Mrs. Jeffries and the Merry Gentlemen (26 page)

“And a corpse lying in an open doorway could be a way of making the police think that it was indeed a robber who had forced his way in and that Edison had made a fight of it,” Hatchet added.

“So Laura Hemmings found the letter in Ralston's pocket, read it, and thought that Ralston had written it to one of his fancy ladies and decided to blackmail him.” Mrs. Goodge was fairly sure she understood everything, but some of the details were a bit hazy.

“That's what I think must have happened,” Mrs. Jeffries said. “She probably thought she could threaten to give the letter to Ralston's fiancée.”

“But didn't the Hemmings girl notice that it was signed by Edison, not Paul Ralston?” the cook pointed out.

“He might have signed the letter with an endearment,” Ruth suggested with a self-conscious smile. “That's what my late husband did—he never used his name when he wrote me a letter. Neither of us did. We used, uh, other names.”

“That makes perfect sense,” Mrs. Jeffries hastened to say. She could tell that Ruth was uncomfortable and didn't want to admit that she and the late Lord Cannonberry might have signed their letters to one another with silly pet names.

“But why did Ralston want Edison dead?” Luty muttered. “I can see
how
he managed it but the
why
don't make sense to me. The other Merry Gentlemen were in the same fix as Ralston—they lost their investment, too.”

“That's right, but as your source confirmed, Bagshot's wife is wealthy so he'll not starve, and even with the investment loss, Downing still has plenty of money. Paul Ralston was the only one of them that had a real motive to murder Edison but it wasn't because he'd lost his money in a bad investment.”

“What was it, then?” Betsy demanded.

Mrs. Jeffries took a deep breath. “Ralston murdered Orlando Edison to keep him from testifying in the bankruptcy trial. If you'll remember, the inspector told us that both Bagshot and Downing had tried to influence what Edison would say in court, but he would have none of it and told them he'd answer all questions asked with the full truth. Ralston came to see him that afternoon in a last attempt to ask him to be discreet. I think when he read Edison's letter to Mrs. Flurry he realized that his task was hopeless and that's when he decided Edison had to die.”

“But everyone already knew the company had gone bankrupt,” Betsy said. “So why did it matter what Edison might testify about?”

“Oh, but it did. I suspect that Edison was going to tell the court that he'd paid the Merry Gentlemen to sit on the board of directors. Luty's source hinted there were rumors to that effect and, as several other sources have pointed out, once the Merry Gentlemen were part of the company, investors flocked to buy the shares.”

“That ain't exactly ethical, but it ain't illegal,” Luty pointed out.

“But if it became public knowledge, Ralston would lose the one thing he was determined to have: his marriage to Anne Waterson,” Mrs. Jeffries announced.

“Oh, my gracious, you're right.” Ruth sighed in disgust. “Sir Thomas Waterson would never have allowed his daughter to marry Ralston if it was known that he'd taken a bribe to sit on the board and attract investors.”

“And he had to marry the girl to get the big fat marriage settlement and the leg up to the upper classes,” Hatchet said.

“So poor Orlando Edison was murdered because he was goin' to tell the truth.” Mrs. Goodge sighed heavily. “That's disgustin'.”

“That's my assumption,” Mrs. Jeffries admitted. “But I'll not know for sure unless we find out what's in the letter.”

“Poor Laura, she was almost killed.” Phyllis took a sip of tea.

“She was tryin' to blackmail Ralston.” Wiggins helped himself to another sandwich. “Mind you, I hope she's not dead, but she's not as pure as fresh snow, either.”

Fred, who'd been lying by the cooker, suddenly leapt up and raced down the hall, and a second later they heard the back door open.

“Hello, old fellow, you've come to meet me,” Witherspoon said.

Everyone went still. There was no time for Luty, Hatchet, and Ruth to make their escape, so they'd have to brazen it out. Mrs. Jeffries put a welcoming smile on her face as the inspector and Fred came into the kitchen.

He stopped in the doorway, his expression puzzled, but not annoyed. “Gracious, this is a surprise. Is there a party?”

“It's more like an impromptu gatherin'.” Luty stood up and put her hands on her hips. “You know good and well why me and Hatchet are here. We're pestering your poor housekeeper about this case of yours. Come on, Inspector, you know how much we love hearin' about your work, but this woman”—she jerked her chin at Mrs. Jeffries—“has her mouth closed tighter than a bank vault. She won't tell us nothin'.”

“I came by to see if you're still coming to my Christmas Eve dinner,” Ruth said quickly.

“And we brought the little one to see you,” Betsy said. “But you're home so late she's fallen asleep.”

He laughed and came to the table. Mrs. Jeffries started to get up, but he waved her back into her seat and sat down next to Ruth. “That explains it, then. I'll not be needing dinner tonight, Mrs. Goodge. I've got to go back to the station and I don't want you staying up until the wee hours, but I will have one of those sandwiches. They look wonderful.”

“Help yourself, sir.” Mrs. Jeffries shoved the food close to him as Phyllis got up to get another plate and cup.

“I was going to make you a steak for your dinner, sir,” Mrs. Goodge said. “And I don't mind waiting up.”

“No, no, these sandwiches will do nicely. I'm going back to the station in a few minutes to meet with Chief Inspector Barrows.”

“Inspector Barrows?” Mrs. Jeffries repeated. “Is something wrong, sir?”

“Not at all, but it's a bit complicated. We've charged the suspect with attempted murder but, based on the evidence we now have, we're going to charge him with murder as well. Barrows wants to do that himself.”

“You've made an arrest,” Ruth said. “That's wonderful. Can you tell us what happened?”

“We've arrested Paul Ralston for the attempted murder of Laura Hemmings.” He nodded his thanks as Phyllis handed him a cup of tea. “And when Barrows gets to the station, he'll be charged with Orlando Edison's murder as well.” He shoved a huge bite of sandwich in his mouth, glanced at the clock, and chewed furiously.

“What has this person, this Laura Hemmings, got to do with the case?” Mrs. Jeffries asked. They had to be careful here as she couldn't recall if the inspector had specifically mentioned Laura's name to her in any of their previous conversations. “Why did Paul Ralston assault her? Is he a madman?”

“She tried to blackmail him and he bashed her over the head and knocked her unconscious. Luckily, Constable Barnes and I had gone to question Ralston this evening and we heard her moaning for help.” He told them about Laura stealing Edison's letter, then he took another bite of his sandwich. They waited patiently for him to chew and swallow. “But the doctor said she'll be alright,” he continued. “Ralston made a run for it and Constable Barnes gave chase. He almost made a clean break, but he tripped and the constable was able to subdue him until help arrived.”

“Now you see why we were here tonight pesterin' poor Mrs. Jeffries,” Luty exclaimed theatrically. “Your cases are more excitin' than a penny novel.”

“Or a play,” Phyllis added.

“Gerald, thank God you were there. You saved that poor girl's life.” Ruth patted his arm. “You're so brave.”

He sat up straighter and smiled in pleasure. “I did nothing more than any other officer, though I will admit we'd only gone to interview him this evening because I'd put together a sequence of events involving him that needed to be explained. When we got to his house, he was decidedly uncooperative and both the constable and I sensed something was terribly wrong. Then we heard Miss Hemmings moaning and we searched the house. We found her on the floor of the morning room.”

“How dreadful.” Mrs. Jeffries clucked her tongue. “Thank goodness you and the constable were there.”

“Divine Providence was looking out for the girl. Luckily, she regained consciousness. She gave us the letter she'd stolen from Ralston's pocket and his motive for trying to kill her became obvious.” He looked at the clock again.

“What was the motive, sir?” Mrs. Jeffries blurted out. She could see he wanted to get back to the station.

“The letter was a love letter to Madeleine Flurry. But Edison hadn't signed the letter with his name. He'd written ‘Your beloved' instead. When Laura Hemmings read it, she thought Ralston was the one who'd written it and that he and Mrs. Flurry were lovers. She threatened to show the letter to Ralston's fiancée.”

“But how does that have anything to do with Edison's murder?” Hatchet asked.

Witherspoon got up. “Because Ralston foolishly boasted to Laura Hemmings that he wasn't afraid to commit murder, he'd already killed Orlando Edison. I must be off. It would be very bad form if the chief inspector had to wait for me.”

* * *

It wasn't until the next morning that Mrs. Jeffries had her theory about the real motive for Edison's murder confirmed by Constable Barnes.

“It was right there in the letter,” he said. “Edison promised to turn over a new leaf, to be an upright family man once they were together in New York. He insisted he wasn't abandoning her and their child, but wanted her to have a safe delivery of the baby before traveling to meet him. He wrote that he knew she had some doubts about his character, but that he'd prove he was worthy of her love. He asked her to come to the court when he testified; he was going to be completely honest and was even going to volunteer the information that he'd paid the Merry Gentlemen five thousand pounds each to be on the board of directors.”

“I knew it.” Mrs. Jeffries' spirits soared. “I knew I was right.”

“The letter explains why Mrs. Flurry and he hadn't married,” Mrs. Goodge said. “She worried about his character. What's going to happen to the letter? Will you give it to her?”

“The inspector has already instructed a constable at the station to make her a copy and we'll take it to her today,” he explained. “She'll get the original when the trial is over.”

“It's sad, isn't it.” Mrs. Jeffries shook her head. “Ralston murdered so he could marry a woman he didn't love and poor Orlando Edison lost his life because he wanted to prove he was worthy to a woman he did love.”

“There's lots of sadness in this old world, Mrs. Jeffries.” Barnes put his teacup down and got up. “But let's not forget it's not all doom and misery. There's also lots of good people like yourselves who take the trouble to help serve the cause of justice.”

“And that's the best Christmas present there is,” Wiggins announced as he came into the kitchen. “Exceptin' for a good football match.”