‘Vera. I’m sorry to interrupt you,’ said Rose, ‘but I’d like to ask you just one question.’
‘Miss Simpson!’
‘I’m sorry, Inspector. But it’s important. Vera. Listen to me. Before you set off for the maze, did you go into the dining room and pick up one of the candlesticks from the sideboard?’
‘Well, of course I didn’t. Why would I have done that? You do say the silliest things, Rose. I say, Inspector, do you think I might have a little drink?’
‘I think not, Miss Brewster, unless of course you’d like a glass of water?’
‘No, I wouldn’t. Very well. Let’s see where was I? Ah … yes. I arrived at the maze and went to the middle. Of course I was early for our rendezvous, but I still had a jolly long time to wait for Emmeline to arrive. I was beginning to think she hadn’t spotted my note after all, and was considering heading back when she came stumbling into the middle of the maze.’
The room was quiet save for the ticking of the clock on the mantelpiece. Rose watched the inspector lean forward in his chair and grip the side of the desk. She imagined he would have liked nothing better than to utter some words of encouragement to prompt Vera to go on with her account.
‘I remember her words,’ Vera said, very quietly. ‘Or at least I think I do. For some reason they’ve got stuck in my head. She said: “Darling, you silly thing. You made a mistake on your plan. You missed a bit. It took me ever such a long time to work out what you’d done. But I’m here now. Don’t you think I was very brave coming out in the dark? I almost didn’t. But it was very romantic of you to suggest …” And then her voice trailed off. You see, she’d just realised it was me not Theo.’
‘Vera, I really think …’
‘She was ever so shocked at first by the deception. And then she was very angry. I tried to explain why I’d done it. I told her how much I loved Theo. How I couldn’t live without him. I told her how selfish she was being playing with our lives. I said that I didn’t believe she cared anything for him.’
Vera walked back to her seat, and sat down heavily.
‘She calmed down then. She told me that she was sorry. She said she knew they had behaved badly, but that she loved Theo and that if he were to ask her to marry him, she would. She looked at me as if she pitied me and I hated her even more. I screamed at her, Inspector. I told her Mr Montacute would never agree to such a match. She said she thought he would because her happiness meant everything to him and that she could never be happy unless she was with Theo.’
‘What happened then, Miss Brewster?’
‘I struck her.’
‘With the candlestick?’ enquired the inspector.
‘No, I’ve told you already I didn’t take a candlestick with me. There was no candlestick there. Why would there have been?’
‘Vera, what do you mean when you say you struck Emmeline?’ Rose asked quickly.
‘I slapped her hard across the face. She was very shocked, I remember that. And then I did something awful, Rose.’
‘What did you do, Miss Brewster?’ demanded the inspector.
‘She was still holding my plan in her hand and I snatched it from her. I was so angry, you see. I snatched it from her and ran out of the maze. I have never run so fast. I wanted to make sure she couldn’t follow me out.’ Vera clutched at Rose’s hand and gave her a look of desperation. ‘Don’t you see how wicked I was, Rose? I knew she’d get lost trying to get out of the maze. And I just left her there.’
‘Well, what do you make of all that, Sergeant?’ asked the inspector as soon as Vera and Rose had left the room. ‘I don’t know whether the woman’s very clever or very stupid.’
‘Or very batty or quite drunk,’ suggested the sergeant.
‘Happen she’s all four. I can’t make her out at all. One thing’s for sure, though, she seems to love that doctor fellow almost to distraction. Having said that, one minute she appears to want to forgive him and the next she hates him. And I’m not altogether sure that story of hers isn’t made up in some pathetic attempt to protect him.’
‘Well, sir, all I can say is I’m not surprised Dr Harrison gave her the old heave-ho. I found her rather frightening, so I did. And I wouldn’t put it past her to have gone back into the maze later with the candlestick to finish the poor girl off. It seems to me it’s just the sort of thing she’d do. I could see her coming back to the house, having a couple more drinks, and then going back to the maze, couldn’t you? She knew the girl was there, after all. The murderer would have to have known that, wouldn’t they? They’d have to have known that Miss Montacute was in the maze.’
As soon as they came out of the study, Vera said: ‘I think I’ll go and have a little lie down.’
‘I think,’ said Rose, ‘that would be a jolly good idea. But, before you go upstairs, I’d like to ask you one more question.’
‘Haven’t I answered enough questions in there?’ Vera pointed towards the closed study door. ‘I seem to have done nothing but talk and talk.’
Vera’s mood had become petulant. She was behaving, Rose thought, like a tired child. It occurred to her that the interview had taken a great deal out of the woman and that, coupled with her somewhat inebriated state, meant Vera would soon be asleep.
‘It’s just one question. What did you do with the plan?’
‘The plan? What plan?’ Vera asked vaguely. In her mind’s eye she was already upstairs, asleep in her bed.
‘Oh, Vera. Do try and concentrate. The plan of the maze, of course. What did you think I meant? You said you snatched it out of Emmeline’s hand and ran out of the maze with it. What did you do with the plan? Have you still got it?’
‘No. I think I threw it away,’ said Vera slowly. ‘As soon as I got out of the maze I think I screwed it up in my hand and threw it away. It’s probably on the ground somewhere.’
‘Good lord!’ said Cedric, as soon as Rose had recounted to him the salient points of Vera’s interview with the policemen. ‘What an absolutely rotten thing to do. I half wish I hadn’t said anything to Theo now. I take it that Harrison breaking off their engagement was the last straw and was what sent her over the edge?’
‘It probably was. And it’s my fault, not yours. After all, I told you to have a word with Theo.’
‘I should have said something to him much earlier. I only hope that’s all Vera did. Leave Emmeline in the maze, I mean.’
By common accord they went into the library, having become thoroughly bored with both the drawing room and the dining room and the company within them. To their relief, the library was empty and they seated themselves comfortably side by side on a great leather Chesterfield sofa. Rose sank back into the seat and leaned her head comfortably on Cedric’s shoulder. They sat there curled up beside one another, holding hands in companionable silence. Death seemed far away.
‘I don’t want this to end, Rose,’ said Cedric, at last. ‘Sitting here, just the two of us, pretending that a murder hasn’t just occurred in the grounds, and that Sedgwick is not crawling with policemen.’
‘Yes, it would be nice, wouldn’t it, darling? If only we could just click our fingers and have everyone else go away.’
‘I expect we’ll have Manning or Torridge in here in a minute, asking what to do about dinner.’ Cedric sighed. ‘I daresay the police will want to interview Jemima and Lavinia before they call it a day. We’ll have to put dinner back by an hour at least.’
‘What about the servants, when will they have their dinner? They’ll be awfully hungry, won’t they?’
‘They usually have it while we’re having our cocktails before dinner. Unlike in some houses where they’re made to wait until after all the dinner things are cleared away and the family and guests are having their coffee.’
‘Goodness, that would make their meal frightfully late, wouldn’t it?’
‘It would. But some servants prefer it. They like to have their dinner when they’ve finished for the night. You should hear Torridge and Manni
ng. They have very different views on the subject.’
‘Well, if I were a servant, I don’t think I’d want to have to wait for my meal. I’d probably help myself to a few things from the dishes before they were sent up!’
Rose closed her eyes for a moment and thought of Madame Renard’s dress shop and the long hours of work she endured there. It occurred to her that there was not so very much difference between her lot and that of Cedric’s servants. Her station in life was nearer to theirs than to his.
‘I was going to suggest to everyone that we didn’t bother dressing for dinner tonight,’ Cedric was saying. ‘It’s likely to be a very short, sombre affair this evening, don’t you think?’
‘I do. I think everyone will want to go to bed early. It’s been such an awful, tiring day. I suppose it’s the shock. I don’t think anyone will have much of an appetite for conversation.’ A thought suddenly occurred to her. ‘I say, Cedric, is Lavinia still in her boudoir?’
‘Yes, she is. She even took her tea there by herself. Really, one would think she could make more of an effort. She could try and comfort Jemima for a start.’
‘Jemima doesn’t want comforting. She wants to be left alone by herself. Look at the way she spurned poor Felix’s attempts today, and they were as close as anything yesterday.’ Rose sighed. ‘I think Lavinia’s rather annoyed with the inspector for not interviewing her first.’
‘Just like Lavinia. Poor old Inspector Bramwell. I wouldn’t like to be in his shoes when he finally does interview her. By the way, I’ve asked Mrs Farrier to prepare rooms for Inspector Bramwell and Sergeant Lane. I thought it would be rather a good idea to keep some police presence here overnight, don’t you? God forbid there’ll be another murder!’
‘Yes. I think that’s a very good idea,’ said Rose, rather dreamily, her head still on Cedric’s shoulder. ‘As it happens, I’d rather like to speak to your housekeeper. I have one or two questions to ask her.’
‘Would you like me to send for her now?’ asked Cedric rather reluctantly.
‘No,’ said Rose, placing her head more firmly on his shoulder. ‘I want to stay like this for as long as possible.’
‘So do I. But I say, darling. Do you believe that story of Vera’s? It sounds a bit far-fetched all that note business doesn’t it? And putting poor old Harrison’s initials at the bottom. That really was a bit much.’
‘I don’t think the police believed Vera at first. They thought it was a rather desperate bid on her part to protect Theo. But, for what it’s worth, I believe her.’
‘Oh?’
‘Yes, it explains one or two things with regard to the way she behaved this morning.’
‘Such as?’
‘Vera didn’t join in the search,’ said Rose. ‘I caught her smiling when she thought Emmeline hadn’t come down to breakfast because she was unwell. But, when she discovered Emmeline was missing, Vera told Lavinia that she had a headache, or some such thing. The truth I think was that she was afraid Emmeline would tell everyone what she had done when they found her, and she didn’t want to be there when that happened. Can you imagine how Theo would have reacted?’
‘Yes, I can.’
‘That’s not all. Do you remember that you were afraid that Emmeline might have come to harm because of the cold.’
‘Yes, I was.’
‘I think the same thought suddenly occurred to Vera, particularly when she saw the blankets and flasks of coffee and brandy we were taking with us on the search. She suddenly realised how irresponsible she’d been to leave Emmeline in the maze. I happened to look up at the house just before we set off. I caught sight of Vera by the window and I remember thinking at the time how worried she looked.’
‘But wouldn’t she have looked just as worried if, God forbid, she had actually murdered Emmeline in the maze?’ asked Cedric.
‘Yes, of course. But there’s more. You’ll remember that, when I came back to the house with Lavinia, Vera came tearing out of the house and asked me what had happened. When I told her Emmeline was dead she fainted, but not before she said something along the lines of: “No, she can’t be dead. What have I done? I never meant to …”’
‘Oh, I say! Did she really?’
‘Yes. Don’t you see what that means?’
‘I can’t say that I do. It seems to me more like a confession. That she had killed Emmeline after all.’
‘Vera thought Emmeline had died from the cold. From exposure or hypothermia or some such thing. Don’t you see? She thought she was to blame for the girl’s death. Not because she had actually killed her, but because she had left her in the maze.’
‘And she was responsible for Emmeline’s death in a way, wasn’t she? If it hadn’t been for her actions, Emmeline would never have gone to the maze in the first place. She’d have stayed safely tucked up in bed instead.’
‘But Vera didn’t wield the fatal blow,’ said Rose. ‘At the first opportunity, she asked me if it was true what the servants were saying. Was it true that Emmeline had died from having her head bashed in? That was the eloquent way she put it. I remember being rather shocked. But she wanted reassurance that Emmeline had not died from the cold. And when I told her that she hadn’t, she looked relieved.’
‘So who did kill Emmeline? Are we any nearer to finding out?’
‘I think I may be able to narrow the suspects down a bit further. I would like to have a word with your housekeeper now, if I may?’
‘Your wish is my command, my lady. I tell you what, I’ll go and get the woman myself rather than ring for her. It’ll give me an excuse to find out how the servants are taking all this. Manning and Torridge won’t tell me the truth. They’ll just assure me that the servants are coping well if I ask them.’
Cedric returned a few minutes later with the housekeeper in tow. Mrs Farrier was a thin, pale woman, dressed all in black, relieved only by white lace cuffs and collar, which accentuated her pallor. Rose thought her dress particularly fitting for a house in mourning, although she assumed it was the woman’s usual work attire.
‘I hope you don’t mind my asking to see you, Mrs Farrier?’ said Rose. ‘I know you’re very busy, particularly in light of what’s happened. I daresay some of the young maids are very upset?’
‘We all are, miss. Nothing like this has ever happened at Sedgewick before. Not in my lifetime at least.’
‘Quite so,’ Rose said quickly. ‘Now, I wonder if you wouldn’t mind answering a question for me. I daresay you’ll think my question rather a strange one.’
‘I’ll do what I can, miss.’
‘Would you mind telling me who has which bedroom upstairs … the layout I mean,’ said Rose, seeing the look of astonishment on the housekeeper’s face. ‘For instance, my room is next to Lady Lavinia’s. And her room and mine are opposite to Miss Montacute’s and Miss Wentmore’s. And their two rooms are of course next to one another. Miss Brewster’s room is a little further down the corridor. What about the men’s corridor? How are the rooms positioned there?’
‘Well … let me see. Dr Harrison’s and Count Fernand’s rooms are next to one another on one side of the corridor, and opposite them are Lord Belvedere’s and Mr Thistlewaite’s.’
‘Which rooms are on the corresponding side of the house to Miss Montacute’s and Miss Wentmore’s rooms?’
‘That would be Dr Harrison’s and Count Fernand’s.’
‘Thank you, Mrs Farrier. That’s all I needed to know. You have been most helpful.’
Chapter Twenty-six
‘Are you going to tell me what that was all about?’ asked Cedric as they made their way back to the drawing room. ‘I’m not sure that my housekeeper thought your reasons for wondering which gentleman slept in which room were entirely honourable. If you wanted to know which my room was, you only had to ask me, you know!’
Rose giggled, and then immediately became serious again. She had caught sight of Jemima through the open door, pale and unhappy, and alone. The girl had looked up
startled at the sound of laughter.
Rose lowered her voice and said: ‘You know very well, darling, that my reasons for asking such things were related to my investigations. I shall tell you about it all in good time once I’ve been able to think what it all means. I will tell you this, though. Something occurred to me when the policemen were interviewing Vera. I think the number of possible suspects has been narrowed down. I wonder if the same idea has occurred to the police.’
‘I didn’t have time to ask you before,’ said Inspector Bramwell. ‘Did you by any chance find anything of interest in Miss Montacute’s room or Miss Wentmore’s?’
‘Nothing I’m afraid, sir,’ admitted Sergeant Lane. ‘What would you like to do now? We still have to interview Lady Lavinia yet.’
‘You’re right, Sergeant. Time’s marching on. That lot will be wanting to dress for dinner any moment now. I’m surprised that butler fellow hasn’t tried to chivvy us along.’ He stared at the fire. ‘I think it’s about time we had a word with Miss Wentmore, don’t you? Let’s see if we can find out for ourselves if she is who she claims to be. Let’s discover whether your Miss Simpson’s theory about Jemima Wentmore and the deceased is correct.’
Jemima Wentmore appeared in front of Rose as soon as Cedric had left her side to go and see how Theo Harrison was bearing up.
‘Miss Simpson … Rose, I wondered if I might have a word with you?’
‘Yes, of course Jemima, how may I help you?’
‘Am I correct in thinking that you accompanied Miss Brewster when she was being interviewed by the policemen?’
‘Yes, I went with her.’
‘Didn’t they mind, the policemen I mean?’
‘I think Inspector Bramwell minded very much. But Vera refused to be interviewed unless I was with her. So I suppose he had no choice but to accept it.’
03 - Murder at Sedgwick Court Page 25