A Bloody Hot Summer

by Trevor D'Silva

  “Do you have any idea who would want to harm him?” Dermot asked.

  “No, Detective, he’s just a child. He said he was feeling better since he was taking his tonic every day. So I let him go horse riding with Pippa and Richard,” said Cora.

  “I must speak to Hector,” Dermot said. “Before that, I will speak to Charles. He may be able to tell me about the saddle… There’s just one more question, why does Mr. Seymour read the books from the library whenever he visits the manor?”

  Pippa seemed surprised at the question and replied that Richard liked reading books and, since he had no formal education, he didn’t have the chance to read them as a child. The only problem was that he could never remember where to keep them as Miss Carter had her own system of arranging them. Since she was particular about the way she had shelved them, she would get upset when Richard or anyone misplaced any book. Pippa sometimes felt that he purposely misplaced books and liked telling her about it, because he knew that Miss Carter did not like him and it aggravated her.

  “He just has a mischievous side to him, Detective,” she said, smiling for the first time.

  After bidding the two women goodbye, Dermot went out of the manor and walked down the hill to the stables. He saw Charles hauling hay as he approached the stables. He went to him and introduced himself. Charles dropped the bale of hay, wiped his hands on his handkerchief, and greeted Dermot.

  “Now, tell me about the saddle on Master Fitzhugh’s horse.”

  Charles looked upset. “I swear, Detective,” he said slowly, “that saddle was all right when I left ’ere.”

  Dermot nodded. “Who called you to the kitchen?”

  “That I don’t know,” Charles said, then he nodded towards the wall. “That panel there with them lights on and that bell, it connects to the servants’ dining room. When they need me, they ring it. The bell rings whatever light comes on. Saves time, you see; instead of walking down ’ere and callin’ me. That red light’s kitchen staff and heavy chores they can’t handle. That yellow light is the family needing me to drive ’em. I’m stable hand and driver here, you see. Today, the kitchen light came on.”

  “Interesting, and that happened just after Miss Fitzhugh came and told you to prepare the horses?”

  “About fifteen minutes after, I went t’kitchen as the red light came on.”

  “Strange. When you returned the horses were gone?”

  “Yes, I asked in the kitchen if they called me and everyone said they didn’t. I thought it was a joke, so I came back ’ere.”

  “When did you hear about the accident?”

  “Probably, half hour later. I saw Mr. Seymour riding his horse back t’wards the house. Miss Carter called me and I drove Mr. Seymour and Mr. Endecott t’where Miss Fitzhugh and her brother were.”

  “Did you hear or see anything out of the ordinary when you were getting the horses ready?”

  “No. But the night Lady Fitzhugh was murdered, the horses were agitated. They started neighing, then stopped. Then, hour later or so, they started again. Thought it was this heat, but maybe something must’ve upset them… And there was something else…”

  “What is it?”

  “May not be important, but when the horses started the first time, I looked out of me bedroom window and there were a candle being waved from the library window. I thought it was Slattery and went back t’sleep.”

  “Did you mention it to Slattery?”

  “Yes. After they found her Ladyship’s body, he came to tell me about the murder. I told him what I’d seen and he looked at me strange like. He didn’t say nothing; only smiled and went away.”

  The conversation with Slattery in the servants’ dining room flashed across Dermot’s mind. He remembered Slattery telling him that he did do his nocturnal rounds that night.

  “All right, Charles, I will check your story. Don’t disappear though. It won’t look good for you,” said Dermot.

  — — —

  As Dermot headed back to the manor, he thought about what Charles had told him. Charles seemed like an honest person. What possible motive would he have to cut the saddle strap and also lie that someone in the manor had called him to the kitchen? There had to be someone else involved. Was the murderer lurking near the stables on the night Lady Fitzhugh was murdered? It seemed like a lot of questions were coming up.

  Dermot met Constable Barnaby as he was walking towards the front door.

  “Ahh, Constable Barnaby, just the person I needed to talk to. I was told that Mr. Seymour was talking to you from the library window?”

  “Yes, that’s true. We spoke for quite a while. Strange how time flies when you’re talking to someone.”

  “What are you implying?”

  “I looked at my pocket watch before I started my rounds; it was exactly four p.m. When I was walking past the library window, I saw Mr. Seymour sitting by the window without his shirt on, reading and drinking tea. That may have been a few minutes after four. He told me why he was without his shirt and then we heard the clock strike four-thirty. Mr. Seymour told me that Miss Fitzhugh was knocking on the library door, so I left and walked around the building towards the kitchen. It seemed like we spoke for only a short time, but I suppose time does fly.”

  “Did you see Charles come out from the stables?”

  “Yes, we both did, and Mr. Seymour waved at him and he waved back.”

  “So you went around the manor and came back?”

  “Yes, but then Miss Carter came with lemonade and we talked for a few minutes. She’s so nice to Jenkins and me; always giving us something to drink and talking to us.”

  “Did you notice anything out of the ordinary while you were talking to any of them?”

  “No, I didn’t notice anything. It seemed like I spoke to Miss Carter for a long time, but the time seemed to pass really slowly.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “After I finished talking to Miss Carter, I went around the manor and saw Mr. Seymour, Miss Fitzhugh, and her brother walking towards the stables. I looked at my pocket watch and it was only four-forty.”

  “Strange… I think it is all relative,” said Dermot, shrugging his shoulders. “What did you and Miss Carter talk about?”

  “I told her that I had been talking to Mr. Seymour and she obviously gave her opinion about him. We all know that she doesn’t like him. She said what a mistake Miss Fitzhugh would make by marrying him and also how much Lady Fitzhugh despised him. She hoped he wasn’t making a mess of the library books that she had carefully arranged. We also talked about the weather. Then she excused herself saying that she had to attend to some chores and that she would get me more lemonade another time.”

  “Did anything else happen?” asked Dermot.

  “She seemed to stare for a moment while talking, like there was something happening behind me… But only the woods and the stables were behind me.”

  Dermot thanked him and walked to the kitchen to question Mrs. Withers. She admitted that Charles was in the kitchen asking who had summoned him, but everyone denied that any of them rang for him on the indicator board.

  Dermot asked Alice about the indicator board in the servants’ dining room. She took him there and showed him two boards.

  “This board ’ere ain’t the same as the one down in the stables. It connects to every room in the manor, as you can see on the board. The coloured disc moves under the room the person is ringin’ from. So when Mrs. Endecott wants someone in ’er room, she pulls the cord next to ’er bed and the disc moves under ’er room and then that there bell rings. The board down in the stables is only connected to ’ere.” She pointed to the second smaller
board with two buttons marked ‘Kitchen’ and ‘Driver’.

  “If we need Charles, then we press the button ’ere and then he knows that he is wanted in the kitchen. It’s instead of us walkin’ down to the stables, you see,” said Alice.

  “Who thought of this system?”

  “Slattery told me that when they was electrifying the manor a few years ago, Lady Fitzhugh asked the electricians to use this system to summon the person from the stables. She got the idea from the summoning bells they used to have in the old days apparently.”

  “By Jove, Lady Fitzhugh was an intelligent and remarkable woman,” said Dermot with admiration.

  “She was, sir. Mind you, you daren’t get on her wrong side. Irene Shaw was foolish stealin’ that necklace; dismissed without a reference she was.”

  “Did Slattery mention to you about seeing anything unusual when making his rounds on the night her Ladyship was murdered?”

  “He… he didn’t make his rounds that night.”

  “Why?”

  “After I found the body, he and Miss Carter brought me down to the servants’ dining room. When Miss Carter went to get me some tea, Mr. Slattery slammed the table with his fist. He said that if he hadn’t drunk the wine, then he would’ve gotten up like he usually did and probably could’ve prevented her Ladyship’s murder. But he only had one glass, like we all did. Miss Carter poured it out for us as she didn’t want us gettin’ drunk.”

  Dermot was now certain that Slattery had lied to him because he had known who the real murderer was. He thanked Alice and left.

  As he was leaving the kitchen, he almost bumped into Miss Carter. He apologised and asked her if she had seen anyone at the stables earlier when she was talking to Constable Barnaby.

  “No, Detective, I don’t think so… I cannot remember anything; I’m still in a state of shock at what happened to that poor boy.”

  “What’s your opinion of Charles?”

  Miss Carter looked upset. “That man is just trouble…” She looked up at Dermot. “If you ask me, that Charles is up to no good. He’s careless and I don’t know why he’s not been fired already… His carelessness almost cost Master Fitzhugh his life. If only Lady Fitzhugh were alive.” Then she choked up and got teary eyed.

  Dermot comforted Miss Carter and said that he would find who tried to kill Hector.

  — — —

  Dermot went upstairs and knocked on Hector’s bedroom door. Hector asked him to come in. Dermot opened the door and entered. Hector was in bed, with his right hand bandaged and his face bruised.

  “How are you, Hector? Some nasty fall, eh?”

  Hector moved a bit and tried to smile. “It hurts, but the doctor said that I’ll be all right.”

  “That’s nice… Is it okay to ask you a few questions?”

  “Sure. I’m not going anywhere.”

  Dermot smiled, took a chair, and sat next to the bed. “Now… How did you know about Pippa and Mr. Seymour going horse riding?”

  “Pippa told Miss Carter to ask me whether I would like to go riding with them. She knows that I like riding my horse, Lightning.”

  Dermot asked Hector to tell him about his accident. Hector looked blank for a second and told Dermot that he never suspected anything. It was only while the horse was gaining speed that he suddenly felt the saddle slipping and then it was too late. Before he could react, he was on the ground and Pippa was by his side. The next thing he remembered was waking up in his bed.

  “Pippa told me that you held her hand and didn’t want her to leave your side when Mr. Seymour suggested that she go get help.”

  “Yes, now I remember. You know, Detective, I may be young, but I know a lot of things. This is the first time that any man has shown great interest in Pippa. She always does what Richard tells her to do. I think she’s afraid of losing him, if you know what I mean. I know he loves her because on the night that he was here for the first time, I was sent to bed early and I couldn’t sleep. So I snuck down to the library to get a book and then I heard footsteps. I hid behind the curtain by the window and I slowly looked to see who it was. I saw Richard coming into the library. He went to the book shelf and put a note in one of the books.”

  “Does Pippa read any books from the library?” asked Dermot, bewildered.

  “She used to read sometimes, but hardly anyone else ever reads those books, especially with Miss Carter complaining if they haven’t been placed back in the proper order.”

  “Did you tell anyone about Richard leaving that note in the book?”

  “No, I know that my aunts don’t like Richard and Mother doesn’t either, but she is happy that someone is finally interested in Pippa. She wants Pippa to get married and for me to inherit this place.”

  Dermot smiled at Hector. He could see that Hector was an astute child.

  “And… did you see what was in that note?”

  Hector smiled boyishly. “No, Detective. Pippa would have been upset with me if I did that. Please don’t tell her what I saw.”

  “I won’t… but why leave a message in a book when he could tell her in person?”

  Hector shrugged his shoulders. “Lovers have their own way of communicating.”

  Dermot chuckled and then noticed the washbasin in the bathroom and realised that he was thirsty. He asked Hector if he could drink from the tap and Hector told him to use the glass from the medicine cabinet. Dermot opened the cabinet and took the glass. As he was about to open the tap, he smelled something. He bent towards the sink and found that the smell came from there. It brought back memories of a tonic given to him as a child. After drinking the water, he opened the medicine cabinet and took the bottle marked ‘Fowler’s Solution’.

  “Hector,” he said, walking back towards the boy. “You’ve been a naughty boy, haven’t you? You’ve not been taking your tonic.”

  “How did you know?” asked Hector, startled.

  “The washbasin smells of it. You put a spoonful of it in your mouth when your mother is looking and then slowly spit it into the sink – am I right?”

  Hector looked at Dermot in stunned disbelief.

  “You’re right,” Hector said with a sheepish grin. “I hate the taste, but I’ve noticed that ever since I stopped taking the tonic, I’ve been feeling better. I know it’s strange, but I’ve been trying to tell Mum that and she never listens.”

  “Mothers are like that.”

  Dermot looked at the tonic bottle and smiled. He asked Hector if he could take the bottle with him. Hector said he could since Dr. Fielding had given him medicines for his current injuries. Dermot hid the bottle inside his coat pocket and told Hector not to tell anyone that he had taken it. He bid Hector goodbye and left the room.

  — — —

  Half an hour later, Dermot was at Inspector Enderby’s office. He produced the tonic bottle and Inspector Enderby gave him a quizzical look.

  “It’s Hector’s tonic bottle. I need to get it tested.”

  “For what?”

  “I don’t know, but I have a hunch. Something that Hector said to me tells me that we need to test the contents of this bottle. I’m not sure what will be found, but we’ll know the answer as to why Hector was getting worse when he took the tonic.”

  “All right! I will have the chemist at the hospital test it. Your hunch better be right.”

  “I hope so. If not, then I must stop detecting,” Dermot said with a grin.

  Chapter 13: What’s in the Tonic?

  The next morning, while having breakfast, Dermot received a phone call. After listening to what Inspector Enderby had to say, Dermot went to the breakfast tabl
e, drank his coffee, took a piece of toast, and ran out, leaving his parents speechless.

  Ten minutes later, he was pulling up in front of Meadowford Hospital. Inspector Enderby was waiting for him in the car park.

  “I came as soon as I could. What did the chemist find?”

  “He hasn’t told me everything but, like I mentioned on the phone, he will have to explain his findings to us.”

  They walked into the building and towards the laboratory. On the way, Inspector Enderby told Dermot that Dr. Heathcliff was the chemist who worked at the hospital and that he also helped the Meadowford police with any chemical analyses they needed, instead of sending the samples to London. They knocked on the laboratory door and went in. Dr. Heathcliff turned around and greeted them. He was in his forties, of medium height, and his brown hair was starting to go grey at the temples.

  Inspector Enderby greeted Dr. Heathcliff and introduced Dermot to him.

  “Detective Carlyle, you were right indeed. There was an excess of a necessary ingredient in the tonic.”

  Dermot smiled, but at the same time he was becoming impatient with Dr. Heathcliff since he was not very forthcoming with the details. “What do you mean by a necessary ingredient?”

  “I used the Marsh Test to see if the tonic contained what I suspected. I was not disappointed with the results. The test came out positive for arsenic.”

  “Arsenic?” asked Inspector Enderby.

  “Yes, but it was carefully administered. Fowler’s Solution has arsenic in it. It is an important ingredient for making the tonic. The normal concentration would be approximately 7.6 grammes per litre. However, tests on this solution revealed that the concentration was higher than the prescribed limit.”

  “Isn’t arsenic poisonous?”

  “Not in small quantities,” Dr. Heathcliff explained. “Homeopaths also use arsenic in their medicines. It’s actually good for you in small quantities.”