Foxden Hotel (The Dudley Sisters Saga Book 5)

by Madalyn Morgan

  ‘I would rather stand.’ Maeve looked at the inspector, and then at Bess.

  ‘Maeve, what is it?’

  ‘I telephoned Lowarth police station. I left a message for Sergeant McGann to come here, but I needed to speak to you first. I hope that’s all right?’

  Bess shot Inspector Masters a worried look. He picked up the telephone on Frank’s desk and passed it to her. Bess asked Jack to get her Lowarth Police Station. He connected her without preamble.

  ‘Constable Peg? Hello, this is Mrs Donnelly at the Foxden Hotel.’

  ‘Hello, Mrs Donnelly.’

  ‘Hello.’ Bess looked to the heavens. There was no time for pleasantries. ‘I believe our receptionist, Miss O’Leary, telephoned you a short while ago?’

  ‘Yes. She sounded upset.’

  ‘She was at the time, but she’s fine now.’ Bess’s throat felt restricted, but she forced herself to laugh. ‘I don’t think we need to trouble the sergeant over a few broken dishes.’

  Now it was Constable Peg’s turn to laugh. ‘She didn’t say why she wanted to see him.’

  ‘She found the kitchen window open and several plates smashed on the floor, and thought we’d had a burglary. I’m afraid she worried for nothing.’ There was a long silence. ‘Anyway, I’m sure you and the sergeant have more important things to do than traipse all the way out here for nothing.’ There was another pause. Bess forced herself to laugh again. ‘I suppose that’s what you get for employing a receptionist who worries too much and a chef who is temperamental.’ Bess waited for the police constable to respond.

  ‘I’ll take the note off the sergeant’s desk.’

  ‘Thank you. I’m sorry to have troubled you.’

  ‘No trouble at all,’ the constable said. ‘You can’t be too careful these days.’

  Bess put down the telephone and looked up at the inspector. He nodded in Maeve’s direction and Bess went back to her. ‘Now, Maeve, tell me what this about?’

  Maeve shook her head. ‘First I need to be certain that if anything happens to me you’ll take care of Nancy?’

  ‘Nothing is going to happen to you, Maeve.’ Bess put a comforting hand on Maeve’s arm but she withdrew it.

  ‘Will you look after Nancy?’ she shouted. ‘I need to know Nancy will be safe, loved. Please, Bess. Please!’ Maeve begged.

  ‘Yes. Yes, of course I will.’ Bess searched Maeve’s face. ‘What’s is it, Maeve? What are you frightened of?’

  ‘Miss Hawksley didn’t kill David Sutherland. I did!’

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  ‘I can’t let an innocent girl hang for something I did, something that I’m responsible for,’ Maeve said.

  ‘I don’t understand,’ Bess said. ‘How are you responsible for David Sutherland’s death?’

  Maeve looked at Katherine Hawksley. ‘I’m ashamed of myself for not coming forward sooner. I had my niece to consider you see, but now--’ Maeve turned to Bess, her eyes moist with tears. ‘Now I can tell the police the truth.’

  Inspector Masters walked from the back of the desk to the front and took Maeve by the arm. ‘Why don’t you sit down, Miss O’Leary, and tell me what happened.’

  Maeve let the inspector guide her to the chair by the fire. He sat opposite. ‘Now,’ he said, ‘will you tell me why you think you are responsible for David Sutherland’s death?’

  ‘On New Year’s Eve, I left the hotel just after Mrs Donnelly and Mrs Burrell. I was worried about the girl Sutherland was with, Miss Hawksley. She looked so frightened. She reminded me of my young cousin, Goldie, who… who Sutherland knew in London.’

  Maeve inhaled deeply and, as if she was remembering the order of events, exhaled slowly before relating her movements. ‘I left by the back door of the hotel. I spotted Sutherland and Katherine along the drive and, later, crossing the lawn to the small wood. Mrs Donnelly and Mrs Burrell were walking towards them, so I went around the east side of the lake. I saw Sutherland grab hold of Katherine and pull her to him. He was mauling her, trying to put his hands up her clothes. I saw her push him, but he just laughed a horrible, guttural--’

  ‘Take your time,’ the inspector said.

  ‘Katherine hit him with something. It looked like a handbag, but I’m not sure. Anyway, he stumbled backwards. The terrain is rough on the south side of the lake, by the trees, and he lost his balance. I heard the ice crack.’ Maeve put her hand to her mouth, caught her breath and began to choke.

  Bess got up and went to the water jug. She poured a glass of water and took it over to Maeve. Trembling, she took a sip. She put the glass on the shelf at the side of the fire and resumed her story. ‘I heard a car screech to a halt. Katherine turned at the sound, by which time Sutherland was crawling out of the water. He tried to shout. I think the water was so cold it had affected his vocal chords, because all I heard were hoarse curses. Katherine must have heard him too, because she turned back as he was heaving himself out of the water. He was clinging to the bank, but Katherine was unable to move. She just stared at him, as if she was paralysed with shock. Then she slowly walked towards him and when she was within a foot or so of him, he gave a hoarse groan, lunged at her, and she ran.

  ‘A car stopped on the drive and a man jumped out of the passenger door. Mrs Donnelly and Mrs Burrell ran over to him. At first I thought it was someone with Katherine’s father, then I remembered he would be driving away from the hotel, and this car was going to it. Anyway, Katherine ran towards the drive. It was snowing by then and I can only think that, as she neared it, she saw it wasn’t her father’s car, because she turned and ran back.

  ‘She would have run into Sutherland, but a car screeched to a halt on Shaft Hill and she stopped. I saw its lights through the trees. Katherine must have too, because she turned and made a bolt for it through the wood by the lake.’ Maeve looked at Katherine. ‘You were right, Katherine, there was someone in the wood watching you. It was me. I wasn’t going to let him hurt you the way he had hurt my cousin.’

  Inspector Masters had listened carefully, first to Katherine and then to Maeve. When Maeve had finished speaking, he asked her the same question that he had asked Katherine Hawksley. ‘Why do you think you’re to blame for David Sutherland’s death?’

  Maeve took another sip of water. ‘It happened so quickly, and it’s been almost a year, not that what I did on that night has become any easier to live with.’ She looked across the room at Katherine and smiled warmly. ‘When Miss Hawksley ran away from Sutherland, and he lost his footing and fell--’ Bess could see the pain etched on Maeve’s face as she fought to make sense of what had happened that night.

  Maeve looked away from Katherine and stared into mid-distance, as if she was recalling the horror of what had happened. Then she turned her gaze on the inspector. ‘Sutherland had a knife in his hand. When he lunged at Katherine he fell on it. As he slowly slipped down the bank into the lake, he saw me and he reached out to me with his other hand. He begged me to help him.’ Maeve shook her head. ‘His eyes… When I didn’t move, he looked at me as if he knew I wasn’t going to help him.

  ‘I shall never forgive myself. I don’t know whether it was shock, or because he was responsible for my cousin’s death and leaving my niece without a mother. I suspect it was the latter. Whatever the reason, I stood and watched Sutherland slowly disappear beneath the ice.’

  Maeve took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. ‘Then I struggled through the snow as quickly as I could back to the hotel. I took off the fisherman’s sou’wester and waterproof hat, which I had taken from the lost property cupboard, changed from my boots to my shoes and combed my hair.

  ‘While Mrs Donnelly and Mrs Burrell were speaking to Sergeant McGann I went to the kitchen, made tea and coffee, and brought it to the office. By then I had calmed down and as far as everyone was concerned, except for a brief visit to the kitchen, I had been on reception all night.’

  The inspector ran his hands through his hair, and leaned forward. ‘You and Katherine both beli
eve you killed Sutherland,’ he said, after some time.

  ‘Feel responsible for his death,’ Bess interrupted. ‘There’s a difference - if you don’t mind me saying?’

  ‘Yes, there is a difference,’ Inspector Masters said, smiling at Bess. He turned back to Maeve. ‘You didn’t kill David Sutherland, Miss O’Leary, nor did Miss Hawksley, so there is no need for either of you to hand yourself over to anyone, especially not to Sergeant McGann at Lowarth. Maeve looked up at the inspector, her forehead creased in a frown. ‘The sergeant is on sick leave until he leaves the force officially at the end of the month.

  ‘Myself and Henry Green have taken over the Sutherland case - and it’s a great deal more complicated than a drowning. If it’s all right with you, Mrs Donnelly, I would like to leave Miss Hawksley in your care until Mrs Green gets back from--?’

  ‘Yes, of course. And Maeve?’ Bess turned to the receptionist. ‘If you would like to take the rest of the day off, Frank will cover your shift while I’m with Katherine.’

  ‘I’d like to take a break and freshen up. Then, if it’s all right with you, Mrs Donnelly, I would prefer to carry on as normal. Being busy stops me from dwelling on what happened that night.’

  ‘Work is a great way of distracting yourself,’ the inspector said, standing up. Crossing the room, he took his notebook and pen from the desk and dropped them into his briefcase. ‘I don’t think there’s anything else,’ he said, walking to the door. ‘Ah, there is just one thing.’ He looked at Katherine and then at Maeve. ‘Do not discuss any part of the conversation that the four of us have had today with anyone. What has been said in this room must stay in this room. Is that understood?’

  Both women nodded. ‘Henry and Mrs Green are involved in the enquiry, so if you need to speak to anyone other than Bess, speak to them. And on no account must you say anything, even if you are asked, to Sergeant McGann. He has no jurisdiction where this or any other case is concerned.’

  Bess gave Maeve the keys to her and Frank’s rooms. If she insisted on working the rest of her shift, she needed to have a rest.

  Bess then took Katherine to Ena’s room. She asked for a sleeping draught. Ena had given her a sedative the day before, which Bess didn’t feel qualified to administer. Katherine begged her saying she was exhausted. She said she wanted to sleep but daren’t without the draught, because she would have nightmares, so Bess succumbed.

  When Katherine had fallen asleep, Bess slipped out of the bedroom, locking the door behind her, and ran along the corridor to her and Frank’s rooms. She turned the doorknob, but the door was locked. Thinking Maeve was still resting, she tapped gently and waited.

  It was Frank who opened the door. Seeing him, Bess fell into his arms. ‘Katherine’s asleep. I gave her a sedative, but I don’t know how those things work, so I can’t stay long.’

  ‘Did you lock her door?’

  ‘Yes. I didn’t like doing it, in case there’s a fire, but I did it anyway.’ Bess followed Frank into the sitting room. ‘I saw you talking to Inspector Masters in the dining room when I was taking Katherine upstairs. Did he tell you Katherine and Maeve have both confessed?’

  ‘Yes, he told me everything.’ Frank looked more than sad, he looked worried. ‘He said you’d agreed to have Nancy live with us.’

  ‘I had to. Maeve was frantic. She was adamant Katherine wasn’t going to be hung for a crime that she’d committed. She said before she confessed that she needed to be sure Nancy would be looked after. She begged me, so I said yes. She didn’t actually kill Sutherland, neither woman did, but--’ Bess struggled to keep her emotions in check, ‘Katherine was the reason he fell into the lake, and Maeve, when she could have helped him, didn’t. She watched him drown. So, if Maeve does go to jail for her part in Sutherland’s death, Nancy will have to live somewhere.’

  ‘She won’t go to jail,’ Frank said.

  ‘You can’t possibly know that, no-one can.’

  ‘Inspector Masters can. He told me as far as he is concerned, both women acted in self-defence. He said the reason they hadn’t helped Sutherland when he was drowning was because they were terrified, panicked, and froze. His findings are conclusive.’

  ‘And they are?’ Bess asked.

  ‘Accidental death. Sutherland was drunk, fell onto the blade of his own knife - and it was his knife - stumbled into the lake and drowned.’

  Bess lifted her head and laughed. ‘And is the inspector coming back to put Katherine and Maeve’s minds at rest?’

  ‘Yes, but he has to wait until McGann has gone. He said he’ll include Sutherland’s accidental death report with the report on Gerald Hawksley, which he’ll send to the Yard to coincide with Henry’s findings for MI5 - and McGann’s departure.’

  Bess relaxed back into the soft fabric of the settee and closed her eyes. ‘It’s over.’

  ‘Or it’s just beginning,’ Frank said.

  Bess’s eyes shot open. ‘There can’t be anything else, can there?’

  ‘Well, these rooms aren’t big enough for three.’ Bess held her breath. ‘Nancy is eight. She won’t want to sleep in here, she’ll want her own bedroom. And we won’t want her trotting though our bedroom if she gets up in the night to go to the toilet, will we?’

  Bess threw her arms around Frank. ‘No,’ she said, laughing and crying at the same time, ‘no we won’t.’

  ‘There’s an adjoining door in this room somewhere.’ Standing up, Frank pulled Bess to her feet and led her across the room to the far wall. ‘It leads to what they called a nurse’s wet-room in the old days.’ He began to tap the wall.

  Bess’s mouth fell open. ‘How do you know?’

  ‘I went to see Lord Foxden’s solicitor in Lowarth. He showed me Foxden Hall’s original plans.’

  ‘When?’

  ‘After we’d talked about adopting. There are all sorts of hidden passageways and tunnels. Some are centuries old.’

  ‘Never mind passageways and tunnels.’ Bess kissed Frank full on the lips. ‘Thank you.’

  ‘I’m doing this for me too,’ he said, kissing Bess back, hungrily.

  ‘I don’t want to go,’ Bess whispered, responding to Frank’s ardour, ‘but I should get back to Katherine. If she wakes…’ Frank lifted her hair and kissed her neck. ‘I do love you,’ Bess said, breathlessly. Easing herself out of Frank’s arms, she stood back and searched his face for signs of doubt. ‘You are sure adoption is what you want, Frank?’

  ‘I’ve never been more sure about anything.’

  Bess turned the key in the lock of Ena’s room and slowly opened the door. Locking it behind her she crept across the room and looked at Katherine. She was still asleep. With a broad grin on her face and butterflies flying around in her stomach, Bess took off her shoes and laid on the adjacent bed. Too excited to sleep, she lay awake thinking about what being a mother would entail. When she did eventually drop off, she was woken by a gentle tapping.

  Bess slipped quietly from the bed and opened the door. Ena was in the corridor with a woman who looked so like Katherine she could only have been her mother.

  ‘Bess, this is Mrs Hawksley.’

  ‘Dorothy, please.’

  ‘You don’t know how pleased I am to see you,’ Bess said, pumping the woman’s hand. ‘But, would you mind if I had a quick word with my sister before she takes you in to see Katherine? I won’t keep her a minute.’ Opening the bathroom door opposite Ena’s room, Bess ushered Ena in. ‘You know Katherine blames herself for David Sutherland’s death?’ Ena nodded. ‘Well she confessed today.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘So did Maeve, to Inspector Masters.’ Ena’s mouth fell open. ‘But don’t worry about either of them. They are both fine. I’ll tell you all about it later. I just wanted you to know that the inspector is writing Sutherland’s death up as an accident. The case is closed. The facts can’t be made public yet.’ Ena looked anxious. ‘Again, don’t worry, the reason is nothing to do with Katherine or Maeve, he has to wait until McGann has gone,
at the end of the month.’

  ‘Sorry about that, Dorothy,’ Bess said, when she and Ena were back in the corridor.

  ‘So,’ Ena said, ‘are you ready to see your daughter?’ Katherine’s mother put her hands together as if in prayer, and nodded. ‘Right. I’ll go in and wake her, get her dressed, and break the news to her that you’re here.’

  Dorothy picked up a leather holdall. ‘For Katherine,’ she said with a sad smile. ‘When the policemen raided Gerald’s house they found this bag. It contains the letters I wrote to Katherine after he took her away, including the note I left in the house when his people evicted me telling her how much I loved her.’ She hugged the bag, holding it tightly as if she would never let it go again. ‘All the letters I sent over the years… He didn’t give my daughter one of them.’

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  Among the letters and cards wishing, Mr and Mrs Donnelly and family a Merry Christmas was a letter from Maeve.

  “My dear friends, Bess and Frank.

  I hope this letter finds you both well. Since my mother’s passing, I have become a Friend of the Sisters of Mercy Convent. It’s a grand old place on the outskirts of a small town called Killern in County Galway. I began working there as a volunteer, helping out in the office a couple of days a week. At first it was just keeping the books straight and doing the occasional stock-take. I’m now working pretty much full time. I teach the little ones in the orphanage two days a week, which I found heart-breaking at first. There are so many children in need of a family. I thank the Lord every day that my darling niece is loved and looked after by you.

  This morning I was in the kitchen cooking, and later I was on lunch duty. We have forty guests for lunch and tea most days. Nearly all are men who haven’t been able to settle down to civilian life after being demobbed. They come from far and wide. Some have taken to the drink, others feel they have been let down by the government and are angry. Some feel they have no purpose now they are not fighting in a war - and some are simply lost.