by L. A. Nisula
“Obviously not.” He looked ready to say more, then went very pale and leaned back against the door. “Doctor. Harley Street. Poison.” He gestured first towards Marylebone Road then to the east, which I assumed were the directions to Harley Street. I banged on the door to number 334, and when Kate answered, told her to see if she could get him some milk, even though it had been suggested for arsenic I thought it might help, and keep an eye on him. Having done all I could to make certain he didn’t die on their front step before I got back, I ran towards Chiltern Street, that being the quickest way up to Marylebone Road.
When I reached Marylebone Road, I turned right as I thought Inspector Wainwright had suggested and dashed off down the street, avoiding pedestrians that all seemed in an equal hurry to go in the opposite direction I was and trying to think of the quickest way to get directions to Harley Street without having to stop.
I was almost at the next corner when I heard, “Need help, miss?”
I barely paused to see who was asking, but it proved to be a constable who had stopped to talk to one of the messenger boys that seemed to be everywhere in the city. That seemed my best chance at help. “A sick policeman at 334 Paddington Street. Inspector Wainwright. He might be poisoned. He sent me to Harley Street to get someone.”
The constable nodded at once. “Charlie here will show you where Harley Street is and help you find a doctor. I’ll go see if there’s anything I can do.” The constable took off, not running exactly, but he was almost at Chiltern before Charlie had even started walking.
“Come on, miss. Harley Street’s not far. Dr. Ryman is probably in. If not, his secretary will know who is.”
I assumed Charlie delivered messages for the offices on Harley Street so knew their schedules and followed him quickly.
Harley Street was only four streets further down. Charlie kept a quick pace, darting between people and occasionally glancing back to be certain I was keeping up. Once we’d turned down Harley Street, he slowed until he spotted a middle-aged gentleman carrying a Gladstone bag walking towards us. “There’s Dr. Travers. He’ll do.” Charlie took off running again.
“Problem, lad?” Dr. Travers called.
“Sick policeman. Could be poison. Constable Triply’s gone to help.”
The doctor opened his bag and started poking through it. “Right. Symptoms?”
I’d caught up by then and answered, “He got very pale and weak and had to sit down. I don’t know what else, but one of the few things he said was poison, so he must think it’s a possibility.”
“One moment, then.” Dr. Travers poked his head into the building we were passing and said something that sounded somewhat technical to someone inside then came back out just as quickly. “And where is he?”
“Three thirty-four Paddington Street.”
“Right. I’ll go on ahead and see what can be done. One of you collect the things my secretary is gathering and bring them over, the other go to the hospital and tell them I hope to have a patient for them in a few minutes. Constable Triply can help me get him there.” He didn’t wait for us to answer before hurrying off down the street.
“Probably best if I go to the hospital, miss. I know the way so I can get there quicker.”
“It probably is. I’ll collect what’s needed. If you come to Paddington Street, I’m sure we can arrange payment for your time.”
“Not needed, miss.” But I was sure he wouldn’t turn it down. He was half-way down the street before I’d gotten up the steps to the doctor’s office.
The secretary was a young man in a neat suit making a mess of whatever system was being used to store the wide variety of little bottles he was sorting through. “Surgery’s closed until the doctor gets back. He’s on an emergency call. If you’ve an urgent complaint, I can refer you to someone else.”
“I’m here to bring whatever it was Dr. Travers just asked you for for the poisoned policeman.” I thought if I was very specific, he would realize I was supposed to do just that.
“Then I’ve nearly got it all. Do you know who it was that was poisoned?”
There didn’t seem any reason not to tell him. “Inspector Wainwright.”
“Oh.” I took that answer to mean he’d met the inspector. “Well, here’s what Dr. Travers asked for. I hope it works out.”
I took the bag he held out and hurried back to Paddington Street.
~ * ~ * ~
When I got back to Paddington Street, Dr. Travers and Constable Triply had moved Inspector Wainwright from the front of number 334 to the nearby mews. Constable Triply was standing just outside and waved to me as he saw me approach. I glanced into the mews and saw Inspector Wainwright sitting on a bale of hay while Dr. Travers was feeling his face and neck.
Constable Triply took the bag from me. “Why don’t you go wait inside with your friends? I’ll send Charlie over from the hospital when we know something.”
As I doubted Inspector Wainwright would appreciate me seeing him ill, I nodded and returned to let Kate and Mrs. Albright know what had happened.
As I approached 334, I could see Kate looking out of the front window. She disappeared when she spotted me and opened the door as I approached. “How does he seem?”
“I didn’t really get to see him. A messenger boy named Charlie is going to come from the hospital to tell us how he is.”
“I suppose it is nice of them to let us know,” Mrs. Albright said from the front hall.
“Did they tell you anything after I left?”
Kate shook her head.
Mrs. Albright answered, “Only that it might be poison and not to touch anything anyone ate until someone’s come to look at it. At least I hadn’t cleared away the plates yet.”
“And least there’s no way they can pin this on anyone here,” I said as I followed Mrs. Albright and Kate back into the kitchen. “And that should be enough to get him to look somewhere else for his suspect.”
Mrs. Albright didn’t seem convinced. “But there’s the matter of the hat.”
Kate sighed. “You were there when he found it. There isn’t any way he could have put it up there himself, is there?”
I shook my head. “Not unless he snuck it up earlier in the day. I saw it poking out from a box before he was anywhere near it.” It occurred to me that Inspector Wainwright had several reasons to be grateful I was around. In less than an hour, I’d saved him from both an attempted poisoning and an accusation of planting evidence. Not that he’d be grateful for either. “Neither of you saw him earlier in the day, did you?”
They both shook their heads.
“Then that seems settled. But that doesn’t mean someone else didn’t plant it up there. Is the front door kept locked during the day?”
“Normally, of course,” Mrs. Albright answered at once. “But there was so much coming and going today that it didn’t make sense to.”
That seemed promising. I turned to Kate. “You said something about moving when I got here.”
“Some fellows from the office came to help move my tinkering gear. They were in and out all morning. I had put a lock I was experimenting with on the door a couple of weeks ago, but it had a tendency to lock itself if the door was closed too forcefully, so I took it off before the lads came to move the boxes. They’re the sort who would bang the door about for no reason. Which reminds me, I should put it back on now.”
“That was nice of them.”
Kate laughed. “Not really. I think they’re glad to be rid of me. One of them already got a friend of his hired to take my place, so I think they’re anticipating a lot more fun once I’m gone.” She didn’t seem particularly bothered by that, but then she was about to co-own a successful tinkering business in Mayfair.
“Did you know all of them?”
“Oh no. Only the three that were in my division. They brought some friends, and I think a couple of them brought some other friends. There certainly seemed to be a lot of people.”
“And were you watching them t
he whole time?”
“As well as I could, but then I was supervising the moving and packing the last few things, so I could have missed something.”
I took that to mean she’d been watching them fairly closely and hadn’t seen anything but wanted to leave the possibility open if it would help Mrs. Albright. “But would you have noticed if someone brought something in, not out?”
“You would think, wouldn’t you? But with all the boxes and the chatter and making certain nothing got broken, I wouldn’t be surprised if we missed all sorts of things.”
I tried to imagine the scene with everyone running up and down the stairs. “I suppose they would be watching each other too. Did they all know each other?”
“I don’t think so. In fact, I know some of them didn’t. There were a lot of introductions going on when new people arrived. Different people brought friends and all.”
“It seems to have been a popular event, then.”
Kate shrugged. “I was surprised.”
“I wasn’t,” Mrs. Albright said, “not after I heard one of the fellows say the department head had offered to stand them all drinks at the pub after.”
“I didn’t hear that,” Kate said.
“No one mentioned it when you were around. I think the general idea was he was in a hurry to have you gone, which was why I didn’t mention it sooner.”
“Well, he was, and he didn’t make any secret of it, so I suppose I should be glad I got a bit of free muscle out of it. I wouldn’t have wanted to move all those boxes of tools down from the third floor myself. But I do hope he ended up with a good large tab at the end. It’s a pity Silas Barlow couldn’t be bothered to come down and help. That would have given him a nice bill at the end.”
I was more interested in the crime than someone’s bar tab. “So it would be possible for someone to have slipped in and left the hat without anyone noticing.”
Kate nodded. “And everyone would just think it was someone else’s friend. Rather a coincidence for them to show up today, though.”
“Maybe they were watching for a chance to get in,” Mrs. Albright suggested. “If Inspector Wainwright asked the wrong question sometime yesterday, someone might have been eager to get in and the moving offered them the chance.”
It was as good a theory as any we had. “Do you think we could find any of them and ask if they noticed anyone bringing things in?” It was a slim chance, but if someone had noticed someone that no one else knew, it might be enough to convince Inspector Wainwright the hat had been planted, or at least convince a jury that there were other possibilities. I decided against mentioning the second possibility.
Kate was nodding. “I doubt most of them have left the pub yet, even if Norris has stopped paying.”
“Maybe we should go down to the pub while this is all fresh in their minds and see if anyone remembers someone bringing something into the attic instead of out. Did anyone mention where they were going?”
“They said just around the corner, so there shouldn’t be too many to try,” Mrs. Albright said.
“Then it wouldn’t hurt to visit a couple,” Kate answered. “I’ll get my coat.”
“I’ll stay here in case the police come to inspect the kitchen,” Mrs. Albright said, although she didn’t sound happy about it.
“We’ll try to be quick,” I said as I followed Kate to the door.
As Kate knew the neighborhood, I left it to her to decide how we would search for the right pub. She suggested it would be the cheapest, as Mr. Norris wouldn’t want to pay for too many expensive drinks. That meant we wound up at a pub that was more or less respectable, but so noisy I would never have gone in on my own. Kate managed to find the group we were looking for with no trouble, probably because it was the largest and noisiest of the lot.
“Ferris! We thought you weren’t coming,” someone called out.
“I just found out about it,” Kate called back, managing to sound just the littlest bit annoyed.
“Stand us a few rounds for helping,” someone else called.
“And deny Mr. Norris the pleasure?”
I could tell immediately who Mr. Norris was from the disappointed look on his face. Clearly, he’d been hoping to get out of his promise to pay for drinks, and Kate turning up was the perfect way to do it.
“Actually, there’s been a little trouble on Paddington Street and my friend Miss Pengear was hoping one of you saw something helpful.”
“Always happy to help a lady,” a third man called out.
Kate grabbed my elbow and steered me through the tables. “You’ll have the best luck with the three in the corner. They’re from my department, so they’ll try to behave.”
The three in the corner seemed as rowdy as the rest of the group, but they did stop long enough to greet Kate and one even asked how the unpacking was going. “Pretty well, but there’s been a bit of bother over on Paddington Street. Miss Pengear is helping sort it out.”
They all turned to me. As Kate was being vague, I followed her lead. “There’s been a bit of confusion about things going in and out of the house that shouldn’t have been. I’m trying to sort it out.”
“We’ll help however we can,” the one closest to the wall said, although from his tone it was pretty clear he meant help so long as it didn’t mean moving from his seat. Fortunately, that was the sort of help I needed at the moment.
I doubted anyone would admit to taking the wrong things themselves, so I asked, “Did any of you see anyone bringing things back in?”
There were several laughs. “All sorts, miss. Haywood brought in a table, and what was it that redhead McDougall brought along took?”
The man next to him replied, “An armchair. Big armchair. He had so much trouble dragging down and then up again. And who had the rug?”
“That dark-haired fellow Pennington brought. Where’s Pennington?”
“He left about ten minutes ago.”
So people were already leaving, which made it harder. Still, it was a lead worth pursuing. “Could you do us a favor? The landlady is having a terrible time as some of the other tenants are out of town.” No point in telling them there were only two other tenants, one of whom was out of town, and I had the feeling that telling them the information was for a murder investigation would bring a variety of weirdly unhelpful answers. “If you could ask around and make a list of what you remember people bringing back in, and who brought it, that would really help her.”
“That was the lady who kept giving us scones? Sure, we’re happy to help out. I’ll talk to the others, and we’ll make a list. Where should we send it?”
As I was pretending the list was for Mrs. Albright’s benefit, I said, “The Paddington Street address is fine.”
“Leave it to us, then.”
I had my doubts about leaving anything to them, but at least we had determined that it was entirely possible for someone to have slipped into the building and left the hat in the attic. And as the attic was only one flight up from Kate’s flat, and she had presumably had some of her things up there, or it would be reasonable for someone to assume she did, no one would have paid much attention to someone slipping up there and back down again. It wasn’t much, but at the moment I was willing to take any lead at all.
As we left the pub, Kate turned in a direction not quite the one we wanted for Paddington Street. “I hope you don’t mind a small detour, Cassie. Unless you wanted to leave for home. I’d quite understand.”
“No, I’m coming back with you to Paddington Street. I want to see if anything else has happened.”
“I was hoping you’d say that. I just need to use the telephone at the aviary there on the corner. I haven’t quite got the one at Paddington Street finished, and I want to let Ada know I’m spending the night there. She should be at the shop. I won’t be a moment.”
I followed Kate to the aviary then pretended I was interested in rates to America to so she’d have a bit of privacy to call Ada. The call didn’t take very l
ong, although, from the glimpses I had of Kate’s expression, I assumed she was glad I was giving her privacy. She met up with me at the door. “We’ve been staying in the flat at the shop; all my stuff is there now, so there isn’t much point to being anywhere else. But I don’t want to leave Mrs. Albright alone tonight. And Mr. Dobson and Mr. Fowler are useless or near enough.”
“Will she mind? Not that you’re staying but why.”
“I’ll tell her I want to finish a few projects around the place. The telephone cabinet for one. I was going to do that before Inspector Wainwright came and turned everything upside down. And I’m leaving the bed in my flat, so it won’t be any trouble.”
Finding the correct pub and getting Kate’s former colleagues to help hadn’t taken much time, and nothing had happened at Paddington Street while we’d been gone, except that Mrs. Albright seemed to have worn a bit more of the rug down pacing back and forth in the front hall. I remembered Kate saying she baked when she was nervous, but with her kitchen a potential crime scene, she couldn’t even do that. As Kate tried unsuccessfully to distract her by telling her about the modifications she was making to the coat closet, I wondered if I ought to suggest a knitting project.
Finally, a little more than an hour after Inspector Wainwright had been taken away, the two police constables I remembered from my first visit to Paddington Street arrived to collect samples of everything in Mrs. Albright’s kitchen for testing. Mrs. Albright sat in the hall, ostensibly waiting for Charlie to come with news while Kate and I stood in the kitchen door and watched the constables. We pretended it was because we were curious and they pretended to believe us. Really, they were quite nice about the whole thing, and I had the feeling they were worried about Inspector Wainwright, which I decided was a good thing. At least someone involved was worried about him.
Charlie returned as the constables were getting ready to leave. “Good news. It was a bit touch and go, but Dr. Travers got to him in time and got most of it out of him. He’s expected to do well.”
“That’s a relief,” said the younger constable who I’d learned was named Edwards.
