Death in Kenya (10 page)

‘Of course I can't! I don't even know how many there are.'

‘Four, I believe,' said Greg. ‘And they are fairly striking.'

‘I still wouldn't have noticed if there were three or six or a dozen! It's not the sort of thing that anyone would notice.'

‘Except Zacharia,' said Mr Gilbert thoughfully. ‘He should have known, but he insists that he can't remember.'

‘He's getting old,' said Em in extenuation.

‘Ye—s. All the same, you'd think he'd notice a thing like that. It's part of his job. And anything in Harlequin checks and primary colours is apt to be eye-catching. Which makes it look as though they were all there. He would probably have noticed if there was one short.'

Em said: ‘So you think that someone removed it off the verandah sometime during the day, and you don't think it's likely to have been done by a stray terrorist from some hide-out in the
marula.
'

‘Do you?' enquired Mr Gilbert.

‘No,' said Em bleakly. ‘No.'

She had been sitting regally erect in a large wing-back chair by the piano, but now she seemed to shrink and crumble and change before their eyes from a vigorous and commanding figure into a tired and anxious old woman. ‘You are right, of course. It would have had to be someone from this house.'

‘Or someone who could come openly to this house,' amended Mr Gilbert. ‘And there is always, of course, the possibility that it was taken out for some entirely unimportant and trivial reason. So trivial that whoever did it has forgotten about it. Which is why, if we can work out where everyone was at every moment of that day, it may jolt someone's memory. What did you do after luncheon, Eden?'

Eden started slightly at the abruptness of the question, and said: ‘Shopped in the town. Fetched a suit from the cleaners, collected a clock that had been taken in to be mended, bought a couple of shirts and took in a film to be developed. I think that was all.'

Mr Gilbert consulted a small notebook that he had removed from his coat pocket, and nodded as if satisfied. It was obvious that he had been doing quite a bit of checking on his own, and he made no attempt to conceal the fact. He said: ‘Where did you have tea, and when?'

‘I didn't. I skipped it.'

‘When did you start back?'

‘Oh – er – around about seven, I suppose. I'm not sure.'

Mr Gilbert said thoughtfully: ‘The shops shut at five, and according to Jimmy Druce you left the Club just after two. Were you really shopping for three hours?'

Eden flushed angrily and said: ‘No, of course I wasn't. As a matter of fact, I drove out to the Game Park.'

‘When was that?'

‘About four, I suppose. Might have been a little earlier. But you won't be able to check that, because I didn't get there. I remembered that the Park is infernally crowded these days, so I pulled up by the side of the road instead, and just sat there.'

‘Why?'

‘I had a few things I wanted to think about,' said Eden shortly. ‘And none of them, Greg, if I may say so, are any of your dam' business!'

Mr Gilbert shrugged and consulted his notebook again. He said: ‘Any idea as to how long you sat there? And did anyone you know pass you?'

‘No. I wasn't paying attention to passing people, and I only pushed off at last because it was getting late. I'd told Alice I probably wouldn't be back until nine or ten, and I'd meant to dine in Nairobi or somewhere on the road. But I decided that I'd get back for a late meal here after all. I got back here about nine o'clock, and found——'

He did not finish the sentence, but turned once more to stare out of the window.

Mr Gilbert said briskly: ‘Thanks very much. Now what about you, Em? First of all, have you remembered anything about that cushion? Moving it, or noticing that it was missing – or not missing?'

‘No,' said Em doubtfully. ‘I – I may have moved it. But I must admit that I don't remember doing so, and I don't think that there is anything I would have wanted it for. Perhaps Alice did.'

‘When?' demanded Greg. ‘Her day has been pretty well accounted for. She spent the morning shopping in Naivasha, the afternoon in her room, had tea with you on the verandah, and went out shooting with you immediately afterwards – in order to avoid, I gather, what looked like being an embarrassing
tête-à-tête
with young Ken Brandon. And as it was just after you got back that she went across to the Markhams with a message for Lisa, there doesn't seem to be any point during the day when she could have carried a cushion out to the knoll. Now, can you remember what you yourself did on Tuesday, Em? In detail?'

‘I think so,' said Em, frowning. ‘Let me see – I had breakfast in bed and didn't get up until just before Eden left. I asked him to fetch the clock and to ring up the Airport and check the time that Victoria would be arriving, and we discussed the purchase of Jimmy's Land-Rover. After Eden had gone I saw the cook and told Kamau what I wanted in the way of vegetables, and then Alice and I made out a list of things we wanted from the stores in Naivasha. As soon as she had gone I started on the milk records, and then Lisa came over to see Eden, but Zacharia told her he'd left. She said she wouldn't disturb me, and left a note asking if we'd give her a lift next time either of us went into Nairobi. I heard the dogs barking and went to see who it was, but she was already half-way across the garden by then, so I didn't stop her.'

Greg said: ‘Do the dogs always bark when anyone comes to the house?'

‘If they're around. But they stop at once if it's anyone they know.'

‘What time was it when Lisa came over?'

‘About twenty to eleven I should say: Alice had just left. Then at eleven Gilly came over on business and stayed for half an hour, and he'd only just gone when the Brandons dropped in. We had coffee, and Hector went off to see Kamau about some fodder we're selling him, while Mabel and I talked.'

‘What about?'

The question was asked so casually that Em had started to answer it before she realized where it would lead her: ‘She'd seen Alice's car in Naivasha and knew she wouldn't be here, and she wanted to see me alone because she was worried about——'

She stopped abruptly, her face flushing in the unbecoming and mottled manner of the old, while her lips folded into a tight hard line.

Eden gave a short and mirthless laugh, and finished the sentence for her. ‘About Ken. You needn't worry, Gran darling. It's no secret. What did she want you to do. Ship Alice home, or slip some arsenic in her soup?'

‘Eden!' Once again Em's voice was sharp and commanding, and this time it was edged with anger.

‘I'm sorry,' said Eden impatiently. ‘I quite see that under the present circumstances that was a bloody silly remark to make. But you must admit that Mabel's been making a complete cake of herself over her precious Ken. It wasn't Alice's fault that her kid had a hopeless crush on her. Heaven knows she did everything she could to choke him off! But it wasn't at all easy for her, what with Ken threatening suicide and generally behaving like an amateur actor getting his teeth into Hamlet. She ought to have let me deal with him.'

‘She was quite right not to,' said Em tartly. ‘She took the very sensible view that it was really only like measles or teething – something that everyone gets when young, though some children get it worse than others. He'd have got over it soon enough. But if you'd taken a hand and lectured him, we'd have had a first class Brandon–DeBrett feud on our hands, and we neither of us wanted that. Hector and Mabel are good friends of mine, and good neighbours; but Ken is their Achilles heel.'

‘Ken,' said Eden morosely, echoing sentiments recently expressed by Mr Gilbert, ‘is a spoilt, egotistical pup who fancies himself as a cross between Byron and an Angry Young Man. For God's sake, what's he got to be crazy or mixed up about? He's only had to ask for something, to be given it!'

‘Perhaps that's why,' said Em with a sigh. ‘He's just finding out that now he is grown up there are a good many things he can't have for the asking, and he feels that someone is to blame for it. He'll grow out of it.'

‘Returning to Mabel,' said Mr Gilbert firmly. ‘How long did she stay on Tuesday morning, and could she have removed that cushion?'

‘No, of course she didn't!' said Em with a snap. ‘Why on earth should she?'

‘That's not the point. The question was “could she?” Or was she with you the entire time?'

‘Well, no,' said Em reluctantly. ‘I— Well it was all rather stupid really. I suppose I wasn't very sympathetic, and Mabel was hurt. She said she'd wait in the garden until Hector was ready to leave, and I went back to the office. But if you think that Mabel had anything to do with Alice's murder, you must be going out of your mind! She was a bit upset about this infatuation of Ken's, but that was all. And of course she had nothing to do with that cushion. Unless——'

She paused, frowning, and Greg said: ‘Unless what?'

‘Well, I suppose she might have taken it up to the knoll and sat there to wait for Hector. I never thought of that. There you are – I expect that's all there is to it. A perfectly simple explanation.'

‘Perfectly,' said Greg. ‘But if so, why didn't she admit to it? We asked everyone about it the next day.'

‘I expect she forgot,' said Em flatly.

‘Perhaps. We can always try and jog her memory. What did you do for the rest of the day?'

‘Nothing special. Alice got back around one, and after luncheon I rested, and as you already know we had tea on the verandah at half-past four. Ken arrived in the middle of it, so we had to offer him some. He said he wanted to discuss something with Alice, but I said he would have to postpone it as she was coming out in the Land-Rover with me. I was rather afraid that he'd still be there when we got back, but he wasn't.'

‘What time did you get back?'

‘About a quarter to six. It was only then that I remembered Lisa's note, and Alice said she'd walk over and tell her that I'd be going into Nairobi on the Thursday to meet Victoria, and she could come in then. I shouldn't have let her go. But – how was I to know?'

Em's voice cracked and Eden crossed the space between them in two strides and put an arm about his grandmother's shoulders. ‘Don't, Gran! It wasn't your fault. You've nothing to blame yourself for.'

Em said almost inaudibly: ‘Yes I have. If I hadn't sent her over — Or if I had only——'

Eden released her and said harshly: ‘If! – if, if, if! Why worry yourself over ifs? – If I hadn't married Alice she wouldn't have come to Kenya. And if she hadn't come to Kenya she wouldn't have been murdered. But does that mean that I am responsible for her death?'

He flung away and dropped into another chair, his legs stretched out before him and his hands deep in his pockets, and Mr Gilbert regarded him thoughtfully for a moment or two, and then turned his attention to Drew Stratton.

‘Now about you, Drew. I'd like an account – a detailed account, please – of your last meeting with Mrs DeBrett.'

‘I'll try,' said Drew, and embarked on a reasonably accurate account of that evening. ‘She was,' he ended deliberately, ‘very much upset at the prospect of Miss Caryll's arrival.'

Victoria shrank back in her chair as though he had struck her, while Eden flushed a dull red and Em said indignantly: ‘That is not true! You are imagining things. I told her that if she would rather Victoria did not come she had only to say so.'

Drew said: ‘Lady Emily, I did not know your granddaughter-in-law very well. But I knew her well enough to know that she would not allow her own feelings in the matter to stand in the way of your wishes; and I cannot imagine any normal woman feeling much enthusiasm for having an ex-fiancée of her husband's installed as a permanent fixture in the home.'

‘Is that true?' demanded Mr Gilbert of Victoria. ‘Were you two engaged?'

‘I——' began Victoria, but got no further. Eden was on his feet again, his handsome face ugly with anger.

‘No it is not! There was at one time what I believe is termed an “understanding” between us, but it was a purely private matter, and still is. So you needn't think that you're going to wash a lot of dirty linen in public and drag Victoria into this beastly business. You can keep her out of it!'

‘My dear Eden, no one is trying to drag Miss Caryll into anything,' said Greg pacifically. ‘But, unfortunately, the personal relationships of people who are involved, however inadvertently, in a murder case, are always a matter of interest.'

‘Victoria is not “involved” in any of this!'

‘Only indirectly.'

Em straightened herself in the wing-back chair, and once again it was an autocrat who sat there; imperious, regal and accustomed to being obeyed. She said: ‘I think we had better get this quite straight, Greg. I am not a fool, and I dislike beating about the bush. It wastes time. What you are attempting to discover is whether Eden, or possibly myself, murdered Alice –
be quiet, Eden!
That is it, isn't it?'

‘As a matter of fact,' said Mr Gilbert, ‘and speaking solely for myself— No. But that is because you are both personal friends of mine and I know you fairly well. Speaking officially, however, it is not outside the bounds of possibility, and therefore it is just as well to consider that angle so that it can be abandoned. Helps clear the decks, if you know what I mean.'

‘I know exactly what you mean,' said Em tartly. ‘And you will allow me to tell you that I consider the suggestion an impertinence.'

‘Impertinence my foot!' blazed Eden. ‘It's a damned insult!'

Em said wearily: ‘Oh,
do
be quiet Eden. To term it an insult is to take it seriously. I suppose that such a thing might just be possible, but it is in the highest degree improbable.'