Dead by Morning

by Dorothy Simpson

  Thanet sent up a silent prayer of thankfulness that so far Bridget’s adolescent revolt had gone no further than a mild flirtation with heavy eye make-up.

  With a glance at Thanet Hamilton stood up. ‘Were you two listening at the door?’ he said angrily.

  ‘Oh come on, Dad,’ said Adam. ‘Eavesdropping will get you everywhere, you know that.’ He gave Thanet an amused look. ‘As in this case. You’re the fuzz, I suppose?’

  ‘As you say,’ said Thanet drily, casting a warning glance at Lineham. The sergeant, ever-sensitive to insults to his superior, had stiffened. PC Yeoman’s expression, he noticed with amusement, was suitably wooden.

  ‘Out!’ said Hamilton, advancing menacingly on his offspring. But they stood their ground.

  ‘Stop coming over the heavy father, Dad,’ said Tessa languidly. ‘We’ve merely come to offer our assistance, like good citizens. I should’ve thought you would approve. You’re always trying to get us to conform.’

  ‘That’s enough,’ said their mother sharply. ‘You heard what your father said. Off you go. Now!’

  Reluctantly they began to turn away. ‘Just when the conversation was getting interesting,’ muttered Adam.

  Thanet looked at the Hamiltons. ‘I’m sorry, but would you mind very much if I did have a word with them? They might be able to help.’

  ‘Great!’ said Adam, dropping his pose and displaying a child-like eagerness to be in on the action.

  The Hamiltons exchanged glances.

  ‘How can they possibly help?’ said Delia.

  ‘Oh Mum!’ Tessa was scornful. ‘How can he tell unless he tries to find out?’

  And without waiting for further permission they crossed to a settee at right angles to the one on which their parents were sitting and sat down, looking at Thanet expectantly.

  Hamilton stood up. ‘I’m going!’ he said in disgust. ‘If you don’t mind,’ he added sarcastically.

  Thanet waved a hand. ‘Fine.’

  ‘But I’ve got to go too!’ said his wife. ‘There are masses of things to be done.’

  But her objection was too late. Hamilton had already left.

  ‘I don’t think there’s anything else I want to ask you at the moment, Mrs Hamilton,’ said Thanet. ‘So if you’d prefer to leave …’

  She shot her children a furious glance, clearly torn between her need to attend to her duties and a reluctance to leave the young people alone with the policemen, for fear of what they would say. ‘No, I’ll stay a little longer.’

  ‘He won’t eat us, Mum, you go,’ urged Tessa.

  Delia pressed her lips together, shook her head and settled back into her chair. Her children exchanged glances, rolled their eyes and sighed.

  ‘Oh, Mum,’ said Adam.

  ‘Well now,’ said Thanet, and introduced himself and Lineham. ‘PC Yeoman you already know, no doubt.’

  They glanced at Yeoman and nodded.

  ‘Actually,’ said Thanet, ‘I’m not sure whether you can help us much, Adam.’

  The boy’s face fell. ‘Why not?’

  ‘Well, I gather you didn’t get home until twenty to eight last night, so unless you saw your uncle after that … Did you?’

  Adam shook his head reluctantly. ‘No. I did go and knock on his door some time during the evening, but there was no reply.’

  ‘What time was that?’

  He frowned. ‘Let me think. I had something to eat, then I went up to my room and unpacked … It must have been between half-past eight and nine.’

  ‘Was the door locked?’

  ‘Yes.’ A defensive glance at his mother. ‘I tried the handle because I thought he might have been in the bathroom, and not heard me.’

  And he might have been, thought Thanet, and locked his door against just this type of eventuality. So they were no further forward.

  ‘And now, of course, I’ll never know what he was like.’

  It sounded like genuine regret. To a boy of Adam’s age the mysterious wicked uncle who disappeared into the blue never to be seen or heard of again was no doubt an intriguing figure.

  He turned on his sister. ‘And you can stop looking so smug! Just because you happened to be here –’

  ‘Adam!’ said his mother sharply.

  ‘What about you, Tessa?’ said Thanet.

  But before she could reply there was a knock on the door.

  ‘Come in,’ said Delia, with evident relief.

  A maid entered. ‘Sorry to interrupt, ma’am, but a lot more policemen have arrived.’ A glance at Thanet. ‘They’re asking for the Inspector.’

  ‘Thank you,’ said Thanet. ‘Tell them I’ll be out in just a few minutes.’ He turned back to Tessa and raised an expectant eyebrow. ‘Did you see your uncle last night?’

  ‘Not last night, no. But I did have a natter with him earlier.’

  ‘Oh, when was that?’ said her mother sharply.

  ‘I ran into him on my way downstairs yesterday morning, so naturally I introduced myself and he suggested coffee in the conservatory.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘He was real dishy.’

  ‘Tessa!’

  ‘Well, he was! So smooth and … well, he was interesting. I mean, he’d travelled all over the place, seen everything, done everything …’

  ‘And everyone!’ murmured Adam, sotto voce.

  ‘What was that?’ snapped his mother. ‘What did you say?’

  Adam and his sister flicked amused glances at each other. ‘Nothing, Ma, no need for convolutions of the undergarments.’

  ‘Adam!’

  Lady Bracknell couldn’t have put more disapprobation into those two syllables, thought Thanet.

  ‘I would remind you,’ she said furiously, ‘that this is an official interview.’ She cast a disgusted look at Lineham’s notebook. ‘So just watch what you are saying, if you don’t mind.’

  ‘Don’t worry, Mrs Hamilton, I have teenaged children of my own,’ said Thanet. He could imagine Ben’s comments if he saw these two. ‘Couple of posers!’ Ben would say.

  He turned back to Tessa. ‘Did he give you any details of his activities over the last few years?’

  She shook her head and the black spikes quivered. ‘Not really, no. Just that he’d been living in the South of France.’

  ‘Did he say what he’d been doing for a living?’

  Tessa gave a shout of laughter. ‘Work, you mean? You must be joking. Dear Uncle Leo was what Grandmother’s generation would have called a lounge lizard.’

  ‘Tessa!’ Her mother again.

  ‘Oh, come off it, Ma. What’s the point of pretending? I’d guess he lived off women, rich widows mostly, I should think.’

  Delia Hamilton stood up, propelled by the force of her indignation. ‘That’s enough, Tessa! I won’t hear your uncle slandered in this way. The interview is over, Inspector. Come on you two, out. And this time I really mean it.’

  ‘But Ma,’ Tessa protested, ‘that wasn’t slander. Slander is false report and that was –’

  ‘ENOUGH!’ said Delia. ‘Just go, will you?’

  And this time, they went.

  FOUR

  ‘So what d’you think, Mike?’

  They were eating sandwiches provided for them by Mrs Hamilton while awaiting the arrival of the housekeeper, Mona By fleet. PC Yeoman had been despatched to the village to help Thanet’s men in the house-to-house enquiries, while others had been detailed to locate and examine all the vehicles at Longford Hall in an attempt to find the grey one suspected of running Martindale down. DC Bentley had been allocated the task of interviewing the guests, DC Swift the rest of the staff.

  ‘No one’s exactly broken-hearted, that’s for sure. Mmm, these sandwiches are good.’ Lineham lifted the upper layer of bread and peered inside. ‘Tuna, sweetcorn and mayonnaise, I’d say. Good combination. I’ll have to tell Louise.’

  ‘If you could drag your attention away from the ingredients of your sandwich, Mike, I’d be interested to hear if you think there might be a case to ans
wer.’

  ‘Sorry, sir.’ Lineham shrugged. ‘As you would say, it’s early days yet. But it seems to me that Martindale wasn’t exactly the type to endear himself to people, was he? And there is the question of a nice juicy inheritance at stake.’

  ‘Quite.’

  ‘It’d be interesting to know whether the matter was actually discussed.’

  ‘Exactly.’

  ‘I mean, I can’t see the Hamiltons being overjoyed at the prospect of going halves in the hotel and presumably the estate, can you, sir, whatever Mr Hamilton says about there being plenty to go around.’

  ‘For that matter, from what we’ve heard of Martindale I can’t really see him being happy to relinquish half of what was rightfully his, however much work his sister and brother-in-law had put in over the last few years.’

  ‘No. And leaving the financial aspect aside, I shouldn’t think Mr Hamilton would be too pleased to lose his position as squire, so to speak. He looks the type who rather enjoys the role.’

  ‘I agree. It’ll be interesting to see what Swift learns from the staff. In a place like this they’ll be pretty thick on the ground, I should think. They might well have picked up some interesting snippets.’

  ‘True.’ Lineham yawned. He was looking tired, Thanet noticed.

  There was silence while they finished the sandwiches and mulled over what they had learned.

  ‘About time that housekeeper turned up,’ said Thanet, draining his coffee cup. He would have liked to smoke his pipe but there wasn’t time. He stood up. ‘Let’s go and see where she’s got to.’

  They went out into the entrance hall, which was empty of guests. It was now 1.15 and they were presumably at lunch. A man in formal butler’s uniform of black jacket, striped trousers, white shirt and black tie was just disappearing through a door at the far side.

  They crossed to the receptionist’s desk.

  ‘D’you know if anyone’s managed to locate Mrs Byfleet yet?’ said Thanet.

  ‘Yes, we have. She does know you want to see her, she’ll be here as soon as she can.’ An apologetic smile. ‘A minor crisis with one of the guests. Perhaps you’d like to wait by the fire …?’

  ‘You may be able to help us.’ Thanet smiled back at the girl, who was in her early twenties, small and well-spoken with a cloud of dark hair and bright dark eyes. She looked intelligent and observant. ‘Were you on duty when Mr Martindale arrived, the day before yesterday?’

  ‘Yes, I was.’

  ‘It was about 6.15, I believe?’

  ‘That’s right. He turned up out of the blue, with no warning. I thought he was just another guest, though they usually book ahead, of course. He asked if we had a room for the night, and I booked him in. Then he asked for Mrs Hamilton.’

  ‘What did he say, exactly?’

  ‘Just said, “Is Mrs Hamilton around?” And when I said yes, I could find her if he wanted to speak to her, he said yes, he’d like to. And then he said, “Tell her her brother is here.” I was surprised. I didn’t even know she had a brother.’

  ‘Did you see them meet?’

  ‘Yes. When I gave Mrs Hamilton the message on the phone she sounded very taken aback, then she said, “I’ll be down right away.”

  ‘Did she seem pleased to see him?’

  ‘Yes, she did. Though …’ The girl hesitated, then bit her lip.

  ‘What?’

  She shook her head. ‘Nothing.’

  Thanet guessed that she had noticed a certain falseness in Delia’s professed pleasure at her brother’s arrival.

  ‘What was Martindale wearing?’

  She shrugged. ‘Sports jacket, I think. And a black-and-white checked tweed overcoat. I remember that because he took it off and laid it across the corner of my desk.’

  ‘Did he say anything else?’

  She shook her head. ‘I don’t think so. Oh, there was just one thing …’

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘While he was waiting for Mrs Hamilton – just before she arrived, in fact – Mrs Byfleet came out into the hall from the drawing-room with a young man, and he nodded at them and said, “Who’s that?” So I told him, it was Miss Hamilton’s boyfriend. He was just going to say something else when Mrs Hamilton arrived.’

  ‘This young man, who is he?’

  ‘Toby Fever. He’s local. His father has a business in the village, he’s a haulage contractor.’

  Not quite Tessa Hamilton’s class, thought Thanet. He wondered why Martindale should have been interested.

  ‘Did you see Mr Martindale talk to him at all?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Or anyone else, for that matter? You must see all the comings and goings, here.’

  ‘He passed the time of day with one or two of the guests, that’s all. Ah, there’s Mrs Byfleet now.’

  Thanet and Lineham turned to look at the woman coming down the staircase. Delia Hamilton hadn’t been too pleased at the prospect of their interviewing her. ‘She’s not been too well lately, and I don’t want her upset. She’s … well, she’s pregnant, with their first child, and she’s in her thirties, she’s finding it hard going. And I don’t want to lose her. She’s very efficient and hardworking, she’d be very difficult to replace. It’s not easy finding suitable staff for a place like this.’

  It was true that Mrs Byfleet didn’t look well, thought Thanet. She was, he guessed, about six months pregnant, though her long, dark green dress in some stiff silky material was well cut to conceal the fact. But her narrow face was pale, her short brown hair, despite its good styling, dull and lifeless.

  ‘Mrs Byfleet?’ He stepped forward to introduce himself. ‘Perhaps we could go into the small sitting-room we’ve been using …?’

  After a brief word with the receptionist she accompanied them back into the little blue-and-gold room, choosing an upright armchair into which she sank with a little sigh.

  ‘Hard morning?’ said Thanet with a smile.

  ‘One of the guests had a fall. She’s all right, though, thank heaven, just twisted her ankle. She’s lying down now. But I shall have to go up and see her again shortly.’

  ‘We won’t keep you long. We just wanted to ask you if you could give us any idea of Mr Martindale’s movements yesterday.’

  ‘Let me see …’ She passed a hand over her forehead as if to collect her thoughts. ‘Well, he had breakfast in his room at nine, then I next saw him in the conservatory. He was having coffee with Tessa, Miss Hamilton. Then I saw him go out – for a walk, I assumed. He came back for a light lunch with Mr and Mrs Hamilton, then he went out again, to the village, that time.’

  ‘He told you he was going to the village?’

  ‘Yes. I was in the hall and he stopped for a chat, said he was going to see how much it had changed. I told him I thought probably very little. That was all. Then …’ she faltered.

  ‘Then?’

  She shook her head. ‘I was just trying to think. I’m not sure when he got back, but he had dinner with the Hamiltons again.’

  ‘And afterwards?’

  ‘I don’t know what he did afterwards.’

  Alerted by some evasiveness in her tone, Thanet persisted. ‘Did you see him again at all, after he’d had dinner?’

  ‘No.’

  She met Thanet’s eye almost defiantly. She was lying, Thanet was sure of it. But what about? Had there been an incident she didn’t want to tell him about, out of loyalty to the Hamiltons?

  ‘Were Mr and Mrs Hamilton pleased to see him?’

  ‘Of course.’

  But there was a note of falsity in the affirmation.

  ‘It was a shock to them, of course, they thought he was dead, it would have been a shock to anyone …’

  ‘You didn’t see any sign of … shall we say, disharmony, between them?’

  She shook her head. ‘No.’ Her tone lacked conviction, but she obviously wasn’t going to go back on what she had said.

  ‘You like working here, Mrs Byfleet?’

  For the
first time a genuine smile gave warmth to her response. ‘Yes, I do. It suits us very well – my husband and I have a flat over the old stables, he looks after maintenance, and acts as chauffeur when necessary. It’s a lovely house to work in, so many beautiful things, and Mrs Hamilton is a good employer, very fair. She expects you to work hard, but she works just as hard herself, so you don’t mind.’

  ‘How long have you been here?’

  ‘Just over three years.’

  And according to Giles Hamilton Delia’s father had died four years ago. She hadn’t wasted much time in getting things moving. With an estate like this there must have been considerable legal battles to be fought, in view of the fact that the heir was missing, before she got permission to proceed with her plans.

  ‘And you opened two years ago, I believe?’

  ‘That’s right.’

  ‘So you helped get it off the ground, so to speak?’

  ‘Yes. Mrs Hamilton worked like a slave; we all did.’

  ‘It must be very satisfying to see it become such a thriving business.’

  ‘Oh yes, it has been. We’re quiet at the moment, of course, mid-February isn’t exactly the most popular time for a break in the country, but we’ve built up a very good reputation, I think, and for most of the year we’re pretty busy.’

  Which explained why the housekeeper clearly felt such a fierce loyalty to her employer. Having been in on the project since the beginning, she must feel an almost proprietorial interest in its success.

  Thanet rose. ‘What I should like to do now is take a look at Mr Martindale’s room. It’s all right,’ he added, seeing the hesitation in her face, ‘Mrs Hamilton has given permission.’

  ‘Of course.’ She rose, a little clumsily, pushing herself up on the arms of her chair. ‘I’ll take you up.’

  ‘You’ve worked in the hotel trade long?’ said Thanet conversationally, accommodating his pace to hers as she led them up the graceful staircase.

  ‘All my life, you could say. My parents ran a hotel. Not like this one, of course.’ And she glanced around at the profusion of expensive hot-house flowers, the oil paintings on the walls, the gleaming antiques and rich variety of decorative objects.

  ‘Forgive my asking, but aren’t the guests ever tempted to walk off with any of these?’