by VL McBeath
Sergeant Dixon checked his pocket watch. “It’s turned seven o’clock. I need to get back to the station.”
“What about Mrs McRae?” Eliza said. “We have to speak to her … and Mr Cranford. We didn’t establish whether he had a motive.”
“I don’t have time to do that tonight.”
“Sergeant!” Eliza was on her feet pointing a finger at the wall between them and the drawing room. “There’s a murderer in there. If we let them go home, the chances are whoever it is will disappear overnight and we’ll never see them again.”
The sergeant also stood up. “I’m sorry, but I need to leave and I can’t lock everyone up until the morning.”
“Well, you’d better send some men to patrol the area. This house and the McRaes’ if I’m not mistaken, although you’d better have someone go to the Reeds’ house as well, if you want to be on the safe side. I’ve a feeling they’re not as innocent as they’d have us believe.”
“I can’t spare three men on a Sunday night.”
“I’ve an idea,” Archie said. “When I was in the drawing room, I was talking to Mr Cranford. He’s rather shaken as you can imagine, and he asked if I could give him something to help him sleep. As soon as the ladies heard I had some sleeping draught at Mr Bell’s, they wanted some too. If I give them all a dose, they’ll be less likely to disappear and the sergeant can send some men over at dawn to make sure they don’t do a morning flit.”
Sergeant Dixon nodded. “It’s certainly an idea, but do you think they’ll all take it? I’m not sure Mr McRae and Mr Reed will be happy.”
“I’m sure we can convince them of the benefits,” Eliza’s eyes narrowed. “Perhaps you should insist. Threaten to lock them in the police cells if they refuse!”
Sergeant Dixon scowled at her. “I would say that’s a little drastic. Dr Thomson do you think you can persuade them to take enough to make them sleep?”
Archie nodded. “I would say so.”
“I’ve another thought,” Eliza said. “We should ask Mr Cranford to stay at Father’s overnight. I’m sure he won’t want to stay here on his own after everything that’s happened, and that way we can keep an eye on him.”
“So I’d only need two constables?”
“Precisely.”
Sergeant Dixon turned to leave. “All right, let’s tell everyone they can go home but I want them all back here at nine o’clock tomorrow morning. Anyone who fails to return will be treated as an absconding criminal.”
Chapter Ten
Eliza took her favourite seat by the fire in Mr Bell’s drawing room and accepted the hot chocolate the maid handed to her.
“Thank you, dear.” With the saucer resting on her knee she wrapped her hands around the cup and waited for the girl to serve Connie and Mr Bell. “Did you get a chance to put the bedwarmers in all the rooms? That wind’s bitterly cold.”
“I did, madam. The truth is, the weather was so bad, I didn’t venture very far myself. I’ve been here for hours waiting for you.”
“Bless you. It’s such a shame to have your afternoon off spoiled but thank you anyway.”
With a slight curtsey the maid turned and left the room.
“She’s a nice girl,” Eliza said. “Has she been here long?”
“A few months. In actual fact, Mrs Cranford found her for me. I’ll tell her the details of Mrs Cranford’s death tomorrow before she reads it in the newspaper. For now, I’ve said she died of natural causes and I want to keep it that way; we don’t need anyone else not sleeping.”
“No.” Eliza took a sip of her chocolate. “Did you find out anything more about Mr Reed when you sat with him earlier?”
“I’m not sure how important it is, but Mrs Reed made an interesting comment.”
“Go on.” Eliza gave her father her full attention.
“Mr Reed had been complaining that thanks to Mrs Cranford he wasn’t needed at church as much as he’d like. It seems he wants to be churchwarden, but Mrs Cranford had taken on responsibility for a lot of the tasks he wanted to do.”
“Couldn’t he have spoken to her? I’m sure she’d have understood.”
“Perhaps she would, but Mrs Reed said he was upset after the events of today because he wouldn’t have the chance to apologise to her.”
“So you think they argued?” Connie asked.
Mr Bell nodded. “I certainly got that impression.”
Eliza’s forehead puckered. “Surely he wouldn’t kill her because he wanted to be a churchwarden? It’s not a very Christian thing to do.”
“He does seem to have a temper though.” Connie sat up straight in her seat, her drinking chocolate brought to a halt in mid-air. “And I imagine he usually gets his own way.”
“It still seems rather drastic.” Eliza glanced at the chair usually occupied by her husband. “I do hope Archie’s not having trouble with him.”
“I’m sure he’s fine, he’ll be home soon enough.”
“I hope he’s not giving all the sleeping draught away.” Connie fixed her eyes on Eliza.
“Of course he won’t. How are you feeling anyway? All that brandy must have done you some good.”
“I suppose so, but it doesn’t stop me thinking about poor Mrs Cranford … or Mr Cranford. Do you think he’ll be all right?”
“It won’t be easy for him, but he has his daughter arriving on Tuesday; that should help.”
“It might help him, but what about her? He won’t even have time to write and give her the news.”
“No.” Eliza shook her head but immediately broke into a smile as the drawing room opened and Archie joined them.
“You’re back. I was beginning to wonder where you were. Did Mr Reed put up much resistance when you offered him the sedative?”
Archie laughed. “You could say that. He was adamant he should be alert in case his wife needed him, but I managed to persuade him that he’d be more use to her if he had a good night’s sleep.”
“What about Mr McRae? Did he object?”
“No, not at all. In fact, he’d helped himself to a double dose before I could stop him and then he asked me to leave the bottle.”
“You didn’t, did you?” Connie’s eyes flicked to Archie’s medicine bag.
A smirk crossed Archie’s lips as he lifted out a large glass container. “And leave none for you, you mean? Don’t be silly.”
Connie let out a deep sigh. “That’s a relief …”
“Come and sit down, I’ve been worried about you.” Eliza stood up and plumped up the cushions on the settee.
“I’m sure I can look after myself. It’s not the first time I’ve done house visits.”
“That’s all well and good under normal circumstances, but the chances are one of those you’ve just visited is a murderer. That puts a whole new complexion on things.”
“What if the killer’s here?” Mr Bell raised his eyebrows. “We still don’t know about Mr Cranford.”
Archie took the hot chocolate Eliza handed him. “I wouldn’t worry about him. I gave him enough sedative to make him sleep until the morning … probably longer.”
Eliza grinned and pulled a key from the pocket of her skirt. “And I locked his bedroom door once I knew he was asleep.”
Mr Bell put a hand to his mouth to suppress a laugh. “I hope the chamber pot’s still in there then.”
The following morning, with the wind continuing to howl around the house, Eliza contemplated getting out of bed. She put an arm out of the bedcovers and swiftly pulled it back in again. The fire hadn’t taken nearly enough chill off the room. She shivered and was considering spending another five minutes where she was when the sound of a door rattling across the landing brought her to her senses. Oh my goodness, Mr Cranford! He doesn’t know he’s been locked in.
Jumping out of bed, she hurried to find a robe. Where’s Archie when I need him? Why does he get up so early of a morning?
“One moment, Mr Cranford,” she shouted. “We must have accidentally locked the door last ni
ght. I’ll ask my husband to fetch the key.”
“Don’t you go blaming me,” Archie said two minutes later as he climbed the stairs to the bedrooms.
“It was only a white lie. I didn’t want to upset him. Just give me a minute to get back into the bedroom and then you can let him out. I’ll be down for breakfast shortly.”
Mr Cranford was sitting at the dining table with Mr Bell and Archie when Eliza arrived downstairs.
“Good morning, everyone. Is there no sign of Connie?”
“No, not yet,” Archie said. “I was hoping you’d check on her for me. She insisted I give her a rather large dose of sleeping draught last night and so she may be groggy.”
“Oh dear, the poor thing; I’ll go now. At least she’ll have got some sleep.”
By the time Eliza reached the top of the stairs, Connie was leaving her bedroom.
“Oh good, you’re awake. We were beginning to wonder.”
Connie shook her head. “I could have easily closed my eyes and gone back to sleep, but I remembered Sergeant Dixon saying that anyone not at the Cranfords’ house by nine o’clock would be treated as an absconding criminal. I can’t give him any more reason to suspect me.”
Eliza put her arm around Connie’s shoulders. “Don’t be silly, he’s not going to accuse you. I’ll get Inspector Adams up here from New Scotland Yard if he shows any sign of blaming you.”
A smile broke out on Connie’s face. “Oh, what a relief, but why didn’t you tell me last night? Then I wouldn’t have needed such a big dose of the sleeping draught.”
“I’m sure the sleep will have done you the world of good. Now, come along, Sergeant Dixon will be waiting for us.”
When they reached the dining room, Eliza took the seat next to Mr Cranford. “How are you feeling this morning, sir?”
He gazed at the centre of the table. “Numb. That’s the only way I can describe it. She was so full of life … and now she’s gone.”
“And you can’t think of a reason why anyone would want to hurt her?”
“No, none.”
“It’s such a terrible thing.” Eliza helped herself to some toast. “Is there someone who’ll open up the store for you this morning?”
“No, I always do the opening and closing myself. I need to get the carriage set up and go.”
Eliza glanced at Archie and shook her head. Picking up on her signal, Archie gave a small cough.
“I’m afraid that’s not going to be possible, Mr Cranford. Sergeant Dixon wants to speak to everyone again, and he gave me strict instructions to take you back to the house this morning.”
Mr Cranford’s eyes widened as he stared at Archie. “He can’t think I had anything to do with it. I told him yesterday I didn’t.”
“We know that,” Eliza said. “The problem is, there were a few more questions he should have asked.”
“Such as?”
“Well, I’m not sure it’s my place to say without the sergeant being here. I’ll tell you what, why don’t we finish breakfast and go to your house before the others arrive? That way you can speak to Sergeant Dixon first and he might then let you leave.”
Sergeant Dixon was already in the drawing room when they arrived and Eliza wondered when anyone had found the time to put the furniture back into its original positions.
“The undertakers have been, I see.” Archie nodded towards the place Mrs Cranford’s body had lain.
Sergeant Dixon nodded. “Yes, you’ve just missed them.”
“Where’ve they taken her?” Mr Cranford turned a full circle in the middle of the room. “She should be laid out in the front parlour.”
“She will be, sir, but there needs to be a post-mortem,” Archie said. “They’ll bring her back ahead of the funeral.”
“A post-mortem? She doesn’t need one of those … we’re well aware of what happened. Well aware…”
Eliza waited for Mr Cranford to take a seat by the fireplace before she approached Sergeant Dixon.
“Sergeant, do you remember the questions we had for Mr Cranford yesterday? Could you possibly speak to him about them now? He says he needs to go into London to open up the store and so it would help if we could get them over and done with while it’s quiet here.”
Sergeant Dixon nodded. “I don’t see why not; let me get him.” He hesitated. “Will you join us?”
Eliza’s face broke into a broad smile. “I’d be delighted to.”
She followed them from the room, pursing her lips to suppress a smile when the sergeant reached into his pocket to retrieve the paper containing her questions.
“Now, Mr Cranford,” Sergeant Dixon said, “if you don’t mind, I’d like to ask about your relationship with your wife.”
“What about it?”
“Well, I understand you didn’t actually see much of her … with you being at the shop for so many hours a day.”
“We saw enough of each other and we were on good terms when I was at home.”
Eliza sat forward in her seat and waited for permission to speak. “It must be very exciting starting up such a prestigious store in the centre of London. Has it been successful?”
“Well, yes, I suppose you could say that. Why?”
The sergeant shifted in his seat. “It’s just a precaution, you understand, but we need to check the store accounts to be sure you don’t have any financial worries.”
It was Mr Cranford’s turn to squirm. “What do my accounts have to do with the death of my wife?”
“We don’t know that they do, but the police need to take a look at them.” Eliza kept her voice as level as possible. “The thing is, it’s not uncommon for a murder to take place shortly after an insurance policy has been placed on the life of the victim … especially if the perpetrator has any debts. Can we ask if you’d insured Mrs Cranford’s life recently?”
“No, of course I hadn’t. I needed all the money I could get to set up the store. There wasn’t any spare for insurance.”
The sergeant nodded. “I’m pleased to hear it but we’ll check with the bank anyway, and we still need to see the accounts.”
Mr Cranford glared at Eliza. “I don’t know why you think I had anything to do with my wife’s death, but I can assure you she meant more to me than any money. I’d give all I have to bring her back.”
“Mr Cranford, we’re sorry,” Eliza said. “The sergeant just needs to eliminate you from his enquiries. He’s looking for possible motives, but if you’ve nothing to hide, then you have nothing to worry about.”
Mr Cranford nodded but remained silent.
“I think that’s probably all we need from you for now,” Sergeant Dixon said. “Could you return to the drawing room and wait for us there?”
The rims of Mr Cranford’s eyes were red as he looked up. “I need to go to the store. They can’t open without me and I can’t afford to miss any business this week.”
Eliza watched the sergeant as he flicked back and forth through the pages of his notepad.
“Very well. I’ll grant you two hours to open the doors, but I want you back here before midday.”
“Are you sure that’s wise?” Eliza asked.
The sergeant nodded. “A man’s innocent until proven guilty and I see no reason to ruin Mr Cranford’s business if he’s done nothing wrong. If it makes you feel better, I’ll ask Dr Thomson to escort him … just to be on the safe side.”
Eliza nodded. “I’m sure that will be fine. Let me ask him for you.”
Chapter Eleven
By the time Archie and Mr Cranford had left for London, Mr and Mrs McRae and Mr and Mrs Reed had arrived and were sitting around the fire.
“Are you going to keep us here long?” Mr Reed shouted to the sergeant.
“As long as it takes, sir, although I’m hoping we’ll be finished in time for luncheon. I need to speak to Mrs McRae first, if you don’t mind, of course, Mr McRae.”
Mr McRae shrugged. “Be my guest.”
Mrs McRae’s glare could have
frozen water, and she stood up and pushed past Mrs Reed on her way to the door.
“Shall we get this over and done with? I can’t waste all afternoon here.”
Eliza raised an eyebrow to the sergeant as Betty went on ahead.
“I’ll be rather glad of your presence for this one.” The sergeant caught hold of Eliza’s elbow. “Would you mind starting the questioning?” His voice was low as they followed Betty into the morning room and took their seats.
“How are you feeling today?” Eliza asked.
Betty shot Eliza a venomous look. “How do you think I feel, less than a day after my best friend was murdered? It’s going to take a lot more than a dose of sleeping draught to help me get over that.”
“Yes, of course. I’m sorry. I can’t imagine…”
“No, you can’t. Your friend’s still sitting out there with everyone else when she’s the one who should be locked up.” Mrs McRae took a handkerchief from the sleeve of her dress and dabbed at her eyes.
“Why do you keep saying that?” Eliza said, but the sergeant held up a hand to silence her.
“Mrs McRae, please. Can we keep this civil? What can you tell us about your friendship with Mrs Cranford?”
Betty waved her hand in the air. “What is there to tell? We were about the same age and enjoyed doing the same things. It was as if I had a big sister and I adored her for it. She was such a wonderful woman. I can’t believe she’s not here any more.” She dabbed her eyes once more.
“Is that why you wanted to be like her? So that you’d be as popular as she was?”
Betty’s head jerked upwards. “No, of course not. Who told you that? I’ve plenty of friends of my own.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t realise.”
“No, there’s a lot you don’t understand.” Betty rested her hands on her lap. “I’m going to miss her dreadfully. I just don’t understand how anyone could do such a thing.”
“No, it’s hard to fathom…” Eliza hesitated. “Look, I can see you’re upset, but may I ask you about Mr McRae? The two of you don’t seem to be on very good terms at the moment.”
