A Drowning in Bath

by L. A. Nisula

  The note. That reminded me of something. I turned to Mr. Langley. “The roses in the bath, was there a reason you chose yellow?”

  If Mr. Langley thought it was an odd question, he didn’t show it. “Well, white is more traditional, of course, but one of the attendants found a yellow rose in the pool after it happened. I suppose it was a bit superstitious or something, but it seemed fitting.”

  I remembered the note Miss Morrison had found. Remember a yellow rose. That must have been how she was to recognize her secret admirer. And if Mr. Longridge had appeared wearing one, it would explain why she had been surprised—after all, why hadn’t he revealed himself sooner, or perhaps when they were both fully dressed—and why she trusted him. And it certainly could have fallen off in the bath. “Mention it to Inspector Sanders next time you speak with him.”

  Mr. Langley looked as if he wanted to ask why, but he merely nodded. “If you think it would help.”

  Chapter 20

  WHEN WE GOT TO THE POLICE STATION, Milly and Mr. Douglas were already there. “Cassie, I didn’t know you were coming. Did Mr. Tompkins tell you how brilliant Mr. Douglas was? He asked at the concierge desk if anyone had claimed that cigarette case he found, and you’ll never believe who had.”

  “Mr. Longridge?”

  Milly looked disappointed. “Mr. Longridge. How did you know?”

  “I asked Mr. Tompkins to ask Mr. Douglas about it.”

  “I told her that,” Mr. Douglas said.

  “I know,” I sighed. Milly wouldn’t hear what she didn’t want to, and if she wanted Mr. Douglas to be the hero, no amount of logic would sway her. “What about Inspector Sanders? Did he listen?”

  Mr. Douglas smiled. “He did when Mr. Caldwell told him about it. I think his intention is to try and get Mr. Longridge to implicate Mr. Mulgrove. In any case, Mr. Mulgrove won’t be leaving. When he finished speaking to me, Mr. Tompkins was intending to tell Mr. Fellcroft our suspicions, and he certainly won’t want to be responsible for a killer getting away. If Mulgrove attempts to leave the hotel, at the very least he’ll be followed. Now, do we know where Inspector Sanders got to?”

  Before we could find someone to ask, a group of police constables came down the hall en masse as if they’d just been released from a meeting, and we stepped aside to let them pass. Mr. Douglas tapped one on the shoulder. “Would someone let Inspector Sanders know that Miss Pengear is here? I think he’ll want to see her.”

  “He will indeed. One moment, please.” The constable darted into the crowd of policemen and extracted one. They spoke for a moment, then the first constable followed the crowd out of the station and the second doubled back. “Miss Pengear, if you’d come with me?”

  I followed the constable back to Inspector Sanders’s office. “Miss Pengear, sir.”

  “That was fast. Go with Constable Marchcliff’s group to the train station, then.”

  “Yes, sir.” The constable saluted and went to undertake his new mission now that his first was complete.

  I sat in the visitor’s chair without being asked and waited to see what Inspector Sanders would make of the newest developments.

  Inspector Sanders opened the folder on his desk. I realized it was the same one that he’d consulted before on Miss Caldwell’s death, only now it was considerably thicker. “It seems there have been some developments since you first brought your statement to me.”

  “Indeed.” I wasn’t going to let him off that easily.

  When he saw I wasn’t saying anything else, he went on. “So I thought, in light of recent developments, I ought to revisit your statement.”

  As he seemed willing to listen now, I took pity on him. “Of course. Where shall we start?”

  Inspector Sanders seemed to relax now that he knew I wasn’t going to be difficult. “If we could start with Mr. Longridge’s attack on you, that would give me something solid to hold him on. Then we can revisit your earlier statements on Miss Caldwell’s murder.”

  So he was calling it murder now. That was progress. “I suppose the attack really started when Milly observed Mr. Longridge’s cologne.” I paused, but Inspector Sanders didn’t make any sign that he thought that was an odd place to begin or that he wanted me to hurry the story along. He merely sat with his pen poised over the page, waiting for something worth noting down. “She complimented him on it, saying it was much better than the last one he’d used. That reminded me that, on the day of the murder, he had smelled strongly of the floral scent the hotel puts in the baths. We had assumed he’d purchased the cologne the hotel sells in the shop in the lobby and doused himself with it, but I realized then that it was equally possible he’d been in the baths and not had the chance to dry off properly.” As I spoke, I remembered his ill-fitting suit and the smell of damp wool. “Or perhaps was still wearing his bathing costume under his clothes if he hadn’t yet been able to sneak up to his room to change.”

  Inspector Sanders dutifully made notes as I told him about the attack and my rescue, courtesy of Mr. Langley’s knowledge of the area and the constables willing to leave their meals. He did seem annoyed when I mentioned the note, but didn’t grumble, although that could be because I emphasized that it had been found late the evening before and I was planning on bringing it to him if Mr. Longridge hadn’t interfered. When I’d finished, Inspector Sanders took the papers out of the room, presumably to use them to process Mr. Longridge’s arrest, then he returned and we went over all of the details of Miss Caldwell’s murder, starting with what I’d witnessed and ending with the chain of logic that had led to my attack. By the time I’d finished, it was completely dark outside and Milly had long since gone back to the hotel. Inspector Sanders thanked me for my help, which was a novelty, and ordered a constable to walk me back. As he was being so accommodating, I didn’t object to the company.

  ~ * ~ * ~

  When I entered the main lobby of the Fellcroft, Mr. Tompkins greeted me almost at once, making me wonder if he had been waiting for me. “I heard you had a quite a break in the case.”

  “Yes, Mr. Mulgrove was involved.”

  “And hired Mr. Longridge, from what Miss Prynne is saying.”

  “Oh dear. Has she told the entire hotel?”

  “Everyone in the dining room. I’ve been sending some telegrams for Mr. Caldwell. He wanted several people to know he would be returning sooner than anticipated. She may have moved on while I’ve been gone.”

  I doubted it, unless he meant moved on from limiting herself to the guests in the dining room. I glanced at the front desk and noticed Mr. Waterhouse of the typing project was on duty. “I believe I’ll take dinner in my room tonight. Then I can get a start on packing.”

  “I will make your apologies to the Misses Bates.” He went towards the dining room without stopping to send any telegrams, confirming my theory that he’d been waiting for my return. I went to Mr. Waterhouse and ordered sandwiches to be sent up to my room.

  ~ * ~ * ~

  The next morning, I insisted we go down to breakfast early so I wouldn’t have to go over the story again. While I was glad Inspector Sanders had finally started to take our story seriously, the detailed questioning left me never wanting to tell it again. I was surprised when Milly didn’t object, and we managed to make it to the breakfast room before anyone else and have first choice of food and tables and a bit of peace and quiet.

  As we were finishing, Miss Grangeway entered the breakfast room with her mother and came directly to our table. “I heard the case was solved.”

  “Yes, Inspector Sanders arrested Mr. Longridge last night.”

  “That’s good.” She didn’t seem interested in the story, which was a relief.

  Milly leaned in. “Was Mr. Rivers released?”

  That explained why she hadn’t minded coming down early. It was something I’d been too tired to ask the night before.

  “He was,” Miss Grangeway replied, “and he and Miss Jeffries left this morning.”

  “Oh.” Milly was cle
arly disappointed.

  “I know,” Miss Grangeway sighed. “This trip hasn’t worked out at all how Mother wanted. The only eligible gentlemen are either involved with someone or murderers. I suppose we’ll have to continue on.”

  “I’m sure you’ll have better luck somewhere else,” Milly said. “How long are you staying here?”

  I had no desire to hear Miss Grangeway’s touring plans or Milly’s views on them, particularly as I expected both would involve large quantities of gentlemen callers and hat shops. I said I needed to be certain I had packed everything away, and as Milly didn’t point out that I had done so twice already that morning, I deduced that she was, if not trying to get rid of me, at least not sorry to see me go.

  As I left the breakfast room, I spotted Mr. Douglas waiting by the potted palm. “Miss Pengear? I was hoping I’d see you.”

  And facilitating the meeting by lurking behind the greenery. “I hope there hasn’t been some unfortunate development.”

  “No, nothing of the kind. We were at the police station for a quite some time after you left, so I merely wanted to let you know the outcome. Mainly that Mr. Mulgrove was apprehended by Constable Marchcliff at the train station as he was trying to catch a train to Dover. Rather obvious, really. I would have tried for Hastings, or at least Brighton, or some little village where you can rent a boat and row to some little fishing village on the Normandy coast. Nonetheless, he is in custody. And Mr. Longridge was giving a full statement to Inspector Sanders when I left at a ridiculously late hour, implicating Mr. Mulgrove or Mulligan or whatever it is. So Inspector Sanders shouldn’t have any trouble making his case against the pair of them. Although Mr. Caldwell has asked me to stay on a few days, just in case he needs a bit of a push.”

  “So Mr. Caldwell did hire you? I’d wondered.”

  “Why? I assure you, I may have told a few half-truths and perhaps a little white lie or two to Miss Prynne, but I never lied to you, not about the case anyway.”

  “‘Anyway?’” I grinned a little. I was rather curious what sort of lies that covered, but it was probably best I didn’t know. “Mr. Tompkins didn’t recognize you, and Mr. Caldwell doesn’t seem the sort to deal with his own paperwork if he can avoid it.”

  “As you say, ‘If he can avoid it.’ He hired me personally to keep an eye on Miss Caldwell. He suspected she was seeing another gentleman, and as he wanted the marriage to Mr. Rivers to go through, he wanted me to find out who the young man was and either bribe him or discredit him.” Both things which I suspected wouldn’t have sat well with Mr. Tompkins’s sense of honor. “It’s a pity, really. If he hadn’t been so keen to keep me away from anyone who might find out how wild his daughter was becoming, I might have seen Mr. Mulgrove at some point and had the whole matter solved at once. Possibly even prevented it, if I’d been keeping an eye on him as well.”

  “And was there a young man, or only Mr. Mulgrove’s deception?”

  “There was one before him, but the promise of a romantic week in Bath seemed to make Mr. Mulgrove’s construct more appealing. At least, she cut ties with the other gentleman shortly after she began making plans to come here.”

  “Pity. If she’d chosen the other young man, it might have gone differently.”

  “Perhaps, but I think Mr. Mulgrove would have continued to offer her increasingly romantic options. After all, he didn’t need to ground anything in reality. And he had far more money than most young men of her age. Eventually, it would have been a weekend in Paris or the coast of Italy, and how would she have resisted that?”

  “And they would consider the expense an investment against the shares they would inherit. You’re probably right. Still, it’s quite sad all around. Thank you for telling me how it ended.”

  “Of course. And it was a pleasure working with you.” He gave me a small bow as I walked towards the staircase.

  ~ * ~ * ~

  I was checking the drawers in the nightstand by Milly’s bed in case she had used them and forgotten about it when Milly stormed into the room. “You cannot trust men you meet at seaside resorts!”

  I decided against pointing out that the closest thing to the sea in Bath was the River Avon. I also decided against asking her if there was a particular reason for that remark, but I wasn’t to be spared that answer.

  “Do you know what Mr. Langley did? He asked if I knew why Miss Grangeway’s mother had her out here husband-hunting, and Miss Morrison said there had been an incident with a so-called gentleman. Apparently she’d fled to Gretna Green with him but her parents dragged her back before she could marry him. Did you know you can’t go there to get married anymore, except in the normal way, I suppose.”

  “I did know that, yes.”

  “Well, I didn’t. And neither did she, apparently. And then Mr. Langley had the nerve to say that wasn’t so bad.”

  I didn’t think it was terribly bad as scandals went myself, and I thought Miss Grangeway seemed nice enough, and Mr. Langley wasn’t terribly particular. But of course that wasn’t why Milly was upset. “So Mr. Langley won’t be writing to you when we leave?”

  “As if I would accept letters from him now. And then, when I went to speak to Mr. Douglas, he told me he had another case that would take him to the Outer Hebrides, and he wouldn’t have time to write. Can you imagine?”

  “Imagine that.” Particularly as he had just told me he was staying on in Bath until the case against Mr. Mulgrove and Mr. Longridge was complete. It seemed we’d be returning to London without a fuss then, so it was safe enough to say, “Mr. Fellcroft offered to let us stay for a few more days to thank us for our help.”

  “Oh, Cassie, don’t you want to get back to town and find out how Inspector Wainwright’s case went before he forgets you helped him with it?”

  “I did want to, but I thought I ought to mention it.”

  “That was very nice of you, Cassie, but I’m ready to go back.”

  Thomas, the porter, knocked on the open door as he came in. “Were you ready for me to bring the luggage down.”

  “Yes, please,” I said, and then, noticing Milly’s interest in his direction, added, “Why don’t we go and say good-bye to the Bates sisters?”

  “I suppose we should.” But she didn’t seem pleased about it. I caught her arm and steered her out the door before she could change her mind.

  The Misses Bates were in the sitting room. They both looked up when we entered. “Going back to London, ladies?” Miss Emmaline asked.

  “Our train leaves in an hour,” I told her.

  “Well, we are glad you stopped to say good-bye. We managed to find a gentleman of our own here and now you can meet him.”

  Miss Bates smiled. “We think he’ll be a permanent addition to our little family.” She held up a little white ball of fur. “His name is Robert,” she said, giving the French pronunciation. When he heard his name, Robert lifted his little poodle head and looked around to see if he was wanted for anything worth getting up for.

  Miss Emmaline was beaming at him. “But I’m sure he’ll want you to call him ‘Robbie,’ won’t you, darling?”

  I took the small tail-wag as permission and said, “Very nice to meet you, Robbie,” as I offered my hand for inspection and then gave him a bit of a head-rub.

  “His legs might not be quite up to Mr. Langley’s. Sorry, dear, but it’s true.”

  Robbie did not seem offended by Miss Emmaline’s comparison.

  “But I do think his profile is much nicer, don’t you? And he has the nicest eyes. And I’d also guess his intellect is far superior to anyone in the hotel, present company excluded, of course. But one doesn’t like to say that.”

  “Of course not, even if it is true.” I stepped aside so Milly could present herself to the newest resident.

  “He’ll be helping us with the garden in Bibury,” Miss Bates explained. “Showing us where he thinks we should plant things, chasing away the postman if he brings too many bills, things like that. I think it will be quit
e nice, don’t you?”

  “It sounds like a most suitable arrangement.”

  Mr. Waterhouse poked his head into the lobby. “Ladies, the carriage to the station is here.”

  I touched Milly’s arm. “We’d best go.”

  Miss Bates patted my hand. “Of course, dears. Have a safe journey.”

  Miss Emmaline stood with us. “Come along, Robert, let’s walk Miss Pengear and Miss Prynne out and you can see if there are any squirrels in need of chasing.” She took Robbie’s leash and he trotted along behind her.

  Thomas had already arranged to have our luggage brought down, and it was being carried outside as we left the lounge. Miss Emmaline and Robbie followed us outside to the carriage. “I suppose this wasn’t quite the holiday you had in mind, although I have the feeling you’ve become accustomed to unusual holidays.”

  “I suppose I have.” I was quite happy that Milly was distracted by Thomas and therefore could not offer examples.

  Robbie began examining a nearby hitching post. With Milly distracting him, Thomas hadn’t gotten all of our bags loaded yet, giving me time to try and solve the final mystery that had been bothering me. “One thing I’ve been wondering, why don’t your sister and Mrs. Grangeway like each other?”

  Miss Emmaline smiled. “You noticed that, did you? She insisted she hid it too well. We found out that there had been a bit of a scandal about Miss Grangeway running off to Gretna Green. You knew that too, hm? Mrs. Grangeway brought her here to get her married off before everyone found out about it. Natural, I know, but dear Constance did the same thing back in the day, although then you could still get a quick marriage there. The fellow lost his nerve when father bribed him, or threatened him, I was never really sure which, but Constance waited a week for him. Mother tried to marry her off after that, but she would have none of it and didn’t speak to anyone in the family but me for years. And she informed Mrs. Grangeway of the mistake she was making with trying to marry Miss Grangeway off to whoever would have her, and she may have been a trifle, shall we say, forceful, which led to a certain, shall we say, coolness? But Mr. Langley was spending quite a bit of time with Miss Grangeway this morning, so perhaps it will all end happily. Ah, I think young Thomas has finally managed to do his job.”