Flora's Secret

by Anita Davison

  ‘One with you in it.’

  Eloise’s chin jerked up and her lips parted.

  ‘Your hair is darker,’ Flora went on before she could contradict her. ‘And your make-up more elaborate, but I’m right aren’t I? It was a wedding portrait.’

  Eloise gave a dismayed cry and the bottle slipped from her hand, spilling perfume onto the counter. A cloying smell of roses filled the air and she lowered the bottle to the vanity with a clunk; miraculously it stayed intact.

  ‘I suppose you think you’ve been very clever.’ Her face drained of expression and she gave an awkward shrug. ‘I was married once, what of it?’

  ‘Then you won’t mind if I tell Mr Hersch where to find that photograph?’

  ‘Why would you tell him anything?’ Confusion clouded her features. ‘What’s that German got to do with it?’

  ‘He’s been asking questions about Mr Parnell. He and the captain.’ Flora pushed her advantage, ‘They aren’t happy about how he died.’

  ‘What?’ A sharp movement of Eloise’s hand sent her open evening bag onto the floor. A circle of gold rolled along the carpet and came to rest beside Flora’s shoe.

  Flora bent and retrieved what she saw was a thick gold bracelet.

  ‘Give that to me!’ Eloise plucked the bracelet from Flora's fingers, too late to prevent her having read the inscription engraved on the inside.

  To E on our Wedding Day, T.

  ‘I’d forgotten about this.’ Eloise rolled it in her fingers. ‘I should have thrown the thing overboard when—’ she broke off on a ragged breath. ‘Do you trust me, Flora?’

  ‘That’s a big thing to ask after all the lies you’ve told me.’

  ‘I am asking.’ Eloise’s bravado drained away, leaving her white and trembling.

  ‘Then I was right.’ A flush of triumph widened her smile. ‘It is you in the photograph with the man who gave you that.’ She indicated the bangle. ‘What are you afraid of? Mr Parnell is dead, he can’t show it to anyone.’

  ‘It’s complicated. And now that German is asking questions, you say?’

  ‘He is, mostly about Mr Parnell’s death.’ Eloise’s fear still seemed out of place. Or was Flora being naïve? ‘He hasn’t asked about any money if that’s what’s worrying you.’

  ‘It isn’t that.’ Eloise’s delicate features crumpled. ‘It wasn’t meant to be like this. If he sees that photograph the game will be up. I have to get it.’ Desperation burned in her eyes, she opened and shut the clasp with rapid clicks until Flora itched to snatch it away.

  ‘Mr Hersch is only trying to discover who killed your friend. There’s nothing sinister in his questions.’

  ‘Frank wasn’t a friend.’ Eloise snorted. ‘I hadn’t even met him until after Theo died. He turned up at a café across from our apartment block one morning when I was upset and scared. He was sympathetic, or he pretended to be.’ She retrieved her bag, jammed the bracelet back inside and snapped the metal catch shut. ‘Parnell most probably wasn’t his real name.’

  ‘You can trust me. Tell me what happened.’

  ‘Theo was quite a bit older than me. We eloped, which shocked everyone, but that didn’t matter to us.’ Her breath caught. ‘We were meant to be together. Then quite suddenly, he-he died.’

  ‘Oh, I’m so sorry, that must have been awful for you.’ Flora instantly regretted her harshness.

  ‘It was.’ Eloise shuddered. ‘The worst part was when the gossip began, implying that I had something to do with it.’

  ‘With his death, you mean?’ At Eloise’s nod, she went on, ‘did the police think you were involved?’ So that was what she meant by ‘not again’.

  ‘If they did, they never indicated as much to me.’ Eloise twisted the bag in her hands. ‘Although others weren’t so unforgiving. Then the letters started.’

  ‘What letters?’

  ‘I received two letters from a lawyer.’ Eloise swallowed. ‘The first saying that Theo's family were challenging his estate. He hadn’t made a new will after our wedding, you see, so by law everything came to me. The second one said they were unhappy with the coroner’s verdict of death by natural causes. They were going to have him exhumed and his death investigated. They said I would probably be prosecuted for killin’ him.’ Her face crumpled and she released a sob. ‘As if losing Theo wasn't bad enough, they wanted the world to think I had murdered him. That’s when I panicked, emptied Theo’s safe and booked passage on this ship.’

  ‘But if you hadn’t done anything, you would have been exonerated.’

  ‘Don’t be naïve, Flora. They’re rich, and I’m, well I’m an actress.’

  ‘Couldn’t you reason with his family?’

  ‘I’ve never met them, and didn’t want to once the correspondence began. They wouldn’t want to hear what I had to say. They’d made up their minds I was after Theo’s money.’

  ‘You told Parnell what you planned?’

  Eloise nodded. ‘That was my first mistake. He told me he could get me a part in School for Scandal in London, and would come to England with me. It was the perfect way out, so I jumped at it.’

  ‘Sounds a bit contrived to me,’ Flora said.

  ‘I see that – now.’ She braced both hands on the counter, her face inches from the mirror. ‘He pretended to be my friend, then that first night on board he was so different.’ She stared into the glass as if she didn’t recognize herself. Was she imagining what she used to look like without the flat black hair and heavy make-up?

  ‘What changed?’ Flora asked gently.

  ‘Money, I imagine.’ She plucked a linen square from a pile on the counter and dabbed at each eye, careful not to smudge the heavy make-up. ‘Isn’t it always?’

  ‘Mr Parnell demanded money from you, or he would have you arrested.’

  That was what their argument had been about on the first night.

  ‘Frank claimed he had evidence I had done it.’ Her head jerked up and held Flora’s gaze in the reflection. ‘I would never have hurt Theo.’

  ‘What sort of evidence?’ Flora eyed the door marked ‘Private’, hoping the attendant wouldn’t return too soon.

  ‘He wouldn’t say, but promised to destroy it if I paid him.’

  Flora rolled her eyes, knowing Eloise would never have been free of such a man, no matter how much money she gave him. ‘Where does Mr Hersch come into this? Why are you afraid of him?’

  ‘I’m not sure. I assume he’s either working for the lawyer who sent me those letters, or the police. That photograph is the only thing that can link me to Theo now Frank is dead. I can disappear in London, but whilst I’m on this ship, the German could still cause trouble for me.’

  Flora suspected Mr Hersch already knew Eloise’s real identity, but kept silent so as not to distress her more than she was already.

  ‘All right.’ Flora’s anger had turned to exasperated sympathy. ‘But we can’t do it tonight. Everyone will be returning to their staterooms about now. There’s also the possibility someone had noticed we didn’t lock his stateroom door when we left either.’

  ‘I had forgotten about that!’ Eloise clenched her fists at her sides. ‘We were in something of a hurry to leave, if I recall. Perhaps no one has noticed. How about we try tomorrow, before breakfast?’ She stepped closer, the gold flecks in her eyes clearly visible. ‘Now, where exactly did you see that photograph?’

  *

  ‘You’ve been gone a while,’ Bunny observed when Flora returned to the bar with Eloise.

  Before Flora could think up an excuse, Eloise interrupted, ‘Little accident in the powder room with some perfume. Flora was kind enough to help me.’

  ‘I wondered what that delicious scent was.’ Gus Crowe slid between them, his oily smile in place. ‘I thought you had abandoned me.'

  ‘Your poker game didn’t last long, Mr Crowe.’ Flora looked to where Gerald, Max and Hester still played.

  ‘The stakes got a little rich, even for me.’

  ‘Would yo
u be a prince, Gus, and buy me a brandy?’ Eloise pouted and ran a finger along his jaw.

  Crowe’s lascivious smile disappeared and his face suffused with a look of raw panic.

  ‘Worry not, Crowe,’ Gerald said from the table behind them, evidently having overheard. ‘We’re Max’s guests this evening, all drinks are gratis.’

  ‘In that case.’ Crowe whispered something to Eloise which made her giggle, then arm-in-arm the pair headed for the bar.

  ‘Will Eloise never learn when it comes to men?’ Flora murmured, nodding her thanks to the waiter who slid a fresh cup of hot coffee in front of her. While she pondered on the mystery of what attracted one person to another, a shadow fell across her lap. She glanced up to where Mr Hersch bent over them.

  ‘Might I buy you both a drink?’ He dragged a stool forwards and straddled it.

  ‘Oh, er, most kind of you,’ Bunny said. ‘But I think Max has—’

  ‘Please, I would rather,’ Hersch cut across him and summoned a waiter.

  ‘I’m quite happy with my coffee, thank you,’ Flora said.

  ‘I’ll have another brandy, provided you make it a small one,’ Bunny said.

  ‘I see you are busy forming interesting alliances, Miss Maguire.’ Hersch glanced at Eloise and Crowe, just as Mr Crowe grabbed a large handful of cigarettes from a box on the bar and rammed them into his pocket. Eloise had turned her gaze on Mr Hersch’s profile with such intensity, Flora wondered he didn’t feel it. Eloise made a moue of distaste and twisted in her seat, removing Hersch from her line of vision.

  ‘I was wondering if you had learned any more since our discussion, Miss Maguire?’ Hersch brought Flora’s attention back to him.

  ‘Not really,’ Flora lied, busying herself with her coffee cup.

  ‘I have a question for you, sir.’ Bunny lowered his voice so even Flora barely heard him. ‘If no one on this ship knew Parnell, who could have a reason to kill him?’

  Hersch tugged at his left earlobe, before answering. ‘I’m confident someone else, apart from Miss Lane was acquainted with Mr Parnell before this voyage.

  ‘Is one of them Mr Gilmore, by any chance?’ Bunny threw Flora an apologetic glance, saying, ‘Something which occurred on that first night has been troubling me.’ He pushed his glasses up his nose before continuing. ‘Although it might not be relevant—’

  The low chatter around them was interrupted by a gale of harsh laughter from Crowe, followed by Eloise’s girlish giggle as the pair availed themselves of Max’s generosity.

  Flora’s glance strayed to the brash man who literally rubbed shoulders with the simpering girl, the source of their common interest still a mystery.

  ‘Go on, Mr Harrington.’ Hersch brought Flora’s attention back to their conversation.

  ‘Gilmore said something to Parnell at dinner,’ Bunny said. ‘I didn’t hear what it was, but Parnell turned white. He went really still, as if he had received an unexpected shock.’

  ‘You mentioned that to me before,’ Flora said slowly, ‘though you didn’t put it quite like that.’

  ‘No, well. I didn’t want to cast aspersions.’ He touched the bridge of his glasses with a finger. ‘It wasn’t anything to do with me either, but since then—’

  ‘Yes, I understand.’ Hersch slowly stroked his moustache. ‘Did Mr Parnell respond to whatever was said?’

  ‘The dining room was noisy and I had young Eddy at my side chattering away, so I didn’t hear what they said.’ Bunny shrugged an apology. ‘Parnell went red in the face, an aggressive red rather than embarrassment I thought.’

  ‘And Mr Gilmore?’ Hersch took a sip of his brandy, his expression neutral as if the subject was only of mild interest to him.

  ‘He brushed it aside with, ‘Sorry, I got it wrong’ sort of thing. It can’t have been that important as they both joined the card game later on. Parnell was the sort who seemed to annoy people easily. He even managed to upset Mrs Penry-Jones’ companion that night too.’

  ‘Hester?’ Flora interjected, unable to stop herself. ‘You saw them together?’

  ‘Well, not in a romantic way. It was nothing really, just a minor altercation outside the reading room.’

  ‘Even so,’ Mr Hersch looked from Bunny to Flora and back again. ‘Anything you saw could be important. A killer is lose on this ship don’t forget.’

  ‘Yes, yes I see that. I didn’t see much.’ Bunny frowned as if trying to remember. ‘Parnell had his back to me and Hester looked cross. They were hunched in a corner, so I doubt they even saw me. Then the lobby began to get busy and they went off in different directions.’

  ‘It doesn’t sound much,’ Flora said, disappointed. ‘He could have trodden on her toe or something.’

  ‘That’s why I didn’t mention it.’ Bunny split a look between them. ‘I take it Miss Smith has an alibi?’

  ‘In fact she does.’ Hersch swirled the remaining brandy in his glass. ‘Quite a strong one.’

  ‘There you are then,’ Bunny said, defensive. ‘It didn’t occur to me that Hester being annoyed might mean anything.’

  ‘Hester is always annoyed.’ Flora sniffed, glancing to where the subject of their conversation sat with Miss Ames, both sipping delicately at tiny glasses of some brown concoction. ‘Like Cynthia Cavendish was annoyed with Parnell when I saw them together?’

  Hersch’s eyes narrowed. ‘You didn’t mention that to me, Miss Maguire.’

  Flora groaned inwardly. ‘It was the day we boarded, and well, Cynthia dismissed it when I broached the subject. Said he had collided with her and she gave him a set down. Then he was found dead so I forgot about it.’ Sort of.

  ‘I see.’ His unblinking gaze made her squirm. ‘Thus within hours of boarding, Parnell had angered three ladies of different ages, social classes and marital status?’

  ‘Doesn’t sound as if the man was very popular with women’ Bunny said.

  ‘Indeed not,’ Hersch mused, mostly to himself.

  ‘Are you going to tell us where you were before breakfast on Sunday morning, Mr Hersch?’ Flora asked, emboldened by Bunny’s reassuring presence.

  ‘Good point,’ Bunny said, folding his arms.

  Hersch split a smile between them as he took a sip of his brandy. Flora thought he wasn’t going to answer for a moment, then he gave a tiny nod, drained his glass and placed it on the table in front of him. ‘I summoned the purser at six-thirty with a request to lodge some papers in the ship’s safe. He obliged, though I doubt he was very happy about it.’

  ‘I don’t suppose you’ll tell us what sort of papers?’ Flora asked.

  ‘You assume correctly, young lady. I was with the purser in his office when a crewman arrived, saying Parnell had been found dead. That was at a little after seven o’clock. Now, I’ll take my leave of you both.’ He rose from his stool with the economic grace of a man used to a lifetime of physical activity. No groans of effort, nor the easing of stiff joints, though he must have been at least sixty. ‘Goodnight, Miss Maguire, Mr Harrington. Might I ask that if either of you discover anything else of interest pertaining to this matter, that you let me know?’

  ‘I-I suppose so,’ Flora replied, while Bunny murmured an assent.

  She followed the German’s progress through the double glass doors onto the deck, uncertain why he would make such a request. He paused at the rail, and withdrew a cigar from his inside pocket which he fingered as he stared out to sea.

  ‘I wish I knew why Mr Hersch is so interested in who might have wanted Parnell dead.’

  ‘He could well say the same thing about you.’ He leaned closer, his breath warn on her cheek. ‘There are usually only three reasons for murder. Money, love, jealousy, or to hide another crime.’

  ‘That’s four.’ Flora’s gaze went back to the panoramic window, where Hersch stood talking to another passenger at the rail, a cloud of smoke hovering between them.

  ‘Have you noticed he always manages to obtain more information than he gives away?’ Bunny said, fo
llowing her gaze.

  ‘Why summon a purser so early in the morning? It’s a bit unusual, don’t you think?’ Flora said.

  ‘Not really.’ Bunny appeared to give the matter some thought. ‘Hersch strikes me as a man who wouldn’t hesitate to drag a minion from his bed to do his bidding.’

  ‘In which case, maybe Parnell did the same and lodged the money Eloise gave him in the safe after all?’

  ‘Only the purser or the captain are in a position to know that, and I doubt they’ll tell us. What about Gerald?’ He nodded to where Gerald sat with Max and Hester. They had recruited a fourth player to take Crowe’s place, with piles of silver at each place.

  ‘Had you paid more attention to what Gerald said to Parnell that night, it might have told us something.’ Flora answered.

  ‘Sorry, but I’m no good at eavesdropping?’ His brow lifted. ‘Are you?’

  Flora chose not to answer him. Then an image of something that occurred earlier returned. ‘Of course. It was a telegram!’

  ‘What was?’

  ‘The envelope Mr Hersch put into his pocket earlier. He had received a telegram.’ But from whom? Was Eloise’s suspicion correct and he did indeed work for her late husband’s lawyers? Had he informed them that Eloise was involved in another death?

  ‘Good luck persuading him to tell you,’ Bunny said. ‘Although I can’t see Gerald killing Parnell, even if he didn’t think much of him.’

  ‘It doesn’t make sense he would do so on the first night of a voyage either. Not when he will be trapped for over a week.’ Flora stiffened. ‘Perhaps it was an accident?’

  ‘Haven’t you been working to prove it wasn’t an accident?’ Bunny gave a dismissive snort.

  ‘No. I mean Parnell wasn’t supposed to die. The fact he did has made things complicated for whoever did it. He’s panicking. Which could have been why he threatened her. He isn’t sure who knows what and is trying to cover his tracks.

  ‘Which rules out Gerald, he’s cleverer than that.’

  Flora couldn’t help but agree. Perhaps because she liked Gerald. The man obviously adored his son and he had been especially kind to Eddy too. Yet on the other hand, she didn’t like the way he talked to his wife. Monica might be abrasive and over-emotional at times, but she didn’t deserve the cruel edge of his tongue. Especially not in public. ‘I cannot help wondering who our German friend is working for,’ she added.