“I presume he must have gone for an early morning walk and miscalculated the cliff edge,” Prescott said, dismissing Daniel by turning away from him.
“But he never arrived last night,” Archie pointed out. “We waited dinner for him and he never showed up. So we all thought he’d been detained on a business or political matter and that he’d come this morning. We did think it odd that he didn’t telephone. He had a telephone put in the house, you know. He liked to stay abreast of matters.”
“So it’s possible,” Chief Prescott said, this time turning to look back at Daniel, “that he did arrive last night, and fell off the cliffs then, before he could make his presence known.”
“That hardly seems likely, does it?” Joseph interrupted before Daniel could comment. “My brother arrives at his own house, doesn’t come in to meet anyone or to let his servants know he is here. Instead slinks off to the cliff edge and falls over.”
“He wouldn’t have done that,” Irene’s voice was full of emotion. “You know how careful he was. You know what he thought about that cliff, after what we’d all gone through.”
“You mean the little girl?” Prescott said.
“Of course that’s what I mean. My daughter. My precious little daughter.” Irene’s voice cracked.
“Now don’t distress yourself, my dear,” Archie said. He frowned a warning at the police chief. “We don’t mention her anymore.”
“But I still think about her,” Irene said. “I still think about her every day, you know. She is still a raw wound that will never heal.”
“Uh, quite.” Chief Prescott looked embarrassed. “So you believe your father would not walk near the cliff edge because he had already experienced one tragedy?”
“Of course,” Irene said. “Especially not in the dark.”
“We do know it was dark when he arrived, do we?” Daniel asked. “If he had fallen and been killed earlier yesterday evening, for example, would anyone have seen him?”
“I might have,” I spoke up, making them all stare at me. “I was down on the seashore in the late afternoon. And Mr. Terrence Hannan had to assist me because the tide had come in and I was caught unawares. We could tell you there was no sign of anyone else near the beach then.”
“But that was some time before sunset,” Terrence said. “The servants and the luggage arrived just after I got back to the house, so I suspect we were all inside sorting out who was sleeping where and then dressing for dinner when it actually became dark.”
“Has anyone spoken to the servants yet?” Daniel asked. “Has Mr. Hannan’s valet not come to attend to him?”
“Brian still had the egalitarian outlook of our forebears,” Joseph Hannan said. “He saw no reason to have someone else hanging around to dress him. He employed servants only for things he couldn’t do himself. He kept a butler and housemaids and a cook at home. But no gentleman’s gentleman.”
“That wouldn’t have gone down well with his Tammany pals would it?” Terrence said dryly and was rewarded with a sharp look from his father.
“And Mr. Hannan would have come by train and not by automobile?” Daniel went on.
“It is a long uncomfortable trip by automobile,” Joseph said. “Most of it on unpaved road, you know. Certainly not worth the effort for a few days. I’m sure he was intending to come by train.”
“Who would have met him at the station? Would not one of the servants have been sent?”
“It depended if he had notified anyone of the train he was planning to catch,” Joseph said. “He could have telephoned from the station if he wanted someone to come and fetch him. He was just as likely to have taken a cab. Brian didn’t like fuss.”
“So we have no way of knowing whether he took the train and at what time he arrived here?” Daniel said.
“Not at this moment,” Joseph said.
“I met someone who had seen him in the station in New York yesterday and was surprised that he hadn’t arrived here yet,” I said.
They all looked at me with interest again, as if they had forgotten about my presence.
“And who was that?” Chief Prescott asked.
“I don’t know. He wouldn’t give his name. He was standing outside the main gate yesterday evening after dark and of course the gate had been locked for the night. He called out to me and asked if Alderman Hannan was in residence. I said that I didn’t know if he’d arrived yet. I asked him if he wanted to come in, or to let the family know that he was here, but he said he wanted it to be a surprise and he went away again.”
“Aha. Now we’re getting somewhere,” Chief Prescott said. “Can you describe this man?”
“Not really. It was dark. He was young, I’d say. Slight of build, and a voice that didn’t sound educated. Oh, and I believe he had a mustache.”
“That describes half the population of this country,” Joseph Hannan said.
“I’m sorry. In the dark one doesn’t see colors or facial features,” I replied haughtily.