by Sonia Parin
Charles shifted. “As a matter of fact, yes, I was.”
“Were you, by any chance, getting rid of the evidence?”
“Faith!”
“What? Someone has to ask the tough questions.”
Charles lifted his chin. “I wouldn’t hurt a fly and I think any number of people would confirm this.”
“You’d say that.” Faith took a leisurely sip of her tea. “What about your annual hunting trips and duck shooting season? Or is it quail?”
“Personally, I don’t take part in blood sports. Never have, never will. It’s all too bloodthirsty for my liking. I prefer archery and skeet shooting.”
“Those can be deadly too,” Faith murmured. “Exactly why did you leave England?”
Charles’ cup rattled on its saucer. He looked taken aback.
Wadsworth appeared with a fresh pot of tea. “My Lord, I believe Miss O’Keefe is giving you the shakedown.”
“Oh, I see.”
“Pity Joshua couldn’t stick around,” Faith said. “He would have backed me up.”
Wadsworth cleared his throat. “My Lord, there is a phone call for you.”
“Thank you, Wadsworth,” Charles said and excused himself.
Faith leaned in and whispered, “I knew we should have changed. Charles wore a different suit at lunch. What must he think of us?”
Abby couldn’t help grinning. “Sometimes, I have trouble deciding if you’re being serious or not.”
Faith flopped back in her chair. “It’s a legitimate concern. Charles obviously cares about appearances and he’s a stickler for tradition.”
“Yes, his tradition. His habits. Not ours.”
“As the saying goes, when in Rome…” Faith groaned. “Okay, I’ll settle for being a novelty. He must find us both very amusing.”
“If you’re going to feel so self-conscious, then you should go change.”
“Well, I can’t now. He’ll notice.” Sitting up, Faith said, “Hey, you didn’t ask why he left you out of the guest list.”
“It somehow didn’t seem to be that important.” Finishing her tea, Abby sent Sebastian a text message. She didn’t want to think Harriet Winthrop had been pulling his strings. “Okay, I’ve just realized I’m on edge. Sebastian said Harriet Winthrop had requested to do an interview with me and here I am expecting to hear back about time and place when her daughter-in-law died only last night. I guess that means we kick back and relax for a while. Abby stretched her arms over her head. “Did you know there’s an indoor pool?”
Faith’s mouth gaped open. “You’re kidding me. An indoor pool. How fancy is that? Last summer, my inflatable pool sprung a leak and I fixed it with duct tape. I’ll never want to move out of here.”
Abby’s cell phone rang. “So much for relaxing. Hello, Joyce. What do you have for me?”
“Nothing,” Joyce said. “Can you believe that? I can’t. It’s as if Laurie Meadows doesn’t exist.”
Earlier, when she’d spoken with Joyce, Abby had asked if she could make discreet inquiries about Miffi’s cleaner in the hope that she might get some background information.
Abby tried to sooth her. “But you’ve only been at it for a few hours.”
“That’s usually long enough for me to know everything about someone,” Joyce complained.
“Maybe she’s new in town.”
“And maybe I’m losing my touch,” Joyce muttered.
“Not to worry, I’ve passed on the information. Joshua should be able to pin her down.”
“I doubt it,” Joyce said. “I’ve just returned from Miffi’s place and she has no idea where Laurie Meadows lives. She said Laurie came knocking on her door one day asking if she needed a house cleaner and Miffi decided to try her out but she never bothered with details because she pays her in cash. By the way, the police spoke with Miffi again. When I saw her, she’d already had several glasses of whisky.”
“I assume Joshua has ways of locating people,” Abby mused. “Laurie must live locally. Otherwise, why would she get a job in town?”
“Well, since you’ve shown an interest in her, I assume you’re trying to pin her down with something,” Joyce said. “Maybe she targeted Miffi because she knew she would have access to Marigold. Now, I want to know why she’d be interested in Marigold.”
“Yes, you and I both. You can’t kill someone without a motive. But we can’t jump to conclusions,” Abby said and refrained from mentioning anything about the formaldehyde or the possibility that Laurie might have taken it from one of her places of employment.
“How was your swim?” Abby asked.
“Wonderful. If I lived here, I could have a swim every day. Is it any wonder wealthy women look so good? Wadsworth didn’t even raise an eyebrow when I told him I didn’t have a bathing suit. Can you believe it? Charles keeps a stash of bathing suits in all sizes for his guests. Oh, and there’s a sauna. Do you think he’ll notice if I stay on?”
Abby cleared her throat.
Faith rolled her eyes. “Let me guess, you’ve had a breakthrough and want to ease into it without bursting my bubble of joy.”
“No, I just needed to clear my throat.”
Faith went to stand in front of the whiteboard. “Something has changed here.”
“Yes, I added all your suppositions. You never know when they might come in handy. James Winthrop is a person of interest because he might have been in love with Marigold. I’ve spent the last couple of hours searching on-line for any social event photos that might suggest there had been something going on between them.” Abby spread out a few photos she had printed out. “What do you think? Is he making eyes at Marigold? Or are they simply sharing a moment of triumph and joy over their win at the races?”
Faith looked through the rest of the images. “There’s definitely something going on. Even when Marigold is looking at the camera, James has his eyes on her.”
Abby cupped her chin in her hand. “And that’s all we can do for now. If Joshua wants to, he can look into it. He’ll have the resources to piece together James’ whereabouts. Maybe he’ll come across something that smacks of coincidence.”
“Well, we already know they were in the same place during those racing events and the dates are all fairly close together, but that makes sense because the major horse racing events are held during the Spring racing carnival.”
Sighing, Abby sat back. “That only justifies being in the same place at the same time. Maybe we need to look for photos of them together at other times.” Abby looked up at the ceiling.
Faith laughed.
“What’s so funny?”
“You. I can almost picture a thought bubble next your head. What’s going through your mind?”
So many thoughts, she would need a week to catalogue them. What if one of those stray thoughts happened to lead her to a significant find and she missed it because she hadn’t considered it important enough? “I think Joshua likes the way we think. He might not admit it, but the fact he’s willing to let us look into the case means…” Abby shrugged. “Well, I don’t know what it means. I only hope we can be of help.”
“He’s probably not allowed to employ such unorthodox methods. Anyway, what else have you got?” Faith asked.
Abby hummed as she looked through her notes. “Oh, I started doing this but stopped halfway through.” She picked up her notebook and strode over to the whiteboard. “It’s a timeline for the dress.” She put a star next to Thursday and Friday. “Those are the days I went to Miffi’s house and I saw the dress. According to Miffi, Marigold came by on Friday to collect it.”
Faith cupped her chin in her hand. “You’d think Marigold would have sent a minion.”
Smiling, Abby said, “Is that what you think wealthy people do?”
“Laugh all you like. Remember, Marigold didn’t spend that much time in this part of the world. She preferred to remain in the city. I’m assuming she didn’t really care to live in the country. After all, she had put in a lot of effor
t to marry someone who could take her away from it all.”
“How sure are we about that?” Abby asked.
“We’re not. We’re just assuming. Anyhow, since she didn’t like the countryside, why would she get in the car and drive into town if she didn’t really have to? I’ve never seen her at Joyce’s and I’ve never heard Joyce say Marigold had dropped by for coffee, so we can safely assume she usually stayed away town.”
“Maybe she made the extra trip because she wanted to have a chat with Miffi,” Abby suggested. “Or, since she doesn’t like being in the country, maybe she simply wanted to get away from the Winthrop estate.”
Faith clicked her fingers. “Yes, I like that. We know Harriet hasn’t talked to her in years. I imagine there’s only so much silent treatment a person can take.” Stepping back, Faith studied the whiteboard. “Okay. So, Marigold took the dress back to the Winthrop estate. Oh, that widens the net. Anyone living or working there might have tampered with the dress.”
And that, Abby thought, took the heat off Miffi Howsen.
“Are you trying to divert attention away from Miffi Howsen?” Faith asked.
“Why would I do that?”
“Because you feel you owe her. After all, you were one of the select few to have a dress made by her. You probably feel indebted to her.”
“For your information, she didn’t make my dress, she simply gave it a new lease of life.” Tapping her foot, Abby said, “I think that’s all we can do for now. The rest is up to Joshua. He needs to locate Miffi’s cleaner. Have you come up with any ideas why she’d want to kill Marigold?”
Faith shrugged. “I don’t know anything about her. How young is young?”
“I assume something along the lines of twenty. She’s studying…”
Faith’s mouthed gaped open and her eyes widened. “We could revisit the idea of Marigold having a child out of wedlock during those years not accounted for,” Faith said. “Imagine if she gave the baby up for adoption and it turns out to be Laurie Meadows?”
“Go on. You have a captive audience,” Abby encouraged. Joshua would no doubt laugh at the unorthodox conjecture. Or would he?
“Okay. Here goes. Laurie Meadows spent years trying to track down her biological mother. Finally, she finds her and tells her the happy news. Marigold wants nothing to do with her. So, Laurie decides to punish her by killing her.”
Abby tilted her head from side to side. “I actually like that. Remind me to ask Joshua if this is how he tosses ideas around with his officers.”
Picking up the guest list, Faith said, “We have all these people to get through. I could make up a story about each and every one of them. I think we can settle in for the rest of the month.”
“That’s assuming it takes Detective Joshua Ryan that long to solve the case.”
Faith grinned. “We could always ingratiate ourselves or become so indispensable to the household, Charles will never want us to leave…”
Wadsworth cleared his throat. “Dinner will be served in an hour.”
“That is definitely a hint,” Faith whispered. “He wants us to change for dinner.”
Chapter Fourteen
“A full screen TV at the press of a button.”
“Are you still going on about that?” Abby asked as she buttered her toast the next morning.
Faith sipped her coffee and frowned. “This is what I don’t get. Charles has this huge house with all these rooms, each one is beautifully decorated and fitted with all the mod cons you could imagine as well as luxurious amenities and he lives here all alone.”
“Wadsworth lives here too,” Abby said as she checked the time. Sebastian had sent her a message saying Harriet Winthrop would receive her at precisely eleven in the morning. She would be permitted to take notes but, according to the instructions, she should refrain from recording the interview.
“There’s no hurry,” Faith said. “You have plenty of time. After your interview, you might consider swinging by your apartment and picking up some more clothes.”
Abby straightened her jacket. “There’s nothing wrong with what I’m wearing. My jeans are clean and my shirt goes nicely with this tailored jacket. In fact, I think I look rather smart.”
Faith snorted. “Smart for the pub, but you’re going to the Winthrop estate.”
Abby gazed out at the lush green trees surrounding the garden. “There must be something in the air and it’s only affecting you.” Dinner had been a formal affair. At least, it had been for Charles and Faith who had both dressed for the occasion while Abby had stayed in her day clothes. After dinner, they’d had drinks in a sumptuous sitting room overlooking the park. An hour later, Charles had excused himself saying he needed to deal with some overseas phone calls.
“If you didn’t have to rush off, I’d suggest a game of croquet.”
Abby’s mouth parted slightly.
A full minute later, Faith burst out laughing. “I don’t know if you look scared or amused. Honestly, when did you turn into such a killjoy? I’ll never get another chance to have so much fun.”
“How do you know? For heaven’s sake, you’re only twenty-five. You have a whole life ahead of you.”
Faith leaned forward. “Did you ever stop to think we only really have this moment we live in? The rest is only a possibility. I’m sure Marigold had scheduled an entire year of events and where is she now?” Faith looked away and brightened. “Here’s Master Doyle.”
Doyle appeared trotting beside Wadsworth who inclined his head. “Master Doyle and I have been making the rounds overseeing the garden staff. He is a splendid companion and very well-behaved. You are to be commended.”
Doyle leaped up onto Abby’s lap and shifted around until he found a comfortable spot.
“Have you worked out a game plan for how you’ll tackle Harriet Winthrop?” Faith asked.
“Well, since I won’t have you there with me, I’ll have to be ready to ask the tough questions but I think I’ll restrain myself. I can’t exactly ask point blank if she killed her daughter-in-law.”
Abby doubted Harriet would have anything illuminating to offer. She at least hoped to get the lay of the land and see the woman’s reaction. While Abby knew better than to jump to conclusions and form premature opinions, she didn’t expect to see Harriet devastated by her loss.
“Did you know formaldehyde has a pungent smell?” Faith asked.
“Not really. I just assumed it did.”
“I’m surprised no one picked up on the scent. No one other than Doyle.”
“Miffi had my dress for less than two days and you managed to pick up the scent of cigarette smoke. Marigold’s dress spent a lot longer at her house. It would have been drenched in cigarette smoke and that might have masked the smell of formaldehyde,” Abby reasoned.
Taking a bite of her toast, Abby thought if someone had applied the toxic substance while the dress had been at Miffi’s, it might have had enough time to seep into the fabric and dry out. While the essence of formaldehyde had remained, the smell might have evaporated.
Abby sat up. If the dress had been tampered with after Marigold had picked it up…
Abby shook her head.
“What?”
“I’m thinking I’d need to speak with a chemist or someone who knows about chemicals. We don’t know how long a person would have to be exposed to the toxic substance before it takes effect.”
Faith nodded. “You’re right. I assume we’d also have to consider the person’s sensitivity. Some people might be more susceptible to the exposure than others.”
“What if Marigold had been exposed to it over time?” Abby mused.
Faith gave a vigorous nod. “Oh, yes. That would narrow down the suspects to people with easy access to the house. An insider. Someone close to her.” She clasped her hands behind her neck and smiled. “This is more like it.”
“What is?”
“Generating ideas without running around like headless chooks.”
“I
s it any wonder we only have a couple of flimsy leads? I think Joshua will definitely solve this case before we do. That’s not to say we ever intentionally try to beat him to the finish line.” Abby checked the time again. “I think I’m going to go into town and start making the rounds. People might have started asking questions and that usually generates some interesting ideas.” She hadn’t heard from Joshua so she didn’t know if he’d managed to track down Laurie Meadows.
She knew better than to try to contact Miffi on the phone. Joyce had said she never answered it. But Abby needed her to describe Laurie. “I might not be back until later this afternoon. Will you be okay on your own?”
Faith swung her gaze around her. “I think I can find something to amuse myself with. Of course, I’ll also be keeping an eye on Wadsworth. Who knows? There might still be a chance I’ll get to say the butler did it.”
When Bradford Mills saw Abby stride into his store, he motioned for her to go straight through to the back. Before she pushed open the door leading to the roof, she scooped in a breath.
Facing her fear had done nothing to alleviate the symptoms. Her irrational phobia remained intact. “Maybe it’s not such a bad thing,” she murmured. She didn’t have a crystal ball insight into her future but it didn’t take a fortune teller to know she would not die from falling off a roof or a ladder or a clifftop… or even a tree.
Opening the door, she nearly jumped out of her skin. “Joyce!”
“I’ve come through with the goods,” Joyce said, her lips stretched into a wide grin as she held up her cell phone. “This is Laurie Meadows.”
Abby’s hand remained pressed against her thumping heart as she asked, “How on earth did you get your hands on a photo of her?”
“Ask and it is… eventually given. I dropped her name into every conversation I had. Finally, one of the waitresses recognized the name. She said she’d been at the store looking through some magazines when Laurie came in and asked about postal boxes. Laurie Meadows filled out a form and when my waitress went up to the counter to pay for her purchase, she happened to glance at the form, that’s when she saw her name. Anyhow, she remembered seeing Laurie at the café a couple of times. Then, she remembered she’d taken photos at the weekend bake sale because she’d seen a display she’d liked. Anyhow, she’d had to take several photos because there was a woman in the shot and she didn’t want to ask her to move.”
