Murder in the Servants' Hall

by Addison, Margaret

  ‘Good for her!’ said Rose. ‘No,’ she raised her hand as her friend made to protest, ‘but seriously, Lavinia. I think she did the right thing. Telling the inspector, I mean. It was bound to come out in the end, and think how bad it would have looked for her if she had kept quiet.’

  ‘I suppose you’re right,’ admitted Lavinia rather grudgingly. ‘But she made me look a fool and I won’t forgive her that lightly, I can tell you.’ She turned to face the mirror again and patted her hair. ‘There was something else I wanted to tell you. Now, what was it?’ She paused in the act of pinning a stray curl. ‘Oh, I remember. All this blackmail business didn’t start last night like she told us. It had been going on a week or so.’

  If Lavinia had hoped such news would produce a reaction from her friend, then she was to be disappointed, for Rose showed little, if any, surprise.

  ‘I thought as much. I searched Cooper’s room and her wardrobe was stuffed with Millicent’s dresses. I didn’t think she could have taken them all last night.’

  ‘Millicent said she was too embarrassed and a little afraid to tell us the truth this morning. That her lady’s maid had been blackmailing her for some time, I mean. I say, Rose,’ said Lavinia, lowering her voice slightly, which seemed an unnecessary precaution given that they were alone, ‘you’ll think I’m being frightfully mean, but I did wonder if there was any truth in –’

  ‘If there was any substance to the blackmail allegation?’ asked Rose. ‘Yes, I wondered that myself and then dismissed the idea. I suppose it is possible that Millicent might have been seduced by Albert in a moment of weakness, but I think it highly unlikely. For one thing, I don’t think she would have chosen a man like him. She’d find his looks too intimidating and his manner too familiar. Anyway, she doesn’t strike me as the type of woman to have affairs. And remember, she’s only been married a few months.’

  ‘Yes, it’s hardly very likely, is it?’ agreed Lavinia. ‘It was just a thought, that’s all.’

  ‘One thing I have found out is that Albert appears to have been carrying on an affair with Cooper.’

  ‘No! I thought he and the other girl, Martha, were sweethearts. No wonder the girl always looks so upset.’

  ‘I’m not sure she knew anything about it. But it does make you wonder, doesn’t it? It would give her a very good motive for wishing Cooper dead. I don’t know how long it had been going on. The discovery was only made yesterday. Agnes happened to open the door to the library and caught them in a passionate embrace. I say, if Cooper and Albert were lovers, they may well have concocted the blackmail business between them. Cooper catching Albert and Millicent together like that, I mean. It could all have been part of an elaborate plan.’

  ‘Poor Millicent. First she is blackmailed and then her diamond necklace is stolen.’

  ‘Yes, she hasn’t had much luck since her marriage, has she?’

  ‘Rose,’ said Lavinia excitedly, a sudden thought having just occurred to her. ‘You don’t think she gave Cooper the diamond necklace to keep her quiet, do you? Perhaps it was never stolen at all.’

  ‘No, I don’t’ said Rose, ‘She could have reasoned with herself that it was usual for a mistress to pass on clothes to her lady’s maid, convinced herself that she wasn’t really being blackmailed. But think about it, Lavinia. A diamond necklace is a very different kettle of fish. Firstly, it is valuable and, in the case of the necklace in question, it had belonged to her husband’s first wife. Knowing Millicent as we do, she wouldn’t have thought it hers to give. And, even if she had, why would she then ask us to investigate its disappearance? It wouldn’t make any sense. She wouldn’t want us to find out the truth. And why draw everyone’s attention to the fact that the necklace was missing in the first place? There was nothing to prevent her from giving Mason an empty jewellery box to put back in the safe cabinet. Surely that is what she would have done if she intended on disposing of the necklace to Cooper. No one would have been any the wiser. It might have been months before it was discovered that the necklace was missing, if at all. And remember it was also she who decided to retrieve the necklace from the safe only a few minutes after she had deposited it there. Why would she do that if she knew for a fact it wasn’t there?’ Rose stared at Lavinia’s disappointed face. ‘Of course, that doesn’t mean that Albert or Cooper, or both of them together, didn’t steal the necklace.’

  ‘Of course you are quite right, you always are,’ said Lavinia, taking a sip of her tea. ‘So she didn’t fake the disappearance of her necklace. I say, Rose, you don’t think she could be the murderer do you? She may have thought Cooper might become greedy and demand something more valuable than a couple of old dresses.’

  ‘Cooper didn’t take Millicent’s old dresses,’ said Rose. ‘Remember, I had a look in Cooper’s wardrobe. She’d chosen her best dresses, including the blue silk satin gown Millicent wore last night.’

  ‘The darned cheek of the woman!’ exclaimed Lavinia with feeling. ‘Why, I think Milly is well rid of her.’ Her face turned pale as she realised what she had said. ‘I didn’t really mean –’

  ‘It certainly would give Millicent a good motive for killing her lady’s maid,’ Rose said. ‘A woman like Cooper wouldn’t have been satisfied with dresses for long, even if they were good ones. Remember what her aspirations were, Lavinia. She needed money for that. More than she’d get for a few splendid gowns. It was only a matter of time before she asked for money. Millicent would have known that.’

  ‘Look here, Rose. You can’t really think that Millicent would kill her maid? Why, the woman’s frightened of her own shadow; she wouldn’t say boo to a goose. Of course I haven’t killed anyone myself, but I’d have said it would take some nerve. Not Millicent’s sort of thing at all. The woman would go completely to pieces. She’d confess to the crime immediately.’

  ‘According to you, that’s what she did do. At least one could argue that she as good as confessed by admitting that she and Cooper were enemies, and that she had good cause for wishing the woman dead.’

  ‘I don’t believe a word of it,’ said Lavinia. ‘I’ve never heard such rot. Really, Rose, if that’s the best you –’

  ‘All I’m saying at this stage is that Millicent had a decent motive. But she certainly wasn’t the only one. Martha might have discovered that Cooper was carrying on with her sweetheart and killed her in a fit of jealousy, and likewise Albert may have wanted to stop Cooper from telling Martha about their affair. I daresay I’ll find that some of the others had motives for wishing her dead too. She wasn’t very well liked.’

  ‘Well, it serves her jolly well right, if you ask me. Cooper, I mean. If anyone deserved to be murdered –’

  ‘Anyway, you needn’t worry about Millicent,’ said Rose, quickly interrupting what she feared would be another rant. ‘There is a very good reason why she could not have killed her lady’s maid even if she had wanted to do so.’

  ‘Oh?’

  ‘If you remember, the servants were unable to go into the main house at night. Mason saw to it that all the doors were locked. Which means, of course, that Millicent would not have been able to get into the servants’ quarters to kill Cooper.’

  ‘The key!’ exclaimed Lavinia. Her hand had sprung to her mouth and there was a look of horror on her face. ‘I forgot to tell you about the key. The inspector asked Millicent whether she knew if Edwin had a key to the servants’ quarters. Apparently, he thought it strange that there should only be one key; in case of a fire and all that.’

  ‘Oh? What was her reply?’ asked Rose, with some misgivings. She had an inkling what Lavinia was going to say even before she opened her mouth.

  ‘That her husband kept a spare key in a drawer in his dressing room. Millicent even offered to show the inspector which compartment.’

  ‘I see.’

  ‘Oh, what exactly do you see?’ cried Lavinia with frustration. ‘That Millicent Grayson-Smith is a very silly woman who is determined to get herself hanged?’

&nbs
p; ‘Or a very clever woman pretending to be stupid.’

  ‘Huh!’ said Lavinia dismissively. ‘You haven’t had to sit with her for hours on end. Believe me, if you had, you would be left in very little doubt about the extent of that woman’s mental abilities.’

  ‘You’re probably right. But it does mean that she had the same opportunity as the servants to carry out the crime, and of course she did have a motive. So we can’t rule her out quite yet, I’m afraid.’

  There followed rather an uncomfortable silence, relieved only by Lavinia’s occasional banging down of a hairbrush or comb on the dressing table surface.

  ‘Oh, please don’t sulk,’ said Rose finally, helping herself to another cup of tea. ‘It’s bad enough downstairs. Apart from Edna and Pearl, I don’t think anyone else wants me there. I feel like I am intruding on other people’s grief.’

  ‘Well, they most probably think you did it,’ sniffed Lavinia, ‘Murdered the lady’s maid.’ But she brightened considerably, and there was a twinkle in her eye.

  ‘I bet they do wish I was the murderer,’ said Rose. ‘It would make it much easier for them if they thought it wasn’t one of them. It’s not knowing whom to trust that’s so awful. Mrs Field is insisting that the younger maids do their jobs in pairs. They even have to accompany each other to the lavatory.’

  ‘Doesn’t anyone have any suspicions?’

  ‘Well, both Mason and Mrs Field think that Albert did it, though they won’t say as much. At least not to me. Agnes also thinks Albert did it on account of him and Cooper being lovers. I think even Martha fears he may be implicated.’

  ‘Poor Albert. I almost feel sorry for him,’ said Lavinia. ‘I say, it would be a bit hard on him if we find he’s innocent.’ She gave Rose a hard look. ‘Do you think he did it?’

  ‘Well, I certainly think he’s quite capable of doing it. He is completely unscrupulous and he has a wicked temper, as I know to my cost.’

  ‘Were you very frightened when you were alone with him in Cooper’s room?’

  ‘Yes, I was. He wanted to hit me, I could see it in his eyes. But then fortunately he thought better of it. If he had been sufficiently provoked by Cooper, I don’t think he would have hesitated to kill her. Not if he felt threatened.’

  ‘You haven’t really told me what you found out,’ said Lavinia. ‘I’ve told you all about the key and Cooper having blackmailed Millicent for longer than she said. You’ve only told me about Albert disturbing your search of Cooper’s room and that he and Cooper were secret sweethearts. Haven’t you found out anything else?’

  ‘Well, yes I have,’ said Rose. She put her shoes on and started to pace the room. ‘If you remember, it was Pearl, the scullery maid, who found the body. She shares a room with Edna, the girl I told you about who was a maid at Ashgrove House. Edna thought at first that Pearl might have been dreaming when she told her about finding the corpse. So Edna went down to make sure there really was a body in the servants’ hall before she woke up Mrs Field.’

  ‘What of it?’ said Lavinia, sounding a little bored.

  ‘Well, I asked her if she remembered anything unexpected, or which struck her as a little odd. And she said that now she came to think of it, Cooper had been wearing a coat.’

  ‘Is it chilly in the servants’ hall? Perhaps she was cold.’

  ‘I wouldn’t have said it was, not especially. And she wouldn’t have put it on to go outside to smoke a cigarette because she didn’t smoke. Anyway, the butler had already locked the doors by the time I returned to the servants’ hall. He told me so. He’d just locked up after Albert. Mason told me that he was just waiting for Cooper to return and then he intended to retire for the night.’

  ‘Didn’t Cooper walk down with you?’ Lavinia asked, surprised. ‘She came out of Millicent’s room at about the same time that you left mine. I saw her in the corridor.’

  ‘No. She said she wanted to go to her room first.’

  ‘Well, there you are. She was getting her coat.’

  ‘No. I think she went to her room to do something else. She went back later to get her coat. But the point is, why was she found in the servants’ hall wearing it?’

  Lavinia shrugged. ‘I’ve already told you. She was feeling the cold.’

  ‘I think she was planning to leave Crossing Manor that night.’

  ‘What? Well, what about the locked doors?’ objected Lavinia. ‘How did she intend to get out?’

  ‘She could have taken the spare key from Mr Grayson-Smith’s dressing room. If Millicent knew about the key, it’s possible that Cooper did too. All she had to do was take it at some point during the day. She would have had plenty of opportunities to do so.’

  ‘But the key was still there. One of the sergeants went to have a look for it as soon as Millicent mentioned its existence.’

  ‘The murderer could have put it back.’ Rose leaned forward. ‘Do you know what else I think, Lavinia?’

  ‘No, but I’m sure you’re going to tell me.’

  ‘I think Cooper had arranged to meet someone in the servants’ hall after all the staff had retired for the night. Someone who was intent on leaving the house with her.’

  ‘You surely don’t mean Albert?’ Lavinia’s eyes were wide in disbelief.

  ‘Yes, I do. Agnes had caught Albert and Cooper embracing in the library yesterday. She says that she closed the door as soon as she saw them and that they didn’t see her. But that does not mean they didn’t know they had been spotted. Agnes had just had a severe shock as you might imagine. I doubt she closed the door very quietly behind her. I think, in all probability, that Albert and Cooper heard the door close and realised they had been found out.’

  ‘So they decided to leave Crossing Manor last night?’

  ‘Yes. They knew there would be all hell to pay if they didn’t.’

  ‘You mean they would have been dismissed?’ asked Lavinia. ‘I say, that does sound rather harsh. I realise there would have been some unpleasantness. I daresay that poor girl Martha would have been frightfully upset but –’

  ‘I think there was another reason why they wanted to leave Crossing Manor.’

  ‘Oh?’

  ‘I believe at least one of them was responsible for the theft of Millicent’s diamond necklace. I think they wanted to get it out of the house before anyone could stop them.’

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Not wishing to encounter Albert on the servants’ stairs, Rose took a chance and hurried down the main staircase. Despite Lavinia’s protests to the contrary, she felt she had been gone from the servants’ quarters for far too long. She was likely to be missed, particularly by Mrs Field and Mason as they tried desperately to maintain order and decorum in what was a horrendous situation, striking as it did at the very core of their world. For a moment, she considerably aged them in her mind and thought of them as two old retainers desperately trying to cling on to the traditions and morals of the past in an ever changing world. She reasoned it would not be long before the life they had known and worked towards had ceased to exist or, at the very least, dwindled into a mere shadow of its former self. The days of a house full of servants were coming to an end. She wondered whether the murder in the servants’ hall would accelerate the rate of change in this particular house. Would Mrs Field and Mason have trouble recruiting staff, or conversely would new servants be drawn to Crossing Manor solely because of its macabre association with death?

  Reaching the bottom step, she sighed. She must free her head of such thoughts and distractions, and focus her attention instead on catching the murderer and the thief, who might, or might not, be one and the same person. Try as she might, she could not rid herself of the feeling that there was a connection between the two crimes, that the theft had precipitated the murder or, at the very least, had in some way contributed to the lady’s maid’s death.

  She glanced furtively at the library door, which was steadfastly closed, and wondered idly whom the police were interviewing at that very mome
nt. Who was sitting nervously in the seat that she had not so very long ago vacated, twisting their hands in their lap or looking resolutely forward? Suddenly she gave a start. For, unless her eyes were deceiving her, the door was opening, as if of its own accord. Momentarily she was mesmerised, frozen where she was on that last step, wondering if the concentration of her thoughts had in some way depressed the door handle and caused it to open.

  In light of her previous experience, she did not much relish the prospect of another encounter with the policemen. It was unfortunate then that, by the time she had recovered her wits sufficiently, it was too late to make a dash for the green baize door. She felt much like an animal caught in a trap. They would see her as soon as they came out of the library. They would catch her loitering on the stairs and be reminded of her purpose for being in the house. In her mind’s eye she saw Sergeant Harris’ contemptuous sneer and the inspector’s worried frown. Worst of all, however, she knew it would provide them with an opportunity to renew their calls that she should leave.

  It was, therefore, something of a relief when only Sergeant Perkins emerged from the library. He saw her at once, and quickly closed the door behind him, lest she be spotted by the others. Instinctively she ran to him.

  ‘Quickly, I must talk to you. I need to ask you something,’ said Rose. ‘But not here.’

  She looked wildly about her. The entrance hall appeared empty, but it was just possible that someone might be on the landing above or lurking in one of the rooms that led off the hall, with the door ajar. Her thoughts flew rapidly until they settled on Edwin Grayson-Smith’s study, which was certain to be empty for the man himself had yet to return. Grabbing Sergeant Perkins rather unceremoniously by the arm, she marched him across the hall and led him into the study, closing the door firmly behind them.