The Good Wife

by Jane A. Adams

  Grace busied herself with pouring tea and Mickey sensed she felt better keeping her hands occupied and her face turned away from them. ‘I don’t want to gossip,’ she said softly, ‘but that Mrs Mason, she was a lovely lady, really nice and always kind to me and Maudie. Maudie lives in at the Phillipses. So I don’t want to speak ill of her, and I certainly don’t want to speak ill of the dead.’ She paused and handed Henry his tea. ‘It’s unlucky to speak ill of the dead,’ she added.

  ‘But the dead can’t speak for themselves,’ Mickey told her. ‘So it’s up to those still living to do it for them. And if you know something that had a bearing on Mrs Mason’s death—’

  Grace looked at her mother who nodded firmly. ‘You’ve started now, my girl – you shouldn’t start anything you can’t finish.’

  Grace picked up a cup and saucer with hands that were trembling slightly and handed this to Mickey. Her mother leaned forward and helped herself.

  ‘Mr and Mrs Mason seemed like a lovely couple,’ she said. ‘But Mrs Mason was a very pretty lady, and sometimes men would not leave her alone. They would wait till her husband was out of the way and then make nuisances of themselves, say things that … that you really should not say to a respectable lady. Make suggestions.’

  ‘With this at the Phillips’ house?’

  ‘Yes, but not just there. You see, sometimes Mrs Phillips took us, me and Maudie, to help out at functions. Charity events and the like, when they needed extra service. She used to tell us to keep at arm’s length from the men because she said when men have had a drink inside them, they can be like octopuses. I’m sure I’ve never seen an octopus, but I now know what she means. Like they have limbs everywhere. And girls in service, they think we’re fair game.’

  ‘And I’ve always told Grace, an accidental heel in the instep will slow just about any of that down. The man catches you off balance and you happen to step back, well, it’s his fault, isn’t it?’

  ‘It is indeed,’ Mickey agreed. ‘And how did Mrs Mason cope with their attention? Were there any particular men?’

  ‘Mrs Mason always behaved like a lady and once when someone was really bothering me, she came over and she took them away, and she told them to leave me alone and most of the time … most of the time she managed to keep them at a respectable distance, if you know what I mean. But some men, they won’t take no.’

  Again, she glanced at her mother for reassurance. ‘Get along girl, these gentlemen don’t have all night.’

  ‘And in particular?’ Mickey asked. He drained his cup and set it down on the tray. ‘Which men were in particular annoying?’

  ‘Well, of course there was Mr Benson, but he was like that with all the ladies. Especially when he got a drink or two inside him. Not that I’ve ever seen him when he hasn’t had a drink or two inside him. Even when he rides to hounds, I don’t think he’s sober then.’ She bit her lip and added, ‘I wouldn’t talk out of turn like this, but you two are police, not people, if you get my meaning.’

  Mickey told her that he did. ‘And apart from Mr Benson.’

  ‘Mum.’ Grace looked really uncomfortable now.

  Her mother sighed heavily. ‘She don’t like to say, seeing it’s her employer she’s talking about.’

  ‘Mr Phillips?’

  ‘The very one. Persistent, that’s what you call it. Persistent. Especially when his poor lady was expecting her last one, heavy like she was expecting twins she was. And from very early on. We reckoned she be having twins but it just goes to show, you never can tell, little Noah was the sweetest, tiniest little imp of a thing, but Mr Phillips was a flaming nuisance all the way through. Thinks just because a girl is in his house that he has the right to put his hands anywhere.’

  ‘Mum!’ Grace was blushing.

  ‘Well, he did. If it had carried on then, I would have made Grace find another position somewhere. As it was, I had a quiet word with Mrs Mason who had a quiet word with Mrs Phillips and it all stopped.’

  ‘But I thought it would get me the sack,’ Grace said.

  ‘Better to get the sack than end up in it,’ Nelly said sternly. ‘You’ve got a nice young man sweet on you and when you’ve got money together between you, then you’ll marry respectably. For now you have a secure position but that doesn’t mean you should end up like that poor girl that worked for Mr Benson.’

  Grace looked distinctly uncomfortable now.

  ‘And did you get the impression that Mr Phillips got his way with Mrs Mason?’

  ‘I wouldn’t like to say.’

  ‘Of course you wouldn’t. I can understand that you don’t like to gossip. You have to understand that this is a murder enquiry and you must not withhold anything that might be evidence.’

  Grace swallowed nervously. ‘I saw them once. She was in Mr Phillips’ study and he had her pinned up against the desk. She had her hands on his shoulders like she was going to push him away but … but it was more playful, like. I thought she must be flirting with him and I thought to myself, Gracie, she’s playing a dangerous game. But he was saying things to her like, you know we’ve always looked after you and Clive. You’ve got a lot to be grateful to us for, and I thought that was a really underhanded thing to say. I really, really did.’

  ‘And him, playing like he’s so respectable,’ Nelly said.

  ‘And did you get the impression that things went further?’

  ‘I don’t know, sir.’ She looked even more uncomfortable now as though she was regretting this decision to say anything. ‘You must think I’m a terrible gossip. I’m really not. It’s just that Mr Clive, Mr Mason, he’s been staying at the Phillipses and he’s been so unhappy. He misses her so much and he’s so full of praise for the Phillipses being kind to him and it just went against the grain, you know? Knowing what Mr Phillips really wanted in return for the kindness. Is it really kindness if it’s got so many strings attached, that’s what I want to know.’

  Nellie Richardson stood up and began to collect the pots together, stacking cups and saucers back on to the tray and it was clear that she considered her daughter had done her duty and that was an end to it. ‘I’m sure we can to rely on these gentlemen’s discretion,’ she said. ‘Now you know about this, I’m sure we can rely on you for it not to have come from our Gracie. There will be other people will have seen and other people will gossip about it. And if you want evidence of more people gossiping about it, then you need to go and talk to old Miss Styles. She had words to Mr Phillips on more than one occasion for inappropriate behaviour.’ She put great emphasis on the last two words and Mickey suspected that she had heard them from someone else and purloined them for her own use.

  Henry stood and picked up his hat. ‘Thank you for the information,’ he said. ‘If I might just ask one question. You talked about Mr Benson and that he has a reputation with the ladies and that he has—’

  ‘Got more than one into trouble,’ Nelly confirmed. ‘One went away claiming she got a job somewhere else, but we all knew. You could see from her face when she came home again. And another, poor little thing, well, she disappeared altogether. Her mother was heartbroken. Rumour has it she went to see some woman, you know, some … woman who promised to help out. All I know is she never came back home and her mother was never the same again. Nor her father. They kept saying she’d just gone away, gone to stay with an aunt or something.’

  ‘And she might have done.’ Mickey felt the need to play devil’s advocate.

  ‘Seeing as both her mother and her father were only children, I very much doubt that.’

  They left the Richardsons’ home with the names of the girls that Benson was accused of getting in the family way, though what they were going to do with those names Mickey really had no idea. Tragic as the consequences might have been, unless the fate of the second young woman turned into a bone fide murder enquiry, it wasn’t really in their purview.

  ‘So, Dr Phillips was after his friend’s wife,’ Mickey commented.

  ‘So it wou
ld seem. I wonder if he got his way.’

  ‘We’ve not yet considered the blackmail angle.’

  ‘Do you think it’s worth considering? If she ended up having an affair with either of these men, and we certainly know that she had an affair with Benson, it’s unlikely she would blackmail him to keep quiet about something that implicated her as well. Or do you mean that Phillips or Benson might have been involved with someone else? Someone who might cause trouble if their relationship with Martha came out? To do so would surely have laid herself open to accusations. Either Benson or Phillips might have sought to ruin her by letting her husband know or simply beginning some vitriolic talk about her. You know how fast gossip spreads, even gossip that has no foundation. And as a doctor’s wife, she needed to be seen to be a pillar of the community, especially in a small town such as this where everybody appears to know everybody.’ ‘True enough, I just think we should keep all angles open. It will be interesting to see what further information arrives concerning M. Giles Esq. and Conway, the private enquiry agent.’

  NINE

  The following morning Mickey took himself off to the local chemist who had promised him space for the processing of his crime scene film, the wonderful timbered construction that was the Saracen’s Head having no facility that even the usually ingenious Mickey could improvise as a darkroom. The Tudor building had small rooms and plumbing that was basic and somewhat scant, and Mickey could not justify inconveniencing a number of guests, just so that he could process his film in a bathroom. He had been told by the pharmacist that several gentlemen of the press had made similar arrangements and that he had charged each of them a small fee, just to cover the inconvenience.

  Apart from the fingerprint camera, which was Metropolitan Police issue, most of the camera equipment that Mickey used belonged to Henry. Mickey travelled well-equipped but there was a limit to the gear that two men could transport. Mickey was therefore glad to make use of the kind offer from the pharmacist to make use of a back room – especially as he had said that he would waive his fee for the murder detectives.

  Henry, meantime, had taken the advice of the redoubtable Nellie Richardson and had gone back to see Miss Styles.

  ‘You were lucky to find me in,’ Miss Styles told him. ‘I usually reserve my morning for visiting, whether people wish to receive the visit or not,’ she chuckled to herself. ‘One of the few advantages of old age, Inspector, is that when you choose to do exactly what you wish, people put it down to venerable eccentricity and not just what might be termed bloody-mindedness.’

  ‘It’s probably fair to say that most people we visit do not wish to receive one,’ he said.

  ‘I imagine not. However, I am not most people and I am quite happy to receive you. But I don’t imagine you have come here purely to be social, so what can I help you with?’

  ‘It seems to me that Martha Mason confided in you perhaps more than was usual. You knew, for example that she was having this relationship—’

  ‘Relationship is that what you call it. You are too kind or too sentimental, Inspector.’

  ‘You told us you didn’t know she was involved with Mr Harry Benson. In fact, you claimed not to know who she was having a relationship with. But I believe you had your suspicions regarding who that might be. Did you suspect that she was having an affair with Dr Phillips?’

  Miss Styles tapped her fingers impatiently on the arm of her chair and considered the inspector thoughtfully. ‘I thought it was possible. Yes. But I didn’t know for certain, you understand. Martha did whatever she had to do to survive,’ she said. ‘As a young woman with few advantages apart from her own common sense and intelligence and a measure of attractiveness, she made shift where and how she could. My consideration is that she did so honestly.’

  ‘Which does not answer my question. It has been drawn to my attention that Dr Phillips may have—’

  ‘Oh, Dr Phillips certainly wanted to,’ she said. ‘Dr Phillips was … Well, he behaved very badly, that’s all I can say. Clive Mason was meant to be his friend. His close friend. His confidant. Clive Mason helped every way he could to help Phillips set up in business. And yes, I’ve no doubt that the Phillipses helped the Masons. He put the odd patient Clive Mason’s way, and he opened doors for them that would otherwise have been closed because of a lack of funds, such as places on the relevant hospital committees. And of course, that meant that Martha particularly was known to those in the social positions she might not otherwise have had access to. Believe me, Ephraim Phillips got his rewards, he demanded his own pound of flesh from Martha and had from Clive too, though the man probably doesn’t realize it.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Oh dear. Inspector, have you ever noticed the way that servants are ignored? That most people who should really know better will speak in front of servants as though they were invisible and deaf.’

  Henry nodded.

  ‘When one reaches a certain age one is completely treated as though one is a servant. Ignored, humoured, spoken to as though one needs a hearing trumpet even though my hearing is perfectly good. Placed in a position where it seems not to matter if conversations are overheard. After all I am a foolish old woman, what could I possibly know? What could I possibly do?’

  ‘Then they are the fools,’ Henry told her.

  Georgia Styles reached over and patted his hand. ‘A very correct answer,’ she said. ‘I’m sure your mother must be very proud of you.’

  ‘I would hope she might be,’ Henry said honestly. ‘I would have liked her to have survived to be proud of me.’

  ‘Well, that is something I am sorry for. But I won’t waste platitudes on you. I have overheard conversations that unfortunately I can do little with, but which do beg questions. I know for example that Ephraim Phillips palmed off the dead and the dying on to Dr Mason, as long as they were not likely to leave a large bequest, of course. The elderly must be rich and polite to remain on Dr Phillips’ list. My dear, I may be rich but I’m certainly not polite and will not be fobbed off with sugar pills and nerve tonics which, if I’m frank, is all Dr Phillips bothers to prescribe for his more senior patients. That of course and large doses of morphine for when he decides their time has come, whether they are particularly ready to shuffle off this mortal coil or not.’

  Henry frowned. ‘I’m not sure what you mean.’

  ‘Oh, come on, man, you’re not an idiot. Old folk like me, we can become a burden to the young who wish to get their hands on whatever it is we plan to leave them in our wills. I am fortunate. My mind is clear and my body usually does what I wish it to do, as long as I don’t overtax it and I get my afternoon nap and my glass of sherry before dinner and a glass of port before sleep. But there are many of the elderly who have become an inconvenience, both to themselves and their families. Their minds are gone, their bodies frail and the sooner they remove themselves from this life the happier the heirs will be. It’s no secret that Dr Phillips dispenses morphine with a very open hand. He would tell you it is for pain relief and of course some of it is, but he also administers it with, shall we say, a very heavy hand and does not discourage the relatives from giving a little extra, say in a glass of brandy, for comfort, you understand.’

  ‘That is a considerable accusation to make.’

  ‘It is, isn’t it? But consider this, young man. I switched my allegiance from Ephraim Phillips to Dr Clive Mason something over a year ago when three of my oldest friends, who might not have been in the best of health but who still enjoyed life to the full, left this world in very, very quick succession. And guess what, our Dr Phillips was each time rewarded by the family for his kindness and consideration. That kindness and consideration, to my reckoning, added up to several thousand pounds. Now you tell me, Inspector, if that does not look suspicious. Martha certainly thought it did. Ah, that’s perked you up. Yes, I did tell Martha of my suspicions and yes she did take notice.’

  ‘When was this?’

  ‘Earlier this year, I went to
a funeral in January that particularly upset me. Martha was also in attendance and she came home with me after. I’m afraid I rather let the cat out of the bag at that point. I confess that I cried in front of her, which is not something I’m in the habit of doing, Inspector. I believe in keeping a tight rein on my emotions.’

  ‘And did you think that Martha acted on your suspicions?’

  Again the fingers tapped upon the chair, but then Georgia Styles nodded. ‘She said she still had contact with a private enquiry agent and that she had some skill in this field herself. That before her marriage her life had been quite eventful. She said she would do what she could to look into this but without raising suspicion. She also said that Ephraim Phillips would not see it as strange if suddenly she took an interest in him. The same interest that he has tried to encourage previously. The man is arrogant enough to believe that she had simply changed her mind.

  ‘But I spoke of conversations overheard, did I not? And one of these conversations was between Martha and Ephraim Phillips. I overheard him say to her that she must find her marriage a very barren one and that no woman could go for long without the attentions of a man. That it was unhealthy.’

  ‘And how did she respond to that? Did she defend her marriage?’

  ‘Oh yes. She said that she was in love with her husband, deeply in love – and if you had seen them together, Inspector, you would have no doubt of that.’

  ‘But—’

  ‘But, indeed. Dr Phillips seemed to imply that Martha’s husband was either unable or unwilling to … to honour the requirements of the marriage bed.’ She looked closely at him. ‘But I can see in your face that this is not news for you.’