The beautician was seated at the little table where she examined clients, a large notebook in front of her, her hands folded on top of it, her face a mask.
‘I know it is not one of my days,’ Ursula said hastily. ‘I wanted to apologise for not being able to come last week.’
She might not have spoken.
‘He’s gone,’ said Madame Rose.
Hilda Ferguson slipped her arm round the beautician. ‘We will survive,’ she said stoutly.
Madame buried her face in her hands. ‘He’s taken everything.’
Ursula wondered if she had heard aright. ‘You mean Count Meyerhoff has gone? Disappeared?’
Madame Rose dropped her hands. ‘He had hoped Madame Bruton would invest. Then your letter came and told she is in prison. He said that was that and there were no more possibilities for investors.’
‘But to disappear!’ Ursula could not make sense of this – unless: ‘Is it because he’s a spy and been discovered?’
‘A spy? How can you think that? A spy – who for?’
‘For Germany?’ suggested Ursula weakly. ‘I know he went to the naval dockyards at Chat-ham.’ She broke the name into two, the way she had heard the count do. ‘The English think Germany wants to invade.’
‘Julius went to see an investor who lived at Chat-ham. My heavens, Julius a spy!’ She broke into a coarse laugh. ‘All Julius cares for is money. Not Austria, not Germany, not me! Not us!’
‘We have been to see the bank manager,’ said Hilda, sinking into the chair opposite Madame Rose. ‘He has taken everything …’
Ursula brought over another chair and joined the two women. ‘Please, you must tell me everything.’ Gradually she managed to piece the story together.
The count had left the previous Wednesday. At first Madame had had no suspicions. Then, on the Thursday they discovered all his things had gone, together with his personal servant. That was when Madame Rose had gone to the bank. There she discovered that both Maison Rose accounts, the day-to-day one for cheques and expenses and a special one for capital sums from investors, had been closed.
‘He asked for bankers’ drafts,’ said Hilda bitterly.
Not only that, but Madame had found that all the cheques Ursula had drawn up to pay their bills had been converted by the count into his own name and paid into his personal account. Ursula remembered that though she had inserted all the payment cheques into their envelopes, the routine had been for them to be placed on a table in the office for a servant to take to the post.
‘Everything we have worked for has gone!’ said Hilda.
‘Do you have any idea where the count would disappear to?’
Madame sighed bitterly. ‘Once, we discuss plans for expanding, opening a new salon, Julius said he dreamed of sailing across the Atlantic in his own boat and building an empire in America. He said that that was where the money was and we should look in that direction.’
‘I wonder he didn’t start there,’ said Ursula.
‘He said London was where he had contacts. Rich society ladies he had met in Vienna and other capital cities.’
Ursula wondered if there was any chance of intercepting the count’s yacht before it reached America. Then realised that would be a hopeless task. He had a wide choice of possible American cities to aim for.
‘You have built a fine reputation here in a very short time,’ said Ursula. ‘Could you not continue? Put all your investors in the picture and say you will work to build up enough money to make their investment pay? You make a very good team.’ She looked from Madame to Hilda Ferguson.
Then she took out the letter they had found in Joshua Peters’ safe and placed it on the table. ‘Nobody knows who wrote this,’ she said to Madame. ‘Nobody can use it against you.’
The beautician looked inside the blank envelope and for a moment closed her eyes. Then she said, ‘Thank you, Miss Grandison.’
Before she left Maison Rose, Ursula agreed to continue organising the accounts while Madame explored the possibility of continuing with the beauty salon.
By the time Ursula reached Montagu Place, it was late morning. Sarah answered the door. ‘Mrs Peters is not at home,’ she said.
Ursula took out a card and scribbled a note on the reverse. ‘Perhaps you would be good enough to give her this,’ she said.
The maid left Ursula in the hall and a moment later Alice appeared and embraced her. ‘I am about to have a light luncheon, you must join me.’
It had taken a little time for Mrs Bruton to be charged with the two murders and for Alice to be released. Immediately she had written to Ursula thanking her for all her help.
‘Oh, it is wonderful to see you again,’ she said and sat Ursula in a chair next to hers. She was still far too thin but her eyes were shining and her face had colour. ‘I had begun to despair of ever escaping from my prison cell.’
‘How is Daniel?’ Ursula looked around the room, half expecting the young man to be there as well.
‘He is fine! He has been commissioned to write an article on Mr Bernard Shaw, the playwright and critic and today he is doing research for it.’
‘That’s wonderful!’
‘He seems to think it could be the first of many such commissions, I do so hope he is right.’
‘Are you still thinking of leaving the country, Alice?’
She nodded. ‘I have to sell this house. Joshua left nothing but debts. Once they and the mortgage have been paid, there will be very little left.’
‘What about your jewellery?’
Alice sighed. ‘I took it to the jewellers, Garrard’s, on Friday. They almost laughed. Apparently they are all paste copies – and they had supplied them! Joshua’s story was they were for security. He must, though, have sold the originals. Garrard’s were kind, they said their copies did have a certain value but it is not high. Only my dear mother’s locket is real.’ She put a hand to her neck and Ursula recognised the little gold heart-shaped piece Alice had worn while staying at Mrs Maple’s.
‘I may well be delivered of this precious child before everything has been sorted.’ Alice gently touched her swelling womb. ‘Afterwards, when the house has been sold and Joshua’s estate finalised, then Daniel and I will marry and decide where we shall live.’
‘If your destination is to be America, I shall be delighted to give you some addresses. And what about Rachel? Are you pleased with her engagement?’
Alice laughed ruefully. ‘John Pitney is delightful. I only hope he can accept my sister’s managing ways. I dearly love her but there are times …’
Sarah came in to announce that luncheon was on the table.
Over cold meats and fruit, Ursula asked if Alice had taken back Millie as her maid.
Alice shook her head. ‘I could not trust her. I am sorry for we dealt very well together. At the moment Sarah is assisting me to dress and do my hair. I may well take her on as my maid permanently.’
Ursula could not blame her for this decision. ‘Millie is a resourceful girl, I am sure she will manage,’ she said.
‘I have given her a good reference, explaining that I am retiring from social life and have no further need of her.’
‘Forgive me for what I am about to ask but now that your husband’s activities as a blackmailer are known, would you be willing to say how you found out what he was doing? For surely that was why you wrote those things in your diary that meant you were arrested for his murder?’
Alice looked down at the pear she was peeling and for a moment Ursula thought that she would not answer. Then she pushed away the plate.
‘I think you deserve to know. It is a very, very sad story. I had a close friend, Irene. Her husband was a fine man but dull. Even I, who had known him from childhood, had to concede that. They had a daughter, a darling girl. When she was about five, Irene fell in love and began an affair with another man, one who was handsome and charming. They met at his rooms. In between times, they wrote each other passionate letters.’
&nb
sp; Alice rose, walked over to the window and looked at the last few roses in the little garden. ‘She told me all about it one day, said she had to tell someone. When I expressed my horror at what she was doing, she said I did not understand and tried to tell me about all the excitement of her meetings with Rupert, her lover. She said she wouldn’t dream of leaving George, she was very fond of him and he was the father of her daughter, but that I had to agree that he was not a charismatic man. She brought out a bunch of letters she had received from Rupert and said I must read them. I looked at one but it seemed an invasion of privacy, there was such passion! I had to say I was deeply shocked.’ She laughed ruefully. ‘How could I have known that later I would find myself in love with a man who was not my husband? I told Irene that George was a good man and deserved a faithful wife. That upset her. She was so upset she dropped the letters; they went all over the floor. I helped her pick them up. Then she left and cut off contact with me.
‘Several months later I received the dreadful news that she had passed away. I immediately went round to express my condolences to George. He was … ravaged was the only word I can think of to describe him. Did I tell you he was a very old friend? Well, he poured his heart out to me. Irene had taken an overdose of laudanum.’ Silence followed this.
‘Was it suspected to be deliberate?’ Ursula asked gently.
Alice came back to the table, sat down and started fiddling with the cutlery. ‘George said that for a number of months Irene had been in an increasingly nervous state. He became very worried about her. Finally she came to him and confessed that she had had an affair and said that she was being blackmailed. Someone had got hold of one of Rupert’s letters to her and was threatening to send it to her husband unless she paid him for its return. Irene told George she had sent him the money that had been asked for but that her letter had not been returned. Instead, she received another demand for money.’ Alice paused again. ‘I suppose that is the way of blackmailers.’
‘So I understand. How long did she continue to pay him?’
‘Until she ran out of funds. That’s when she went and confessed everything to George. When he told me this, he broke down and sobbed as he said how devastated he’d been with what Irene had told him, so devastated that he’d lost his temper and told her that their marriage was at an end and she was no fit mother for their child. Then he’d gone to his club for the night. The next day he’d been horrified at what he’d said and had dashed back home to tell Irene he still loved her and they would rebuild their marriage, only to find she had taken the laudanum and passed away in the night.’
‘That’s the most terrible story.’
Alice nodded. ‘George showed me one of the blackmailer’s demands. For a moment I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The writing was all in small capitals, as though the blackmailer wanted to disguise it. But all the ‘R’s were back to front. It was an idiosyncrasy of Joshua’s, he never seemed to know he was doing it. I tried to tell myself there must be someone else with such a habit but I couldn’t help remembering Irene dropping all those letters on the floor. One could easily have ended up beneath the settee. Albert was sometimes called upon to help move heavy furniture so the maids could brush the carpet underneath.’ Alice had no need to say more.
Ursula caught her hand in hers. ‘My poor friend, what a burden you have had to bear.’
‘I thought I could do my duty, stand by my husband no matter what he had done, but the knowledge of what Irene had gone through troubled me more and more. Then I met Daniel and he taught me what love could be. I had no child, nothing to tie me to a marriage that was more and more hateful. I began to dream of what life could be like if I could be with Daniel, maybe even bring Joshua to justice. But when I knew he had another chance to be a father, I knew I could not deprive him of that privilege or reveal to my unborn child that his father was a criminal.’
‘It will have to come out at Mrs Bruton’s trial.’
‘Perhaps if Daniel and I live abroad, the child need not know.’
Alice looked at Ursula, ‘Thank you for being my friend through all this. I hope you will remain one.’
Ursula assured her she would, then said, ‘One final question, how was your friend to have paid the money asked for?’
‘It was to be sent to a post office box number. The office was not far from us, very near to Marylebone station. George said that if Irene had not passed away, he had determined to send, not a payment, but a note in a striking envelope, to the box number then to haunt the post office until he saw who collected it.’
Was that what Mrs Bruton had done after Albert had continued with the blackmailing of her? Or had she indeed followed him from Maison Rose? She was capable of either course of action.
Shortly afterwards, Ursula took her leave of Alice, promising to come again.
* * *
It was only a short walk to where Ursula needed to be next. Thomas Jackman had sent her a note saying he would greatly appreciate it if she could meet him at three o’clock Monday afternoon. He had given her the address and a little map showing exactly where it was.
Wondering a little at the purpose of this meeting, she had agreed, planning her various calls that morning to end up in the right area. Luncheon with Alice had been a bonus. Originally she had thought to treat herself to a snack from a street seller while she explored the area.
Now the timing was working out perfectly and she found herself in a short road not far from Oxford Street. It had a variety of small shops and No. 8 was a brown door between one that sold flowers and one that offered umbrellas and sticks of all kinds. It had no sign to indicate what business was conducted there but when Ursula tried the handle, the door opened. It gave on to a very small hall and a staircase. Climbing up, Ursula found another door with opaque glass in the top half. She knocked, gently opened it and found herself in what seemed to be a completely empty space, newly painted.
‘Hallo?’ she said. ‘Thomas?’
He came through another door. ‘You made it! Good. Come and have a look at this.’
The second room was as empty as the first. It had a handsome window overlooking the street and was of a good size.
‘Take a perch,’ Jackman said, offering the wide windowsill.
Ursula settled herself beside him. ‘I have made some very interesting calls this morning which I must tell you about. I also went job hunting last week and it looks as though I may have found one. A high society lady has just lost what sounds a very efficient secretary. She is involved with a number of charities, runs a large household and seems to think I might suit as a replacement.’
‘Hmm! You haven’t lost much time.’
‘Can’t afford to.’
He bent down and drew an envelope out of an attaché case leaning against the wall. ‘I have been asked to give you this,’ he said.
Ursula drew an inward breath as she recognised the well-shaped, strong handwriting.
‘I received a letter from him last Monday. He said he didn’t know your direction, by any chance did I? I didn’t know if you’d want your details to be sent to all and sundry so said if he sent me the letter, I’d see that you got it.’
Ursula sat and turned it over, wondering whether she should open it there and then or later.’
‘I wouldn’t wait, if I were you,’ Jackman said with a smile.
She tore open the heavy envelope and took out the piece of equally weighty quality paper with its familiar crest and address.
Dear Ursula,
At long last we seem to be on the way to sorting out the estate. Ever since you left, I have been conscious that neither you nor Thomas Jackman were properly recompensed for the very valuable work you carried out for us at Mountstanton earlier this year. Now I am in a position to rectify this situation. No doubt you will say that you didn’t do it for money, and I cannot forget that you refused all help in finding a situation in London. You would, though, be doing me a great favour if you could swallow your pride for once an
d accept the enclosed cheque. I am sending a similar one to Jackman. I am glad that you are in touch, he is a sterling fellow and no doubt would have run you to earth if I had needed him to do so.
I send you every good wish and hope London is proving entertaining.
Yours,
Charles
‘You dropped your cheque,’ said Jackman, bending and picking up a folded-over slip of paper. He handed it to Ursula. ‘Colonel Stanhope has been very generous.’
She looked disbelievingly at the total.
‘And mine was on top of the agreed fee. But, then, imagine the pickle they’d have been in if we hadn’t got it all sorted.’
Ursula was too stunned to say anything.
‘For me it means I can fulfil an ambition I have had for some time. As soon as I got the cheque, I went looking and this is what I found.’ He stretched out his arms as though to embrace the whole space.
‘You’re going to open your own office!’ Ursula was delighted. ‘Somewhere prospective clients can call upon you and discuss their business.’ She remembered how rude Rachel had been about his surroundings when they had visited him in Shoreditch. ‘And these premises seem ideal. Nice and central, within easy reach of both society and more ordinary clients.’ She looked again at her cheque. ‘Do you need additional funds? I seem to be rather flush at the moment.’
He fumbled behind the attaché case and brought up a wooden rectangle. ‘I was hoping after our chat the other day you might be willing …’ He held the sign up. ‘I got this painted on Saturday. If you agree, it would go beside the door downstairs.’
The sign read:
JACKMAN & GRANDISON
Private Investigators
Confidentiality Guaranteed
‘Can you tell your high society lady you have made other arrangements?’
Ursula took a deep breath. Then she said, ‘I think the sign should be in brass.’
THE END
A Fatal Freedom Page 40