At last we arrive, thought Felix, though the journey has been interesting. ‘What sort of something?’ he asked.
‘Do you remember on the night of the storm there was a Major Parker there?’
‘Yes, what about him?’
‘Well, I’m beginning to think he employs them, to do burglaries or something — a sort of robber chief. We’re not there that often and it would be easy to do it without us knowing. And there are acres of cellars and places to hide the loot. It was actually Parker who found those chaps for us. He said they were in his regiment in the war and couldn’t get a job. It’s not just me that’s suspicious, Dr Cope is too. In fact he came and warned me.’
‘Warned you and not Sybil? Does he think she’s involved in this?’
‘I don’t think he does,’ said Sonia, sounding a little doubtful. ‘Anyway, she’s not. I’m quite sure she’s not. I wouldn’t be here if I thought she was. But if something happened and they got caught she might have difficulty proving it, mightn’t she? I did broach it with her but she pooh poohed it, as I knew she would. She never thinks the worst of anyone, except Tony, and I suppose she’s right about him, though that’s probably my fault for encouraging him. Anyway, I decided to do some sleuthing of my own, without telling her. You might think I’m just a feather-headed dancer but I’m not stupid and Dr Cope helped me with suggestions and let me use his telephone so she wouldn’t know.’ She smiled. ‘I think he rather likes me, actually.’
‘But Parker is Sybil’s friend, isn’t he?’ said Felix. ‘He said that he was.’
‘Not exactly. She sort of inherited him from her husband. He told her he and the Marquis were pals in the war. He just turned up one day and made himself known. Anyway, I found him eventually, and it all fitted: his first name, his age, his rank and the town he lived in, and he did know the Marquis in the war, apparently. Everything was right but for one thing — he was dead! He died three months ago. But our Major Parker is still very much alive, so whoever he is, he’s impersonating the real one and I didn’t know what to do about it. Then Denis, that’s Dr Cope, said what was the point of knowing a chief inspector of police if you didn’t make use of him, so here I am. I was going to broach it with you before, but then there was this beastly murder.’
‘Does Tony know about this?’
‘No, and I don’t want him to. Will you help me?’
‘You think Sonia and Sybil are mixed up in it, don’t you?’ said Connie over dinner. ‘I could see by the look on your face.’
‘And Sonia trying to distance herself from it, especially if those two have fallen out,’ said Felix. ‘Well it’s possible. I’ve never been entirely happy about the set-up at the Abbey, and if it hadn’t been for our rather particular circumstances I might have investigated further, or got the local force interested. No doubt I should have done. I’m rather glad that Cope is involved — a disinterested outsider and all that. I’ll give him a ring, I think, though even he is likely to be biased. That’s the trouble where pretty girls are involved.’
‘You were biased where I was involved,’ Connie reminded him, ‘and it probably saved me from prison. Anyway, I’m very fond of them, especially Sonia.’
‘I know you are. So am I. But I can’t just ignore it, you know. And she has asked me for help, after all.’ Felix looked pensive for a moment. ‘Tell me,’ he said, ‘in the matter of the female heart, is it really possible for a woman of Sonia’s persuasion to fall for a man? I find myself an innocent in these things.’
Connie smiled. ‘I saw it happen once, at the hospital. It was just before I left so I don’t know how it worked out, unfortunately. It was a nurse and a doctor of course. There were all sorts of fireworks and she was threatened with dismissal. The other woman was the matron of my ward.’
‘Quite the hothouse, all those single people thrown together. I’m surprised you weren’t pursued yourself.’
‘I was. Remember that surgeon, Harold Bostock? I practically had to fight him off with a chair, like a lion tamer.’
‘Oh, him. He wasn’t nearly good enough for you.’
‘No he wasn’t. The other girls thought I was mad. Anyway, if she’s not attracted to him she’s a jolly good actress. Which she may be, of course.’
‘Because of how they dance together?’
‘Mainly that. You could almost feel the electricity.’
‘Tony wasn’t acting, or so he claims.’
‘Is that what he told you?’
‘Madly in love, he said, but not reciprocated. It would appear he’s wrong about that, if what she says is true. We were right about their having a row that night. He’s pretty cut up about it, and the ladies are at each other’s throats. I was lucky to escape with my life.’
‘Poor fellow. He’ll be worried about losing his dancing partner.’
‘Yes he is. There’s also another thing I was wondering about —’
‘Oh, blow!’ interrupted Connie, ‘She’s awake.’
‘I’ll go.’
‘No you won’t, you’re tired.’
‘So are you.’
‘She only wants changing. Put a plate over it, will you?’
Felix went in search of one. Perhaps I’ll leave that for now, he thought. There may be nothing in it and it’ll only upset her.
Chapter Twelve
‘Fancy a run out?’ said Felix. ‘It’s a nice day for it and I want to follow up this business of Nigel meeting someone at the Pink Cat. It’s Tuesday, so if he’s a regular he might just be there as usual. Also it’s not far from Ickborne, which I find interesting. The Countess told me Kitty Cotton went out with her to look at the place some years ago, and Nigel and his wife went too, so he certainly knows the place. I’ve also arranged to meet Cope. He has his surgery in the morning but says he’ll see us in the afternoon if we take pot luck.’
Wandering in a web of country lanes they eventually discovered the pub, a handsome, newly thatched property bright with window boxes of geraniums and petunias. The inn sign was indeed a cat — pink but for its whiskers and the tip of its tail, which were black.
‘Can’t be much passing trade this far off the road,’ said Rattigan. But they found a well-filled car park and patrons enjoying luncheon in the sunny beer garden. The attraction, it transpired, was the food.
‘It was quiet as the grave when we came here,’ said the landlord. ‘We tacked on a kitchen, employed a decent chef and renamed the place. It was just The Cat before. What can I do for you gentlemen? You have the look of someone seeking information. Police?’
Felix chuckled. ‘You wouldn’t happen to know a Dr Cope by any chance? Or are folk particularly canny around here?’ He produced his card. ‘I’m Chief Inspector Felix and this is Sergeant Rattigan. Scotland Yard.’
‘John Edwards,’ said the landlord, shaking hands. ‘He’s ours, as it happens. Our doctor, I mean. Doesn’t drink here, though. Probably afraid of getting his ear bent by a patient. What’s he done, murdered one?’
‘As far as I know you’re safe with him,’ said Felix. ‘That’s if you can tolerate his sense of humour. We’re actually enquiring after another gentleman, first name Edgar.’
Edwards immediately swept aside a couple of empty glasses and raised the counter top. ‘Come through, quick!’ They found themselves entering a neat parlour. A young woman, working at a sewing machine, looked up in surprise. ‘He was just coming in,’ he explained. ‘Are you investigating the Cotton murder?’
‘Yes we are,’ said Felix.
‘I wondered if you might turn up eventually. This fair lady is the missus. Brenda, can you do the bar? Watch as she goes out and you’ll see your man.’
‘Parker,’ said Felix, peering over her shoulder. ‘I thought somehow it might be.’
‘Is that his name? Never uses it here. I only know him as Edgar. Came in every month or so, alw
ays on a Tuesday and cash changed hands — sometimes one way, sometimes the other. Always in notes, unless I missed the cheques. Never saw him otherwise. Interesting that he should be here today. Maybe he hasn’t heard the news. What was their game? He seems all right but I didn’t much care for Cotton to be honest. Nor did Brenda. She said he was creepy.’
◆◆◆
‘And that, in a nutshell, is the Cotton case,’ said Felix. ‘I’m not able to tell you much more, I’m afraid.’
‘Quite a poser,’ said Dr Cope. ‘I’m not sure this is a good use of your time, Chief Inspector, when you’ve got that to tackle. I could probably have told you everything over the telephone.’
‘Oh, don’t worry about that,’ said Felix. Any excuse for a run out, eh, Sergeant? And at least it’s not raining this time.’
The doctor chuckled. ‘That was an appalling night, wasn’t it? We had trees down left and right and the bottom of the village was flooded. It certainly found the flaws in the Abbey roof, eh?’
‘What made you suspicious of Parker?’ asked Felix.
‘Straws in the wind really. He’s an affable sort of fellow on the face of it and quite civilised. In fact, they sometimes have me up there to make a four at bridge. Having said that, various little remarks of his have troubled me a bit. It wouldn’t be worth repeating them, even if I could remember; they wouldn’t make sense out of context. More tellingly, he’s quite often here when the ladies are not. To what end? And now, of course, we find he isn’t whom he says he is.’
‘How do you know when Parker’s here?’ asked Rattigan. ‘Do you have a spy in the camp?’
‘I’ll show you.’ The doctor led them to the back door. ‘There you are,’ he said.
The two policemen gazed upwards. ‘Good heavens!’ said Felix. ‘You’re practically on their doorstep.’
‘Only about fifty yards on the map; the problem being that wooded slope. The whole place is built on a sort of knoll, probably for protection. I expect it was pretty wild and woolly here in the twelfth century, and perhaps the Ick flooded more widely than it does now. It’s only about twenty feet high on this side but it’s quite steep, as you see. You could scramble up it, but it’s all briers at the bottom and there’s no proper path or steps, so I always drive round. You can see from here any cars parked, though, or the tops of them anyway, including Parker’s, although it’s easier when the leaves are off the trees.
‘However it’s not just Parker. I’m suspicious of the builders, so-called. They only seem to work when the Countess is here, or expected. You scarcely see them otherwise, which again you ought to be able to. See that scaffolding? That’s the part they’re supposed to be working on, but nothing much changes from one week to the next. What are they doing the rest of the time? Also there’s the lorry. They don’t seem to have much use for it, given the speed they’re working at, but it comes through the village quite often, usually in the small hours of the night. Why then? And why not by the main road? It’s rather tortuous to get anywhere by the back roads. It could, of course, be someone using it as their personal conveyance but somehow I don’t think so.
‘In the end I mentioned it to Sonia – I’m rather fond of that girl, hopeless though it is – and it turned out she shared my concerns. The rest you know.’
‘I see,’ said Felix. ‘And what about the Countess and Miss Butterworth? Do you suspect them of being complicit in whatever it is Parker’s doing?’
Dr Cope shook his head. ‘Knowing Sybil as I do, I’d say it’s most unlikely. And certainly not Sonia. You may not believe it but she’s the sensible one of the two.’ He gave a sardonic smile. ‘Which the lady of the house often is, of course. Anyway why would she want to catch Parker out if she’s mixed up in it? It wouldn’t make sense. Want a look at the place?’
‘Is there anyone there now?’
‘Possibly not, as there’s no lorry. It’s gone very quiet the last day or two. I did rather wonder if they’ve bunked off.’
They left the car where Felix had broken down – now an unremarkable stretch of country road – and cautiously mounted the drive; poised to dive, if necessary, in amongst the trees.
‘Impressive,’ said Rattigan, staring up at the great towers and the dark shell that was the church.
‘It is, isn’t it?’ said Felix. ‘Imagine coming on it unexpectedly in a storm, with thunder and lightning. We expected Count Dracula at least.’
‘Give me a minute,’ said the doctor, pushing at the front door. ‘I hold the key for this, by the way, not that I’ve ever been asked for it. I’ll call you if it’s safe. Moments later he beckoned them in. ‘If there’s anyone here they’re probably in the stables, where they sleep.’
‘Brings it all back,’ smiled Felix, gazing about him.
‘What’s up there?’ asked Rattigan, pointing at the winding stairs.
‘Bedrooms.’
‘Three,’ confirmed the doctor. This is the only habitable part of the place, if you can call it that.’
‘Someone is here anyway,’ said Rattigan. ‘I smell tea.’
‘You’re right!’
They crept downstairs to the dingy kitchen.
‘Table laid for one — bread, cheese, pot of tea.’
‘And an open door.’
‘Why would they run away? They don’t know who we are.’
‘Harry Saunders?’
‘Of course!’
They searched the stables, finding the bedding and personal effects of a half-dozen men, but no Harry. Neither was he to be found among the extensive ruins, though it would have been relatively easy for him to avoid them.
‘Cellars?’
‘You won’t get me down there,’ said the doctor, a shudder in his voice. ‘I’ll wait for you.’
‘Probably not worth it anyway,’ said Felix.
‘Harry Saunders!’ cried Rattigan, his powerful voice echoing around them. ‘We only want a word with you. Come on out, there’s a good fellow.’
‘Answer came there none,’ said Felix. ‘Well this’ll be the first place to look if we want him.’
They retraced their steps.
‘What are you going to do?’ said Dr Cope.
‘We may need your help with that,’ said Felix.
‘Cope seems all right,’ said Rattigan, driving them back to Town. ‘It was interesting to see the place.’
‘I suppose she might make something of it,’ said Felix, ‘if it doesn’t bankrupt her first.’
You didn’t tell him about the Parker–Cotton connection, then?’
‘I’m inclined to trust him with that but I’m not so sure about the ladies, and if he carries a torch for Sonia . . .’
‘Your Miss Butterworth must be quite a girl.’
‘It’s her vitality that attracts, I think, though she’s pretty enough. And as she was keen to point out, she’s not stupid. However, we’d best have them approve their formal statements, I think, and you can see her for yourself.’
‘So Sybil saw Sir Blaine near Nigel’s apartment that night,’ said Felix, as they drove away from the Countess’s flat. ‘She didn’t tell me that when I interviewed them. I wonder what else I missed? I should have had you with me probably; she might not have become so emotional. What do you think of them anyway?’
‘They probably did open up more without me there,’ said Rattigan. He raised a hand to a constable on point duty, whom they knew. ‘If you’re asking me, did they tell the truth? I’m not sure what to think. There’s an atmosphere, isn’t there? But of course if they’re not getting on with each other . . .’
‘I have a theory about that,’ said Felix.
Chapter Thirteen
‘Another point of feminine information, if you would be so kind, my dear,’ said Felix. ‘That dress Sonia was wearing for her routine. Would it need to be safety-pinned for extra security, and would
she need help putting those pins in? It’s rather important.’
Connie looked intrigued. ‘Normally it would need pinning,’ she said, ‘dancing the way she does. And, yes, she would need help, especially if she were in a hurry. I would anyway. However, you’ll remember she was wearing that dress, or one very like it, when we first met, which is how she came to tell me what she did for a living. As it happens I asked her about the pins, because she still had them in, and close up you do notice them, and she showed me how it’s done. It’s quite clever really. The position for each safety pin has two eyes stitched in. You can readily feel them because they stick up a bit so you just thread the pin in one eye and out the other and close it. It just needs a bit of practice. It would certainly be easier with help but you can manage without. Why on earth do you want to know about that?’
Felix nodded as he absorbed this arcane information. ‘Hmm, I see. Thank you, darling. I should never have thought of that. And getting out of the dress afterwards? Presumably that would be easier still.’
‘Yes it would. Does this have a bearing on the Cotton case?’
‘Yes it does. What about putting her ball gown back on? You often ask for help with yours.’
‘I do find it easier, yes, but Sonia wouldn’t have needed any because, as I’m sure you noticed, it was backless to the waist. What’s all this about? She’s not in trouble is she?’
‘No she’s not, but there are questions that need answering.’
Connie frowned. ‘About fastening her dress?’
Felix drew her down beside him. ‘Darling, you know how it works; if there are flaws, or possible flaws, in a witness’s statement, I have to follow them up.’
‘Only if you think it’s worth it. That question about Sonia being in love with Tony. You think one of them did it, don’t you?’
Death in Patent Leather (The Inspector Felix Mysteries Book 7) Page 8