Edwina blanched. “Is it very far from here, this millinery shop?”
“No, I suppose not,” Beryl said. “Why do you ask?”
“I thought it might be a pleasure to walk there. I find I can see more when I travel by foot.”
“Why in the world would that be?” Beryl asked with astonishment. She had seen so much of the world by using most every form of transport there was. Feet were in no way her preference.
“Because when I am on foot I find that I don’t close my eyes in terror,” Edwina replied.
“Ah, that would explain it.” Beryl tucked her arm through Edwina’s and the two set off at a leisurely pace. “I’ll try to drive home a bit more sedately then. Are you sure that is all that has been on your mind? You’ve been unusually quiet ever since I told you that Agnes was still amongst the living. Honestly, I expected you to be more pleased.”
“I think you’re imagining things, Beryl. Let’s look for hats.”
* * *
Beryl gave Edwina a whirlwind tour of the city. It was strange, she noted to herself, that she was the foreigner but in London, Edwina was the one who seemed like a stranger. Beryl found she delighted in showing her friend the sights of the city and she also immensely enjoyed indulging Edwina at the shops they visited. It took some convincing but in the end she managed to purchase two hats, a dress, and a pair of gloves for her friend. She had done her best to persuade her to also take home a fine wool cardigan that brought out a rosy glow in her cheeks but Edwina had refused, claiming she could easily knit one herself. She had suggested purchasing a small gift for Agnes’ child and Beryl had readily agreed.
Over luncheon at the Georgian Restaurant in Harrods department store Edwina confessed she had not had so much fun in years. Her eyes sparkled and her voice grew uncharacteristically loud.
“I hadn’t realized how much good a change of scenery could do,” she said as she poured a cup of tea for each of them. “Being here has been like a breath of fresh air.”
“I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed the day. I haven’t had so much fun in ages myself.”
“You’re just saying that to make me feel better about being such a poor little country mouse,” Edwina said.
“No, it’s the truth. I have been here there and everywhere but I haven’t really had companionship on my journeys.”
“That can’t be true. You always have an entourage of sorts. Journalists, porters, even bandits if the newspaper articles are to be believed. Surely there has been plenty of people to keep you company.” Edwina cocked her head sideways and looked at Beryl out from under the brim of one of her new hats. She looked so much like the inquisitive girl she had been that Beryl felt the room fall away and had the strange impression that they were in the dining hall of Miss DuPont’s Finishing School for Young Ladies once more.
“There is a great deal of difference between company and companionship, Ed. I am more pleased than I can say that you placed that ad for a lodger in the newspaper and even more pleased that I saw it. This has been the best adventure I’ve been on in many years.”
Edwina glanced over at the clock on the wall. “I think it’s late enough that the next step in adventure can go ahead. If we hurry I think we can arrive at Agnes’ flat about the same time she does.”
* * *
Darkness had fallen and they made their way back to Agnes’ address by dint of the streetlights. Edwina was dazzled by the way the city continued to thrum with life even after the sun had set. They were accosted once more by the woman guarding the front of Agnes’ building who informed them she had arrived home a few moments before and had not gone back out again.
They took the stairs as there was no lift. Edwina was a bit disappointed by that although she did not mention it. She had felt quite childlike enough throughout the course of the day without revealing such a juvenile sentiment as that. As they reached the top of the final flight of stairs Edwina was surprised to find herself nervous about what would happen when Agnes opened the door. She had no desire to invade Agnes’ privacy and was loath to cause her embarrassment of any sort. Beryl was oblivious to any qualms Edwina had and made swift work of thumping with a heavy hand upon the door.
Agnes opened it and stood on the threshold looking much as she had the last time Edwina had seen her. Her clothing was different, of course, as there was no call for a Land Army uniform at this late date. She did not look entirely happy to see them. A slight gasp escaped her lips and she took a step back not to invite them in, Edwina thought, but rather to put distance between them.
“Hello, Agnes,” Edwina said. She felt an overwhelming sense of protectiveness for the younger woman. If she had felt discomforted by the idea of encountering Agnes even though she was aware the meeting would take place she could only imagine how much more rattled Agnes must be feeling. “I’m so sorry to have startled you. We should have written or sent a telegram. But we simply didn’t have time to wait for a letter to reach you and so many people now have adverse reactions to telegrams that I didn’t wish to risk distressing you by sending one.”
“May we come in?” Beryl asked. Agnes nodded, still speechless. They stepped into the tiny bed-sit and looked around. Nothing was new but neither was it untidy. Sitting on the floor in the corner sucking on his thumb was a boy, aged somewhere around a year and a half.
“Allow me to introduce my friend Beryl Helliwell. You have most likely read about her in the newspapers from time to time. And this is your little boy then, is it?” Edwina asked. Without waiting for an answer she walked over to the child and knelt next to him on the well-worn carpet. “Hello, young man. Would you like to see what I have in this bag?” She pointed at the paper sack she held. The boy nodded slowly then reached out his hands. Edwina lifted a toy rabbit with long silky ears from the bag and handed it to him.
Agnes found her voice and remembered her manners. “What do you say, Benjy?” she asked her son.
“Thank you,” he said as he reached for the toy. Edwina stroked his smooth curls then got to her feet.
“May I offer you some tea?” Agnes asked. “I was just starting to prepare a meal.”
“We have simply stuffed ourselves already and couldn’t eat another bite. But please don’t let us keep you from getting on with your preparations. I’m sure Benjy needs his meals on time,” Beryl said.
“I suppose Norah must have told you where to find me,” Agnes said. “She’s the only one who knew.”
“She did but it wasn’t easy to convince her to do so,” Edwina said. “We wouldn’t have disturbed you if it wasn’t important.”
“What is so important?” Agnes asked.
“It’s Polly Watkins,” Beryl said.
“Really it’s more about Michael Blackburn. Norah wouldn’t have shared your secret if she weren’t justifiably concerned about her brother,” Edwina said.
“Michael? He hasn’t had a relapse, has he?” Agnes’ face clouded with concern. She darted a quick glance at her son and Edwina wondered if she had reason to fear for his safety where Michael was concerned.
“No, nothing like that. There’s no nice way to say this so I’ll just come out with it.” Edwina glanced at Benjy and lowered her voice. “Polly is dead and it looks very much like Michael might have killed her.”
“Polly Watkins was murdered?” Agnes gripped the edge of the chair close at hand. “You say Michael may have done it?”
“He was the last one known to have seen her alive. She was seen getting into his cab the night she died and no one has come forward to say they’ve seen her alive again,” Beryl said. “He won’t even confirm that he had her in the cab, let alone where he took her. Norah says he had been hired to drive her home from the cinema but his uncooperative attitude makes him look guilty.”
“I am so sorry to hear about Polly. I always liked her. When will her family hold the funeral?” Agnes asked.
“Tomorrow afternoon at the church in Walmsley Parva. Will you come?” Edwina asked.
�
��I’ll have to think it over. It could be very awkward.” Agnes looked over at her boy. “Why does anyone think Michael might be involved?”
“He was the last one seen with her before she died. It’s especially worrisome because of how Michael acted while he was in the hospital. We know that he became unusually possessive of you during the time you spent reading to him in the hospital. We wanted to verify that you were in fact alive and well. Honestly, I feared from the time you disappeared that you had been killed and your body had been hidden away somewhere,” Edwina said. “It simply was not like you in the least to shirk your duties and to leave without a word to anyone.”
“I never meant to worry anyone. I suppose I was just so caught up in my own concerns that I acted selfishly. I am so sorry to have caused any grief.”
“I understand why you left without a forwarding address and I don’t even think you did the wrong thing. It’s just that it looked like a pattern of behavior on Michael’s part and we needed to be sure you truly were alive and well.”
“Norah had good reason to make something like that up, you see,” Beryl said. “She is very protective of her brother even now that he seems to be mostly mended.”
“I’m glad to hear that he is fine and I don’t think he was the sort of man to do violence to others. Did anyone question the man Polly was walking out with? Norman Davies, I think he was called. If anyone in Walmsley Parva was a criminal type, it was him,” Agnes said.
“You’re talking about the stolen produce and livestock from the Wallingford Estate?” Beryl asked. Agnes nodded. “Will you tell us about it?”
“I had been concerned for some time about discrepancies in our inventory. Whenever I asked Norman about it he gave me an excuse. First they were plausible like an accounting error or an unexpected illness in one of the lambs. But then he became defensive and started saying I was imagining things. I said we had either the worst stock-keeping system and unhealthiest animals in the county or something dishonest was going on. He dismissed my concerns and said I thought I knew more than I did about the way the farm worked. He acted confident but I could tell he was worried despite all his bluster.”
“Did you prove that he was stealing?”
“I did. I decided to get to the bottom of it for once and for all so I hid in the storeroom where the butter was kept. I had noticed a couple of pounds would go missing every few days during the night. It took a couple of nights of keeping watch but before long Norman let himself in and left with not only some butter but some cream as well.”
“Did you tell him you had proof?” Beryl asked.
“I did. He laughed in my face until I told him I was planning to go to the matron, Hortense Merriweather, with the accusation. He grabbed my arm and started shaking me. I pulled away and I wished I hadn’t told him what I had decided to do.”
“Did you end up telling her?” Edwina asked.
“Of course I did. He was stealing from us all, from the boys on the front even, by taking the products from the Wallingford Estate. I wasn’t working my fingers to the bone so that Norman Davies could simply help himself to whatever he took a mind to grab.”
“What did Hortense say about it? Did she seem surprised?” Beryl asked.
“Naturally she was very upset. I only wish I had been there to see what happened when she reported him to the authorities. Unfortunately things took longer than she had expected and I left before it all got sorted,” Agnes said. Edwina cocked an eyebrow at Beryl who gave a tiny shake of the head. Agnes did not need to know that Norman was never prosecuted for his crimes.
“So you left for London very soon after discovering what he was up to then?” Edwina asked.
“Only a couple of days later, in fact. It is rather difficult to think about.”
“I’m sure it is but could you bring yourself to explain how you came to leave? Polly’s body was found at the Wallingford Estate and it seems that every part of our investigation keeps bringing us back to things that happened on it at the same time you were stationed there,” Beryl said.
“Why are the two of you asking these questions instead of the police?” Agnes asked.
“Constable Gibbs remains the enforcer of the law in Walmsley Parva,” Edwina said.
“I see. I can’t imagine she’s raised her esteem of women who were in the Land Army in the time that has elapsed since I was enlisted.”
“It doesn’t appear that she has. The search for you was conducted halfheartedly and only at my insistence. She decided Polly had met with an accident as soon as she arrived at the crime scene,” Edwina said.
“Not only that, but Edwina was attacked while she was looking over the ledgers from the estate. The person who assaulted her took them away. Is there any reason you can think of that someone would want them?” Beryl asked.
“What did they contain? Not the inventory records?” Agnes said.
“No. Hortense had the inventory ledgers. Mine were about the skills and availability for each Land Army worker and where they were sent to work. I had the milk, produce, and livestock delivery routes marked out. I had the list of the girls that had already left the Land Army and those that were still on the roster.”
“None of that sounds like something worth stealing, does it? Or hurting you over, does it?” Agnes asked.
“No, it doesn’t, but nevertheless someone did steal them after knocking me unconscious,” Edwina said. “I just can’t give up the idea there was something important inside them.”
“Which is one more reason we have been looking into Polly’s murder. We’d like to know who assaulted Edwina,” Beryl said. “Any little bit of information you remember could be a great help.”
“Was there anything unusual that occurred that week? Anything at all?” Edwina asked.
“You mean besides the fact that I abandoned my post and ran off to London under a new name?” Agnes said.
“Yes, besides that. How did you decide to leave for London? Was it your idea?” Edwina asked.
“I’m not sure. It all happened quite quickly.”
“Perhaps if you tell us what you do remember for sure that would be a good start,” Beryl said. “Just try to remember what you did. Was it an ordinary day, the last day you were at the Wallingford Estate?”
“Well, it wouldn’t have been a few weeks earlier. Unfortunately it had become quite common. I was out with the milk float doing the early delivery and I was ill. Sick in the morning, you understand.” Agnes looked over at Benjy. “I had to keep stopping the float and being sick at the side of the road.”
“That must have been a difficult morning,” Beryl said.
“I had gotten quite good really at pushing through but for some reason that last day I was sicker than usual. I worried maybe that I had fallen ill with something even more serious than having fallen pregnant. Flu or something like it,” Agnes said. “I had to pull the cart to the side of the road so many times I was late delivering the milk. In fact, I was so late that Hortense came out looking for me.”
“Hortense went looking for you?” Edwina asked.
“She met me on the route,” Agnes said. “I was just straightening up once more when she came round the side of a small cottage. I remember thinking it was such a sweet-looking little place with its cheerful blue door just before I lost some more of my breakfast. Hortense said Prudence Rathbone had called to complain that I was late with the milk and that she’d seen me being ill and she assumed I was feeling the effects of a night of drinking.”
“Prudence said that about you?” Beryl asked.
“She did. Hortense was very angry and she told me she would drive us back to the estate. When we finally got back to the barn she said it served me right to be ill and that she expected me to stable the pony. Dreadful, stubborn creature that animal was,” Agnes said. “I remember I was so light-headed and weak that I could barely manage to unhitch the pony. Matron said she had resisted listening to the gossip from Constable Gibbs that all the girls in the Land Army
were no better than they ought to be but it was clear to her that morning that the constable had been right all along. She’d seen the proof with her own eyes.”
“Hortense must not have liked that.”
“No, she didn’t. She said I had disgraced my uniform and should be ashamed of myself. She wanted to know what sort of example I set for the other girls sneaking out and drinking. She wanted to know where I had gone and how I had managed to get out and back in again without anyone seeing me. She said she couldn’t let this sort of thing spread to the other girls. She kept badgering me until I finally told her the truth.”
“You told her about the baby?” Edwina asked.
“I just blurted it out. Before I knew what I’d done I told her everything. It was a relief really. I had felt so alone.” Agnes crossed the room and picked up Benjy. She sat on the edge of the slim iron bed and held her son close.
“What did Hortense say when you told her?”
“She surprised me. She said it was a terrible thing for a young woman to go through all alone. She felt it was her responsibility to try and make things right. She said if she had done her job better I wouldn’t have found myself in the position I was in. She also said she didn’t want my condition to become known and to reflect poorly on the work the Land Army was doing. She said it had been difficult enough to appease the locals without one of the girls falling pregnant.”
“How did she propose to keep anyone from finding out? Did she tell you to leave Walmsley Parva?”
“She said she wouldn’t report me to the people above her in the Land Army administration and she suggested I leave Walmsley Parva and head to London where it would be easy to find a factory job, especially if I said I was a war widow. She even gave me some money for travel and helped me to leave early the next morning before anyone else was up.”
Murder in an English Village Page 21