Murder at Renard's (Rose Simpson Mysteries Book 4) (26 page)

There was an awkward silence. It was only of a few moments’ duration, but it seemed nevertheless to fill the room, creating a physical gulf between them. Celia hurried on. She could not bear the thought that Bertram might be that very moment conjuring up a vision of the mannequin in his mind’s eye. She feared she would compare unfavourably in comparison. And he could almost be forgiven if he was wondering how the murderer could possibly have mistaken the two women for one another.

‘The girl apparently had her back to the door of the dressing room,’ she said, as if an explanation was required. ‘So it’s possible that the murderer did not see her face. Not only was she wearing the same sort of dress that I had on, if I remember correctly, the colour of her hair was a similar shade to mine.’

‘But even so –’ protested Bertram.

‘The constable told me the murderer would have been at pains to carry out the deed as quickly as possible so as not to be caught in the act.’

‘Well, it still seems to me highly unlikely that the murderer made a mistake,’ said Bertram. ‘If nothing else, who on earth would want to kill you, Celia?’

‘Lots of people I expect,’ said Celia rather flippantly. ‘I have been known to ruffle one or two feathers.’

‘You don’t believe that any more than I do!’ retorted Bertram.

‘Well, whoever would want to kill a shop girl?’ replied Celia rather haughtily. ‘But, whatever you and I might think, the police will be coming here shortly to interview me. I expect they’ll want to interview you too, what with you being there and then escorting me home afterwards.’

‘I say, do you really think so?’ Bertram paled.

‘Well of course they will, not that we have anything to tell them. We didn’t see anything that will help them with their investigations. Now, as I recollect,’ said Celia speaking slowly and deliberately, ‘the girl came out in the silver gown. Both the proprietor and I were rather taken aback as we had not expected her to do such a thing. If the truth be told, I had expressly forbidden her to wear the dress because I had chosen to wear it myself. Oh, don’t look at me like that, Bertram. You don’t understand. She had been particularly rude to me in front of everyone else and I just wanted to get my own back.’

Celia began to pace the room as she recounted her version of events. She stopped every so often to steal a glance at Bertram to ensure that he was following her narrative. He in turn looked a little appalled, as if he found the whole business distasteful. She ignored him, having got into her stride, and went on, the words escaping from her lips until they seemed to fill the room.

‘The girl realised at once what she had done. I daresay she had second thoughts, because she soon turned tail and retreated to the dressing room. Do you remember?’ Bertram said nothing. He looked so dazed by it all that she wondered if he realised what she was saying. ‘I was extremely annoyed, and said as much to Madame Renard when I managed to fight my way through the audience to her. I was rather ungracious, I’m afraid. I demanded that the poor girl be sacked. You must remember my saying that? You caught my eye and looked at me reprovingly.’

‘Did I? I don’t remember doing that.’

‘Well, you did, darling. And you were quite right of course. Only, I couldn’t stop myself. Now … where was I? Oh, yes. The fire broke out. There was a lot of yelling and shrieking, chairs and tables toppled over and people were going in all sorts of directions to try and get out of the shop. So silly when one thinks that it was such a very little fire and so quickly put out. I lost sight of you for a few moments and then I saw you. You were with the other men beating out the fire. You looked so strong and brave that I fell in love with you all over again.’

‘Celia –’

‘Please don’t interrupt, darling, I want to go through what happened while it’s still fresh in my mind.  You caught my eye and smiled. You mouthed some words to me. I think you said something to the effect that I was not to worry.’

‘Celia, I did no such thing.’

‘Yes, you did.’ said Celia firmly. ‘You stayed to help put the fire out and then we decided to slip out into the street. You do remember that, don’t you?’

‘Celia, let me think for a moment,’ said Bertram. ‘The fire had put paid to the evening. The fashion show had as good as finished before the drape caught fire. We decided there was no need to stay. You thought it only polite to say goodbye to the proprietor, but she and her assistants had their hands full trying to calm the crowd.‘

‘Yes,’ agreed Celia. ‘We thought the best thing we could do in the circumstances was to leave. We didn’t wish to add to Madame Renard’s burden, did we?’

‘Most of the people were fearful of passing the smoking drapes and were trying to make their way out through the back of the shop. We thought it jolly silly. It was easy enough to leave the shop through the main shop door that faced the street.’

‘And so that is just what we did,’ said Celia almost gaily. ‘We must have been amongst the very first to leave, because when I happened to look back over my shoulder, there was a queue of people trying to leave the premises through the storeroom. It had a door that came out onto the street at the back of the shop. ‘

‘And so that is what we shall tell the police when they interview us?’ said Bertram.

‘But of course, darling. It’s the truth after all.’

Bertram frowned and averted his gaze.

‘Not the whole truth,’ he mumbled, although he spoke so quietly that it was doubtful whether his companion was even aware that he had spoken. ‘We’ve omitted one or two things.’

‘We need to speak with you,’ said Rose quietly but briskly. ‘I suggest you may wish to take us somewhere private to have this conversation, unless of course you’d like your customers and assistants to hear what we have to say.’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. Now, please go away.’ There was no doubt now that the woman was frightened, fear tinged her voice.

‘You know full well what we are talking about,’ said Rose speaking a little louder. ‘You were seen setting fire to one of the curtains at the fashion event held at Renard’s last night.’ The women made a gesture to protest. ‘No, please don’t try and deny it. If you do, I shall shout it out so that the whole shop can hear. I am sure your assistants would be most interested to know. Why, I must say, that customer who you were talking to just now looks rather interested in our conversation. I daresay she’d like me to speak up a little so that she can hear what I’m saying. Excuse me,’ Rose said raising her voice considerably as she addressed the woman in question, ‘would you like to –’

‘Shush!’ implored the proprietor. She put a hand up to her face as if she were trying to hide behind it. ‘Come into my office quickly and say whatever it is you have to say to me there, if you must. I warn you though that I shall deny everything.’

The proprietor hurried over to the customer and made her excuses, summoning one of the shop assistants to tend to the woman’s needs. It was not lost on any of them that various sets of eyes followed their progress as they made their way to the office.

‘You’ve no right accusing a respectable, law abiding person like myself of anything so improper,’ began the proprietor, as soon as she had closed the door firmly behind them.

‘Mrs …’

‘Mrs Berry,’ said the proprietor.

‘Mrs Berry, please hear me out before you say anything,’ said Rose firmly. ‘We know full well that you set fire to the drape. There really is no use denying the fact. You were spotted doing it and I am fairly sure I know why you did it.’ The proprietor made to protest again. ‘No, please don’t try and deny it,’ Rose said quickly. ‘No good will come of it. I think I can speak truthfully when I say that, if you were to arrange to pay for the damage caused, Madame Renard is unlikely to bring any criminal charges against you. We really do have far more pressing things to concern ourselves with at the moment than a ruined curtain.’

There was an awkward silence while Mrs Berry appeared to be considering her options.

‘Please make your mind up quickly whether or not you intend to tell us the truth,’ Rose said. ‘If you’d rather speak to the police, I am sure that can be arranged. Mary, perhaps you’d like to telephone Scotland Yard and ask to speak to Inspector Deacon. I am sure that gentleman will be most interested to hear what Mrs Berry has to say for herself.’

Mary was slow to respond, staring at the telephone on the desk. Rose’s words had however had the desired effect on the proprietor who almost threw herself on the telephone so that the instrument could not be used.

‘No … wait. Do you promise me I shan’t get into any trouble?’ Rose nodded, although she doubted if she was qualified to give that assurance. ‘I shall tell you everything if you promise not to tell my staff or customers. I don’t really know where to begin,’ added Mrs Berry sounding flustered.

‘Suppose I tell you what I know or rather what I’ve surmised,’ said Rose. ‘I think Marcel Girard had arranged with you to exhibit his designs at Thimbles, am I right?’

‘Yes, he hadn’t shown them before, so he said, and they really were rather good. We were planning our own fashion event at which to unveil them,’ said Mrs Berry. She leant forward. ‘Of course, it would have been a far superior event to the one held at Renard’s last night.’

‘Jacques Renard mentioned that Thimbles were interested in showing Monsieur Girard’s designs,’ said Rose. ‘Marcel must have mentioned it to him. He told me that you were snapping at his heels to exhibit his work.’

‘Did he indeed?’ said Mrs Berry with a look of disgust. ‘Well he needn’t think we’ll be showing his designs now, not now he’s showing them in every Tom, Dick or Harry dress shop. Exclusive to Thimbles, they were to have been, his designs.’

‘But you found out about the Renard’s fashion event?’

‘Yes. Purely by chance, I might add. One of my customers, she also shops at Renard’s. Not that she ever finds anything there worth buying of course. Much prefers my garments, I can tell you. ’

‘That would have been Mrs Milton?’

‘Yes. I was telling her all about our fashion event and then blow me if she doesn’t tell me there’s going to be one held at Renard’s and of the same designer, would I believe? Well, I certainly didn’t believe it until she produced that invitation of hers and showed me. There was his name, bold as brass. You could have knocked me down with a feather.’

‘What did you do?’

‘Well, I tell you, I was minded to go straight to Harridges and have it out with Monsieur Girard, I can tell you,’ said Mrs Berry. ‘But then I said to myself, no Ivy, don’t be too hasty. Because I remembered, you see, that Mrs Milton had left her invitation in the shop. I’d put it in a drawer of my desk meaning to give it to her when she next frequented Thimbles. Not that she needed it as such, having told me that she wouldn’t be going as she had a prior engagement. Well, I decided I’d go in her place, that’s what I’d do. A nice shock it would be for young Monsieur Girard to see me there, I thought. It would serve him right.’

‘It was a shock to him,’ said Rose. ‘I saw his face when he spotted you in the audience. He kept mainly to the storeroom after that. I expect he was afraid that you’d make your way over to him and make a scene.’

‘Well,’ continued Mrs Berry. ‘I’m not so sure I’d have done that seeing as some of Madame Renard’s customers are also mine. I wouldn’t have wanted them to think I was some sort of fishwife. Wouldn’t have been the done thing at all, me making a spectacle of myself. No, I said to myself, Ivy, you bide your time, and that’s what I did. Those designs Monsieur Girard showed at Renard’s, they weren’t particularly good. Not his best work, I’d have said. The ones he was going to show at Thimbles, why, they were far superior.’

‘So you had forgiven him for the deception?’ prompted Rose.

‘Well I had and I hadn’t,’ answered Mrs Berry. ‘But then of course he ruined it all by having that girl come out in that silver gown. The show had all but finished and when she made her entrance I saw at once what he was doing. Leaving his best designs to last. You should have seen the audience, mesmerised by that dress, they were. I thought, hello Ivy, that’s just the first of many, that is. He’ll have her parading out in a number of gowns like that one and who’ll want to come and see the fashion event at Thimbles? Because I can tell you that he hadn’t shown me any designs like that.’

‘What did you do?’ asked Rose, although she already knew.

‘I wasn’t going to let him get away with that, not likely,’ said Mrs Berry. ‘I know it was very wrong of me, but I had to do something to stop him. I was standing by the candelabra and it gave me the idea. Only the fire took hold rather more than I thought it would. I screamed. It did the trick all right. Everyone was running here and there and Monsieur Girard couldn’t show any more of his gowns. They were putting the fire out quickly, I’ll say that for them, but the place smelled of smoke and burnt cloth. If he’s contrite I daresay I might let him show those evening gowns at Thimbles after all.’ Mrs Berry crossed her arms and looked rather smug. ‘Anyway, no harm’s been done has it? I’ll pay Madame Renard for the curtain, of course I will. I’ll give her a bit more to show goodwill. But if it’s all the same to you I’d rather you didn’t tell her –’

‘You really don’t know what you’ve done, do you?’ said Rose. She found that she was trembling. ‘You did cause harm. Far more than you could ever have imagined. A woman is dead. Don’t you see? You caused a distraction and someone took advantage of that opportunity to commit a murder. They killed the girl that was the mannequin. If it hadn’t been for you, she would most probably still be alive today.’