Death of a Courtesan: Riley Rochester Investigates

by Wendy Soliman

  ‘No, you were not there yourself,’ Riley said calmly, opening the door and walking through it. ‘But you know who was.’

  Celeste’s mouth fell open. Mirabelle looked downright petrified.

  ‘Who let you in?’ Celeste asked, lifting her chin and reacquiring the refined tone of the practised courtesan who had so beguiled his brother.

  ‘You’re in no position to adopt the moral high ground,’ Salter growled. ‘We just heard you ladies confess to murder.’

  ‘I didn’t murder anyone,’ Mirabelle said frantically. ‘I was tricked,’ she added, pointing an accusing finger at Celeste, ‘into helping her. I didn’t know anyone was gonna die, either. I’ll tell you everything I know.’

  ‘Shut up!’ Celeste snapped. ‘They don’t know anything. They just heard us speculating on what might have happened to our friend.’

  ‘You knew Adelaide had named you as her heir, didn’t you?’ Riley said, turning to Celeste.

  ‘I knew nothing of the sort.’ But the tremor in Celeste’s voice told a different story.

  ‘She actually believed you were her friend and confided in you. It’s ironic that you were the first, the only person since leaving her home whom she put her faith in. She was clearly not a good judge of character.’

  ‘There is nothing wrong with my character.’ She sent Riley a conniving look. ‘Ask your brother if you doubt me. He never had any complaints to make. Quite the reverse, in fact.’

  Her thinly veiled threat, designed to remind Riley that she could embarrass his family by revealing particulars of her arrangement with Henry, failed to deter him from his duty.

  ‘We are discussing your role in Adelaide’s murder,’ he said calmly.

  ‘Oh yes, that’s what you would like to restrict the conversation to, I have no doubt about that. But beware, Lord Riley, if you attempt to push me in a corner you might not like what emerges from it.’

  ‘Don’t make matters worse for yourself by threatening an officer of the law,’ Salter growled. ‘You’d be better advised to help yourself by telling us how you did it.’

  Celeste gave a half smile and shook her head. Gone was the polished woman who aspired to a better life. She was replaced by the seasoned whore who still seemed to think that she could use her wiles to get herself out of being charged with murder.

  ‘Very well, since you appear to have been struck dumb I will tell you what I think happened,’ Riley said. ‘And I dare say Mirabelle will set me straight if I get it wrong.’ Mirabelle nodded vigorously. ‘Mirabelle, you and Celeste must have known one another because Celeste worked for Mrs Sinclair when you and Adelaide first joined that establishment.’

  ‘That’s right,’ Mirabelle said, ‘but Celeste didn’t have much to do with me. Instead, she took up with Adelaide and taught her the tricks of the trade.’

  ‘Then she left and you didn’t see her again until quite recently.’ Mirabelle nodded. ‘Celeste knew that you and Adelaide were rivals and that there was no love lost between you because Adelaide had told her so. Unfortunately for you, that made you easy to manipulate. Celeste somehow managed a chance meeting with you. Naturally you fell into conversation and she told you, in passing, just how clever Adelaide actually was. She made all that money yet remained a virgin.’ Riley gave Mirabelle his full attention. ‘I could see from your reaction when I revealed that information the other day that it wasn’t news to you and that you were not happy about it.’

  ‘Would you be?’ Mirabelle asked. ‘When I think what the rest of us had to endure…’

  ‘Celeste knew how you would react and told you there was a way to get your revenge.’ Riley paused, unsure about the next part. ‘Celeste told you there was a man who very much wanted to change Adelaide’s situation but that you would have to…to what, precisely?’ He paused, rubbing pensively at his chin. ‘Ray Clement delivered the wine to Mrs Sinclair on that day, ready for the evening’s party. What did she tell you to say to him?’

  ‘Shut up, you fool!’ Celeste yelled. ‘Do you want us both to hang?’

  ‘Mirabelle won’t hang if she didn’t kill Adelaide—’

  ‘I didn’t!’

  ‘And if she tells us the complete truth.’ Riley dealt Celeste a relentlessly determined look. ‘Now then, we know Ray was a permanent thorn in your side. You couldn’t live openly with your husband—’

  ‘Husband?’ Mirabelle cried, her eyes widening in astonishment. ‘You are married? Who’s Michael and what does he have to do with Ray?’

  ‘Michael Clement is the owner of the wine company that supplies Mrs Sinclair, amongst others.’ Celeste groaned when she realised that her secret was out. Riley ignored her and continued with his explanation. ‘He has plans for expansion that required Adelaide’s money to fund them. The trouble was that Ray, Michael’s half-brother, stood in the way of Celeste’s ambitions. They couldn’t even tell him that they were married because Ray had such a low opinion of prostitutes, his mother having been one. He’s volatile, given to angry rages and has a reputation for violence, so they feared his reaction if he found out.’

  Mirabelle stared at Celeste with incredulity and said nothing.

  ‘Celeste knew she wouldn’t be able to enjoy the lifestyle to which she aspired until she was rid of Ray and, even then, the profits would have to be shared with Adelaide. She wasn’t prepared to wait and so came up with a plan. Ray had seen Michael with Adelaide, knew what she did for a living and was suspicious about the connection between them. Celeste played on that and, I’m guessing, had you tell him when he delivered the wine that day that Adelaide was on the point of leaving Mrs Sinclair because a man of means was prepared to support her.’

  Mirabelle nodded. ‘Yes, and he was furious. So I told him that I’d let him in and smuggle him up to that room where Adelaide worked when the coast was clear, just like she…’ Mirabelle pointed an accusatory finger at Celeste, ‘told me to. But I swear I didn’t know what he was going to do. I thought Ray just wanted to know what she had planned. I didn’t like Adelaide much. I resented her popularity and was furious when I knew she was still a virgin. I liked the idea of a crude brute like Ray snatching that virginity from her, which I figured he was bound to do.’

  ‘Surely you could see that he hated everything about Mrs Sinclair’s establishment and had no interest in prostitutes.’

  Mirabelle gave a mirthless smile. ‘Just the opposite. We all thought he was a bit of a creep because he used to find excuses to hang around after he made his deliveries, looking at us with those dead eyes of his. The sort of look you get to recognise in our line of work. He sure as hell didn’t disapprove.’

  Riley nodded, realising now that Ray must have spent years at war with his instincts, attempting to suppress them. Those who shouted the most vociferously against a particular vice secretly harboured desires to embrace it.

  ‘I thought she would get what she deserved but I had no idea she would die.’

  ‘You idiot! Why can’t you keep your big mouth shut?’

  Celeste flew at Mirabelle, nails scratching her face as she tugged at her hair. It took a moment for Salter and Peterson to separate the two wild women. When they finally managed to do so, Celeste flopped onto the nearest settee, crying hysterically. No one was taken in by her tears. They were not, Riley knew, tears of remorse but tears of self-pity. She thought she had been so clever and, in truth, might have got away with her crime if Mirabelle hadn’t chosen to visit her. Her performance had been that convincing.

  ‘Take them both in,’ Riley said to Peterson.

  ‘I need a minute,’ Celeste said, recovering her composure.

  ‘Go with her, Peterson. Don’t let her out of your sight.’

  ‘I need privacy.’

  ‘You ain’t shy,’ Salter said scathingly. ‘Besides, where you’re going you’d best get used to having permanent company.’

  With a sultry glower, Celeste left the room with Peterson on her heels. A second later, R
iley heard a door slam and Peterson cry out. Riley and Salter joined him in the passageway.

  ‘She’s gone into the basement and locked the door behind her,’ Peterson said. ‘Sorry, sir. She was too quick for me.’

  ‘Stay with Mirabelle, Salter. I don’t want her getting away too.’

  ‘She won’t,’ Salter replied with assurance.

  Riley looked out the back window and could see that the basement door led to the garden, which was accessed by a few steps. At a sign from Riley, Peterson blew his whistle and the two constables stationed at the back gate barged in and caught Celeste as she tried to slip through it. She swore at them, fighting like a wildcat, but was quickly overpowered.

  ‘Damn you!’ she yelled at Riley as she was led back into the house. ‘Damn the whole fuckin’ lot of you.’

  Chapter Seventeen

  ‘Well done, inspector.’ Thompson leaned back in his chair and gave a satisfied smile. ‘A good day’s work all round.’

  ‘Ray Clement is still ranting away,’ Riley replied. ‘He hasn’t actually admitted to killing the girl and doesn’t accept that he did anything wrong. He’s mentally unstable, so I suspect they’ll lock him in the asylum for the rest of his days rather than hang him. Celeste was the evil one. She planned everything meticulously and almost had me fooled.’

  ‘You wouldn’t have known of her existence if she hadn’t contacted you. After all, her marriage to Michael Clement was a secret. I wonder why she chanced exposing her connection.’

  ‘She thought she could manipulate me in the same manner that she’s been manipulating men her entire adult life. She also knew that I would discover, sooner or later, that she benefited from Adelaide’s will. Better to cast herself in the role of caring friend before we could find out the truth. I think she also believed that I would allow her to guide the direction of the investigation.’

  ‘Which was a major mistake.’

  Riley shrugged. ‘She will most assuredly hang, even though she didn’t commit the crime in person. She manipulated two people, driven by greed and ambition.’

  ‘And Mirabelle? What are we to charge her with?’

  ‘I would suggest nothing. She was taken in by Celeste too and I am convinced she didn’t know that Ray had murder in mind. Besides, if we deprive her of her liberty, who knows what secrets she might decide to make public.’

  Thompson’s brows shot up. ‘Danforth’s predilections, you mean?’

  ‘Precisely so. The Detective Department is struggling to establish a reputation for honesty and integrity. News of a senior officer frequenting a specialist brothel will set us back and we might never recover from the scandal. There are many who would pounce upon the opportunity to ensure we don’t, and the only people who will benefit from our demise are criminals. And so, my recommendation is that we release Mirabelle without charge in return for her secrecy. She is no danger to anyone else.’

  ‘You are a good man, Rochester. I’m lucky to have you.’ Thompson leaned forward in his seat, and his next question was almost rhetorical. ‘Now, what am I to do about Danforth?’

  Riley and his superintendent discussed the matter for a considerable amount of time.

  ‘Well, Rochester, I will consider your opinion,’ Thompson said. ‘It’s probably the right one, and let you know what I decide. In the meantime, you’d best get off. It’s been a long day and tomorrow will be an even longer one.’

  ‘If you have no objection, sir, I’d like to leave the paperwork to Salter tomorrow. I need a day to attend to some private business.’

  ‘Of course.’ Thompson flapped a dismissive hand. ‘Away with you, man. You’ve more than earned the right.’

  Riley returned to his office and congratulated his officers on a job well done. He then gave Salter his instructions.

  ‘I shall not be here tomorrow but I’m sure I can leave the rest of the interviews in your capable hands.’

  ‘Off to see your brother, I assume.’

  Riley smiled. ‘Perceptive, as ever.’

  ‘Sounds to me like he had a lucky escape.’ Salter frowned. ‘But why did Celeste turn your brother down if he wanted to set her up in style as his mistress? Being seen on the arm of a marquess has to beat being the wife of a middle-classed wine merchant, I’d have thought.’

  ‘Ah, but she wouldn’t have been seen, that’s the point. These things have to be done discreetly. Henry would have provided her with a decent place to live, probably somewhere in the country convenient for him, and she would have had to sit there twiddling her thumbs until he deigned to visit her.’

  Salter sniffed, unimpressed. ‘Celeste prefers the bright lights and being the centre of attention.’

  ‘Precisely. Besides, she’s both ambitious and clever. She knew that Henry would tire of her eventually and by the time that he did she would be too old to attract anyone else of his consequence, so it would have been downhill for her from that point onwards. So she decided to marry a man whose ambition matched her own. A man who could raise her up. One she could control and who would lend her respectability.’

  ‘Michael Clement is devastated. I feel quite sorry for him. He was taken in by Celeste, too.’ Salter sighed. ‘This will be the ruination of him. His business won’t prosper now, and anyway he’s probably lost the appetite for it.’

  ‘Nor will Huxton prosper, not now that we’ve charged the uncle with evasion of duty.’ Riley shrugged. ‘I can’t regret that. No matter what Adelaide became, I’m convinced that the uncle is responsible for setting her on that path. After all, we now know he has the scar on his upper thigh that Adelaide told Celeste about. There’s no way she could have known about it if he hadn’t exposed himself in her presence.’

  Salter scowled as a thought occurred to him. ‘If what Mirabelle said about Ray is true and that he secretly hankered after all the girls at Mrs Sinclair’s place, why didn’t he take Adelaide’s virginity when he had the chance?’

  Riley shrugged. ‘He probably wasn’t capable, which would account for his anger at their profession in general. He saw his mother being mistreated by men at a young age, and that probably affected him profoundly.’

  Salter looked surprised. ‘It rendered him impotent.’

  ‘I would imagine so. We must assume that he tried to punish Adelaide in the way he’d seen his mother being punished by brutal men. When he failed it made him so angry that he blamed Adelaide for his own inadequacies and killed her.’

  ‘How could Celeste know that he would?’

  ‘She understood men in general and made it her business to understand Ray in particular through her conversations about him with Michael. She would have read between the lines and probably identified his inabilities, the cause of his anger and aggression, and exploited it to her own advantage.’

  ‘So that she could use him to carry out her dirty work.’

  ‘Precisely.’

  ‘What happens to Adelaide’s money now? Obviously, Celeste can’t profit from her crime.’

  ‘I understand it goes to a charitable institution that helps fallen women.’

  Salter nodded. ‘Glad to hear it. What of that carnation we found beneath Adelaide’s bed? Presumably it was placed there to put us off the scent.’

  ‘Yes, I asked Mirabelle about that earlier and she told me she put it there at Celeste’s suggestion when she sneaked Ray into the room. She didn’t ask why but we can safely suppose that it was intended as an ironic symbol as well as a way to point us in the wrong direction.’

  ‘What do you want me to do about Mirabelle?’

  ‘Let her cool her heels in a cell tonight and you can release her in the morning, provided she keeps her mouth shut. She knows that she must and I’m convinced that she will. She’s had one hell of a fright and learned her lesson.’

  ‘Just to save Danforth’s hide?’ Salter wrinkled his nose. ‘He don’t deserve it.’

  ‘No, Jack, but the department does. I care about its reputati
on more than I do Chief Inspector Danforth’s.’

  ‘When we first went to that brothel, Mirabelle was totally unconcerned about Adelaide’s death, even though she knew the man she let in must have killed her. How could she have put on such a show?’

  ‘She had to. She knew we would hear from the other girls that she and Adelaide were sworn enemies.’

  ‘I still don’t see why she went scurrying over to Celeste’s house, effectively giving them both away.’

  ‘It was because I mentioned the diaries—’

  ‘And dropped Celeste’s name casually into the conversation.’ Salter chuckled. ‘You crafty devil!’

  Riley inclined his head. ‘Guilty as charged.’

  ‘But you didn’t suspect Celeste and Mirabelle of being in cahoots at that point, did you?’

  ‘Truth to tell, Jack, I was floundering in the dark, so I did what I always do when I hit a wall and threw a few names into the mix just to see what reaction they got. And when I saw Mirabelle pale, I suspected that I’d struck a nerve.’

  ‘Then you had Peterson watch Celeste’s house.’

  ‘Only because I thought she might try to evade justice, if she was the guilty party. I can’t take any credit for second sight in this particular case.’

  ‘I would if I was you.’ Salter chuckled. ‘Don’t disillusion the troops.’

  Riley stood, yawned and reached for his hat. ‘Well, I’m for a decent meal and an early night. Goodnight, Jack. I’ll see you the day after tomorrow.’

  ‘Goodnight, sir. And congratulations. This hasn’t been an easy case but we got there.’

  ‘More by luck than judgement,’ Riley replied with a rueful smile. ‘It didn’t occur to me that three of our suspects might be in cahoots, but it damned well should have.’

  Salter shook his head. ‘I can’t see why.’

  Riley made his way home and allowed Stout to fuss over him. He enjoyed a leisurely bath, a substantial meal and a good bottle of claret. He shrugged as he examined the label, wondering who had imported the French vintage into England and whether they had troubled themselves to pay the duty on it.