Flora's Secret

by Anita Davison

  Chapter 16

  The angry sea had settled to a gentle swell beneath a sky filled with the soft blues and pinks of a late spring afternoon, as if the fury of the skies had expended all its energy in the violence that took place in Eloise’s stateroom. The wake of the ship stretched behind them in a surging white line towards the horizon as the wind tugged Flora’s hair across her face.

  She had no idea how long she stood there, her gaze fixed on the frothing water until her breathing slowed and the urge to scream dissolved.

  ‘Calmer now?’ Bunny asked gently, the whoosh of the silk lining of his jacket strangely loud as he slipped a protective arm round her shoulders.

  She didn’t respond, though she sensed he had been close by for some time.

  He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, his fingers brushing her cheek, the touch making her want to bury her face in his neck, but she resisted in case he rejected her again; that would be too much to bear.

  ‘How could anyone do something like that to Eloise?’ She squeezed her eyes shut, as if she could banish the images in her head.

  ‘The captain is inside her stateroom with Mr Hersch and Dr Fletcher.’ Bunny massaged her shoulder with one hand. ‘Their combined efforts should catch whoever did this pretty quickly.’

  ‘Huh!’ Her anger surfaced again. ‘Faint hope of that. At least this time no one can call it an accident.’ This time? How much more tragedy could occur on one short voyage?

  ‘Dr Fletcher wants you to take this.’ He held up a small brown bottle with ridges on the side, twisting it round in his fingers. ‘It’s a sedative. For the shock, he said.’

  ‘That’s the last thing I need right now,’ she snapped, annoyed with herself for taking her temper out on Bunny.

  ‘It’s all right to cry, you know.’ He slipped the bottle into his pocket, and leaned his elbows on top of the rail, his shoulders hunched.

  ‘I’m too angry to cry.’ She swiped a hand across her cheek that came away dry. ‘Eloise believed no one could touch her if she kept her identity secret. But she was wrong.’ She straightened. ‘Did you say Mr Hersch was with the captain in her stateroom?’

  ‘Yes. It appears our German friend is actually a detective.’ Bunny adjusted his glasses on his nose with his free hand. ‘A Pinkerton’s detective, no less.’

  ‘I’ve never heard of them.’ Flora sighed. ‘Though I should have guessed something of the sort. He has a unique way of prising things out of people without giving anything away himself.’

  ‘The agency is quite famous in America.’ Bunny stepped closer. ‘And talking of prising things. We might have some explaining to do about the van Elders?’

  Flora frowned. ‘You were the one who told me to keep the newspaper clipping quiet until after we had heard from your reporter friend in New York.’

  ‘Well, yes, but I had no idea Eloise was dead when we sent that telegram.’

  ‘Was she? Dead, I mean. What time did we return from the wireless office?’

  ‘Difficult to say, around twelve forty five, or one o’clock maybe. Then we had that drama with Max which must have taken about twenty minutes. After that, you went into luncheon and I arrived a little later.’

  ‘That’s about right.’ Flora paused, thoughtful. ‘I went back to my suite to change before coming to the bridge tournament, and – oh dear, this sounds as if we’re trying to get our story straight.’ She gave an embarrassed laugh that tailed off into a sob.

  ‘Well, we are in a way. As for the clipping, you waited three days before you showed it to me.’

  ‘I genuinely forgot about it,’ Flora hissed as a couple strolling the deck passed by, only to pause in front of Eloise’s door, murmuring to each other. She waited until they had passed on before adding, ‘are you implying Eloise’s death is somehow my fault?’

  ‘The reverse, actually.’ His arm drifted to her shoulder and tightened. ‘Nothing either of us did or said would have made any impact on the outcome. Someone wanted Eloise dead for reasons of their own.’

  Flora bit her lip hard as her guilt refused to be banished so easily. She pressed a clenched fist against her mouth and spoke into her fingers. ‘I could have confronted Eloise with the clipping, insisted she tell me the whole story.’

  ‘Maybe she had no intention of telling you anything. Have you thought of that?’

  ‘I would have convinced her,’ Flora said, not quite believing it herself.

  ‘Even so, if Parnell was blackmailing Eloise, the obituary doesn’t tell us why someone would want to kill them both.’

  ‘No, no, it doesn’t.’ Flora sighed. ‘Maybe Parnell tried to kill Eloise?’ Flora tried to make sense of her muddled thoughts. ‘But she managed to fight him off and he died instead.’

  ‘Then who killed her?’

  ‘I don’t know.’ Her voice came out as a frustrated whine. ‘But maybe she was right in that Mr Hersch was employed by the van Elders to expose Eloise.’

  ‘Which he didn’t do.’ Bunny brought his free hand down on the rail with a thump. ‘Which is exactly why we must examine only the facts, not fit them to our theories.’

  ‘Now you sound like Mr Hersch.’

  ‘Do I? I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be a detective.’ She turned a bemused expression on him and he added, ‘before I discovered motor cars, that is.’

  He moved his arm from her shoulders to her waist, easing her away from the rail. ‘You need to sit down, preferably with some hot sweet tea to help with the shock.’

  ‘That sounds good – oh!’ She brought a hand to her mouth. ‘Eddy!’

  ‘Gerald said they couldn’t keep this latest death from the boys, so he is going to break it to them together after the recital.’

  ‘It’s so kind of him, although I feel I ought to do it. I’ve absolved my responsibility for Eddy too often lately.’

  ‘Maybe it’s best coming from Gerald. You know what little monsters young boys can be. They’ll probably demand details, and you’re in no state to deal with that.’

  ‘Details,’ Flora said under her breath. ‘I knew there was something odd about it.’

  ‘Odd about what? What are you talking about, Flora?’

  ‘Eloise. There was plenty of blood this time, I could hardly look away, but it wasn’t until just now I realized I couldn’t see what caused it.’ Her hand came down on his arm in a gentle shake. ‘There was no weapon.’

  ‘Don’t think about it now. Leave it to the captain and Mr Hersch. Look, Flora,’ he lowered his voice, though there was no one close enough to hear, ‘I might have chosen the wrong time to talk about this, but when you hugged me this morning, I—’

  ‘It’s perfectly all right.’ Flora rolled her shoulder out of his hold, her back stiff. ‘I understand. It was presumptuous of me and won’t happen again.’ How could anything be normal between them after this?

  ‘That isn’t what I meant. Flora please allow me to explain.’

  She flung away from him unwilling to listen, stomach knotting as the colour red flashed before her eyes.

  Images flashed through her head of the day she had first met Eloise on deck. How they had giggled together on Eloise’s bed after they had broken into Parnell’s stateroom. Even their revealing talk in the cloakroom took on a piquant quality now she knew it would never be repeated. Uniquely female moments of camaraderie Flora had rarely experienced in her life.

  ‘Why don’t we go to the library?’ Bunny suggested. ‘The bridge tournament will have broken up by now.’

  Flora shook her head. ‘I’m just not prepared to sit over tea waiting to be summoned by the captain for another of his formal interviews. I need to talk to him, now.’ Her gaze strayed to uniformed crewman posted outside Eloise’s stateroom.

  ‘He’s not there,’ Bunny guided her away from Eloise’s door. ‘I saw him leave a few minutes ago with Hersch.’

  Flora turned and marched to the far end of the deck. Ignoring the astonished faces that turned in her directio
n, she erupted into the interior lobby and made for the stairs.

  Bunny’s footsteps sounded behind her, but she didn’t stop until she reached the upper promenade deck and halted on the landing, searching for a clue as to where to go next.

  ‘Where is it?’ she cried, panicked.

  ‘This way, opposite the library.’ He pointed to a door marked ‘Captain’, moved past her and gave it a sharp knock with his knuckles.

  A mumbled ‘come’ came from the other side, and Flora entered the L-shaped cabin no larger than a stateroom with a spectacular double aspect view of the ocean she was too heartsick to appreciate.

  Captain Gates occupied a swivel chair at a leather-topped desk, with Mr Hersch and Officer Martin, all of whom leapt to their feet at the sight of her.

  ‘Ah, my dear Miss Maguire.’ The captain adopted a sympathetic expression which was not his usual façade and didn’t suit him. ‘How are you feeling now?’

  She took a second or two to catch her breath, which came in shallow gasps after her run up the stairs. How should she be feeling? She had discovered two dead bodies in the space of a few days, and now Eloise was dead. Murdered, in the most horrible way.

  ‘I apologize, Captain,’ Bunny said, following her in. ‘Flora is very upset, but determined to speak with you.’

  Tempted to tell him she could speak for herself, Flora decided against it. Bunny had been nothing but kind and he didn’t deserve her harsh tongue.

  ‘How are you holding up, Miss Maguire?’ Hersch asked, peering into her face.

  ‘Calmer,’ she murmured, unable to bring one single question into her mind. Those she could summon were ridiculous. ‘Who killed Eloise?’ and ‘what are you doing about it?’ being the most prominent. ‘Are you really a detective?’ was the only think she could think of to say.

  ‘I am, my dear,’ he said gently. ‘I apologize for not confiding in you. However, the information was not mine to give.’

  ‘What does that mean?’ Bunny snapped, his irritation equal to Flora’s.

  ‘Captain Gates and I were about to speak with you, so it’s expedient you arrived here together,’ he replied, making no attempt to explain. ‘Which is how you have spent most of this voyage, is it not? Together.’

  Flora groaned inwardly. Not only had she shamefully neglected Eddy in her quest to prove she was right about Parnell’s death, now the entire ship must be gossiping about her and Bunny.

  She could hear them now. ‘Did you know that little hussy governess has set her cap at that nice Mr Harrington? And two bodies she has found now. If that doesn’t tell you something about her, I don’t know what does.’

  How could she ever face the other passengers again?

  Her cheeks flamed, which made Hersch smile. ‘I don’t mean to imply anything, my dear, but your mutual attachment has not gone unnoticed.’ He directed her to the last empty chair in the cramped room, leaving Bunny to hover in between.

  Officer Martin withdrew his ubiquitous notebook from his pocket and resumed his seat, his pen poised over a page.

  Flora almost laughed aloud, but suppressed it in time. Apart from the location, the scene was so redolent of Sunday morning, she might have stepped back several days.

  ‘Here we are again, eh?’ Hersch appeared to read her thoughts. ‘Before we begin, I would ask that neither you nor Mr Harrington discuss what you saw in Miss Lane’s stateroom with the other passengers.’

  ‘Why?’ Flora clenched both hands in her lap. ‘The entire ship will be buzzing by dinner.’

  ‘The death itself will likely become common knowledge, though the circumstances can be withheld. The crew have put out word that a maid came upon the body during her duties.’

  ‘I didn’t see anything,’ Bunny said, defensively. ‘The purser told me what had happened.’

  ‘What about Gerald Gilmore?’ Flora asked. ‘Bunny – I mean, Mr Harrington, said he arrived soon afterwards?’

  ‘He has also agreed to co-operate,’ Captain Gates said. ‘Mr Hersch is of the opinion the killer may reveal himself if we know more than he does.’

  ‘Like baiting a trap?’ Bunny said, his voice sharp.

  ‘In a way.’ The German inclined his head. ‘We also need to know where everyone was at the exact time Miss Lane was killed.’

  ‘And how,’ Flora added.

  ‘Beg your pardon, Miss Maguire?’ Hersch asked.

  ‘How was Eloise killed? There was no weapon that I could see. Did you find one in her stateroom?’

  Captain Gates exchanged a look with the German, while Officer Martin kept his head down as he wrote in his notebook.

  ‘She was stabbed,’ Hersch conceded after a pause. ‘And no, we have not yet found a weapon. Now, if you would kindly tell us exactly where you were this afternoon, my dear.’

  ‘Most people were in the library at the bridge tournament.’ Bunny’s eyes widened as he looked from the German to Flora. ‘Surely you don’t think Flora had anything to do with it?’

  Flora smiled at this bizarre suggestion. As if she could do something so brutal to any human being, especially lively, fun-loving Eloise? But then, Hersch didn’t know her, did he?

  ‘I think we can assume Miss Maguire is not involved.’ Hersch lowered his rear end onto the corner of the desk, his arms crossed over his chest. ‘Mr Harrington, perhaps you could give us your version of events from the time you last saw Miss Lane?’

  Flora listened with barely restrained patience during Bunny’s ponderous account of their visit to the wireless room. He made no mention of the telegram they had sent, his rationale being that Flora wanted to see how a wireless telegraphy machine worked.

  ‘An odd time to make a visit, after all, the storm was still quite fierce then,’ Hersch observed, splitting a look between them.

  ‘Let me ask you a question,’ Flora said in an effort to distract him. ‘Did you happen to find a large sum of money, or maybe a photograph in either Mr Parnell’s or Eloise’s staterooms? I assume you instigated a search of them both?’

  Officer Martin’s pen stilled and Captain Gates cleared his throat.

  ‘Why would you ask such a specific question, Miss Maguire?’ Hersch fixed her with an enquiring look.

  Flora held her nerve and refused to explain. ‘Well, did you find anything?’

  ‘No sum of money has come to light, nor any photograph.’ during the removal of Mr Parnell’s personal effects.’ Hersch didn’t meet her eyes, as if he was embarrassed by her insistence.

  ‘The clipping,’ she whispered.

  ‘What?’ She looked up and back, meeting his eyes at which he gave a start. ‘Oh yes of course.’ He hunted through his pockets in turn until he found the small sheet of newsprint that he placed in her open palm.

  ‘I’m guessing you’ve seen this before.’ She handed the piece of newsprint to Hersch.

  He removed a pair of oval spectacles from his pocket Flora had never seen him use before and put them on. He scanned the page quickly without expression, then handed it to Captain Gates, confirming that this too was not a surprise. ‘Where did you get this?’ He removed the glasses slowly, swinging them gently.

  ‘I have an explanation.’ Flora attempted a smile. ‘Though not a particularly good one, so if you don’t mind, I’ll save it for another time. Besides, it’s not as if we share total honesty. Is it, Mr Hersch?’

  ‘I suppose I asked for that.’ Hersch tapped the arm of his glasses against his bottom lip. ‘I won’t press you. For the moment.’ The threat he would do so later was implied. ‘Why do you think this obituary has something to do with Miss Lane’s murder?’

  ‘I didn’t see the clipping until this morning, but Eloise had already told me her husband’s name was Theo, and he had died. But not the circumstances. I didn’t realize the relevance then. I still don’t. Then there was the bracelet.’

  ‘What bracelet?’ Hersch’s eyes sharpened.

  Flora looked from the German to Officer Martin and back again. ‘Eloise had a gold bracelet
with an inscription that said, To E on our Wedding Day, T.’

  ‘We found no bracelet.’ Hersch flicked another look at the captain.

  ‘You must have. It was in her bag, the evening one with an embroidered rose.’ Restless, Flora half rose, though there was no room to pace with five adults occupying the cramped cabin, so she relaxed back onto the chair again. ‘It’s a plain, gold band about half an inch thick with a safety chain. I told you about it.’ She twisted in her seat to include Bunny.

  He nodded. ‘She did mention it. I can verify that.’

  ‘Did you actually see this bracelet, Mr Harrington?’

  ‘Well, no, I—’

  ‘I didn’t imagine it!’ Flora snapped. ‘Whoever killed Eloise must have taken it.’

  Officer Martin resumed scribbling.

  ‘Don’t be too distressed, my dear.’ Mr Hersch patted Flora’s shoulder, the gesture reminiscent of a favourite uncle. ‘We only discovered her a short time ago. Perhaps, when we put Miss Lane’s belongings together?’ He left the thought hanging.

  ‘Of course.’ Flora released a long breath. ‘I’m sorry if I was overly emotional.’ How could she explain to them that even after three days, she had formed a bond with Eloise? ‘Perhaps I’ll return to my suite now and order in dinner for Eddy and myself. A quiet evening might help my nerves.’

  ‘I’ll escort you back to your suite,’ Bunny grasped her elbow gently and assisted her gently to her feet.

  ‘Miss Maguire,’ Captain Gates interjected. ‘If it’s not too arduous for you, we would rather you carried on as normal. You might hear something in the dining room; a detail that would not be revealed in an interview situation.’ He laced his hands together on the desk in front of him. ‘It would also be wiser if you do not reveal you were the one who found her?’

  ‘Am I an integral part of your investigation now?’ she asked, a brow raised in challenge.

  ‘You always have been, my dear,’ Captain Gates had added in his half-amused way.