Fire When Ready (Manor House Mystery) (7 page)

"Well, I can understand that." Dave Meadows passed a hand over his forehead. I'm not too partial to losing sleep either, but someone has to do the job. Good thing we don't get much in the way of bombs, or I'd be running all day and night. Not too many men left to volunteer for the fire department."

"I suppose not." Elizabeth paused. "Who found the bodies?"

"That was me. I was first inside the building. I had to break down the door to get to them. Saw them through the glass window, but I knew they were goners before I got to them."

"I see." Elizabeth got to her feet. "You said you had to break open the door?"

Meadows narrowed his eyes. "Pardon me asking, your ladyship, but why all the questions? I already sent in my report, and I don't think I left anything out."

Elizabeth smiled. "I'm sure you didn't, Mr. Meadows. It's just that I seem to remember George saying that the two victims were locked inside the office."

"That's right. It's there in the report, just like it happened."

"So I assume there was no key in the lock."

"I didn't see any keys, no, m'm."

"Doesn't it seem strange to you that Mr. McNally would lock himself and a charlady inside an office?"

The expression in his eyes grew harder. Obviously Dave Meadows was a man who did not like his judgement challenged. "I can't rightly say why he would do that, your ladyship, but I'm sure he had a good reason. All I can tell you is that we found the bin of rags and concluded that the fire started there. The windows were closed and locked when everyone went home that evening. There were no signs of forced entry. After questioning some of the employees, we're satisfied with our findings. We have no reason whatsoever to suspect the fire was deliberate. I suggest you talk to your constable if you have any more questions."

Aware that she had outstayed her welcome, Elizabeth thanked him and left. He might be satisfied, she told herself, but she was far from convinced it was an accident. She needed more answers, and she knew just where to start.

CHAPTER

5

Half an hour later Elizabeth reached the end of Sandhill Lane and parked her motorcycle. Already, dusk was creeping across the ocean and would soon engulf the village of Sitting Marsh. The recent scare would no doubt make the Home Guard all the more diligent with the blackout curtains this evening. Elizabeth had about an hour before she needed to be back at the manor. Enough time to accomplish her task.

Wally Carbunkle took so long to open the door after her knock that she was about to leave when he finally opened it. He wore a dark red smoking jacket, which he hastily buttoned up when he saw her. "Lady Elizabeth! What a surprise. Come in, come in." He waved a hand at the room behind him. "You'll have to excuse the mess. I was up all night and didn't feel like doing any housework."

Elizabeth stepped inside the tiny front room and waited for him to close the door. A newspaper lay at the feet of an armchair, and a tray with soiled dishes and an empty beer mug sat on the rough oak dining room table, but otherwise the place looked as spic and span as usual. Being an ex-navy man, Captain Carbunkle kept a trim ship.

"I'm sorry to disturb you," she said, as Wally motioned her to sit. "I hope you weren't sleeping."

"Not at all." He waited for her to seat herself on a roomy leather armchair, then he sat down on a sturdy rocker. "I was reading. Damn good book."

She picked up the opened book from the arm of the chair. "
Mutiny on the Bounty
. I'm surprised you haven't read it before."

"I have. This is the third time. Gets better with every reading."

She smiled and put the book down. "Wally, tell me what happened last night."

He coughed, looked down at his feet clad in elegant leather slippers, then said gruffly, "What are they saying?"

Surprised, she said warily, "Who?"

"The fire department. I assume that's who you've been talking to about it. That arrogant blowhard Meadows—" He coughed again, covering his mouth with his hand. "Excuse me, your ladyship. That sort of slipped out."

"That's quite all right, Wally. I have been talking to him, yes. All he said was that you were under the impression you had heard airplanes overhead after the explosion."

Wally heaved a heavy sigh. "I thought I did. Maybe I dreamt it." He gave her a sheepish look. "I have to admit, I fell asleep. Takes some getting used to, this working all night. I still haven't got turned around yet. I struggle to stay awake all night, then can't sleep in the daylight. Used to do
it all the time at sea, but I can't seem to get the hang of it on land." He rubbed his knees with both hands. "I must be getting old."

"It would be difficult for anyone to get used to such a drastic change," Elizabeth assured him. "I'm not here to pass judgment on you, Wally. I just need to know everything that happened last night, as far as you can remember."

Wally closed his eyes for a minute, one hand absently stroking his beard. Finally he said, "Well, I got there at my usual time, just before six o'clock. The last people were just leaving. I hung my coat up in the men's room and then started my rounds. About a quarter to twelve I went back to the canteen. There's a nice comfortable chair in there and I sat down for a five minute break with the newspaper. I must have dozed off, because the next thing I knew, the ground shook and a noise like none I'd ever heard before just about burst my eardrums."

"The canteen is at the opposite end of the building to where the fire started, is it not?"

Wally nodded. "That's right, m'm."

"So what did you do next?"

"Well, the old ears were ringing like crazy and I was a bit dazed at first. That's when I thought I heard the planes. I was sure we'd been bombed. Everything had gone dark, and it took me a while to find my way out of the building."

"Did you see any smoke or flames?"

"No, but I could smell it. It was getting in my throat, making me cough. I tell you, I was bloody glad to get out in the fresh air."

"Then what happened?"

"Well, I stood there for a few minutes. Gave me quite a start to see the flames coming out of the windows. But then the roof started caving in at one end, so I knew I'd have to
get the fire brigade. I wasn't going back in there to ring them, so I started off for Shepperton's farmhouse. It's the closest house to the factory. I was about halfway there when Fred came along on his bicycle. Said he'd already been down to the Tudor Arms and called the fire brigade. So he gave me a lift on the handlebars of his bicycle and we went back to the factory to wait for them to get there."

Thinking of Douglas McNally, Elizabeth briefly closed her eyes. "Before all this happened," she said, "did you see anyone else in the building that evening? After everyone else had gone, I mean."

Wally seemed surprised by the question. "Only Jessie, the char. She'd just got there and was hanging up her coat when I went into the canteen. Oh, and I saw Mr. McNally, too. We had a nice chat." He shook his head. "Nasty business that. Good chap, McNally was. And poor old Jessie. Can't believe it."

"It is a tragedy," Elizabeth agreed. "I shall call on her daughter to pay my respects. Do you happen to know her name?"

"Odd name, she's got." Wally frowned, then clicked his fingers. "Zora, that's it. Zora Bandini. She's got a little one. Don't know her name. I do know there's no father." He coughed. "Well, I'm sure there is one, but he's not around, if you know what I mean."

"It's all right, Wally, I understand." Elizabeth's stomach suddenly growled, reminding her she'd eaten nothing but an apple all day. Hastily she stood up to leave. "Zora lives in a caravan, I believe?"

"Aye, that she does. Down by Salishay Point, in Jeremy Quimby's fallow field. He lets them stay there and she helps him on the farm. Jessie stayed with the child while Zora was working. I don't know what she'll do now."

"Well, I'll call on her and see if there's anything I can do."

"That's jolly decent of you, your ladyship. I'm sure Zora will appreciate that very much."

She wasn't quite sure what she could do to help; but the least she could do was look in on the poor woman. Right now, however, she had a more pressing objective. And that was to get food inside her stomach as soon as possible, before it embarrassed her any further.

Polly sat in the back row of the Rialto cinema in North Horsham and wished that Ray Muggins would put his arm around her instead of sitting there stuffing his face with chocolates. After all, they were supposed to be her chocolates. He'd given them to her when he'd met her off the bus, and she'd got really excited. It had been ages since she'd had chocolates.

Now that sweets were rationed, it took at least a month to save up enough coupons for chocolates, and she didn't have the will power to go that long. She spent her coupons instead on a stick of nougat, or a packet of jelly babies.

Her mouth had been watering ever since Ray had put the box in her hands. All she'd had was one measly chocolate, and that was a cream center, not the kind she liked with the toffee in the middle. Just as the film started, she'd offered the box to Ray. She'd expected him to take one and leave the rest for her. Instead of that, he'd grabbed the box out of her hands and was now shoving a fifth chocolate in his mouth. She'd counted every one.

Not only that, she'd missed the beginning of the film because she'd been watching him. She hated missing the beginning of the film. It meant she'd be spending half the time trying to catch up on what happened.

She heard the rustle of the little paper cups as Ray reached for yet another chocolate. Cross with him now, she reached over and the took the box out of his hands. " 'Ere," she whispered fiercely. "Leave some for me."

"What?" He stared at her, his eyes wide and staring, like he'd seen a ghost. "Oh, sorry. I always eat too much when I'm bothered about something."

Come to think of it, he'd been acting funny all night. She wanted to ask him what was bothering him, but it was hard to talk in whispers. Instead she muttered, "I'll say you do." She looked down at the half-empty box. "You must have spent a month's coupons on these and they're nearly all gone already."

He shrugged. "Plenty more where they came from."

Not catching on, she demanded, "How can you? They're on coupons."

"Not where I get them."

She hissed out her breath. "You got them on the black market?"

He shushed her with a finger in front of his mouth. "Don't make such a big fuss about it, then. Everybody does it."

She didn't like being shushed like that. For a moment she thought about telling him so, but decided it wasn't worth arguing about. After all, he was right. Everybody did do it. It was the only way to get the things you liked, even if it did cost a lot more. Might as well enjoy them while she could. Snuggling down in her seat, she popped a chocolate in her mouth and started concentrating on the film. She had a lot to catch up on.

Elizabeth made sure she had a full bowl of porridge before she went up to the office the next morning. All night long
she'd had strange, mixed-up dreams, most of which had included Earl. Not that she could really remember any of them very well, but she was quite sure they involved some activities she had no business allowing into her imagination, even if she wasn't in total control of her dreams.

Her face still felt warm at the thought as she entered the office. The first thing she saw was Polly's rear end stuck up in the air and her head hidden under her desk. Intrigued, Elizabeth murmured, "If you find anything interesting under there, do let me know."

A loud gasp was followed by a sharp crack as Polly's head hit the desk. Eyes streaming, her red face emerged over the side of the desk. "Good morning, your ladyship. You made me jump. I was just looking for me pencil. It must have rolled under the desk."

"I'm sorry I startled you." Elizabeth crossed the room to her own desk. "I hope you didn't hurt your head."

Struggling up into her chair, Polly rubbed the back of her head. "Not too bad. I needed something to wake me up this morning. I didn't get home until late last night, and me ma kept me up screaming at me for being late."

"I see." Elizabeth picked up a letter from the top of the pile and slit it open. "Out with your young man last night?"

"Yes, m'm. We went to the flicks. It was a very good film. It was called
The Shop Around the Corner
, and Jimmy Stewart was in it. It was about two people writing letters to each other and they didn't know they were writing to each other until the end of the film."

Elizabeth blinked. "I see. It sounds very . . . interesting."

"Oh, it were, m'm." Polly opened the drawer of her desk and started hunting in it. "It would've been a lovely evening if it hadn't been for the chocolates."

"Chocolates?"

"Yes, m'm. See, Ray bought me a box of chocolates, but he ate most of them 'cause he was so upset about Mr. McNally dying."

Elizabeth caught her breath. "Oh, that's right. I forgot your young man worked with Mr. McNally."

Polly looked up from her rummaging. "Yes, he did. He said as how Mr. McNally was the best boss he ever had and he was really, really upset when he found out he were dead. He said that Mr. McNally was like a father to him. See, Ray lost his dad in the first year of the war, and he really looked up to Mr. McNally. He sort of replaced his father, I s'pose." She uttered a little cry of satisfaction as she pulled a pencil out of the drawer. "I knew I had another one in here."

"How awful," Elizabeth said, feeling sorry for the young man. "It must have been a great shock to him to hear such dreadful news."

"Yes, m'm. It were. I never saw a bloke so upset. He actually had tears in his eyes when he told me. Gave me a right turn it did. I never saw a grownup bloke cry before. Not unless it were in a film, anyhow."

Elizabeth was beginning to feel better about Ray Muggins. At first she'd worried that he might not be good for Polly. City men were so much more devious and a good deal bolder than the village's young men. Hearing Polly speak about him that way, he sounded as if he was a sensitive and caring young man. Just what Polly needed after her unfortunate relationship with the American squadron leader, Sam Cutter.