Edwardian Murder Mystery 01; Snobbery with Violence emm-1

by M C Beaton

  When he reached the back of the castle, it was to find more staff there, who had seen the drama from the windows, clustered around the captain.

  Harry was kneeling by a body laid out on the grass at the edge of the moat. He looked up and saw the marquess. “You had better call the police,” said Harry.

  “Who is she?” asked the marquess.

  “I fear it is Colette, the missing lady’s maid.”

  “Can’t this be kept quiet?”

  “I am afraid not. I do not know what Lady Rose was doing on the roof, but it looks as if there might have been one attempted murder and one murder of this maid.”

  ♦

  Rose had told Daisy the whole story of how she came to be on the roof. Changed into a night-dress, she lay in bed surrounded by hot-water bottles.

  “Shh, now,” said Daisy. “The doctor will be here soon.”

  “But there is something I want you to do for me, Daisy. It’s urgent. You remember how to use a telephone?”

  “Yes, my lady.”

  “Try to get into Lord Hedley’s study and phone the Daily Mail and tell them about me and about the body in the moat.”

  “Yes, I’ll do that. But why?”

  “I don’t want this hushed up in any way. I don’t want Hedley to wriggle out of this one. And phone my parents. I want you to tell them I am all right. I don’t want them to read about it in the newspapers first.”

  Daisy left and Rose leaned back against the pillows and closed her eyes. At least there would have to be a proper investigation now. She would show them the note…

  She opened her eyes and sat up. The note? Where had she left it? Then she remembered she had left it on her dressing-table. She got out of bed and went to the dressing-table but there was no sign of any note.

  Rose got slowly back into bed, her teeth beginning to chatter with fright. The door to her bedroom opened and she let out a faint scream.

  “It’s only me,” said Harry. “I came to see how you were.”

  “Frightened.”

  “What happened? What were you doing on the roof?”

  So Rose told her story again, ending with, “And the note’s gone. I left it on the dressing-table.”

  “I got Hedley to phone the police. The silly man thought it could be covered up. I don’t think his servants and guests are going to keep quiet about a dead body in the moat.”

  “Maybe…maybe she fell in.”

  “She was probably pushed.”

  “But why Colette and not Quinn?”

  “I really don’t think Quinn knows the identity of Mary Gore-Desmond’s lover, but somehow Colette must have found out. Perhaps she tried to blackmail someone. Where’s Daisy?”

  “I sent her to phone the Daily Mail.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I did not want this to be hushed up. Also, do you remember how the scandal of the bombs at Stacey Magna brought so many press and sightseers to the village? The villagers here could do with some money. I think they are starv-ing.”

  “They are abysmally housed but they are not starving. Country people grow their own vegetables and most keep a pig and, if I am not mistaken, a lot of food from the castle kitchens will find its way down to the village. But there is no school and a lot of illness due to the insanitary conditions they live in.” He laughed. “I am sure the Daily Mail will point that out.”

  “Daisy is also phoning my parents.”

  “I should think the other ladies will be contacting their parents. Lord Hedley had better expect more guests.”

  Daisy entered the room. “I did like you said, my lady. But ma and pa are coming as soon as possible. I told that butler to prepare a room for them.”

  There was a knock at the door. Daisy opened it and the marquess and the doctor walked in. It showed that the marquess had finally realized the gravity of the situation that he should allow the despised Dr. Perriman back in the castle.

  “A word with you, Cathcart,” he snapped. “We’ll leave the doctor to get on with it.”

  Dr. Perriman was a small neat man with bright intelligent eyes. He listened carefully while Rose told him what had happened.

  “I am glad, in a way,” he said. “It means the death of Miss Gore-Desmond might be investigated again. Now, let me examine you. Did you swallow a lot of water?”

  “I did, but I think I got rid of most of it by being sick. Oh, Captain Cathcart rescued me and I never even thanked him.”

  “Later will do.”

  He examined her, sounding her chest and feeling her pulse. Then he said, “I think you have come out of it remarkably well, Lady Rose. But I shall leave a sleeping draught with you because you have been through a great ordeal.”

  Rose looked uneasily at the green glass bottle he placed on her bedside table. She had no intention of swallowing any and leaving herself vulnerable to a prowling murderer.

  “I did not think arsenic was used much these days as a cosmetic,” she said.

  “Perhaps not. But there is a great deal of arsenic around. Fly-papers contain arsenic. There was a case recently where a woman had soaked fly-papers to get the resultant crystals and killed her husband. Then a lot of old houses still have arsenic paste in the wallpaper, called Paris Green. It is also used as a treatment for syphilis – I do beg your pardon. I should not mention such a thing in front of ladies.”

  When he had gone, Rose said, “I might sleep. Stay with me, Daisy. Oh, someone at the door.”

  It was Margaret Bryce-Cuddlestone, followed by Frederica Sutherland and the American sisters.

  “What’s been going on?” asked Margaret. “All this running to and fro and the constabulary are here again.”

  Rose told her story again and then said, “They believe the body in the moat is that of Colette.”

  Margaret swayed and the American sisters thrust her down into a chair and put smelling salts under her nose.

  “I’m leaving today,” said Frederica.

  “Won’t be possible,” said Harriet Peterson. “We’ve all to be interviewed by the police. I phoned my aunt in London and she’s coming down here. You’d best phone your parents, Miss Sutherland.”

  “They’re in Marienbad,” wailed Frederica.

  “Then send them a wire. There’s been something odd about this horrible place from the beginning. No proper protocol observed. All of us changed around at meals. Bad form. Auntie’s from Virginia. She won’t stand for any of that nonsense.”

  Despite her shock and distress, Rose found herself mildly amused that an aunt from the home of democracy should be such a stickler for protocol.

  With her usual forthrightness, Deborah said, “There’s a murderer amongst us. Which one of us do you think it is?”

  Daisy stepped forward. “Ladies, you must remember Lady Rose has had a frightening experience. I think she should rest now.”

  Murmuring apologies, they headed for the door. But Margaret had the last word. “If you had left well alone, none of this would have ever happened.”

  “What a bitch!” exclaimed Daisy when the door had closed behind them.

  “Daisy!”

  “Well, what a thing to say. My money’s on her. Just think! If you had hit the castle walls on your road down, you’d be as dead as Colette.”

  “I would rather not think about that. Run along and see what else you can find out.”

  “I’m not leaving you! You said not to.”

  “Now that nothing can be hushed up, I am sure no one will dare to try anything. Oh, the door again. Get rid of whoever it is.”

  Daisy opened the door. “It’s Lady Hedley.”

  “Let her come in,” said Rose wearily.

  The little marchioness came up to the bed and peered anxiously at Rose. “How are you, my dear?”

  “I think I am going to be all right.”

  “Such a silly thing to do! Playing about the roof of the castle.”

  “I was not playing. I was lured up there by some murderer.”

  T
he marchioness shook her head. “The trouble with you young gels is that you will read cheap romances.”

  “But it happened!”

  “Now, you don’t really know what you are saying. There is no reason for you to burden the police with silly stories. That awful Kerridge person is on his way.”

  “I will tell him exactly what happened,” said Rose firmly.

  “This house party was a mistake,” said Lady Hedley, half to herself. “But he thought it would be amusing.”

  “Lady Hedley,” ventured Rose, “could you not possibly prevail on your husband to do something for his villagers? Their living conditions are dreadful.”

  The marchioness looked at Rose as if she had just dropped in from another planet. “God puts us in our appointed stations, my dear. God put the villagers there. I heard you were intelligent. You appear very silly.”

  And with that parting remark, Lady Hedley left the room.

  Rose’s next visitors were Maisie Chatterton and Lady Sarah Trenton. Lady Sarah said she was very sensitive and had felt a frisson about the time that Rose was falling off the roof.

  “Lord Hedley is saying that it is nothing but a theries of accidents. You were playing on the woof and fell off, Colette twipped and fell in, and Mary took too much arthenic,” lisped Maisie.

  “Are the police here?”

  “Yes,” said Sarah, “asking questions and questions.”

  “I thought they would have been to interview me,” said Rose.

  “That local inspector from Creinton, he wanted to,” said Sarah, “but Hedley told him you weren’t fit.”

  “I am not a child!” said Rose. “What is all this nonsense about me playing on the roof?”

  “Well, you do do such odd things,” said Maisie. “Some of us think you are thweet on Captain Cathcart and you fell in so that he could wescue you.”

  “What balderdash! Please leave me. My head is beginning to ache.”

  When they had gone, Rose said, “No more visitors, Daisy, unless it is the police.”

  ♦

  Superintendent Kerridge arrived from London that evening and asked to see Harry after he had endured Lord Hedley’s tales of how innocent eveiything was.

  This time, the detective superintendent had commandeered the marquess’s study.

  Kerridge had received a report from Posh Cyril about Harry’s skill in solving the problems of the aristocracy.

  “Sit down, Mr. Fix-It,” he said grimly. “Begin at the beginning and go on to the end.”

  Harry talked steadily for half an hour, leaving nothing out. When he had finished, Kerridge said, “So you aren’t trying to help Lord Hedley hush this up?”

  “I can’t,” said Harry. “There is a dangerous murderer loose in this castle. If he is not caught soon, there will be another murder.”

  The door burst open and Lord Hedley strode in. “This is disgraceful!” he spluttered. “There’s a reporter and photographer from the Daily Mail trying to gain access. Who told them?”

  “Not anyone in Scotland Yard, I can assure you.”

  “You can’t keep anything like this hushed up,” said Harry. “You’d better give them a statement.”

  “Damned if I will.”

  “They’ll talk to the villagers.”

  “Anyone who speaks to the press will find himself without a roof over his head.”

  “And that would make a good story,” said Harry wearily. “‘Wicked Aristocrat in Castle of Death Punishes Innocent Villagers’.”

  “I am not talking to the gutter press, and that’s that!”

  The marquess stormed out.

  “To get back to business,” said Kerridge. “I have men dragging the moat.”

  “For the maid’s suitcase?”

  “Yes, I think it was probably thrown in after her. The preliminary examination seems to indicate she did not die from drowning but from a severe blow to the head. To speed things up this time, I have a squad of detectives interviewing the guests and the staff.”

  “I think a policeman should be put on guard outside Lady Rose’s door. I don’t think our murderer will try anything with all of you in the castle, but I would like to be sure.”

  Kerridge turned to Inspector Judd. “See to that, Judd.” He turned back to Harry. “I am told Lady Rose is too ill to be questioned.”

  “I think you will find, on the contrary, that she is anxious to see you. There is a rumour circulating that she was so enamoured of me that she threw herself in the moat so that I would rescue her.”

  “Only a cloth-head would believe that!”

  “Oh, you’ll find plenty of those.”

  Kerridge got to his feet. “I’ll see Lady Rose now.”

  ♦

  In Rose’s bedroom, Kerridge pulled up a chair next to the bed and sat down. “I must say, you look remarkably well, considering your ordeal,” said Kerridge. Harry, who had insisted on accompanying him, sat on the other side of the bed.

  Rose told her story and ended by saying, “I know you must think I am stupid not to have told anyone. I thought it might turn out to be one of the servants.”

  “Have you any impression of the person who pushed you?” asked the superintendent. “Height?”

  “No, it all happened so quickly. I was lucky. If I hadn’t been pushed so violently, I might not have dropped clear of the castle walls, and if Captain Cathcart hadn’t arrived to rescue me, I would have drowned.” She held up her small white hands. “Useless,” she said bitterly. “Utterly useless. I can’t swim. I can’t do anything. I am weary of dressing and undressing. That is all I am expected to do. Spend hours at the dressing-table preparing for the next lavish meal.”

  “Now, my lady,” said Kerridge. “You have been very brave. It must be difficult for you.”

  “I always feel as if I am outside of them all, surveying some elaborate play and I do not know my lines,” said Rose.

  “I think Lady Rose really needs more rest,” said Harry anxiously. “I think she is suffering from delayed shock.”

  “Sounded to me like a burst of intelligence,” said Kerridge. “men I think…”

  “Yes, yes,” said Harry impatiently. “Long live the revolution. But Lady Rose really needs to recover.”

  “You come with me,” said Kerridge to Daisy. “Won’t,” said Daisy. “I’m not leaving her!”

  “There’s a policeman on duty outside the door,” said Harry. “It’s all right, Daisy. The superintendent won’t keep you long.”

  ♦

  Kerridge led Daisy into the study. He began to ask questions but then just sat back and listened, enthralled, as Daisy told him everything that had happened since she had arrived at the castle with Rose – the hauntings, the ouija board, Margaret’s affair with Lord Hedley, her belief that Colette knew something, the journey to see Quinn – all the little bits and pieces neither Rose nor Harry had told the superintendent.

  When she had finished, he said, “What amazes me, Miss Levine, is that there is no atmosphere of fear in the castle. No one, apart from yourself, Lady Rose, and Captain Cathcart, seems in the least concerned.”

  “You’re right,” said Daisy. “Lady Sarah will faint given the opportunity, but it’s all an act.”

  “But why aren’t they frightened?”

  “Because they really think it will turn out to be a series of accidents. Because violent things only happen to the lower orders. The murderer must be feeling uneasy.”

  “I hope so. Take good care of your mistress. She’s a brave girl.”

  ♦

  The Earl and Countess of Hadshire arrived the following day. Maisie Chatterton’s mother came, then the Petersons’ aunt, and so the arrivals continued. A harassed Lady Hedley was glad that it was only the girls who had summoned parents and relatives.

  Servants were run ragged trying to find accommodation for the new guests and for their servants.

  “We should never have let you come here,” said Rose’s mother, Lady Polly. “Most weird. I learn
there has been no proper protocol with regard to the seating at the dining-table. And when that poor gel was found dead, not even a bit of half mourning.”

  “Did you pay Hedley to invite me?” asked Rose.

  “Pay? Why should we do that?”

  “I learned that he had charged the girls’ parents – the ones that were failures at the last season – for the invitation, promising to find them husbands. The men were charged for a chance at getting their hands on the Americans’ dowries.”

  “We must leave at once!”

  “We can’t,” said Rose. “The police are not letting anyone leave until everyone has been thoroughly questioned.”

  “My maid tells me a story about the deaths is in the Daily Mail and that the village is crawling with reporters from other papers. The castle servants must be very disloyal. The Mail has printed the names of all the people here.”

  “I am sure some of the castle servants have relatives in that run-down village,” Rose said, “and one of the villagers saw a way to make some much-needed money.”

  “Shocking! And why didn’t Hedley do something about the housing of his tenants? There is republicanism afoot, not to mention Bolshevism, and bad landlords just play into their hands. Your father has had strong words with Hedley about it.”

  “I am glad you are here, Ma, but I am not an invalid. I cannot stay in bed the whole time. I am going to rise and go down for luncheon.”

  Lady Polly listened in horror as Rose gave instructions to Daisy to find one of her divided skirts and a plain white blouse. “You must dressl” wailed Lady Polly. “These are trying times. And what on earth is that disgraceful garment?”

  “It’s a corselet.”

  “Where is your long corset? A woman should be properly boned”

  Rose decided to he. “The doctor said my clothes should be as loose as possible.”

  “Oh, in that case…but not a blouse and skirt for luncheon. The tea-gown, Daisy. The pink one. No padding, Rose? You will look most odd. Still, I am sure they will excuse your appearance. Perhaps a little rouge, Daisy.”

  “No rouge,” said Rose. “And Daisy, just brush my hair and tie it back with a ribbon. I am, just for once, not going to have the weight of those pads on my head.”

  ♦

  Luncheon was a fairly silent affair. The Petersons’ aunt, a Miss Fairfax, had been overheard to say loudly and forcefully that her nieces should never have been allowed to visit such a monstrous place and the men were hopeless and dilettante. She was a large, raw-boned woman with square hunting shoulders, a prominent nose and sharp grey eyes. Her voice had an American twang, which might have been pleasing to the ear had she not used her voice to condemn everything in sight. Hers was practically the only voice raised at the table, where everyone was now seated in correct order of precedence.