03 - Murder at Sedgwick Court

by Margaret Addison

  ‘Lavinia hadn’t just killed Emmeline if that’s what you’re getting at, Thistlewaite,’ Theo said quietly, but in a doctor’s authoritative voice. ‘Sh-she’d been dead a few hours from the look of h-her corpse …’

  Theo gulped and they all wondered whether he would go on or break down and weep again. Somehow though he managed to regain his equanimity, the physician in him triumphing over the distraught lover.

  ‘She’d been dead a few hours I’d say when we came across her. Of course we’ll know more after the post-mortem.’

  He turned to look with some contempt at Cedric. ‘For God’s sake man, telephone for the police. You should have done it ages ago, as soon as we discovered the body.’

  ‘Yes, yes, of course old chap. It was very remiss of me,’ said Cedric, getting to his feet. ‘I’ll telephone the chief constable, name of Whitmore, right away. I’ll ask him to bring in Scotland Yard. Any luck and we might get the chaps who investigated the incidents at Dareswick and Ashgrove.’

  The four of them were left in the drawing room, standing around awkwardly, not knowing what to do until the police arrived. In the end, Theo decided to retreat back into his own thoughts and chose a high-backed armchair at the other end of the room, which he pointedly turned towards the fire so that his back was to them. The count, who looked the most composed of all of them, walked over to the windows and looked out at the fine gardens that stretched out before him, before turning around and aimlessly picking up a newspaper which he then proceeded to read. Felix appeared more inclined to talk, although he still looked a little sheepish from his dressing down by the doctor.

  ‘I suppose you think that I spoke rather out of turn to Lord Belvedere, accusing his sister and all that?’ Felix said, walking over to Rose and, although clearly addressing her, avoiding looking her in the eye.

  ‘Well you certainly didn’t beat about the bush, did you?’ retorted Rose, not feeling altogether kindly towards him, even if she knew it was because she herself felt guilty. ‘You’re jolly lucky Cedric didn’t punch you. I can’t say I would have blamed him if he had done.’

  ‘I only said what everyone else was thinking, but was too polite to say,’ argued Felix, rather feebly. ‘I probably wouldn’t have said anything at all if the fellow hadn’t gone about trying to destroy the evidence.’

  ‘Cedric just wasn’t thinking,’ replied Rose defensively.

  But Felix was right, of course he was right. And the police would see it that way too. Why, Rose saw it that way, and if Cedric was even half the man she took him to be, he would too. Why had he been so foolish and done what he had? She had no doubt that he had had the very best of intentions. He had been trying to protect his sister, but his actions had only made matters worse. Still, however badly she felt, however much she despaired over Cedric’s behaviour, she was not about to say as much to Felix Thistlewaite. She did not wish to talk any more about it to anyone until she had had a chance to speak to Cedric alone. With considerable effort, because she did not feel so inclined, she made attempts to put an end to Felix’s reproaches and her own guilt by trying to lighten the mood.

  ‘I say, though, you’ll have to curb your tendency to speak bluntly if you go into the legal profession, otherwise you’ll frighten away all your clients.’

  ‘You’re right, of course.’ Felix grinned and had the grace to blush. ‘And it isn’t very becoming is it, to admonish one’s host?’

  ‘I say, where is Jemima?’ asked Rose suddenly, looking around the room.

  It was only now that she noticed the girl’s absence. Jemima had such a tendency to watch from the shadows of a room, seeming to perch precariously on the threshold between guest and servant, that her presence was never obvious or overstated at the best of times.

  ‘Jemima walked back with you all, didn’t she, I was sure I saw her?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Felix, ‘but she insisted on going straight to her room. She wanted to be alone.’ For the first time Felix looked worried. ‘She’s taken it all very badly, as you can imagine. Yes, indeed, she feels pretty shaken up about it all as one would expect. I don’t mind telling you that I’m awfully worried about her. She’s hardly said a word. She was trembling like a leaf when we were walking back, and her face was as white as d … well, yes, I might as well say it … death. I did try and insist that she stay here with us all in the drawing room, where it’s warm and she’d have company, but she would have none of it. I hate to think of her sitting in her room alone. She refused even to have one of the maids sit with her.’

  ‘Well, I can understand why she would want to be alone. It must have been a frightful shock for her. She and Emmeline were awfully close, weren’t they?’ said Rose.

  ‘Yes, they were. Although I could never quite understand it, myself. Emmeline put upon Jemima something rotten, you know.’

  Felix cast a look around the room before continuing in a slightly quieter voice than before. To Rose this seemed an unnecessary precaution for she felt it unlikely that Theo, with his back to them staring at the fire and the count, engrossed in his newspaper, had heard a word of their conversation up to now. Even so, she bent her head towards Felix in a conspiratorial way.

  ‘In the first place it’ll be frightfully rotten for her having to explain to old Montacute why they went against his wishes and left the mansion in the Highlands unaccompanied.’ Felix sighed and raked his hair with his fingers, a gesture which Rose thought made him look very young. ‘You see, the old man’s always had a bit of a bee in his bonnet about his daughter being kidnapped after that first attempt. As a consequence, he’s always insisted that either he or an army of servants should accompany the girls whenever they left the grounds. Well, one can imagine how tiresome that was for them. It isn’t really any wonder that they decided to venture out alone when the opportunity arose, is it?’

  ‘No, I suppose not.’

  ‘As soon as he’d set off on his travels to goodness know where,’ continued Felix, ‘they upped and left. Of course it was Emmeline’s decision to do so, not Jemima’s, but I doubt Montacute will see it like that. Jemima really didn’t have any choice in the matter. Once Emmeline had made up her mind, there was nothing that Jemima could do to change it, and she was obliged to follow her. She’s been ever so worried that something might happen. But of course she thought it would be on the Continent, not here. They thought they’d be safe here at Sedgwick.’

  If Felix intended to say more, he did not get the opportunity to do so. For just at that moment the door opened and Cedric reappeared, his face clearly showing signs of strain. Nevertheless his voice when he spoke sounded steady and firm.

  ‘I’ve spoken to the chief constable and he’s agreed to call in Scotland Yard. I hardly had to persuade the fellow. He doesn’t think the chaps here are up to investigating a murder, certainly not the murder of an heiress at the home of the local aristocracy. Petty theft and poaching are more what they’re used to. But he’ll send over a constable for form’s sake to stay here until the men from the Yard arrive.’

  Felix went over to the French windows and looked out. Theo still stared into the fire and the count, after looking up briefly when Cedric came in, returned to perusing his newspaper. Rose went immediately to Cedric who, having delivered the information about the police, looked suddenly done in. She took his hand and led him to one of the settees placed at some distance from the others so that they could converse without being overheard, even by the belligerent Felix.

  ‘I suppose,’ began Cedric, ‘you must think me awfully stupid, that business about Lavinia, I mean? All the time I was on the telephone to the chief constable, I kept wishing I had left things well alone.’

  ‘Well,’ Rose began and hesitated a moment before continuing because she felt so angry with him. ‘I realise you were only trying to protect your sister, but whatever were you thinking, Cedric? What made you do such a thing? You could be arrested and, don’t you see, you’ve only made matters worse for her.’

  ‘I know,
I know. It was a moment of madness, I promise you. Sitting here now in this drawing room, it’s almost as if someone else had done it, not me. Say you forgive me, Rose.’

  Cedric put his head in his hands, and Rose regarded him with a mixture of anger and compassion. She did not know what to say, and so said nothing. If truth be told, she was desperately afraid that he might not be the man she thought him to be.

  ‘I’ll have to try and brazen it out with the police,’ Cedric said, and gave her a feeble smile. Rose squeezed his hand.

  ‘We should have stopped you,’ she said finally, and sighed. ‘It was just such a shock seeing Emmeline’s body lying there with her head all disfigured and Lavinia standing over her like that. I think we were all rather slow to take it all in. You’d taken the candlestick from her and wiped it before we could think to stop you.’

  ‘It was a very stupid thing to do, I see that now,’ admitted Cedric. ‘And wrong, of course. To say nothing of foolish. For one thing, it’s made it look as if I thought Lavinia had killed Emmeline, which of course couldn’t be further from my mind.’

  ‘It is now. But it wasn’t then. When we first came upon the scene, a part of all of us jumped to the obvious conclusion that Lavinia had killed Emmeline. It was only to be expected given the circumstances.’

  ‘Yes … I suppose you’re right.’

  ‘We should have realised that there must have been an innocent explanation for why Lavinia was standing over the body as she was. I mean, for the life of me I can’t imagine what motive Lavinia could have had for wishing Emmeline dead, can you?’

  ‘Haven’t an inkling. If only she hadn’t picked up that damned candlestick. Did she tell you why she did?’

  Cedric however did not remain silent long enough to allow her to answer. For this Rose was relieved, for it occurred to her that Lavinia had said very little. Of course, she had been in shock, probably still was, but even so …

  ‘I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t here, Rose,’ Cedric was saying. ‘I’m not so very worried about the police. I can give them some cock and bull story about not thinking things through and being concerned that Lavinia be taken indoors into the warm … which of course I was. To tell you the truth, I’m finding it hard to feel anything at the moment … but I know that I will soon.’

  ‘I know, darling. It’s the shock of it all.’ Rose said, holding his hand. ‘It’s too awful to think about.’

  ‘It’s not just the frightful way in which that poor girl died and the tragic waste of the life of someone who was … well … full of life. She was a sweet natured little thing, wasn’t she, always so bright and laughing … But it’s no good dwelling on all that now. It won’t do any good, it won’t bring her back.’

  ‘No, it won’t.’

  ‘But what I can hardly bring myself to think about, darling, is that it happened here at Sedgwick.’ He clung to Rose’s hands. ‘My ancestral home. The place where I spent my childhood. The place that I love most in all the world.’

  ‘Yes, I know.’

  ‘It seems terrible to think it when that poor girl’s life has been so cruelly cut short, but what I am so afraid of Rose is that I will never feel the same way about Sedgwick again. And that it should have happened in the maze, the very place where Lavinia and I played for hours and hours as children and had so much fun. I wanted my children to play there, to have the same wonderful experiences I did, to – ’

  ‘It will be all right,’ Rose said quickly. ‘It isn’t all spoilt, I promise it isn’t. The police will find out who is responsible for poor Emmeline’s death, and they will be punished. It’ll take a little time, but you will love Sedgwick again, and life will get back to how it was. This house and grounds have a long history. Who knows what violent acts have occurred here in the past that have now been forgotten?’

  Rose smiled at Cedric encouragingly. He wasn’t being callous or thinking only of himself, she knew. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about Emmeline, for she could tell by the look in his eyes and the slight tremor in his voice when he spoke, that he cared a great deal. He did not view her death only as an inconvenience to be overcome or to be borne with dignity. He felt that he had let her down. He felt that he had let Sedgwick down and his ancestors that had gone before him. He viewed himself, she knew from their numerous conversations, as the current custodian of all that was Sedgwick Court and believed it was his role to protect and nurture the stately pile for future generations of Sedgwicks.

  ‘Rose, will you find out who killed Emmeline? Say that you will, darling? I daresay Scotland Yard is very capable and all that, that they’d get there in the end. It’s just that I have so much more faith in you. Look how you solved everything singlehandedly at Ashgrove and Dareswick.’

  ‘I did have some help from the police,’ Rose replied modestly. ‘But I promise you I’ll do my best. I know how important it is to you. Of course, if the police will let me that is,’ she added as an afterthought.

  Rose blushed suddenly for she could not forget how she had not been completely open with the police during the last incident that she had investigated. She had even gone so far as to suggest a possible alibi to someone she was trying to protect. Such actions had not endeared her to the police force or to a certain Inspector Deacon in particular. And now she had only made matters worse. What would the inspector think of her when he discovered that she had helped Cedric tamper with the evidence to protect Lavinia? Would he ever trust her again, or would he always view her with suspicion? How unbearable it was that Cedric had placed her in this dilemma. How she wished she had thrown herself against the green baize door and refused to let Eliza leave until she had given up the clothes.

  She would have to try and make amends by telling Inspector Deacon everything she discovered as soon as it became apparent to her. It never occurred to her for one moment that she would not have the opportunity to do so.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The door to the drawing room opened and, with the exception of Theo, who was still sitting resolutely turned towards the fire lost in his own sad thoughts, everyone turned to ascertain the identity of the newcomer. A mixture of expressions appeared on the faces of those present, predominantly being ones of disappointment. Cedric had clearly hoped it would be Lavinia, while Felix was eager to discover how Jemima was bearing up. Only the count looked indifferent on finding that it was Vera who entered the room.

  It was not lost on Rose that Vera came in tentatively, as if she were unsure of her welcome. She first looked anxiously at Rose and then scoured the room for Theo, who she did not see at first, seated as he was with his back to her. On locating him, she made to go towards him but Rose, who had anticipated such an eventuality, sprang forward and caught her by the arm before she had moved more than a couple of steps.

  ‘Vera, I wouldn’t,’ Rose said gently, ‘really I wouldn’t. I daresay it hurts damnably my saying so, but Theo is pretty shaken up by Emmeline’s death. I know it’s jolly rotten for you, but I think you need to leave him alone for a while.’

  Vera looked about to protest, but Rose had no intention of loosening her grip on her arm.

  ‘Only for a little while, Vera. Surely you can allow him that? If you go to him now, you both may say something that you’ll later regret.’

  ‘But I love him,’ said Vera so sadly that Rose felt a lump form in her throat.

  How awful unrequited love must be, Rose thought, particularly in Vera’s case where presumably Theo had once loved her enough to get engaged. She tried to put herself in Vera’s shoes and imagine how she would feel if Cedric were to fall in love with someone else.

  ‘I’m sorry, Vera, I really am,’ Rose almost whispered.

  ‘Is it true what the servants are saying?’ Vera asked, brushing a tear or two hastily from her eye. ‘Did Emmeline really die from having her head bashed in?’

  Rose could not stop herself from looking appalled at Vera’s bluntness.

  ‘What I mean,’ added Vera quickly, ‘is did
someone … kill her? She didn’t, for instance, die from … the … cold?’

  ‘No,’ said Rose, somewhat frostily, ‘she was murdered if that’s what you’re asking me.’

  Was it her imagination or did Vera look relieved? Yet how could Emmeline being brutally murdered be considered favourable to her dying from natural causes? An unpleasant thought suddenly occurred to Rose and she held Vera’s arm more tightly so that the woman winced.

  ‘Just before you fainted, what did you mean when you said: “what have I done? I never meant to …”? What did you mean by that, Vera?’

  ‘N-nothing,’ stuttered Vera, trying to pull away from Rose’s grip. ‘I meant nothing by it. I was just upset, that’s all … It was an awful shock.’

  ‘You didn’t accompany us on the search. Why not? Did you know what we’d find?’

  ‘Of course not,’ protested Vera, although she looked frightened. ‘I wasn’t feeling very well, you know I wasn’t. I said so at the time.’

  ‘You may not want to tell me the truth,’ said Rose, slowly, ‘but it would be in your interests to tell the police. It’ll only make matters worse for you if you don’t. Vera, listen to me.’

  Rose tried to get the woman to look at her, but Vera insisted on averting her gaze as if she would rather look anywhere but at Rose’s face.

  ‘Have it your own way then,’ Rose said. She was too tired to argue with her. ‘But the police are certain to find out the truth one way or the other.’

  Silently cursing Vera under her breath for her being so obstinate and refusing to see reason, Rose had left the others in the drawing room to ascertain how Lavinia was faring once the first throes of shock had diminished. While she was eager to advise her friend that the others no longer considered her guilty of Emmeline’s murder, she was honest enough to admit to herself that being left alone in the drawing room with only Vera, Theo and Count Fernand for company was too dismal an experience to contemplate. For Cedric had seen fit to leave shortly after Vera’s arrival to consult with the servant guarding the maze. No doubt, she thought, he felt the need to make amends for his previous ill-advised behaviour in trying to protect Lavinia.