An Impartial Witness (4 page)

“You may be right, my dear, but the truth is, I don’t hold out much hope.”

I walked on down the carpeted passage for fear one of them might come out and find me there, eavesdropping.

But I carried with me food for thought.

For one thing, Inspector Herbert hadn’t told Serena about the man at the railway station. And probably wouldn’t until he knew whether or not it was pertinent to his investigation.

For another, it appeared I wasn’t the only one searching for Marjorie Evanson’s lover. Even here. And I had the very strong feeling that if Serena found the man before I did, she would take savage pleasure in exposing him to the world.

Before she killed him…

The thought occurred to me out of the blue. I didn’t know whether she was capable of such a thing or not, but her brother’s death had affected her deeply, and sometimes people who turned to anger as they grieved acted rashly, in the heat of the moment, wanting to hurt the person who had hurt them.

Still, now I knew the purpose of this wartime birthday party and why it hadn’t mattered if Mary had brought a friend. Serena Melton saw me as a smoke screen, added to make up the party’s numbers and conceal her true purpose in inviting certain guests. Well, I needn’t feel quite so guilty now about coming here under false pretenses, out of curiosity.

Last evening during croquet and again during the tennis match this morning, I’d seen Serena casually drawing aside first one guest and then another. She and Captain Truscott had had a long conversation, and soon after that, Lieutenant Gilbert. I’d thought she was making them feel at home, just as she’d chatted to me about my father and my duties.

And that reminded me of the naval commander she and Mary had discussed. Had Marjorie known him as well? I’d tried, politely, not to listen at the time. Now I made an effort to bring the exchange back. I didn’t want to mention it to Mary.

“When was his last leave, do you remember?”
she’d asked.
“Was
he in London then?”
And when Mary told her he’d taken the train directly to Scotland, to see his parents, she’d replied,
“No wonder Marjorie had missed seeing him. I must say, Jack was wondering about him too.”

Serena must not have been very close to her sister-in-law or she wouldn’t be fishing among Marjorie’s friends for answers.

And that brought to mind another question.

Was there jealousy between Marjorie and Serena? Had Meriwether Evanson’s marriage caused a rift with his sister?

I
’D TAKEN REFUGE
in the Meltons’ dining room from a storm that had suddenly blown up, sending us all dashing for the house. As I stood there looking out at the rain sweeping across the lawns, I heard someone come in the door behind me, and turned.

It was Lieutenant Bellis, one of the late arrivals last night. He’d missed the tennis match, pleading fatigue, and I hadn’t seen much of him at lunch. He was drenched, his hair plastered to his skull, and he said lightly, “Is there nowhere in this house that a man can find a drink?”

I laughed. “I suspect Jack keeps what’s left of his precious stock under lock and key.”

“I’m beginning to think you’re right. Known him long, have you?”

“Actually, not very.” I took a chance. “I met his brother-in-law once, I think.”

“Meriwether? A good man. He didn’t deserve what happened to him.” He’d found a table napkin in one of the drawers of the sideboard and was busy toweling his head. Pausing, he looked at me from between the folds. “I thought I remembered you. A nursing sister, aren’t you? From
Britannic,
I think. I was in Mesopotamia.”

I fished quickly for a face in a hospital bed, then smiled as I remembered. “George Bellis! The leg’s healed, I see.” I didn’t add
that the thin, sun-baked man with a broken leg and cracked ribs, a fractured skull and the bites of myriad insects looked nothing like the tall, muscular officer standing before me now. His brother was a captain in one of the county regiments. I tried to recall which. Wiltshire?

“Indeed it has,” he said as we shook hands like lost friends. “I was sent to France after I recovered. Were you still with
Britannic
when she sank? I’d wondered.”

“I was,” I told him, “and escaped with a broken arm.”

“Harrowing experience, I should think.”

“I still dream of it sometimes.”

He nodded, folded the napkin, and put it aside. “Not surprising. My dreams aren’t what they once were.” He made a gesture intended to lighten his next words. “My favorite is finding myself flying through a hail of bullets, diving headfirst into the nearest trench, only to find it crowded with the most despicable collection of Turkish soldiers you can imagine. Bazaar thieves, guttersnipes, and murderers all. Better than any rooster for a fast wake up.”

But the lines around his mouth as he spoke told me that it had really happened, only to be repeated over and over again in his dreams.

I smiled, as I was expected to do, and then said, “Who wins?”

“I never find out. Since I’m still here, I expect it was me.”

We laughed together, then I quickly changed the subject. “Wasn’t there a girl? I seem to remember writing a letter for you. You could have written your own, but you were malingering.”

“So I was. A few minutes with the pretty ward sister, and I was envied by every man present. Yes, there was—is—a girl. She’s in Norfolk, helping her family grow whatever it is they grow in Norfolk. Worse luck, she couldn’t meet me in London. It was harvest-time for something.”

I could hear the disappointment in his voice. “Why didn’t you go to her?”

He grimaced. “Apparently marrows or parsnips or whatever they are rank higher than a mere lieutenant.” And then he brightened. “But I’m taking the train from here to London, meeting my brother, and we’re driving on to Gloucestershire.”

“How nice!” I was trying to think how to bring Meriwether Evanson back into the conversation when George did it himself.

“When did you know Merry? After his first crash or his second?”

“The second.”

“Ah. The burns.” He stared out the window, watching the rain. “I’ve always had a horror of fire. I can’t imagine finding myself aflame. How bad were they?”

“Head. Hands and feet. Part of his torso. Infection is the greatest danger.”

“Bloody hell,” he said, shuddering as he considered that. Then he realized he’d sworn aloud and was busy apologizing.

“Did you know his wife?” I asked.

He smiled. “If you knew Merry, you knew Marjorie. She’s all he ever talked about. I’m surprised he didn’t name that bitch in the stables for her.” And once more he realized he’d put foot in mouth. “Sorry—I didn’t mean it the way it came out.”

“I’d seen her photograph. She seemed to be such a lovely woman. In every sense.”

“Yes, well, she most certainly was pretty.” He smiled, remembering. “But it hadn’t turned her head. Do you know what I mean? She was a thoroughly nice person. That’s what makes it so hard to believe she was murdered. I mean to say,” he went on, frowning now, “one doesn’t think of murder touching
nice
people.”

Before I could stop myself, I spoke in defense of Marjorie Evanson. “I don’t think murderers care if one is nice or not.”

“Oddly enough, Serena asked me yesterday if I thought Marjorie had fallen in with the wrong sort of people. I couldn’t imagine what she was getting at. Marjorie wasn’t like that.” He took a deep breath. “Is there something worrying her?”

“I expect she’s also having trouble understanding murder,” I said. “Grasping at straws—the wrong sort of people, money, debts, secrets—anything to explain what happened.”

“I doubt if it was money or debts. Marjorie was comfortably off in her own right, but not rich. As I remember, she and her sister shared the inheritance from their father.”

Someone—Inspector Herbert?—had mentioned a sister.

“As for secrets,” he went on, “Marjorie was hopeless there. Merry told me she couldn’t wait for an anniversary or a birthday, and was forever asking if he wanted to know straightaway what she was giving him.”

And yet she had kept a very different secret from her husband and everyone else.

Lieutenant Bellis began to pace restlessly. “How did we get on such a morbid subject? The weather is wretched enough.”

Taking the hint, I said, “It does seem a little lighter in the west.”

“Your imagination,” he replied, grinning, coming to stand by me at the windows. “It’s still as black as the bottom of a witch’s kettle out there. This could go on for hours.”

But it didn’t. A tiny square of blue grew to the size of a counterpane, and then spread quickly, offering us the spectacle of a rainbow as the sun finally burst through.

The grass was too wet for sport, and so we collected in the study for our tea.

Jack was looking tired, as if he rather regretted inviting so many guests for the weekend. Watching him, I thought perhaps he was feeling the strain of his duties. It must be a burden to know the truth about what was happening in France or the North Atlantic and say nothing. I’d noticed several times that when he was asked for his views on the course of the war or the prospect for the Americans to come in, he evaded a direct answer, giving instead the public view we could read for ourselves in any newspaper.

My own father had told me privately that if the Americans didn’t
commit themselves soon, we would run short of men. I’d asked him if the Germans were in the same state, and he’d answered gravely, “We’d better start praying they are.” It was a worrying possibility that we could lose the war. That so many might have died in vain.

The men drifted off to the billiard room, and the women settled down to read or knit. We were all expected to do our share with our needles, and most of us were thoroughly tired of the drab khaki wool intended for stockings, scarves, gloves, hoods, and even waistcoats to keep men warm in the trenches.

Serena came to join us after seeing to matters in the kitchen, and I noticed the shadows on her face as she sat by one of the lamps, rolling yarn into a ball.

Cynthia Newley said, “Serena, is there any news regarding Marjorie? Has the Yard learned anything more?”

“Apparently not,” she answered coldly. “At least we haven’t been told.”

“It seems so—odd. You would think Marjorie’s death would receive top priority.”

“Indeed.”

I glimpsed Serena’s eyes as she looked up briefly at her friend. There was angry denial there. It was a pity the police had had to tell her about the unborn child. It had only added to her distress. Any indiscretion on Marjorie’s part should have died quietly with her. But this was murder, and there were no secrets in cases of murder.

And then Serena was saying, as if unable to stop herself, “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I can’t seem to concentrate on anything. You knew Marjorie, Cynthia. So did you, Patricia. Those last months in London—what did she do? Where did she go? I wasn’t in London often, I seldom saw her. When the police asked me if she had met any new friends, I had no idea. Or if she was worried about something. I was so out of touch, I couldn’t give them an answer.”

Patricia, a quiet woman with dark hair, said, “These past few months—well, since late winter for that matter—I saw her hardly at
all. A few memorial services, and once at a morning church service. I asked Helen Calder if Marjorie was all right. Helen replied that she was probably worried sick about Meriwether. Let’s face it, pilots don’t have very long lives, do they?”

Juliana said, “Well, I can vouch for the fact that she didn’t spend much time with her usual friends. I invited her to several parties, and she declined.”

“Which could mean,” Cynthia commented dryly, “she must have made new friends.”

“Still, you must have seen her somewhere. Dining out, volunteering somewhere, the theater.” Serena looked around the room, inviting comment.

Cynthia, sitting by the window, peered over her glasses. “Well. Since you ask. There must have been a man.”

Serena bristled. “That’s disgusting!”

“Is it?” She ran her fingers through her fair hair. “Look, we’re not the innocent lambs we were in 1914, are we? If Marjorie stopped seeing her friends and family, there’s probably a good reason. She had new friends—or she had something to hide. And what would she have to hide, if it wasn’t a man?” Cynthia added bitterly, “She’s not the first, Serena, and nor will she be the last. You’re fortunate, you know where Jack is, even if he’s not at home. He isn’t off in France or God knows where, being shot at, and his letters coming in bunches or not at all, and you’re left wondering if he’s dead or wounded or missing. You can’t stand in judgment of Marjorie, you haven’t lived with her fears.”

Serena said, “She never said anything to me about any fears.”

“No, I’m sorry. But you’re Meriwether’s sister, you had your own worries there. I expect she didn’t want to add to them.”

Mary said, trying to pour oil on troubled waters, “There’s been nothing more in the newspapers. Have the police made any progress at all?”

Serena gave her a cold, hard look. “The inquest was adjourned at
the request of the police, citing the ongoing inquiry into her murder by person or persons unknown.”

Mary answered mildly, “I was in France, Serena. I didn’t know.”

Nor did I.

Cynthia held her ground. “There’s no use asking us about Marjorie. Talk to her sister. It’s possible she knew more about what was going on. Marjorie may have confided in her.”

“I doubt it,” Patricia interjected. “My impression was that they didn’t get on.”

Serena turned to Cynthia. “You seem to feel there was something to hide. No one else does. It must mean that you know something you aren’t willing to tell me.”

“If you’re asking if I know who murdered her, I don’t. She avoided all of us these past few months. Even you, if you think about it. One doesn’t advertise adultery, Serena, but the signs are there. If you haven’t noticed them, I’m sure the police have. If the man she was seeing killed her, then she threatened him somehow. But I hardly think, knowing Marjorie, that she would do such a thing. So who else could it be? That’s a matter for the police. But you won’t get anywhere unless you look the truth in the face.”

Patricia winced. We were all feeling decidedly uncomfortable. One didn’t discuss such things openly, and yet Cynthia had.

Juliana was bent over her ball of yarn, rewinding it after dropping it, avoiding looking at any of us.

I shot a quick glance at Serena’s face. I don’t think she’d bargained for someone as strong willed as Cynthia.

And then Serena surprised me. She said, “I don’t want to believe there was someone else. After all, Marjorie was married to my brother. But I’m grateful for your honesty. I’ll speak to the police. I wasn’t supposed to mention it, but they’re of the opinion now that someone noticed the rather fine lozenge brooch she was wearing when she was killed. It’s missing, of course. Along with her purse. These new friends she possibly made—the police ought to be aware
of them. Surely it won’t hurt to look into who they are.” She glanced at the clock on the mantelpiece and set aside her knitting. “I think the gentlemen have had long enough to bore themselves to death. Let’s rout them out and have our tea brought in.”

She turned away to ring for tea, but her shoulders were stiff, and I thought she wouldn’t soon forgive Cynthia for being outspoken and voicing what Serena already knew to be true.

As for a missing brooch, Inspector Herbert hadn’t asked if she was wearing it at the railway station.

Serena had just lied to distract Cynthia and the rest of us from any thought of a lover.

She went in search of her husband and his guests.

A silence filled the room after she’d gone. I realized the sun now coming through the window was warm on my feet. I shifted a little in my chair.

Everyone looked at me as if I were about to speak.

Finally Mary said, “I didn’t know where to look when she was talking about Marjorie.”

Patricia said, her voice irritable, “We’d be liars if we didn’t admit that we’ve been curious about what happened.”

“Well, she certainly put paid to any more gossip, didn’t she? I think we all must have had in the back of our minds that Marjorie must have done something to lead to her death. Making her as guilty as whoever killed her,” Cynthia said. “The police should have made it clear about the missing brooch. It would have quelled a good deal of speculation and talk.”

I put my knitting into its bag and said, “I’m cross-eyed from counting stitches. At least the sun has come out. It will be good to walk a little after tea.”