Murder Has No Class

by Rebecca Kent

  Besides, she rather enjoyed talking to the enigmatic policeman, and it was May Day, after all. The students were all confined to their rooms for the day. She had plenty of time to do whatever she wanted, and perhaps even enjoy some of the festivities in the village before she had to return.

  When she announced her plans to Felicity and Essie in the teacher’s lounge later, they both seemed put out to be excluded. “I don’t like the idea of you going back to that place alone,” Felicity said, while Essie sat biting her fingernails. “I don’t trust that butler. He has an evil look in his eyes.”

  “I’m sure he’s quite harmless,” Meredith murmured, being sure of no such thing. “He’s more likely to talk to me if I’m on my own.”

  “If he didn’t tell Essie much of anything, what gives you the idea he’ll talk to you?”

  Essie looked alarmed. “I don’t want to go back there. That man frightens me.”

  “He’s told Essie all he’s going to tell her.” Meredith buttoned up her coat and picked up her gloves. “I need to confront him myself and try to get the truth out of him. So far, all we have is suspects.”

  “At least two,” Felicity muttered. “Pauline Suchier for one, and possibly Lady Clara, though I have to agree with Essie that she’s an unlikely candidate, mostly because it’s hard to imagine a mother allowing her son to hang for a crime she committed.”

  “Anything is possible. It seems quite a few people lied about what was going on that night.”

  “Either lied or left out important evidence.” Meredith pulled on the other glove. “In any case, since Smithers was the first one to arrive on the scene, I might learn something that could help us sort all this out.”

  “Well, at the very least,” Felicity said, looking far from reassured, “since the students are all confined to their rooms and we’re not all needed here, why don’t you meet us later this afternoon on the village green. We can all enjoy the dancing together.”

  Meredith smiled. “That sounds like a marvelous idea. Shall we say about two o’clock? I believe the dancing begins at that time.”

  “Two o’clock it is.”

  As Meredith turned to leave, Felicity added urgently, “Be careful, Meredith. Don’t take any undue chances.”

  “I’ll be careful.” Meredith paused at the door. “I shan’t be quite alone, you know. I shall have Reggie with me, if the need for help should arise.”

  Felicity frowned. “Is that supposed to make us feel better?”

  Essie uttered a nervous giggle. “Any port in a storm.”

  “Exactly.” With a casual wave of her hand, Meredith sailed out the door.

  Mrs. Wilkins glanced up at the clock, gritting her teeth in frustration. She’d sent the maids to fetch the dirty dishes at least an hour ago. Where the devil were they? They should have been back long before this.

  With an annoyed clicking of her tongue, the cook pulled off her apron. She would have to go and look for the pesky girls. It was bad enough that they’d had to serve breakfast in the rooms this morning, thanks to Mr. Hamilton’s orders. Not that the students would take too much notice of that. They were very good at coming up with excuses why they weren’t in their rooms for inspection.

  The problem was, it had taken much longer than usual to serve up all those breakfast trays, disrupting her schedule, and now she had to wait for the maids to bring back all those trays, get the dishes washed and dried and then get ready for the midday meal, which was going to be really late at this rate. Drat Stuart Hamilton. What the heck did he know about school schedules anyway?

  Muttering and moaning to herself, she headed for the door. Just as she reached it, the most dreadful clanging echoed down the hallway outside. Enough to give her a headache. Unbelievable. Why in heaven did the teachers decide to hold a fire drill today of all days? Didn’t they know that the pupils were supposed to stay in their rooms?

  Stomping up the kitchen steps, Mrs. Wilkins puffed and grunted, ready to let fly at the first person who had the misfortune to cross her path.

  She reached the top of the steps, to be greeted by what sounded like a flock of agitated geese. Students streamed across the lobby, laughing and shoving each other in complete disregard for the rules of etiquette. Some were actually fighting to get through the door and out into the sunshine.

  Mrs. Wilkins shook her head in disgust. The tutors would have their hands full this morning, all right. She searched the crowd of jostling students and caught sight of Miss Cross’s head above the rest. The maids had to be on their way out, too. She wondered if they’d taken the trays down to the kitchen before joining everyone outside.

  She was about to raise a hand to catch Miss Cross’s attention when something else distracted her. Smoke. She could swear she could smell smoke.

  For a moment she wondered if it was her imagination, triggered perhaps by the fire drill. Then she saw it—a wisp of smoke curling down the hallway that led to the dining room. Waiting no longer, she barged through the mass of giggling girls and shot out the door into the fresh air.

  Chapter 14

  In the upstairs hallway, Grace stood guard while Olivia herded about a dozen would-be protestors out of their rooms and down toward the stairs.

  The main group of students had already left, and to Grace’s relief, the stairwell remained empty as Olivia’s troops headed her way. “You’re quite sure the dining room won’t catch on fire?” she muttered, as Olivia reached her. “It smells awfully smoky.”

  “I’m sure. The fire is probably out by now. I made sure the waist was tucked out of the way of the lamps.” Olivia grabbed her arm and gave her a little push. “Come on, we have to get a move on. It’s going to take us at least an hour to walk into the village and we have to be there before they start the maypole dancing.”

  “All right.” Reluctantly, Grace started down the stairs. She had to be bonkers to be doing this, she told herself as the girls clambered down after her. They were bound to get caught, no matter what Olivia said.

  Reaching the bottom, she held up her hand. The girls halted, all whispering among themselves until Olivia hissed at them to shut up.

  Grace could hear the commotion in the lobby. They were still evacuating the premises. She looked back at Olivia. “Shouldn’t we wait until they are all outside?”

  Olivia shook her head. “There isn’t time. It took longer than I thought it would for someone to ring the fire bell. We should have done it ourselves instead of waiting for someone else to notice the fire.”

  “You said it would look suspicious if we did it,” Grace reminded her.

  Sophie Westchester, at her usual position at the head of the crowd, raised her voice. “Are you going to stand there arguing all day or are we going to leave? For pity’s sake, let’s get on with it!”

  A faint chorus of agreement answered her and Olivia shot up her hand. “Be quiet, you silly twerps. Someone will hear us and come back to get us. Then we won’t be able to leave here at all.”

  “Here! Who are you calling a silly twerp?”

  “Yeah,” someone else called out. “You’ve got no right calling us silly twerps.”

  Olivia rolled her eyes. “All right, all right, let’s get moving. Just follow me, all of you, and flipping well keep your mouths shut.”

  Grace stood aside and let Olivia squeeze past her, then followed her down the hallway to the back stairs. Shuffling feet behind her assured her the troops were following, and moments later they were all outside the building, huddled against the wall.

  “How are we going to get down the driveway without anyone seeing us?” Sophie demanded. “Do you plan to make us all invisible or something?”

  Olivia gave her a scathing glance. “We’re not going down the driveway, are we. We’re going behind the tennis courts to climb over the back wall.”

  Shrieks and moans followed this announcement, and once again Olivia had to hold up her hand. “One more squeak out of any of you and you can stay here with the rest of the bloomin’ b
unch. If you want to come with us you’ll have to be quiet!”

  Sophie tilted her nose in the air. “All right, there’s no need to get testy.” She beckoned to her friends. “Come on, we can do this. It’ll be a lot more fun than being cooped up in our rooms for the rest of the day.”

  Muttering in agreement, the girls lined up behind her. Sophie glared at Olivia. “All right, Sergeant Major. Lead the way.”

  With a nod of approval, Olivia crept forward to the corner of the building. “Everyone’s out there in the courtyard,” she muttered, when she came back. “They won’t see us if we crouch over and hurry across the lawns to the tennis courts. We’ll all wait there for everyone to catch up and then we’ll climb over the wall. There’s a really big tree there to help us climb up and over.”

  Grace sent a silent prayer skyward as she rushed across the lawn, bent nearly double in compliance with Olivia’s instructions, and expecting hoarse shouts to erupt any minute ordering them back to the courtyard.

  She could hear faint giggles behind her, and lots of shushing, until they finally reached the tennis courts, all slightly out of breath. Crowding behind the fence, they waited for Olivia’s next orders.

  Her face flushed with importance and exertion, Olivia waved her arm at the oak tree growing on the other side of the wall. “See that branch,” she said, her voice still low in spite of the fact that no one could possibly hear her with all the noise they were making in the courtyard. “That’s what we have to climb on to get over the wall.”

  Grace stared at it in alarm. The lowest branches looked really high off the ground. Before she could say anything, however, Olivia was charging across the grass toward the wall, and all she could do was follow her, and pray that no one broke a leg or something worse.

  Meredith peered out the window as Reggie halted the carriage in front of the Stalham mansion. She had caught sight of someone walking through the gardens as they had traveled up the driveway, and suspected it might be Winnie.

  Sure enough, the maid turned the corner just as Meredith climbed out of the carriage. For a moment Winnie hesitated, then turned around and disappeared again.

  “I think I’ll go in the back entrance,” Meredith announced, as Reggie closed the door with a loud thud.

  He looked at her in surprise. “Pardon me, m’m, but isn’t that a little unusual?”

  “Perhaps, but I have my reasons.”

  Reggie’s expression changed. “Pardon me for asking, m’m, and correct me if I’m wrong, but you are after a murderer, aren’t you?”

  Meredith avoided looking at him. “Perhaps.”

  “Then I don’t think you should go in there alone, m’m. Remember the last time you took it upon yourself to go after a killer? You almost ended up getting killed yourself. I think, since you’re going in the back entrance, that I should come with you.”

  “It will be more difficult to find out what I need to know if I have someone with me.” Meredith gave him a reassuring smile. “Besides, it would be even more difficult to explain your presence. Just wait for me here, and if I haven’t returned after a reasonable amount of time, then you have my permission to come and look for me.”

  Reggie swiped a lock of his fair hair away from his eyes.

  “Well, if you say so, m’m, but if anything happened to you, I’ll never forgive meself. So help me, I won’t.”

  Meredith touched his arm. “Thank you, Reggie. I deeply appreciate your concern. Rest assured I shall take pains to return unscathed. Now make yourself comfortable and I shall be as quick as I can be. We have to be at the police station in Witcheston and back again before two o’clock this afternoon. I’m supposed to be meeting Miss Cross and Miss Pickard at the village green. We plan to watch the dancing.”

  Reggie’s eyes lit up. “The maypole dancing. That’s good. I’d like to see that meself.”

  “Good. Then we have something to look forward to, don’t we.”

  Leaving him, she hurried around the corner and made her way across the yard to the tradesmen’s entrance. To her relief, Winnie answered the door to her knock.

  The maid’s eyes widened, and she looked nervously over her shoulder before exclaiming, “Mrs. Llewellyn! Whatever are you doing at this door?”

  “I came to have a word with you.” Without being asked, Meredith stepped through the door and into the kitchen. Mrs. Parker stood at the stove, busily stirring something in a large pot that smelled wonderful.

  Meredith made a mental note to have a bite to eat once she arrived in Witcheston. No doubt Reggie would be happy, too, with a sandwich from his favorite pub.

  “It’s Mrs. Llewellyn,” Winnie announced, as the housekeeper glanced over her shoulder.

  Mrs. Parker uttered an exclamation and spun around to stare at Meredith. “Mrs. Llewellyn! Whatever are you doing in the kitchen?”

  “I came to have a quick word with Winnie,” Meredith explained. “I shan’t keep her long.”

  The housekeeper frowned. “What do you want to talk to her about, if I may ask?”

  “Just a few questions about her work in the house. I’ll need to know if I’m to hire a new maid.”

  “Well, pardon me, m’m, but why on earth didn’t you use the front entrance?”

  Meredith smiled. “To be perfectly honest, I was hoping to avoid Smithers. I find him rather intimidating.”

  “He’ll be even more nasty if he sees you in here.” She sent a nervous glance over her shoulder. “I hope you’re not here to ask more questions about the murder. Mr. Smithers said if you came back asking questions I was to go straight to him so he could throw you out.”

  Meredith decided that the time for pretense was over. “Mrs. Parker, I’m sorry I misled you in the beginning, but the truth is, I am acquainted with a very close friend of James Stalham. He has sent me to find out what I can about the night his father died. He is convinced, as I know both of you must be, that James did not kill his father. I’m trying to find out who did, so I can clear James Stalham’s name.”

  For a long moment the housekeeper stared at her, her eyes wide with shock and fear. “We don’t know nothing other than what we told you. Besides, anything you want to ask Winnie, you can ask her right here in front of me.”

  Meredith thought fast. “The longer I’m in the kitchen, Mrs. Parker, the more chance there is that Smithers will come in and find me. However, if you want to take that chance, it’s entirely up to you.”

  “Can’t you just leave? I told you we don’t know anything else.”

  Meredith walked over to the table and sat down. “Nevertheless, I’d like to ask Winnie a few more questions. I don’t intend to leave until I have done so.”

  Mrs. Parker aimed a desperate look at the clock on the wall, then nodded at Winnie. “Take Mrs. Llewellyn to my room. She can talk to you there. And be quick about it. I need you to peel some potatoes for me.”

  “Yes, Mrs. Parker.”

  “There’s just one question I’d like to ask you before I go.” Meredith got up and moved toward the door. “Why didn’t you mention that the stable boy, Edward, is your son?”

  The housekeeper’s face turned red, and she dropped her gaze. “I didn’t want you to go thinking he’d come back to seek revenge on the master.” She looked up again. “He’d never do such a thing. I swear it!”

  Meredith nodded. “I’m sure you’re right.” Leaving the distraught woman watching after her, she followed Winnie out the door.

  Winnie’s face seemed pinched with anxiety as she led the way down the hallway. Once inside the cozy room, she stood by the door, her fingers twisting in her apron while Meredith seated herself on one of the comfortable chairs.

  “Winnie,” she began, “I’d like to know exactly what you saw and heard the night Lord Stalham was shot.”

  Winnie looked as if she was about to be sick. “I told you everything I know, m’m. I didn’t see nothing until the constables got here and after a while I saw them taking away Mr. James.”

  “Mrs.
Parker said she saw you in the hallway when she came down the stairs that night. So you must have arrived there before she did.”

  “Oh, yes, m’m. I did.” Winnie sent a hunted look at the door, as if she was about to dash through it.

  “That was after you thought you saw Lady Clara on the back stairs, I presume?”

  “Yes, m’m. It were.” Winnie nodded so hard her cap slipped over her eyes. Pushing it back, she added, “It was right after that.”

  “I see.” Meredith kept her gaze on the maid’s face. “But you didn’t tell anyone that you thought you saw Lady Clara that night.”

  “No, m’m, I didn’t.” Winnie shifted from one foot to the other. “I didn’t want to get her into trouble, that’s what. I didn’t want to be the one what got her taken away for shooting her husband.”

  Meredith raised her eyebrows. “Are you saying you think Lady Clara shot Lord Stalham?”

  “Oh, no, m’m, I’m not saying that at all.” Winnie edged closer to the door. “I’m just saying that Lady Clara was always angry at Lord Stalham. Always shouting at him, she was. I was afraid if I’d told on her the constables might have thought she’d done it.”

  Meredith stood and walked toward the maid, her gaze fixed firmly on Winnie’s face. “Do you have any idea at all who shot Lord Stalham, Winnie?”

  The maid backed away, one hand reaching for the door handle. “No, m’m, I don’t. But whoever it was, he did us all a favor. Lord Stalham was a horrible man. Horrible.” Bursting into tears, she pulled the door open and rushed outside.

  Meredith heard her footsteps pounding down the hallway, then all was silent. Shaking her head, she headed for the door. Outside in the hallway she paused, her mind occupied with her conversation with Winnie. She had the feeling again that she was missing something important. Something that Winnie had said. If only she could remember. . . .

  “Mrs. Lewellyn!”

  She jerked up her head at the sound of the harsh voice. She hadn’t heard the footsteps come up behind her, yet there he was, as dark and menacing as ever, his face a mask of disdain. “Why, Smithers, you gave me quite a start.” She smiled at him, and received a cold stare for her trouble.