhaps that Sylvia has the trumpet case in her room with stolen jewels in it,’ I suggested.

  ‘Oh, I don’t think a seasoned professional thief who was trying to conceal things in other people’s baggage would keep the loot in her own room, but if we can find the case with stolen jewels in it, that would help to strengthen our theory.’

  ‘We’re proper detectives after all,’ I said, with no small delight.

  ‘We’re certainly getting there,’ she said.

  ‘And do you think we ought to share our thoughts with Inspector Sunderland in the morning?’ I asked.

  ‘I think we ought. But for now, I think we ought to clear our minds completely and indulge in some of the finer things in life. I seem to be in the mood for some ragtime. Fetch your banjo and we shall drink cognac and syncopate the night away.’

  I cleared away the plates and the evening passed most agreeably.

  The next morning we found ourselves at something of a loss. The early-to-bed life of the country meant that we were both also early-to-rise, and while that might very well have seen a consequent increase in our levels of health, wealth and wisdom, it did rather mean that we were kicking our heels waiting until it was time to go up to The Grange.

  We were both dressed, breakfasted and ready for the day before half past seven, but we had no real need to set off much before half past nine if we were to be there by ten o’clock. I had left Lady Hardcastle dealing with some urgent correspondence and was just finishing the washing-up when she appeared at the kitchen door.

  ‘I say, Flo,’ she said. ‘What with your efforts at the party and your general charm and easy-going nature, do you think your stock is reasonably high at The Grange at the moment?’

  ‘How do you mean, my lady?’

  ‘Well, if you were to pop up there right now, slip in through the servants’ entrance and say you’d been sent on ahead to meet the inspector and me, would they smile and greet you, or would they turn you away?’

  ‘Oh, I see,’ I said. ‘I imagine I’d get a warmish welcome. Possibly even the offer of a cup of tea and a bun. There’s a camaraderie among the serving classes that the likes of you shall never know.’

  ‘It is very much my loss, I feel. But if you declined their kind offer and said you’d been asked to wait in the dining room, would they think it odd or out of place?’

  ‘I shouldn’t think so, my lady, no.’

  ‘I hoped as much.’

  ‘Is that what you’d like me to do, my lady?’

  ‘No, silly, I’d like you to go snooping. They’re used to seeing you about the place and you’d have an excuse to be wandering about above stairs if you were challenged, so I’d like you to have a good old explore. See what you can see. Find what you can find.’

  ‘Oh, what fun,’ I said, suddenly rather taken with the idea of some proper detecting. ‘May I take your deerstalker and Meerschaum? Perhaps the large magnifying glass?’

  She raised an eyebrow. ‘Just be as nosy as possible. Look under rugs and into plant pots. Open a few cupboards.’

  ‘What shall I be looking for, my lady?’

  ‘I genuinely have no idea. Anything out of the ordinary, I suppose. Anything that shouldn’t be there. I’m sure you’ll know it when you find it.’

  ‘Right-oh, then, my lady. I shall discreetly snoop and then meet you and the inspector in the dining room at ten o’clock as though nothing has happened. Or as near to ten o’clock as I can manage in a house with so few clocks.’

  ‘That’s the spirit. Good girl.’

  And with that, I hurried off to get my hat and gloves and set off at a brisk pace up the hill to The Grange.

  It was another beautiful late-summer’s morning and the walk along the lane and up the hill was a delightful one. The hedgerows were alive with twittering birds which I was still unable to identify and I saw at least three rabbits and a squirrel, though I met no humans. I found the gates of The Grange already open and made my way as quietly as possible round to the servants’ entrance at the side of the house. That door was open, too, and once inside I heard the first signs of life. Mrs Brown was already berating poor Rose and I could just make out the sound of Mr Jenkins’s voice as he tried to calm things down and cheer things up.

  I poked my head round the kitchen door.

  ‘Morning, all,’ I said breezily. ‘The door was open, do you mind if I come in?’

  Mr Jenkins looked mightily relieved. ‘Of course, Miss Armstrong, do come in. To what do we owe the pleasure? Can we offer you some tea?’

  Mrs Brown looked irritated once more that I had interrupted he
r in mid-rant and that my being “company” meant that she would have to tone down her bullying of her kitchen maid. She looked as though having to make me a cup of tea as well would be just about the last straw, so it was fortunate that I had other things to be getting on with.

  ‘Thank you, no, Mr Jenkins, I’m under orders,’ I said. ‘But perhaps a little later? My mistress is due to arrive in a while to continue the investigation with Inspector Sunderland, but she sent me on ahead to make a few things ready in the dining room. Do you mind awfully? I shall try not to get in the way.’

  ‘Of course, Miss Armstrong. It’s never an inconvenience to have you about the place,’ he said with a smile. ‘Is there anything we can do to help? The room has been swept and dusted, but I gave strict instructions that the blackboard should not be touched. I trust that was the right thing.’

  ‘Absolutely perfect, Mr Jenkins, thank you. I think I shall be fine, but I shall come and find someone if I require anything further.’

  ‘Please just ring, Miss Armstrong,’ he said with a smile. ‘There’s no need for you to come all the way down here.’

  Mrs Brown glared at us both and I could only imagine her boiling indignation at the thought of another servant ringing the bell in her mistress’s house. My mind was working overtime trying to think of ways of irritating her further, but I had other fish to fry, and there would be time later for me to think of a way to take the bullying Mrs Brown down a peg or two.

  ‘Thank you, Mr Jenkins, you’re most kind,’ I said.

  ‘Think nothing of it, my dear,’ he said. ‘You know your way by now, I’m sure. Please feel free to do whatever you need to do.’

  I nodded my thanks once more and left the kitchen through the door that led to the “secret” servants’ passage which led directly to a concealed door opposite the dining room.

  Once above stairs, though, I didn’t go directly to the dining room; if we wanted to search that, we’d have all day. Instead, I walked down the corridor to the entrance hall, and then down the opposite corridor to the library. The library was where it had all started and I was certain that it was the place for me to start, too.