“Won't the stuff be his in the end, anyway?” Piper asked.
“I imagine so, but it's not yet. It's certainly not Lady Devenish's to sell. I don't know what Lady Eva's interest in it would be, if any, but Sir James might well kick up a dust if she told him.”
“Wouldn't he have noticed things disappearing?”
“Judging by what Mrs. Fletcher told us, laddie,” said Tom, “not unless she sold his guns or his fishing rods. But, Chief, if he's as henpecked as Mrs. Fletcher told us, likely she wouldn't care if he found out.”
“On the other hand, with theft to hold over her, perhaps he wouldn't be so hen-pecked. Whether she'd murder her mother-in-law to keep the upper hand with her husband, though ⦔
“They didn't get on, Chief,” Piper reminded him. “The two ladies, I mean.”
“It's still pretty thin, even if you add that misappropriating the family jewels is frowned on in the best circles. We'll have to tackle her about it, though.” As Alec spoke, the telephone bell rang. He unhooked the receiver. His call to Danesbury House came through, and a moment later he was speaking to an incredulous Bill Hetheridge.
“Scotland Yard? Detective Chief Inspector? You're pulling my leg. Who is this? Is that you, Freddie?”
“This is Detective Chief Inspector Fletcher,” Alec repeated patiently. “If you doubt it, you may ring up Scotland Yard and enquire as to my credentials, but that would waste our time, both of us, and I'm engaged in a murder investigation.”
“Murder! I say, chaps, listen to this! It's a detective chappie wants to know about a murder.” A confused noise of several excited voices
came down the wire. “Right-oh, Chief Inspector, fire away! Who's been murdered? Are we all suspects? How jolly!”
“If that were the case, Mr. Hetheridge, I should be on your doorstep. I'm seeking information about the movements of Mr. Edward Devenish.”
“Haw, haw, haw, he wants to know about Teddy! No, Ginger, you can't talk to him. I say, Chief Inspector, Teddy's not here.”
“I'm aware of that. Can you tell me exactly when he left your house?”
“Anyone know when Teddy left last night?” Bill Hetheridge's companions could be heard arguing, as could the clink of bottle and glass. “Sorry, Chief Inspector, it was after dinner but no one knows exactly when. You might say he did a moonlight flit, didn't say goodbye to anyone. Who's he done in?”
“I'm checking on the movements of a large number of people. Why do you suppose Mr. Devenish left without saying goodbye?”
“Hang it all, no suppose about it, haw, haw! Teddy was all broken up, hopes dished, fed up, abso-bally-lutely pipped at the post. You see, the young chump was dashed keen on our Ginger, and she'd been leading him on a bit ⦠. yes, you did, Ginger, it's no good denying it. Persuaded me to invite him, didn't you?”
“And Miss ⦠er ⦠Ginger handed him his hat?”
“That's it in a nutshell. Don't know how you Scotland Yard chappies do it, damned if I do. What made it worse was, his grandmother told him to stop seeing Ginger, said she'd tell the parents if he didn't. You see, he defied the old bird, swore he didn't care if he was disinherited, and Ginger told him he might not care but she jolly well did and she hadn't any use for a halfling with empty pockets. Brutal, eh, what? Haw, haw, haw!”
Alec hung up on the sounds of general merriment. “Fatuous ass.”
“Disappointed in love?” Tom asked.
“It's more complicated than that,” Alec said grimly. “Young Devenish is in the soup right up to his chin.”
D
aisy was feeling guilty. Instead of enjoying basking in the evening sun in the comfort of her chair and footstool, she couldn't help wondering whether she was responsible for Lucy's broken engagement. She had questioned Lucy's love for Gerald, practically suggested she was only marrying him because his father was a marquis. With the wedding preparations in full swing, Lucy hadn't the nerve to cry off, but as soon as the excuse of a postponement appeared she seized her chance.
Which was all very well if she didn't love him, but if she did and only doubted because of what Daisy had said â¦
The knock on her door was a welcome distraction, even if whoever it was just wanted to pump her about Alec's progress. “Come in,” she called.
Lucy stormed in. “Darling, that foul little beast my cousin Erica's going around saying Binkie's family will refuse to let him marry me, because of the murders.” She plopped into the chair opposite Daisy's, not at all in her usual languidly graceful way.
“Have you told her you've already called it off?”
“Good Lord, no! That will only confirm what she's thinking.”
“She'll have to know sooner or later, though.”
“Unless I marry him after all.”
“Just to scotch rumours that he's dropped you? I wish you'd make up your mind, Lucy. I'm meeting him after dinner to try to explain you to him, but I don't think I can even attempt it.”
“If you're asking me to explain myself, I can't. I've never been so confused in my life. I didn't know I was capable of feeling so confused. I can't marry him just to spite Erica, but I don't want to turn into a dreary spinster like Angela or Aunt lone. Daisy, what on earth has come over Aunt Ione?”
“I can't tell you, but I will say that she wasn't a dreary spinster by choice. Come to that, I don't suppose anyone exactly chooses to be dreary, though they may choose not to marry. But Angela isn't what I'd call dreary.”
“Darling, her clothes!”
“We can't all have your sense of style. Instead of fashion, Angela has passion.”
“For those ghastly,
dreary
mongrels of hers,” Lucy objected.
“She's doing something she cares deeply about. That's not a dreary life. Anyway, look at your cousin Flora. You can't call her a dreary spinster. If you don't marry, you'll be like her, with both fashion and a passionâfor photography.”
“Are you trying to persuade me not to get married now?”
“Not at all, I'm just saying there are worse fates. By the way, darling, your ex-intended asked me not to call him Binkie any longer. He said no wonder you don't take him seriously when you think of him as Binkie.”
“It's not that I don't take him seriously! Gerald's a nice name, though, nice and solid. I thought he liked being called Binkie,” Lucy said plaintively.
“I expect he did at school. I don't expect the people he sells stocks toâif that's what he doesâcall him Binkie.”
“Unless they were at school with him.”
“True,” said Daisy laughing. “So can I at least tell himâIs that someone knocking? Bother!”
“Shall I see who it is?”
“Would you?”
Lucy went to open the door. “Oh, hello, Angela. Daisy's resting.”
“Gosh, sorry, I won't disturb her.”
But Tiddler, after a doubtful sniff or two, had recognized Daisy's friendly scent and came scurrying to see her. He grovelled on the floor beside her chair, tail beating madly. Daisy reached down to scratch his head.
“Come in, Angela,” she said resignedly.
“Gosh, sorry, I'll get him ⦔
“No, that's all right. Come and sit down. I'll see you later, Lucy.”
Behind Angela's back, Lucy rolled her eyes and departed.
“He likes you,” said Angela, her tone congratulatory She dropped into the chair, with even less grace than Lucy had, and sighed. “I'm sorry to interrupt, honestly, but things are so awful and there's no one else I can talk to.”
“Just in general? I mean, with your grandmother's murder and all. Or is there something new?”
“It's Mummy and Daddy. Your husband called them in, one at a time, and neither of them will tell the other what was said and now they're not speaking to each other.”
Â
Lady Devenish had entered the library already on the offensive: “I don't suppose you would know about such niceties, but it's time I was changing for dinner. I can't spare you more than a couple of minutes.”
“In that case,” said Alec, “we'll dispense with the polite amenities and get right down to business. Please sit down. You are Josephine, Lady Devenish?”
“If you don't know who I amâ”
“I do, madam. This is a required preliminary. I should warn you that your words will be taken down and may be used as evidence in a court of law. You will be asked to sign a statement. I repeat, is your name ⦠?”
“Yes,” she said grudgingly, “I'm Lady Devenish.”
Nothing short of shock tactics was likely to work, Alec decided. “What exactly did your late mother-in-law have to say to you regarding your conversion to cash of a number of family heirlooms?”
“She didn't know! I mean, I don't know what you're talking about. You're supposed to be investigating murder, not whatever unfounded rumours you may have picked up by snooping into private affairs.”
“Madam, in a murder investigation no affairs are private. What did Lady Eva say?”
“She didn't. She couldn't have known. Anyway, the things were mine as much as anyone's. Don't you know the Prayer Book? âWith my worldly goods I thee endow!' It wasn't anything James cared about. He didn't even notice the miniatures were gone. It's not as if they were family portraits. And what does it matter to him if I wear paste jewellery? Besides, it wasn't for me, it was for Teddy. Edward, my son. Everything will be his one day, after all.” She stared at Alec with sullen defiance.
He had never dealt with a case involving such larcenous depredations on an entailed estate and he didn't know the precise legalities of the situation. At present that was not what interested him. “Did you explain your point of view to Lady Eva?” he asked.
“It was none of her business. As dowager, she had her settlement and the use of the London house. The rest was no longer any of her affair.”
“I rather doubt she saw matters in quite the same light. And if she had told your husband, heâ”
“She didn't. She didn't tell him. He would have said something. I
suppose she might have found out, the way she was always snooping into everything, but she didn't say anything to me or to James.”
Alec changed his angle of attack. “Presumably finding out the proceeds went to her grandson mollified her.”
“Perhaps, if she found out. I would have told her if she'd accused me.”
“How would you describe his relationship with his grandmother?”
“They were devoted to each other. He often called on her in town. She didn't like his friends, though. She complained that they were a fast set, but a young man needs to sow his wild oats, after all.”
“Have you met these people?”
“No. Of course Teddy could have brought them to Saxonfield at any time. I'm sure he will one of these days.”
“I take it his allowance from his father was insufficient for him to keep up with them.”
“James doesn't like him living in London. He says it's far too expensive and rackety. I'm sure it can't be half as expensive as his hounds and horses and guns and such,” Lady Devenish said resentfully. “And spaniels
and
retrievers
and
pointers
and
beagles.”
No wonder Angela was dog-mad. “You have no money of your own?”
“A few pounds a week. All my bills and the household bills go to his agent to be paid, so I can't just take money from my pocket to give to Teddy.”
“No doubt Sir James is worried about the family's financial position.”
“Rubbish! He's just selfish.” Her ladyship's lips tightened, as if this outright criticism of her husband made her realize to what extent she'd been led into indiscretion. “But none of this has anything to do with my mother-in-law's death. You ought to be looking for a murderer, not digging for gossip.”
Alec proceeded to ask her the sort of questions she had probably
expected. “Where were you between the hours of midnight and four this morning?”
“Asleep in my bed.”
“I see your room is on the floor above Lady Eva's. You didn't get up for any reason and leave the room or go downstairs?”
“No.”
“Do you take sleeping pills, powders, or draughts?”
“Never.”
“Did you hear any sounds, usual or unusual?”
“Ha! James snores constantly. I couldn't have heard anything else. I never get a wink of sleep.”
Alec was tempted either to point out, “You said you were asleep,” or to advise, “Perhaps you ought to try sleeping pills.” He resisted the double temptation. “So you would have known if Sir James left the room?” he said instead.
“Indubitably. And he did not.”
“Were you surprised, this morning, to find your son had arrived in the middle of the night?”
“Not at all,” she claimed, uneasily. “He promised to be here by Friday but I didn't know exactly when to expect him.”
“Thank you, Lady Devenish. What you have just told me will be typed in the form of a statement which you will be asked to sign.”
For the first time, she was alarmed. “What, everything?”
“Yes. I warned you that your words would be written down and might be used as evidence. I may say that the police are not at all likely to prosecute you for disposing of items not strictly belonging to you. That will be up to your husband to decide, and possibly your son, as heir.”
She gave him a malevolent look. “I suppose you're going to tell him.”
“Only if it appears necessary to my investigation. I shan't if I can help it, but I make no promises.” He stood up, and she followed suit.
She would have liked to threaten to report him to his superiors, he thought, but under the circumstances, she hadn't a leg to stand on. “Piper,” he said as she stalked towards the door, “I'll see Sir James next.”
Piper followed her out. As the door closed behind him, Tom said, “Can't sleep for his snoring, won't take pills: if you ask me, she likes being a martyr.”
“A larcenous martyr.”
“Holds it over him, I shouldn't wonder. Not that I believe she didn't sleep a wink, and I bet he could have slipped out for a while.”
“Very likely. What do you make of her otherwise?”
“Sounds to me like Mrs. Fletcher got one wrong for once, Chief. Maybe Sir James lets himself be hen-pecked but he keeps the whip hand.”
“Yes, the hand that holds the purse-strings rules the roost.” Which sounded like a line from Little Buttercup's song in “that infernal nonsense,
Pinafore.
”
“Lady Devenish is all bluff and bluster. Besides, I'd be surprised if she had the strength to do in Lady Eva, even if she had confronted her about the larceny, and I don't think she had.”
“I'm inclined to agree. Perhaps Lady Eva was saving the confrontation for after the wedding. She had already called Teddy to heel. She might not have wanted another disgruntled face at the feast.”
“Poor Miss Lucy!” said Tom unexpectedly. “I'm glad at least we've knocked her and Lord Gerald off the list.”
“Yes, she's having a thin time of it.”
“If you ask me, Chief, young Master Teddy's the one we're after for the strangling. Creeping in in the middle of the night like that, with a grudge against his grandma. His ma could've poisoned Lord Fotheringay, to protect him. You going to bring him in again after his pa?”
“No, he can wait till after dinner. A little more stewing won't hurt him, especially as he'll be wondering what his parents are saying. We've all the rest of Lady Eva's list to go through.”
“That's going to put the cat among the pigeons! I mean, everyone'll know she had something on those people.”
“Can't be helped. We'll interview everyone in the end, but with so many people here, the obvious suspects must come first.”
“It was bad luck we couldn't write any of them off for the poisoned tea. Not what I'd call a proper tea-time, everyone popping in and out and turning up when they feel like it.”