Secrets at Wallisford Hall

by C. G Oster

  Lady Wallisford flustered dismissively at Vivian's comment. "You can't run around like a child all your life, can you? You really need to turn your mind to what you're going to do now. We can always set you up with a position at the home office, can't we, dear?" she questioned her husband.

  "Sounds thrilling." The sarcasm was evident in Vivian's voice.

  "You can't stay home the rest of your life."

  "Why not? One does uncover some surprising things here every once in a while." That was an odd statement and Dory looked over to see him looking at her with a smile on his face. She didn't smile back.

  His eyes followed her as she served around the table, and when she eventually raised her eyebrows in response to his blatant regard, he winked at her, taking another large swig from his glass. Next, she had to serve him and she half expected a pinch on her bottom and she gritted her teeth waiting for it, but it didn't come. Perhaps pinching girls' bottoms in front of his mother was a step too far, even for him.

  Lady Wallisford's attention was on her too now as if she'd guessed the direction of Vivian's thoughts. A distressed blush colored Dory's cheeks. The unspoken accusation was unfair and unfounded. Vivian didn't seem to care how his badly disguised insinuations would affect her, the trouble he could get her into. One thing was sure: she had to watch out for him. Nothing about him alleviated the theory that he could have had an affair with Nora Sands. Could be he was simply moving onto his next conquest. Over her dead body would she fall for that one.

  Chapter 9

  "Vivian was acting a little queer last night," Lady Pettifer said, surveying Dory through the mirror of the dressing table. So that hadn't gone unnoticed by Lady Pettifer either.

  "I think he was having a joke at my expense," Dory said. "He offered me a ride back from the village yesterday, and thinking of the long walk back, I accepted."

  "I hope you don't have the propensity for being a silly girl."

  "Not when it comes to silly boys, Lady Pettifer," Dory said with a firm glance through the mirror. "Not my game."

  "I'm glad to hear it. Vivian can be very charming. A bit of a rascal, if you know what I mean. I shouldn't fall for it if I were you."

  "I have no intention to." Dory was still smarting from the ease with which Vivian had bandied with her character the previous night. It had all been a bit of a joke, but jokes had the propensity to hurt someone—in this case, her.

  "He's a lovely boy,” Lady Pettifer continued. “Still so young. Out of all of them, my Andrew included, he was always the most boisterous. Probably because he was the youngest and always wanted to fit in with Cedric and Andrew. Always in such a rush to experience life." Lady Pettifer put her powder brush down on the table. "Honoria always worries about him, and granted, out of the boys, his future is a little less secured."

  In a way, it seemed strange that the fine, entitled people of these massive houses were worried for their children. Mothers were mothers, Dory supposed, and worried about their children no matter how endless their means. Still, it was unlikely Vivian would ever starve.

  "He was here when Nora Sands was murdered, I believe. That must have been very difficult for him," Dory said, hanging up one of the ladyship's dresses into the wardrobe.

  "Obviously a shock for everyone, but he seems to have taken it in his stride. Not sure he takes such things to heart."

  "They weren't friends, then?"

  "Vivian and that girl? Heavens, no. Why would he be? Granted, there were times when he was younger that he'd had an attraction to one of the servant girls, but what boy doesn't just as they are blooming into adulthood." Lady Pettifer sniffed as if she found the topic distasteful. "Vivian has a wide social circle, running off to house parties every other weekend. Nora Sands wouldn't hold any attraction for him now."

  And yet, Lady Pettifer had noticed him paying attention to a servant girl last night at supper. Dory wasn't entirely sure what to believe. Something didn't ring true.

  "Vivian is a lovely boy. He would never do anything to hurt someone." It was as if Lady Pettifer had read her thoughts. "That detective will find the culprit and all this suspicion will cease. This murder has the whole house on edge. It is so awful."

  For a moment, Dory felt ashamed of her suspicions. She couldn't deny that she had them. "Let's hope he completes his investigation soon."

  While DI Ridley was apparently on the property, Dory had little opportunity to speak to him. She was either required or he was off somewhere difficult to find. No one seemed to have any kind of tabs on him, and who really knew what policemen got up to as part of their quests.

  A few moments later, she saw him in the garden from Lady Pettifer's window. "Speaking of, there he is."

  "In the garden?" Lady Pettifer said and rose from her chair. "What is he doing in the garden?"

  "Perhaps establishing if it's possible someone could have come in from outside?"

  "Through the roses?"

  "A murderer is unlikely to care about trampled roses."

  "I can't see any trampled roses."

  "You do have a point there, Lady Pettifer."

  "I wonder if he's concluded anything."

  "Nora Sands had a beau, you know," Dory said, "but she was very secretive about it."

  The concerned look on Lady Pettifer's face showed that she was concerned about this new development. "It wasn't Vivian."

  "Until the man is uncovered, suspicions are likely to fall everywhere."

  "Go see if he's learned anything," Lady Pettifer suggested.

  "I'm sure he won't tell me, but there is no harm in trying."

  Dory rushed downstairs to intercept him before he disappeared again. What exactly he was doing was hard to tell. He seemed to be still staring at the roses.

  "DI Ridley," she said with a small cough.

  Looking up, he turned to her. "Miss Sands."

  "I was speaking to the girls yesterday, the maids."

  "I have spoken to them myself." There was a bored expectation in his voice as if he found this a little tedious.

  "Then they mentioned that Nora Sands had a beau?"

  "They did."

  "It's curious, she was so secretive about it."

  "Not sure it is all that curious," he said. "Some like to keep such things quiet."

  "Vivian Fellingworth has a habit of flirting with the servant girls," Dory said, feeling disloyal to Lady Pettifer, but she had to say it. It was true. From what Lady Pettifer implied, he'd obviously been caught in some improper romance in his youth, and he had certainly flirted with her.

  DI Ridley tilted his head slightly. "He failed to mention that when I spoke to him."

  "Well, he would, wouldn't he?"

  "Thank you for bringing this to my attention." It was dismissive in tone.

  "Any developments?" Her attention turned to the roses.

  "Hard to say there is anything that points to a specific direction at the moment. Establishing how many people had the means to commit the act is still fuzzy, and no hint of a motive yet."

  Dory was surprised he was at all forthcoming. "It must have to do with this beau, surely?"

  "Can't say. But you and Nora seemed to have something in common in that you are both very curious girls."

  Dory closed her mouth. Was she being admonished?

  "Vivian Fellingworth doesn't have an alibi, though, so it might be worth taking another look at his predilections." With a nod, DI Ridley walked away. Dory now had to go back and report that she had learned very little.

  *

  Vivian Fellingworth was called in for questioning in the study that afternoon. Dory was polishing one of the hall tables and dearly wished she could be in there. How exciting would it be to be a part, to observe? Obviously, she could listen in at the door, but there was a good chance that Mr. Holmes or Mrs. Parsons would catch her, and after Vivian's unguarded and blatant attention, she could not afford to put a step wrong.

  Lady Pettifer was having tea with Lady Wallisford and Livinia, the dau
ghter who had just arrived that morning.

  Moving closer to the study door, Dory could only hear mumbling inside. Vivian's chuckle fleeted through, which suggested it wasn't an overly contentious discussion. What proof was there that there had been a relationship between him and Nora? How did one prove such a thing, unless Nora had told someone or written about it in a diary?

  Then again, if she spent time in the village, then that had to be where the proof was.

  Dory jumped as the door opened sharply and Vivian walked out, ignoring her. He looked cool with a drawn mouth. Obviously, not feeling flirtatious anymore. Seemed his interest in her only flared to life when it suited him.

  DI Ridley emerged and he did look her way. The look on his face suggested he hadn't gotten what he wanted. He wandered off without being in a particular hurry and Dory returned to her work, spreading wood polish and rubbing it in until the wood gleamed. It was a task that tended to get her lost in her own thoughts out of sheer boredom. For that reason, she didn't strictly mind.

  "Why did that ridiculous man feel he had to question him again?" the sharp tones of Lady Wallisford were heard drifting into the hall. "Are we forever going to suffer his presence?"

  "Thank you, Holmes," Vivian’s voice was heard. "I think he was insinuating that I had some romantic interest in the girl."

  "What a ridiculous notion."

  "I told him, and it's more or less true, I barely even noticed her. I don't wish to speak ill of the dead, but she wasn't exactly the type you notice, was she?"

  "It's like that man is intent in his hope that this has something to do with us. He is wasting his time and ours, skulking around the house at all hours, giving flight to his hopes of pinning this on some person of means. It is a crime they let such men into the police in the first place."

  "He is only doing his job, Hortense," Lady Pettifer said. "After all, someone did murder the girl."

  Footsteps made her furiously rub the wood paneling in front of her after stopping to listen to the conversation in the parlor. Mr. Holmes appeared, looking down his nose at her when he saw her.

  "Almost done," Dory said with a smile.

  Chapter 10

  Nothing was seen of DI Ridley for a few days and Dory was starting to wonder if he had given up on his investigation, the culprit never to be found. That would be a devastating shame for Nora's family, who would want to know what had happened to their daughter and why.

  The activities in the house went on without him. The day of a maid was largely the same from one day to another. The general work in the mornings, cleaning out fireplaces, tidying and cleaning. Deal with Lady Pettifer's rise in the morning, then serve lunch, clean or polish something, then lastly, serve supper.

  Amongst the family, Vivian left shortly after Livinia arrived, who spent much of her day on horseback. Cedric came and went. Most of the family members went their separate ways during the days, returning only for meals. Sometimes the house was entirely empty of family.

  In fact, the days were quite tedious, Dory found. Maybe she would enjoy working in the kitchen with her aunt, Dory had started to wonder as she often spent long stretches of the day by herself. Dealing with Lady Pettifer was the most enjoyable part of the day because she liked to talk about her observations, her experiences and was genuinely interested in what Dory thought. As much as Dory loved Gladys and vice versa, Gladys never had time—or inclination, it had to be said—to talk. It was a superfluous activity in the woman's mind. Lady Pettifer was a bit of a gossip.

  Livinia, it turned out, was already engaged to a fine, young man from Kent. She spent most of her time in London with her acquaintances, doing things young ladies should do, which involved a fair bit of tea, shopping, dancing, weekends in the country and fine restaurants. Dory noticed that she showed absolutely no interest in the serving staff, not even acknowledging them when a teacup was handed to her. It was as if her supper plate simply appeared before her. For this reason, Dory couldn't warm to the girl, not that it was her place to have an opinion of the family members. Mostly, it was a burden on Mavis, who had to serve both Lady Wallisford and Livinia.

  Mavis sat exhausted at the dining table when Dory made her way down for lunch. Lunch was served at one p.m. sharp and being late garnered a pinched look from either Mr. Holmes or Mrs. Parsons.

  Gladys was already seated, her cheeks rosy from the heat of the kitchen. Dory smiled at her as she took her seat.

  "Gossip in the village says that the detective has found Nora's boyfriend," Larry said, taking the steaming bowl of potatoes.

  Shocked gasps sounded around the table.

  "Who?" Clara said.

  "Michael Jones. Or so they say."

  "The mechanic?" Clara asked. This was obviously unexpected news. "Why didn't she ever say?"

  Dory had never heard of Michael Jones, the mechanic.

  "I wonder if he is being grilled by Ridley right as we speak. They say if you are murdered, the highest chance is that it’s someone you know, the closer the more likely.”

  Clara visibly shuddered. "I am never getting married."

  Mr. Holmes cleared his throat. "It serves no one to tattle about such things. We will leave it to the police to perform their duties."

  This new development threw a spanner in all of Dory's theories. She had been completely wrong suspecting Vivian was the person responsible, or at least the person Nora had been meeting with. Suddenly, she felt ungenerous, and even that her activities had been dangerous. She had gone completely in the wrong direction.

  "Goes to show you never know someone," Mavis stated. "I've known Michael Jones all my life. We were at school together. He was a couple years ahead, but still."

  "Just because he was dating her doesn't automatically mean he killed her," Larry said, a harsh look on his face. He obviously didn't like the insinuation on Michael Jones' behalf.

  Mr. Holmes cleared his throat, suggesting he wanted no more discussion on the offending topic, so they ate in silence. Any further discussion would likely result in rebuke, but they were all now stewing in their own thoughts. After lunch, they were dismissed and sent on their way to their afternoon duties.

  Dory decided to go in search for Lady Pettifer, who tended to spend a bit of time in her room after lunch. Hopefully, she wasn't sleeping, but Dory knew that Lady Pettifer would want to know about this latest development at the earliest opportunity. Out of all the family, Lady Pettifer was intensely interested in what had happened to poor Nora.

  Knocking lightly on the door, she was told to enter, and found Lady Pettifer was lying on the bed, peeping out from under her satin sleeping eye mask.

  "I can come back later," Dory said, barely louder than a whisper.

  "No, what is it?"

  "Well," Dory said, stepping into the room and closing the door behind her. "Turns out Nora Sand's boyfriend has been found. A mechanic in the village by the name of Michael Jones."

  Sitting up, Lady Pettifer stroked her knuckles under her chin. "A mechanic, you say. From the village. That is interesting, isn’t it?"

  "I understand some of the people downstairs know him."

  "So, a boy from the village. That is certainly a development. Perhaps this means we are a step closer to finding this killer. I suppose we will know in a day or two if DI Ridley makes an arrest."

  "It could be he’s very close, but from what I have observed, he is very measured in his actions," Dory said. In truth, she had no reference to judge his competence by, but he was serious in nature, and that surely signified a competent man. Well, she hoped so. "I will leave you to rest."

  "I think I will sleep better now."

  Dory hadn't realized that this murder was so disconcerting for Lady Pettifer, but why wouldn't it be? A murderer around wasn't comfortable for anyone. Withdrawing, she made her way downstairs to beat the rugs from the upstairs guest rooms while the weather was still holding. On the wireless, they had said bad weather was coming down from the north in the next few days, which meant th
at it would probably be raining on her day off.

  The air was brisk and the sun warming when she walked outside. There was definitely a sense of spring without the real warmth of summer. A bar served as a whipping post and Dory grabbed the woven cane beater after manhandling the rugs up.

  Clouds of dust plumed with every beat and Dory began to cough. This was not the most glamorous part of her job. Actually, she didn't know if there was a glamorous part. This certainly wasn't the highlight.

  As she worked, she saw the sporty, white car Vivian drove coming down the long road to the house. It appeared Vivian was back, which meant there would be the full complement of family for supper that night.

  Pulling around, he got out of the car, wearing a cream-colored suit, looking smart as he always did. Well, for now, Vivian was off the hook—at least it appeared so. It was hard to think of Cedric in the role of Lothario. It just seemed too ill-suited to his staid and colorless personality. At least Vivian was a charmer. If Cedric charmed, it wasn't something he did at home. In fact, Dory wasn't entirely sure he liked women in any respect. He certainly didn't seek their company if he could avoid it. There was no talk of a girlfriend or a fiancée, but maybe he was like Nora in that regard and kept everything close to his chest.

  *

  "It appears a boyfriend for that girl has been found," Cedric said around the table as the family waited to be served. Candles cast light around the table, but the rest of the room seemed particularly dark that night, which meant that Lady Wallisford had a headache. The woman didn't look worse for wear, but she never did, Dory had learnt. In fact, she never left her room looking less than respectable.

  Vivian looked bored. "About time," he said.

  "Can you believe?" Lady Wallisford started with amusement in her voice. "That ridiculous policeman suspected our Vivian was seeing her on the side?"

  Lord Wallisford harrumphed, but his attention was more for the plate of sole, capers and cream being placed down in front of him.