The Affair of the Thirty-Nine Cufflinks (21 page)

She suddenly seemed embarrassed by this outburst, coughed, gathered her jacket and got to her feet. 'And, if it's all right, I'd like to go upstairs and change and freshen up now. And then I'll see Dorry. I can find my own way, if you tell me where my room is.'

'Second door on the right in the left hand corridor,' the Countess said.

'Thanks. And, I'm sorry, for all that. Very bad form, I know.'

And Agatha hurried out. 'Quite a character, what?' said the Earl.

'An unusual one, certainly,' said the Countess. 'I shudder to think what my mother would have said to me if I'd sat like that, even when I was Agatha's age.'

'She's much more interesting than Dorry,' said Gerry. 'And she's got no pretence about her at all.'

'I'm of the generation that considers there's a lot to be said for a little pretence sometimes.'

'You don't like her.'

'Oh, I don't say that. She's just not the type of young woman to whom I am accustomed.'

Gerry stood up. 'Well, must see how the investigation's going.' She went out.

'George, what's that sticking out of your pocket?' the Countess asked.

The Earl looked down and hastily poked the grey shapeless object out of sight. 'Oh, nothing.'

'Of course it's something. It looks like a sock.'

'Yes, it is. You know, when I'm trampin' round the estate I sometimes get my feet wet. Messing around by the lake, or crossing a ditch or something. Deuced uncomfortable. Thought if I carried a spare pair of socks with me, it would save having to trudge back to the house to change every time.'

'But — but it hasn't rained for two weeks at least. The ditches must be quite dry. And why would you step into the lake?'

'Well, it's not for now especially. But if I get into the habit of keeping a pair in my pocket, they'll be there when I need them.'

Lady Burford blinked.

'Anyway, must go and, er, look over the accounts.' And he made off in the direction of his study.

The Countess stared after him.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Leather opened the door, stood back and Gregory strode in. He started talking as soon as he crossed the threshold. 'I must say at the outset, Chief Inspector, that I do not take kindly to being kept waiting so long.' He sat down and folded his arms.

'Oh, but, sir, you must understand that in every case of this sort, we choose one witness whom we recognise as being the most important and reliable one. We always leave this person until after we have spoken to everybody else, so that we can use his testimony as a kind of benchmark by which to judge what the others have told us. You, as an MP, were the obvious one on this occasion.'

Unexpectedly, Gregory laughed. 'Nice try, Wilkins. A load of codswallop, but a nice try. You left me till last because I'm your number one suspect; that's it, isn't it?' It seemed to Wilkins that he was actually quite gratified at the idea of being Number One.

'No, no, sir. I must confess that I do talk codswallop from time to time, but I assure you I don't at this stage consider you any more suspect than several other people. I'd like to know indeed why you think that I should.'

'Because of my position. Who, as much as a Member of Parliament, is susceptible to being ruined by the merest rumour of scandal, no matter how unfounded? A paid companion? A motor salesman? A fashion journalist? An eighteen-year-old flapper?'

'Perhaps a King's Counsel, sir.'

'Not to the same extent. The press don't care about his private life, nor do his clients. It's not like an MP, with his constituents and his party whips breathing down his neck. As long as the KC doesn't breach professional ethics, or actually commit a crime, he needn't worry.'

'So you think Mrs Saunders may have been in a position to cause you embarrassment in this way, sir?'

'Yes, if her claim became public knowledge, it would be enough to set tongues wagging. Even though what she said was a total fabrication. In fact, her murder puts me in a worse position. If she hadn't been killed, I could have laughed it off, and if people looked as though they might be taking it seriously I could have issued a writ, and she would have been forced to eat her words. I can't do that now. Which is why, whatever it seems like on the surface, it is absurd that I should be considered a suspect at all.'

'I can certainly see the strength of that argument, sir. But, tell me, why do you think Mrs Saunders should have made that claim?'

'I haven't the foggiest. You'd do better to ask her stepdaughters. She claimed we were all in a conspiracy to do her out of her inheritance and deliberately slandered her to Florrie. It's ludicrous. I hardly know the others. It's years since I've seen George, Lavinia or Timothy. I've met Miss Mackenzie briefly when calling on my great aunt. Oh, and apparently I met Stella when she was in her teens, but I have no recollection of it. I barely knew of the existence of Penelope or young Lambert.'

'And what can you tell us about last night, Mr Carstairs?'

'Nothing, really. Went up at almost exactly eleven. Woken around twelve-thirty by the commotion. Got up, learned what had happened. Joined in the search. Went downstairs and waited for you.'

'Do you have any reason at all, off the record, to suspect any one of your fellow guests of the crime?'

As with Timothy, there was a very slight hesitation before the reply came. 'No.'

'Are you familiar with the name Miss Dora Lethbridge?'

'Never heard of her.'

'Well, thank you, Mr Carstairs. I think that's all I need from you now.'

Gregory stood up. 'Look, how much longer are we going to have to stay here? I really need to get back to town.'

'I can't keep you here, Mr Saunders, if you decide to leave, but I would much prefer it if everybody remained one more night.'

'You think you might clear this up by tomorrow?'

'Put it like this: if we don't, it could drag on for a long time, perhaps weeks. Plainly, I couldn't expect everybody to stay that long, so one more day would be the maximum I would ask people to remain. If one person left today, it would probably mean others would want to follow his example.'

'Very well, I won't rock the boat.'

'Thank you, sir.'

Gregory went out.

* * *

Gerry saw her father leaving the morning-room and remembered she hadn't told her mother about the nettles. She decided she'd better get it over with and went back in, but before she could say anything the Countess forestalled her. 'Oh, Geraldine, good, I wanted to talk to you. I may be worrying quite unnecessarily, but I have to tell somebody. I'm rather concerned about your father.'

Gerry was suddenly alert. 'What do you mean?'

'Well, he's behaving very oddly.'

'Why, what's he done now?' She spoke sharply.

' "Now"? You mean you've noticed something, too?'

'Well, perhaps.'

'Tell me, please,' said the Countess.

'If you'll tell me.'

'Very well. But you first.'

* * *

Five minutes later Lady Burford said: 'Of course, your father has always been a trifle eccentric. And after all, some people do enjoy nettle soup, I believe, and carrying a spare pair of socks in one's pocket could be regarded as quite a practical idea. Nonetheless . . .'

'Putting them together,' Gerry said. 'And at this time, with policemen in the house and all of our guests under a cloud.'

'Precisely. He is terribly upset by what's happened. In a way, it's worse than the other times because these people are all members of the family. Quite distant relatives, they may be, but they do all have Saunders blood, and some of them actually carry the name. Your father is totally without any personal pride or conceit, but he
is
immensely proud of the family, and now it seems one of its members is a murderer. I'm wondering if the blow has just been too much for him. And it's all my fault, really. I virtually insisted on having them here.'

'Mummy, you mustn't think that. Daddy did fully agree eventually. No one could have foreseen what happened. And I think we are probably over-reacting. It could be he's just trying to take his mind off things. He does get these sudden crazes. Remember how he became an avid film fan, virtually overnight?'

'Cutting up stinging nettles in one's study, and deciding always to carry a spare of socks in one's pocket in the middle of the summer hardly fall into the same category. And if he wants to take his mind off things, why doesn't he go up and play around with his guns? That's what he's always done in the past when he's wanted to relax.'

'Well, there's nothing we can do about it now. Unless you think you ought to call Dr. Ingleby to come and see him?'

'Oh no. Not for the time being, anyway. No, we'll just have to keep a close eye on him - both of us. And hope the guests don't notice anything.'

'Tommy already has.'

Before they could say any more there was a tap on the door and Agatha and Dorothy came in. Agatha was now dressed, the Countess was relieved to note, in a very suitable tweed skirt and dark grey twin-set. Dorothy, who looked even paler than before beside Agatha's rubicund features, was still dressed in her funeral garb. Gerry remembered her promise to Wilkins and after a brief word hurried out.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

As Gregory went out, Gerry came in. 'Just to let you know, Agatha Saunders has arrived and Dorry's up. They're both in the morning-room with Mummy, if you want to see them.'

'I do indeed.'

'Will you want me there when you talk to them, sir?' Leather asked. 'If not, I'd like to go through my shorthand notes, check everything's readable, while what people said is fresh in my mind.'

'That's OK, Jack, I won't need a note of what the Misses Saunders say.'

He and Gerry went out, to find Merryweather waiting to inform him that he was wanted on the telephone.

'Ah. Probably the result of the PM. I'll join you in a few moments, Lady Geraldine,' he said, and trotted off.

Having come off the phone, Wilkins was waylaid by Smithson, who told him he had finished the fingerprinting. Wilkins sent him back to Westchester and then went to the morning-room. The Countess introduced him to Agatha and Dorothy, who were sitting close together on the sofa. Wilkins offered his sympathies. 'I'm very sorry not to have had an opportunity to pay my respects earlier, Miss Dorothy,' he said, 'but it didn't seem necessary to disturb you.'

Dorothy gave a nervous little smile. 'That's quite all right.'

'First of all I have to tell you that the post-mortem has confirmed that your stepmother was suffocated.'

Dorothy screwed up her face in horror and gave a shudder. Agatha squeezed her hand. Her face was grim. 'And you've no idea by whom?'

'Not yet, miss, no.'

'But by one of the people in the house.'

'Unless we find that the alarm system was faulty, I'm afraid so.'

The Countess interrupted. 'Oh, I'm sorry, Mr Wilkins, I should have mentioned that a man came by earlier and checked it. He said it's working perfectly and there's no sign of it's being tampered with.'

'Thank you, my lady. It's what we expected, really.' He looked at Dorothy. 'I'm not going to make you relive the horrors of last night, miss. I've had a full account of what happened from Lady Geraldine, which I'm sure is completely accurate. But I would like to ask both of you about the accusations which your stepmother made yesterday. What do you think was behind them?'

They looked at each other. Dorothy spoke first. 'She was terribly upset. She felt Florrie had slighted her in front of her relations.'

'As, of course, she had,' Agatha said. 'Dorry's told me what she said in the will about Mother's income proving inadequate, and that she'd made a few changes in it recently. I reckon that could have been one of them. I told Grandmamma about Mother's little enterprise some months ago. I must say, though, I wish Grandmamma could have been a bit more diplomatic, tried to say
something
just a little nice about Mother and perhaps left her some token, a piece of jewellery, or something. Not that perhaps she deserved it, as she'd no doubt provoked and upset Florrie after Daddy died. We never saw our grandmother when we were children. But it would have avoided what sounds to have been a dreadful scene, and spared poor Dorry the embarrassment.'

'Do you think she really believed there'd been a conspiracy?'

Dorothy nodded. 'I followed her up to her room and she was adamant that was what had happened. I didn't believe it, but I didn't argue.'

'Your mother, though, must have made herself some enemies.'

'Well, she did get a threatening phone call a few weeks ago.' Dorothy said.

'Really? Tell me about that.'

'It was somebody drunk and very abusive. He said she'd ruined his life and that he'd make her pay. I persuaded her to tell the police, but, of course, there was nothing they could do.'

'You think killing her might have been an act of revenge, Mr Wilkins?' Agatha asked.

'Oh, I doubt it, miss. No, I think the significance of her having enemies is that people the lady has exposed, like that caller, would often know whom they had to blame, would be extremely bitter and no doubt make this very clear to their friends. As a result, quite a lot of people — perhaps some of them in this house - would have got to know that when she threatened to expose somebody, she was genuinely capable of doing so. It wasn't just empty words. So this claim of knowing damaging things about her relatives: was that true?'

The young women again glanced at each other. Then Dorothy gave a little nod, as if prompting Agatha to answer.

She seemed to weigh her words before speaking. 'She was only really interested in people well-known or wealthy or of high social standing. So the only two guests here whom she might have targeted are Timothy and Gregory. She may have discovered something about one or both of them, but I've never heard her mention either of them in any context. So my guess is that it was a shot in the dark. She thought there was a fair chance one or both of them might have secrets in their lives, so she just let fly. I think she included the others, just because she was so angry with everybody, and also didn't want anyone to think she just had those two in mind. That is, as much as she had time to
think
about what she was saying at all.'