03 - Murder at Sedgwick Court (30 page)

‘So
that’s why you asked my housekeeper who occupied which room,’ said Cedric.

‘Yes.
Other than Lavinia or myself, the only two other people who could have looked
out of their windows and seen Jemima setting out was you, Cedric, or Felix
Thistlewaite.’

‘Well, I
assure you I didn’t set off after the girl,’ said Cedric, with a slight grin.

‘I never
thought you did,’ said Rose. ‘But getting back to my theory, I think Felix
decided to follow Jemima, who he believed to be Emmeline, because above all
else he had been thinking over what to do if he was unable to steal any jewels.
And the conclusion he had reached was to kidnap her and hold her for ransom.
Her setting off like that gave him the ideal opportunity to carry out his plan.
And it would explain something that has been bothering all of us.’  

‘What?’   

‘Why
someone took a candlestick to the maze. Don’t you see? Felix had to act quickly
in case he lost sight of Jemima. Remember, he had no idea where she was going.
So he picked up the first weapon that came to hand. The knives were all locked
away in the butler’s pantry, as is custom, but he remembered seeing the
candlesticks on the sideboard. He dashed into the dining room, picked up one of
the candlesticks, and then ran out of the house, following Jemima to the maze.  But
I don’t think he followed her into the maze itself.’

‘Why
not?’ asked Cedric.

‘Well,
for one thing he didn’t know who Jemima, pretending to be Emmeline, was going
to meet. I expect he assumed it was Theo Harrison. Felix needed to wait until Jemima
was alone to carry out his plan. So I think he hid at the entrance to the maze
and waited for her to come out.’

‘It must
have occurred to him that he might have been wasting his time,’ said Sergeant
Lane. ‘For all he knew, Miss Wentmore and Dr Harrison might have walked back to
the house together.’

‘But
instead Vera came out alone,’ said the inspector.

‘Yes. It
must have been something of a surprise to him that it was her Jemima was going
to meet,’ said Rose. ‘But fortunately for him, Vera did something when she came
out of the maze which enabled Felix to navigate his way to the centre. She
threw away the plan of the maze she had drawn for Jemima.’

‘So what
you are saying is that Thistlewaite picked up the plan and made his way to the
centre of the maze where he found Jemima lost and frightened?’ said the inspector.

‘Yes. He
should probably have stayed at the entrance of the maze and waited for Jemima,
playing the role of Emmeline, to come out, but I imagine he was impatient.
Besides Jemima, you will recall from Miss Brewster’s interview, Inspector, did
not know her way back out of the maze without the plan. It would have been a
long wait.’

‘What do
you think happened when Felix encountered Jemima in the maze? Whatever made him
decide to kill the girl?’ asked Cedric.

‘I’ve
been thinking about that. I imagine he was not particularly keen on the idea of
kidnapping her. But he was desperate. I have no doubt his funds were running
out. To begin with I think he would have asked her about the necklace. Jemima of
course would have been adamant that it was genuine. Perhaps he was persistent
with his questions and she became suspicious. Whatever occurred, I think Felix
informed her of his intention to kidnap her.’

‘And
Jemima panicked and told him she wasn’t Emmeline?’ said the inspector.

‘Yes. If
only she had kept quiet she might still have been alive today.  But her fatal
mistake was not just telling him who she was not, but also who she was. If she
had just told him she was an impostor, Felix might have let her go, thinking no
real harm had been done. But by telling him who she was, it was obvious that
the first thing she would do on reaching the house would be to warn the real Emmeline
of the danger she was in. And then of course the police would have been called,
and that would have been that.’     

‘So he
killed her to keep her quiet,’ said Cedric sadly.

‘But it’s
still all conjecture, Miss Simpson,’ complained the inspector. ‘I’m not saying
you’re not right, because I think you may very well be, but there is no real evidence
to support your theory.’

‘What
about the plan that Vera drew for Jemima?’ said Rose. ‘Of course Felix might
have thrown it on to the fire as soon as he got back to his room, but I
wouldn’t be a bit surprised if it’s still in his coat pocket. He hasn’t got a
valet to see to his clothes. And Vera told us she made a slight mistake when
drawing the plan, so if he still has it in his possession we could prove it was
the one Vera had drawn.’

Sergeant
Lane charged out of the room. They could hear him calling to the constables.

‘Wait a
minute,’ said Cedric. ‘Something doesn’t make sense. Felix tried to stop me
from wiping the fingerprints off the candlestick.’

‘No he
didn’t,’ said Rose. ‘He waited until you had wiped the candlestick of
fingerprints before he made a fuss. Anyway, although Inspector Bramwell and I
may disagree on this point, I imagine he wore gloves to wield the candlestick.’

‘But what
about Emmeline’s jewellery box?’ asked the inspector. ‘I assume it was
Thistlewaite who tampered with the lock?’

‘Yes. He
did it to throw suspicion on the count. He put the box in his room, you see.
But fortunately for the count he found it before it was discovered by the
police.’

‘What a
despicable thing to do.’ cried Cedric. ‘For all Thistlewaite knew he could have
been responsible for sending an innocent man to the gallows for
his
crime.’

‘Not
quite the affable young man he appeared to be,’ said Inspector Bramwell grimly.

‘Theo!
Surely you weren’t intending to leave without me?’

Vera, breathless,
had just caught up with the doctor on the drive in front of the house. In her
haste she had come out without hat, coat and gloves and stood shivering in the
weak December sun.

‘Go back
inside, Vera,’ Theo answered, dismissively. ‘You’ll catch your death dressed
like that. Don’t worry. I’ll send my man back with the car for you just as soon
as I’ve got to my lodgings. He’ll take you back to the vicarage.’

‘What are
you talking about, Theo? We’ll leave together of course, the way we came. If
you just give me half an hour or so, I’ll arrange for my case to be packed and
I’ll be with you.’

‘No,
Vera.’

‘What do
you mean “No, Vera”? Why, you are being quite absurd. It would be a nonsense to
leave separately, what would everyone think?’

‘What
would everyone think?’ Theo looked at her in disbelief. ‘The truth of course.
It’s no good, Vera, don’t you see? We can’t just pretend that nothing’s
happened. I fell in love with someone else.’

‘Don’t …
don’t say that,’ Vera said quickly, almost going so far as to try and cover her
ears. ‘You were just temporarily besotted, that’s all. All the men were. I
can’t say I’m surprised. She was very pretty and charming, and of course you
all thought she was very rich. But you would have got bored of her, I know you
would
–
’

‘Vera
–
’

‘No,
don’t say anything more about it. I don’t want us to go over it, it doesn’t do
any good. It happened, and I don’t say that you didn’t hurt me very much, but
now I just want to forget about it.’

‘Vera,
it’s no use. Oh, if only you wouldn’t be so nice about it all. Don’t you see
that it only makes things worse?’ Theo tore at his hair in exasperation. ‘I
behaved very badly, I know, like a complete rotter and I can’t tell you how
awfully I feel about it all. You deserved better than that. Why, even Cedric
had a go at me about it. He pretty well gave me my marching orders.’

‘It
doesn’t matter, Theo, none of it matters at all now.’ Vera clung at the sleeve
of his coat and he threw off her hand in an irritated fashion.

‘It
matters a great deal, Vera. It showed me that I didn’t love you, not in the way
you love me anyway and certainly not enough for us to get married.’

‘I don’t
care. I don’t care if I love you more than you love me. I’ve always known it.
In a couple one party always loves the other more. I love you enough for both
of us
–
’

‘No,
Vera, it really won’t do, not for me, not now I know what it is to really be in
love.’ He held her hand and spoke more gently. ‘If only I could make you
understand. When they told me that Emmeline … I shall always think of her as
Emmeline not Jemima … wasn’t an heiress, that she wasn’t who she pretended to
be, I went to pieces. But not for the reasons everyone assumed. It was because
it meant that there would have been no obstacle to us marrying. She wasn’t far
above me socially as I had thought. The wife of a country doctor might have
suited her quite well.’

‘What
about me?’ pleaded Vera, clutching at his hand, ‘I’ll make you a good wife, you
know I will. We belong together, you know we do.’

‘No we
don’t, that’s what I’ve been trying to tell you Vera. I don’t doubt for a
moment that you think you love me, but it’s not real, it’s too much. Frankly my
dear, it’s suffocating. Not only that, I find it rather frightening. Look what
it made you do. If you hadn’t written that stupid, spiteful note, Emmeline …
no, I must call her Jemima … would never have been in that maze. And you left
her there, Vera, cold and frightened. You left her there to get murdered.’

‘But I
had no idea that would happen. I wasn’t thinking properly. I was so upset … I
…’

‘Yes, and
don’t you see that only makes it worse,’ said Theo more quietly. ‘It’s my
fault. It’s all my fault. I know you wouldn’t have done what you did if it
hadn’t been for the way I behaved. The girl is dead because of what we did.
Don’t you see, Vera? Every time I look at you I’ll be reminded of what we did.
I can’t live my life like that, and neither can you.’

‘But I …’

‘And besides,
Vera, my dear,’ said Theo kindly. ‘You deserve a better husband than I will
ever be.’

‘Did you
suspect that Felix might be the murderer?’ asked Rose, as she and Emmeline
walked in the grounds later that day. ‘Are you awfully upset?’

‘I did
rather wonder if it might be him,’ admitted Emmeline. ‘It was when he joined me
in the gardens yesterday. The inspector had permitted us to go outside for some
fresh air, if you remember. You were walking in another part of the gardens
with Cedric. Felix told me he thought I had killed Jemima. Of course I realise
now that he said that to make himself appear innocent in my eyes, but I didn’t
know that at the time. He said that he would stand by me and protect me the
best he could.’

‘Did he
indeed?’

‘Yes, but
I remember thinking it rather strange at the time that he should assume I was
guilty of Jemima’s murder. It made me wonder whether he was really as fond of
me as he appeared to be. I suppose it made me a little wary of him. And … then
he made the mistake of referring to Jemima as Jemima not Emmeline.’

‘Did he
indeed? That was very careless of him.’

‘Yes, wasn’t
it? I thought it might just have been a mistake, but it did make me wonder.’

‘Yes, it
must have done,’ Rose said sympathetically.

‘But
really I was suspicious of everyone, even you. I didn’t know who to trust. I
was frightened you see. I didn’t know whether Jemima had been killed in mistake
for me. Was I really the intended victim?  All I could think about was how
important it was that no one knew who I really was. I’ve been frightened ever
since I came to Sedgwick that something dreadful would happen. And that it
should have happened to Jemima … I … I can’t bear to think about it.’

‘You
haven’t had a chance to grieve yet,’ said Rose, putting her arm around the
girl’s shoulders. ‘You’ve been too frightened.’

‘Yes, you’re
right. And I can’t quite believe that it was only yesterday that it all
happened. I’m so glad Father is here. He feels that he is in some way to blame
for Jemima’s death, you know, which is quite ridiculous. He thinks that, if he
hadn’t been so protective of me, we wouldn’t have felt the need to run away, as
he puts it.’

‘Oh?’

‘Yes. We
won’t be returning to Scotland, or at least, if we do, only for a little while
to arrange matters. We’re not going to be hiding ourselves away any more from
the rest of the world. Father says he wants me to see more of life. He’s even
talking about buying a town house in London.’

‘I’m so
pleased. I think it’s just what you need. Perhaps we can meet up when you’re in
London? You could even come and visit the dress shop where I work.’

‘Yes, I
should like that very much,’ said Emmeline.

‘We
should invite Vera too,’ said Rose. ‘I have a feeling that she and Theo won’t
be getting married. It’s the best thing for her, even if she doesn’t realise it
yet. But she’ll need some cheering up.’

‘Yes,’
agreed Emmeline. ‘I might invite her to stay with me for a while in London.
Jemima behaved rather badly towards her as far as Dr Harrison was concerned.
I’d like to make amends if I can.’

‘Darling,
do you think it’s all over now?’ asked Cedric. ‘Can I have you all to myself
now? Theo and Vera have left, separately as we know. Count Fernand, or whoever
he was, has caught a train to London, and Emmeline and her father will be
leaving in the next couple of hours. Thistlewaite’s been arrested, so there are
no loose ends that we need to tie up, are there?’

‘No, darling,
not that I know of,’ said Rose. ‘Sergeant Lane told me that they found Vera’s
plan in Felix’s pocket, and that when they showed it to him he went completely to
pieces and confessed to everything.’

‘Let’s
hope that Lavinia won’t be inviting any more people to stay who she knows
absolutely nothing about.’

‘Don’t be
too hard on her, darling.’

‘Rose,
darling, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you. I want to ask you … I
mean. I would have done before, but what with Lavinia and her friends turning
up like that …’

‘Yes?’
said Rose, conscious that her heart was beating rather loudly in her chest.
Part of her wanted him to go on, and another part of her wanted time to stand
still so that she might savour this moment.

 ‘Yes … I
… I … You do love me, don’t you, Rose? Say that you do. You know how I feel
about you. Well, what I have to ask you is this … Will you
–
’

‘Oh,
there you two are,’ said Lavinia coming across to them. ‘Manning told me he’d
seen you wandering off to the lake. Are you hiding from everyone?’

‘Yes,
from you,’ said Cedric rather rudely. ‘Now, do go away, Lavinia, there’s a dear.’

‘No, I
shan’t,’ said Lavinia. ‘At least, not yet. Is it true that Felix was a jewel
thief and murdered Emmeline who was really Jemima? And that Jemima is really
Emmeline and that the count isn’t a count at all?’

‘Yes. Now
do go away, Lavinia.’

‘So no
one was who they appeared to be.’ Lavinia said rather sadly. ‘I daresay if I
had known that Jemima was really Emmeline Montacute then I suppose I might have
made a little more effort to get to know her.’

‘Go away,
Lavinia.’

‘Only on
the condition that Rose says yes.’

‘What?’ said
Rose. ‘But I thought
–
’

‘Well, I
think it would be rather nice, don’t you? Ceddie and I really don’t want to be
rumbling around in this house all by ourselves. I think it’s a wonderful idea of
his inviting you and your mother here for Christmas, don’t you?’ She smiled at
them sweetly. ‘That is what you were going to ask Rose, isn’t it?’ 

‘Well …
yes … among other things,’ mumbled Cedric, going rather red and looking at the
ground.

‘Well,’
said Lavinia. ‘I’m so glad. Now what shall I do? Shall I join you for a walk by
the lake? Or shall I go back to the house?’

‘Go back to
the house,’ said Cedric bluntly.

‘Oh, all
right. I suppose I should leave the two of you alone so that Cedric can ask you
… the other thing, Rose.’

Lavinia
smiled sweetly at them again, but this time Rose noticed there was a twinkle in
her eye, and that when she ran back to the house she was almost skipping.