A Death at the Church

by Caroline Dunford

  I heard him retreat. I ran my fingers over the book. It was of average width and height, but surprisingly deep. I could feel a thin ribbon that functioned as a marker. This was no cheap notebook. Fitzroy returned. ‘Hang on to my arm. Let’s get you to somewhere you can wash your face and splash your eyes. You’re going all red and puffy. It is not a good look on you. We should rectify this before Bertram sees you and runs off in alarm.’

  ‘You are sounding very happy. You are sure this is the diary?’

  ‘Positive,’ said Fitzroy. ‘I had a quick look and I think I even spotted the key. We shall both be in excellent standing with the department.’ He gave me a quick grin, but I spotted the relief in his eyes.

  * * *

  23 Having long hair and living in country houses means far too often for my liking one gets a spider in one’s hair. Especially if one is working as a servant. Although not an experience I ever grew to relish, I could tolerate it until I managed to shake it out. Never try and brush one out. The result is exceedingly unpleasant.

  24 I could recognise his gait by now.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Fitzroy guided me to a chamber where I could rinse my eyes. I had to describe the way, so it became like a game of blind man’s buff. The spy’s good mood continued. ‘I flicked through it and I can tell you there is a lot of stuff in here that will be of interest.’

  ‘How so?’ I remained distracted by my itchy eyes.

  ‘I expect it to prove that the Staplefords have been involved in illegal arms sales for generations. I acquit the original Stapleford of treason. He was a businessman, but the late Richard took things one step further. He identified ways of selling both to Britain and, covertly, to Germany.’

  ‘We are not yet at war. How is that treasonous?’

  ‘I suspect Richard listed his contacts in his book in code. If they are who they are I think they are it changes matters entirely.’

  ‘How will this affect Bertram?’ I said, my eyes filling with real tears. ‘He will be disgraced.’

  ‘Don’t worry, Alice. I’m happy to say the information I believe I am about to uncover is highly sensitive. It will never be released into the public domain.’

  ‘Thank God.’

  I heard Fitzroy open a door. He guided my hands to the sink. ‘Can I leave you here? I am eager to prove I am correct.’

  ‘I can manage.’

  ‘Find me in Richard’s office.’

  It took me some time to clear my eyes. In reality it must have been only minutes, but I worried my vision would never clear. I wanted Bertram to come and find me. It annoyed me, quite unfairly, that he sat comfortably in kitchen scoffing cake while I suffered. When I could finally see my face in the small mirror, I had a shock. I spent several more minutes making my hair look less like a dirty mop and calming the inflammation around my eyes. By the time I went to find Fitzroy I must have taken almost half an hour.

  The spy looked up at my entrance. He grinned more widely at me than I had ever seen him do. ‘You look positively gleeful,’ I said.

  ‘You look better too,’ he said. ‘Come here, Alice. I’ve barely started and look what I’ve found.’

  I walked behind the desk to look over his shoulder. In front of him were scattered various pieces of paper with grids and letters. To one side lay Mrs Wilson’s diary. Opened at one page he had circled three words. Richard’s notebook lay above the sheet he had been working on. A lot of it appeared to be nonsense. Fitzroy drew a line under one group of letters.

  ‘Otto von Wolff,’ I said.

  ‘Proves everything,’ said Fitzroy. ‘We abducted him because we thought he was an unwilling agent of the Kaiser. The department is going to give him another opportunity.’

  ‘All the people Richard was working with were spies?’

  ‘I wish,’ said Fitzroy. ‘That would be wonderful. No, I expect that they are either what we would term assets – no spy training – or specialists in scientific or other areas who have been persuaded to sell Britain’s secrets to other countries.’

  ‘Traitors?’

  ‘Indeed.’

  I shook my head. ‘Are you thinking Richard was in it for the money or the power?’

  ‘From what you’ve told me, he did seem to love having a sense of being in control.’ He winked at me. ‘Can’t understand that myself.’

  ‘I had better go and find Richenda,’ I said. ‘And no, I won’t breathe a word of this.’ I began to walk away, but my brain buzzed with thoughts. I stopped and turned.

  ‘Does that mean one of your – I mean our lot – killed him?’

  ‘Leaving you to take the fall in some obscure plot to recruit you? Possibly planned by me?’

  I felt my blood pound in my ears. Every muscle I could feel tensed. Fitzroy tilted his head on one side, studying me. Then he got up and came around the desk. He put his hands on my shoulders.

  ‘Alice, I don’t know what to tell you. In a perfect world, perhaps the pieces would fit together that nicely, but this is not a perfect world. Also, my dear, I hate to tell you this, but in the scheme of things you are not that important.’ He leaned in to whisper in my ear. ‘In fact, I’m only very slightly more important than you to the department. It’s the whole not the individual that matters.’ He leaned back to face me. ‘No conspiracy to enlist you, Alice. And despite your unfortunate experiences with me, and with Cole, the department and its agents very rarely kill. It’s messy and leads to difficult questions being asked. Generally speaking, it’s much easier to discredit or shame someone rather than kill them. Of course, if you believe you’ve come across a career killer, you need to arrange for the usual authorities to lock them up.’ He released me. ‘There ends today’s lecture. Go and do your family duty. Find Bertram first will you, and send him to me? If you don’t stop him eating cake, he won’t be able to get out of the kitchen.’

  I nodded, bemused by his manner. Sometimes I could see Fitzroy clearly, other times he was as shrouded and as enigmatic as he appeared to others. As I walked away, I could already hear his pencil frantically scribbling across the paper.

  I found Bertram still in the kitchen as expected. I surprised Mrs Deighton by giving her a hug. ‘I’m afraid I am only here to convince Richenda to go back home,’ I said.

  ‘I thought that husband of hers would be worrying himself sick,’ said Mrs Deighton, wiping her hands on her apron although they were perfectly clean. ‘I told her she had to go back.’ She smiled sadly. ‘Not that it ain’t been wonderful having all them little ones running around. And Merry back taking care of them. What with seeing you two as well, it’s been quite like old times.’ She sighed nostalgically.

  I moved my gaze between Bertram and his crumb-laden plate. ‘Err, um, sorry, Mrs D, but I’d better get back to finding that old book my chum wants a look at. Some mouldy old first edition of something.’

  ‘It’ll be up in the library. The new maids try to dust, but you can tell their hearts aren’t in it. Not like when you were here, miss, you and Merry.’

  We made our farewells several times and finally managed to escape. ‘You are good at dusting?’ said Bertram.

  ‘Rubbish at it. It makes me sneeze. Merry and I used to swap. I’d do her share of the floors and she’d do the dusting, but more importantly, we found the diary. In the cellar.’

  Bertram punched the air and barely managed to stifle his cry of glee. ‘That’s one in the eye for old Fizz-bang,’ he said.

  ‘He’s decoding it now in the library. He wants your help.’ I had thought the smile on my beloved’s face couldn’t have got any wider, but I was wrong.

  ‘Wants my help, does he?’ said Bertram and even his gait became more of a strut.

  ‘I need to find Richenda and talk her back into going home.’

  ‘Well, there’s a lucky thing. Mrs D said she’d come back in just before I went down. She’s likely even de-horsed by now. Never could stand the smell of a horsey woman.’

  I left him to have his confidence
knocked down by Fitzroy and went in search of Richenda. Where, I wondered, would Richenda go to relax in a home that was no longer her home.25 There was a small boudoir on the first floor next to the library. It was an odd arrangement and I suspected it might have been designed to be an office, but being too close to the rest of the family had proved unendurable for both Richard and his father. Not being a servant, I walked into the room without knocking. Richenda lay on a day bed, her face ruddy from riding. It always surprised me that such a compulsive equestrian could fail to lose weight. Seeing her now after an absence of a few days I realised that yet again she had put on weight. There was no doubt in my mind that she was deeply unhappy. Without opening her eyes, she said, ‘Oh, Mrs D, just put the sandwiches down on the table. I am sure I will able to manage a few.’

  ‘It’s me, Euphemia.’

  Richenda shot up to a sitting position. ‘Is Hans here?’

  ‘No, he thought that it would only provoke an unpleasant scene if he chased you here himself. He asked me to speak with you. Bertram is downstairs.’

  ‘You are charged with bringing me home? Or does he only want the children?’

  ‘He hasn’t charged me with anything except to deliver a message. He would like you to come back with us certainly, but neither Bertram nor I have any intention of dragging you back – and as for separating you from your children! Honestly, Richenda, I thought you knew me better than that.’

  Instead of answering me Richenda burst into tears. I may have mentioned before that she is not a woman who can cry to advantage. I sat down next to her and put my arms around her shoulders. I managed to interpose a handkerchief between myself and her stickier aspects. I did nothing but utter calming words and stroke her hand until the sobs subsided. I knew any comments would be lost beneath her wailing.

  I suppose I do not sound particularly sympathetic, but I could not help but feel that most of Richenda’s woes were self-inflicted. To suddenly demand that Hans, who had always treated her with kindness, fall desperately in love with her was unreasonable. When she reduced her crying and said, ‘He doesn’t love me!’ I am sorry to say I answered, ‘That was never your agreement. He has always treated you well, has he not? He is the father of your twins and he has allowed you to shirk almost all the duties he might have expected you to do as his wife. You have never shown an interest in his people, his schemes for improvement of the estate, or even held a dinner party for him. You have had it easy, Richenda. He has spoiled you.’

  Richenda pulled away from me as if I had slapped her. ‘You did everything,’ she countered.

  ‘Only because you would not. I would have taught you if you had asked. I tried on more than one occasion, but you were uninterested. And yes, your husband is fond of me. Do you know why?’ I continued without waiting for an answer. ‘Because I have never taken his kindness in giving me a home for granted. I have done all within my power to be no burden and to do whatever task was required. If you feel that fondness has grown too far on his side, I cannot say that you have anyone to blame but yourself. You have shown him only how demanding you can be. You even told him that the engagement ring Bertram bought me was better than your own – and yours is a diamond big enough to take someone’s eye out. Mine is merely a few small coloured stones.’

  ‘But Bertram put such thought into yours,’ burst in Richenda.

  ‘And Hans didn’t? The way you deported yourself in front of him made him think that you were only interested in the best, so of course he got you the biggest diamond he could afford. He has done all he can to make your marriage work and all you have done is take. The message he asked me to bring you was simply that he wants you back and will hire any servants you require to do any tasks you do not wish to do. You are spoiled. Utterly spoiled. The twins may be too young to miss their father – although I doubt it. You know how he dotes on them. But Amy must be confused and missing her papa. As usual you have thought only of yourself.’ Even as I surprised myself as I spoke these words. I had intended to be kinder, but my discussions with Fitzroy about the impending war had brought home to me how much we all took for granted.

  ‘My twin has been murdered,’ said Richenda. ‘My father was murdered. My mother too.’

  ‘And you were close to none of them. You may have been under Richard’s sway when you were younger but look me in the eye and tell me you ever loved him as a brother. I dare you.’ Richenda turned her face away. ‘The Stapleford family has been blessed with only two decent people in this generation: Bertram and you. Bertram did not like his family, nor how it made its money, but he was content to sit passively by until I came along. He broke with all elements except you. He has begun to forge his own way in the world, and it hasn’t been easy for him. Hans has given you everything you have asked for and would doubtless continue to do so.’

  ‘He needed my money.’

  ‘That was the bargain you made. A marriage of convenience to get away from Richard. He could have lived quite separately from you, but he tried to forge a marriage.’

  Richenda’s shoulders drooped. ‘I know. I am not good enough for him.’

  ‘Then I suggest you try to be better,’ I said curtly. ‘You are an intelligent and capable woman and it is high time you stopped being so utterly self-obsessed.’

  ‘Yes,’ said Richenda in a very quiet voice. ‘It is.’

  I breathed a sigh of relief. At that moment the door opened, and Lucinda walked in. ‘That was most interesting,’ she said in a voice far different from the shy young bride we had met in the Highlands. ‘I always thought you were a force to be reckoned with, Euphemia, but even I did not expect you to be so forthright. You are correct, of course. Richenda will always give way to a stronger personality than her own. It took me so little effort to convince her to leave her husband. It surprised even me.’

  I looked up at the slender figure in a bright, royal blue day dress. Her blonde hair tumbled in free curls around her lovely face. Her eyes were as cold as stone. ‘What happened to you?’ I asked.

  ‘You already know the answer,’ said the bride. ‘Richard.’

  ‘You are not pregnant, are you?’ I said. Slowly the pieces were falling into place, but I did not want to see the picture. I did not want to acknowledge how culpable I was.

  ‘If I am not it is not for want of Richard trying. Did you know how good an actor he was?’ she said to Richenda. ‘He wooed me, Euphemia. I know, you always saw through him, but can you imagine how kind, how attentive he was to the daughter of a mill owner, who had thought she would never be accepted by society? He made the same bargain as your Hans. Marriage for my father’s money. Only he also got beauty and innocence. Even my parents blessed our union. He convinced them too of how wonderful, how magnanimous he was. He promised he would keep the mill school and hospital running. Within a day of my father’s death they were closed. Within a day.’

  ‘I never met you before you married him,’ said Richenda. She stood up and went to Lucinda before I could intervene. ‘I would have warned you, given the opportunity.’

  ‘You came to my wedding,’ said Lucinda. ‘You met me before I married him, and you uttered not one word of warning. Euphemia, as a virgin, I acquit of not knowing how he might treat me. But you were a married woman. A married woman, who knew how very much he needed an heir. I was nothing to him but a pretty vessel for his children. My thoughts, my feelings were of no account. Can you imagine how he used me?’

  Richenda shook her head. ‘I cannot.’

  ‘You and Hans have children. Did he ever take you against your will?’

  ‘No,’ said Richenda, pale with shock. ‘Of course not. He is a gentleman.’

  ‘Your brother was not.’

  ‘Dear God.’ She turned back to me. ‘Did you know?’ ‘I remember what your brother said at the expo,’ I said. ‘I feared he was not treating Lucinda well.’

  ‘Did you tell her?’ asked Lucinda.

  ‘To what end? You were his legal wife... unless you asked for help the
re is no charge under the law that could be brought. No matter how wrong that may be.’

  ‘I had made my bed and that entitled him to rape me in it over and over again?’

  ‘No. But you killed him,’ I said. ‘You pretended to be unwell with morning sickness and crept out of your room and killed him before my marriage ceremony.’

  ‘I did. I revenged myself on him, Richenda, and you all at the same time. I had thought only to ruin your wedding day. That you would be blamed for his murder was a sweet blessing.’

  ‘You would have let her hang?’ said Richenda. ‘You are as much a monster as my brother was.’

  ‘I was no monster till I wed him. He changed me. Either of you could have warned me. You could have saved me.’

  ‘Would you have believed us? Besides, we – I – hoped he did care for you.’ I asked. I rose slowly. I wanted to get Richenda away from Lucinda. Richard’s widow was working herself more and more into a wrought state.

  ‘It doesn’t matter now,’ she said. ‘I am grateful to you, Euphemia, for coming here to finish your work on Richard’s family. I will not go back to what I was. I will not live among the mills again.’

  ‘Bertram is also here,’ I said. I begin to get an inkling of her plan. ‘He will know what you have done.’

  ‘I think not. Your Bertram is a gallant gentleman. He will believe a beautiful young woman in tears.’

  ‘He would never believe that. Besides, Richenda’s children will inherit before you.’

  ‘Richenda’s children sleep sweetly under the influence of the gas lamp in their room. The maid left the window open and it extinguished the flame.’

  Richenda gave a cry and went for the door. As quick as lightning Lucinda picked up a marble ornament from the nearest table and dashed it against Richenda’s skull. My friend went down under the tremendous blow. She lay on the floor unmoving. A tiny ribbon of scarlet trickled from her hair across the floor. It grew wider as I watched.