Mystery by the Sea: An utterly addictive English cozy mystery (A Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery Book 5)

by Verity Bright

  ‘Most heartening to hear you feel that way, my lady.’

  Under the small hollow dome itself, shining her torch judiciously, Eleanor stared round at the closely spaced marble pillars, each no further apart than the width of a broad man’s shoulders. Sleek and simple in its design, the structure suggested no immediate places to search. No architectural recesses or corners, just elegant columns supporting a simple dome.

  Eleanor pulled off her gloves and ran a hand over the small section of raised carving at the base of one of the pillars. She looked up to where Clifford’s torch beam was sweeping back and forth across the inside of the dome’s roof and shook her head. We’re missing something, Ellie. She called Clifford to her side with a low whistle.

  ‘My lady?’

  ‘Listen. Hilary would have known that when I got here, I would likely be in a great hurry and possibly danger.’

  ‘Absolutely.’

  ‘So he wouldn’t have expected me to scour every inch in the hope of stumbling across his hiding place. He’s told me already where it is, I know it. I just haven’t heard him.’

  Clifford stood silently waiting, constantly watching every shadow. Eleanor closed her eyes again. Come on Captain Hilary Montgomery Eden, tell me where to look! Only the wind replied again, mockingly whipping her curls around her face so she couldn’t concentrate. She sighed in frustration.

  ‘Clifford, what’s the one thing that Hilary could be certain about me knowing if I deciphered his clues and got this far?’

  His brow furrowed and then cleared. He coughed gently. ‘The one thing that Mr Eden could be certain about is that you would know… he was dead, my lady.’

  She nodded sadly. ‘Yes, you’re right. We’re only here because he’s dead. Wait!’ Something pricked at her brain. Something about Hilary’s death… That’s it, Ellie! When Grimsdale took you to room 204. You saw the desk where Hilary died and then he asked you about Hilary’s watch!

  She scanned the memorial. The eight pillars that supported the roof ran down to a low wall that formed the base of the monument.

  ‘Clifford, check the inside of the wall. You’re looking for a leather strap. The sort Hilary hung his watch from.’

  She climbed between two pillars and jumped down beside the memorial itself. Dropping to her haunches, she ran her hand along the capping of the platform’s base. She caught her breath as it closed around a weighty velvet bag, held by a leather strap jammed in a crack. As she pulled the bag free, a square of folded paper fell into her palm. Clifford stepped down beside her.

  ‘Well done, my lady.’ He shone the torch on her hands, looking over each shoulder as he held the light still.

  With trembling fingers, Eleanor unfolded the paper.

  Ellie, my darling wife,

  If you are reading this, I am no more of this world. And my only sadness is that I will never have had a chance to say in person what has burned in my heart all these years.

  I have done some bad things in my time. That they were borne of necessity before habit is no excuse and deserves no forgiveness. But I came to Brighton in the hope I could put right my biggest wrong, which was to you. And if I can give you nothing else, please leave knowing that my intention was never to do wrong by you, never to desert you, nor break your heart.

  Ellie, you were my only world from the day we met. So bright, so bold, adventure should have been your middle name (You know ‘Lettice’ always made me smile).

  Her hand went to her lips as she let out a silent sob.

  Even before I read about your travels, I knew if our story ever came to such a sad ending, our spiritual connection would remain and you would work out the trail I would be forced to leave you.

  In trying to make things right between us, however, I’ve made the situation worse. And I’ve placed you in peril. But when I heard that you had inherited your uncle’s estate, I thought all was lost unless I could truly provide for you. Like the husband I should have been all along. The contents of the bag were to be my offering for a new start. My all-consuming apology.

  Sorry, is not enough.

  Ellie, I will love you forever.

  Hilary xxx

  ‘It’s more than enough,’ she whispered as she kissed the note before placing it carefully into her coat pocket. Wiping the tears from her cheeks, her mind whirled as her fingers fumbled with the knotted drawstring of the velvet bag. Clifford shone the torch for her.

  ‘Is it a bag of uncut diamonds as we suspected, my lady?’

  But before she could reply, a voice cut through the darkness. ‘I think you will find the answer is no.’

  Forty-Two

  They both slowly turned around. A man’s dark shape stood on the second to top step with, what Eleanor took to be, a pistol in his hand. He walked up until he was level with her and Clifford.

  ‘As I said, I think you will find there aren’t diamonds in that bag. However, I must congratulate you, Lady Swift. You are quite the detective, aren’t you?’ His civilised tone was incongruous with the gun he held. ‘As I mentioned before, Hilary was right about you.’

  She nodded. ‘Yes, I have discovered that he was. And I was right about him. But Clifford was right all along, too. He said if I had this’ – she held up the velvet bag – ‘the murderer would come to me, Mr de Meyer.’

  De Meyer eyed the bag. ‘An astute observation.’

  She swallowed hard. Talking in the warm and civilised Metropole bar about how they would lure the killer to the Chattri and then deal with him was one thing. It was quite another to actually do so on a freezing March night on the wild coastal hills high above the town. She glanced down at the twinkling lights of Brighton far below, briefly dreaming of this all being over and her and Clifford sharing a celebratory drink.

  De Meyer’s voice brought her back to the present with a jolt. ‘So, Lady Swift, it’s up to you how this ends.’

  She nodded slowly. ‘Yes, I suppose it is.’ She took a deep breath. ‘Well, Mr de Meyer, as we know you are not the murderer, let’s see if the real murderer is here, shall we?’ She looked past de Meyer out into the darkness. Raising her voice against the wind she called out. ‘Why are you still skulking in the shadows?’ She held the velvet bag aloft again. ‘Here it is. This is what you’ve killed for. Twice.’

  Behind de Meyer, a shadowy figure appeared silently on the steps. This one, however, carried a longer, darker shape. A shotgun or rifle, Eleanor judged.

  She leaned towards de Meyer. ‘I suggest you don’t turn around. I believe our killer has come forearmed, as it were.’

  A voice rang out around the Chattri. ‘That’s right. I’ve got a rifle pointed at your back, de Meyer. Drop your pistol.’

  The barrel of de Meyer’s gun swung round his index finger as he spread his hands wide. He placed the gun carefully on the stone floor.

  ‘Now join the others,’ the voice said.

  As de Meyer moved across to stand next to Eleanor, she shook her head discreetly at Clifford. He hesitated, but then dropped his hand from his inside pocket.

  The shadowy figure stepped up level with the dome itself, with the rifle trained on Eleanor. ‘Good evening, Lady Swift. Or should I call you Miss Swanson?’

  She smiled coldly. ‘Lady Swift will do fine, Thomas.’

  The clerk shrugged. ‘Whatever you like. Now we’ve dispensed with the pleasantries, open that bag.’

  ‘Of course.’ She balanced the bag in one outstretched palm and slid the other hand inside. A frisson ran down her spine, her fingers tingling. She held it up. The item looked like a lump of grey rock about the size of the paperweight on her desk back at the Hall. But even in its rough form, in the torchlight it sparkled like no paperweight she’d seen.

  For a moment everyone was spellbound.

  Beside her, de Meyer smiled. ‘You see, it wasn’t a bag of diamonds. It was one diamond. A magnificent, uncut specimen of unimaginable exquisiteness. One of the biggest to ever come from my employer’s mines, in fact.’

 
She arched a brow at him. ‘Why didn’t you say so yesterday afternoon when we talked?’

  ‘What?’ Thomas frowned in confusion, pointing the rifle at de Meyer and then back at her.

  Ignoring him, de Meyer winked at Eleanor. ‘I never trust anyone completely, Lady Swift. But now you understand why my employers are so determined to have it returned.’

  Clifford cleared his throat, his eyes not moving from Thomas and the rifle he still held squarely in Eleanor’s direction. ‘Mr de Meyer, that diamond must be worth a king’s ransom.’

  He nodded.

  Eleanor shook her head. ‘Maybe. But it wasn’t worth a man’s life. Let alone two.’

  Thomas took a step forward and jammed the rifle against one hip, his hand held fast to the trigger. With the other, he reached out, making her shudder when his fingers brushed hers as he lifted the diamond from her palm. ‘Now, that is where you’re wrong. This was worth two. Mr Eden’s and Mr Blunt’s.’ He shrugged. ‘Small sacrifices, I think.’ With the deftness of an illusionist, the diamond disappeared into his coat pocket.

  De Meyer smiled laconically. ‘Don’t become attached to that, Thomas, you won’t be keeping it for long.’

  Thomas laughed. ‘I’m the one with the gun. And the diamond.’

  De Meyer shrugged, the smile still playing on his lips.

  ‘There is one thing I’d like to know, Thomas,’ Eleanor said calmly. ‘If, of course, that is your real name.’ She looked at de Meyer, who shrugged again. She sighed. ‘Honestly, are Clifford and I the only people at the Grand who aren’t using false names?’

  Thomas waved the rifle at the three of them. ‘Stop talking!’

  Eleanor stepped forward. ‘As you failed to reply, I’ll answer the question for you. No, it isn’t your real name.’

  Thomas’ tone was shrill. ‘Move another step and I’ll shoot you dead where you stand, do you hear?’

  Eleanor’s voice was colder than the wind whistling around the Chattri. ‘At least you’ll have the decency to look me in the face when you kill me. I thought you normally stabbed people in the back or got them drunk on chloroform and alcohol and pushed them off balconies.’

  Thomas shook his head slowly. ‘Oh, no, I’m not that stupid. What do you think I’m going to do? Confess to killing Eden and Blunt? This isn’t one of those ridiculous detective novels.’

  ‘Shame. I’m rather fond of them, as Clifford will vouch. Won’t you, Clifford?’

  ‘Indeed, my lady.’

  A rifle shot rang around the Chattri.

  Thomas smirked. ‘There, that got your attention! The next one won’t be aimed at the sky, but at—’

  ‘You, Mr Eden.’

  The look on Thomas’ face would have made Eleanor laugh at any other time, but she wasn’t in a laughing mood.

  De Meyer stood behind Thomas, holding a pistol in his back. He nodded to Eleanor. ‘Thank you for the diversion, Lady Swift.’

  She nodded and smiled grimly. ‘No problem, Mr de Meyer, it’s included in the ticket price.’ She turned back to Thomas. ‘That is your real surname, isn’t it? Eden?’

  ‘Shut up!’ Thomas’ voice shook with barely controlled rage. He hesitated for a split second, then raised his gun and fired at Eleanor. In that instant, somehow Clifford materialised between her and the rifle.

  As the sound of the shot died away, she reached out to him in horror.

  He coughed. ‘Apologies, my lady. Force of habit. Just in case.’

  She smiled. ‘Thank you, Clifford.’

  At the sound of the second shot, another shape had appeared out of the dark. The man ran up the steps and stopped in front of Eleanor.

  ‘Thank God!’ DCI Seldon turned and in one fluid movement disarmed Thomas, knocking him to the ground.

  ‘Impressive,’ de Meyer said. ‘I didn’t realise English policemen were so well trained.’

  ‘I fought in the war like everyone else,’ Seldon said curtly. He bent down and pulled Thomas to his feet. The clerk looked at Eleanor in disbelief.

  De Meyer smiled. ‘You look confused, Thomas. Let me explain. Your rifle was loaded with blanks. I broke into your room this evening before you came here, found your secret store and replaced the bullets with blanks myself. A suggestion from Lady Swift. Apparently, the same trick saved her husband’s life once. Unfortunately for him, only once.’

  As Seldon took the diamond out of Thomas’ pocket, Thomas moved to stop him. A sharp dig in the back from de Meyer’s pistol dissuaded him. Seldon held up the diamond and looked at de Meyer.

  ‘As Mr Eden had this at the time of his death, this belongs to his wife until proved otherwise.’ He passed it over to Eleanor. Thomas and de Meyer’s eyes never left it.

  She cupped it in her hands. Hilary died for this, Ellie. And Blunt.

  She held it out. ‘Mr de Meyer I believe this belongs to your employers. Legally, that is. Morally I feel it belongs to whichever poor soul was forced to risk his life to dig it out.’

  He took the rock and slipped it into his pocket. ‘Thank you, Lady Swift. I will see that it is returned to my employers on the terms we agreed earlier.’

  Eleanor turned to Thomas, whose eyes were fixed on the pocket where de Meyer had placed the diamond.

  ‘You know, Thomas, I didn’t come to Brighton in March to lounge on the beach. But neither did I come to bury my husband. You see, however briefly, Hilary was my husband… I loved him. I always loved him.’ She paused and swallowed hard. She had to know. ‘But now I am going to bury him, I need to know something, Thomas Eden. Why did you kill your own brother?’

  Forty-Three

  A flicker of something Eleanor couldn’t place crossed Thomas’ features. He looked up at her.

  ‘Hilary was my brother, once. But he made his choice.’ His face twisted with anger. ‘And that choice didn’t include me!’

  She shook her head. ‘Was it just greed? You wanted the diamond all to yourself?’

  Thomas laughed bitterly. ‘You really didn’t know much about Hilary before you married him, did you?’

  ‘I didn’t know about you,’ she replied quietly. ‘Maybe if I had I could have prevented all this but—’

  ‘But he never mentioned his kid brother, did he?’ Thomas ran a hand through his hair. ‘Ironic, isn’t it? We stole together as kids. And now, here we are, what could have been my biggest moment, but my big brother isn’t here to see it.’

  She failed to stop her words tumbling out. ‘Only because you murdered him.’

  He glared at her. ‘You have no right to judge me. You don’t understand. We grew up here in Brighton, but back then two gangs ran everything. Split Brighton and all the nearby towns in two, they did. Hilary and I used to pickpocket for one of them when we were still nippers. Course we had to hand over what we’d stolen and take what they handed back, which was just enough to make sure we had to keep stealing to survive.’ He shrugged. ‘We didn’t have any choice once Dad died. We had nothing. Mum tried, but she couldn’t even make enough for us to eat.’

  De Meyer glanced at his watch but kept the pistol trained on Thomas.

  Eleanor shook her head. ‘I wasn’t judging what you had to do to survive. But’ – she held out her hands – ‘how did it lead to this?’

  He shrugged. ‘After years of trying to live off the pittance the gang let us keep, Hilary thought he was old enough and smart enough to outwit them. So he set up on his own.’

  ‘But you were too scared to join him?’

  He laughed harshly. ‘No! I was too bright, for all the good that did me. Stupid idiot, the police caught him doing a job and told the gang leader. Yeah, that’s right.’ He looked scornfully at Seldon. ‘Most coppers were on the make in them days. Anyway, one night they came for Hilary, only he saw them coming and got away and fled the country.’ His eyes darkened. ‘But they found me and told me I’d have to take my big brother’s punishment.’ He paused and swallowed. He looked as if after all these years he was still reliving the memory in his mind.
‘They gave me the beating of my life.’

  Eleanor’s breath shortened. ‘I don’t believe Hilary knew that would happen.’

  His eyes flashed. ‘Who cares? He ran out on me just as he ran out on you. I was in hospital for three months. When I finally got out, I had to flee Brighton. I swore Hilary would pay one day. Then the war came along, but in between dodging bullets and praying the trenches wouldn’t collapse and bury me alive, I never forgot my big brother. After the war I drifted from town to town, petty thieving. Then I met a man who told me he’d gone from picking pockets on the street to stealing from the guests in the hotel where he worked. Much easier and richer pickings. I knew the gangs in Brighton had been wiped out by the war, so I returned and got myself a job in the first hotel that would take me. And then I worked my way up to the most expensive.’

  ‘The Grand,’ Eleanor said.

  ‘Yeah, the Grand. It was easy pickings. So long as I kept the amounts small and infrequent, the manager just compensated the guests in exchange for not making a fuss. All plush hotels do the same. They know some of their staff steal, but what with the roaming pickpockets and con artists who target guests as well, it’s too much trouble, and potential scandal, to root it out. Let sleeping dogs lie, is their motto.’

  Eleanor’s mind was churning all this over. ‘But it wasn’t coincidence Hilary came to stay at the Grand, was it? You told him to come, didn’t you?’

  Thomas nodded. ‘Four letters in fifteen years. That’s all I got from him. And the fourth was to tell me he was coming to England to put right his biggest wrong. Which was to his wife he’d only known for five minutes, not me, his only brother. Evidently the mess he left me in didn’t qualify as a “wrong”. That’s when I decided it was my chance to settle the score. So I told him to come stay at the Grand.’

  De Meyer’s voice made Eleanor jump. ‘Did you know he had the diamond with him?’

  He shook his head. ‘I offered to fiddle his bill because he said after he’d paid for the liner ticket he was skint. He told me, though, it wouldn’t be for long. He had something of massive value. I didn’t care about that at first, I just wanted to pay him back for the beating I took for him. I didn’t even mean to kill him in the beginning, but then I found out what he’d brought with him.’ Thomas’ eyes clouded over. ‘I’d be rich for life. All those posh guests who thought they were so much better than me. I would be richer than any of them. Then I’d look down on them and order them around!’