With that he and the constable went out through the front door. We waited until the sound of their footsteps on the gravel had receded before we emerged from our hiding place.
“The damned cheek,” Daniel exclaimed. “That trumped-up little popinjay, full of his own self-importance. Let him go ahead and solve his own case without help. The most challenging case he’s probably had until now is to locate a missing cat!” The words turned into a bout of coughing again and he stood there, holding on to me and gasping for breath.
“Daniel, you sound terrible,” I said. “You shouldn’t have come. Now back to bed with you and you’re not moving again today, whatever those rude people say.”
“Am I in for a lifetime of being dictated to?” he asked, attempting to make light of it.
“Only when it’s good for you. Now come along. I’m taking you back to the cottage.”
As we made our way down the long hall we heard the sound of voices coming from behind a half-open door, along with the chink of plates and scraping of chairs. The family was sitting down to breakfast.
And Joseph Hannan’s voice came clearly to us. “What were you thinking, opening your big mouth and making that suggestion that it could have been one of the family who pushed your uncle. Are you out of your mind?”
“It was meant to be a joke. To lighten the occasion,” Terrence’s voice answered.
“Some joke. After what we went through. Have you no thought for Irene?”
“Oh, come on, Father. That was long ago. Anyway, it was quite different, wasn’t it? Besides, we were all in the house together after dark, weren’t we?”
Were they? I thought. Someone had come out of the French doors and stalked off into the night and that somebody looked remarkably like Terrence himself. But then why would he take the trouble to put the idea into their heads if he was responsible? Why not insist that it was an accident?
I moved closer to Daniel. “You heard that, didn’t you?”
He nodded. “Interesting. Do you think they were referring to the death of the child or was there perhaps another occasion we don’t know about? When we get back I’ll look into—”
“Ah, Captain and Mrs. Sullivan.” Chief Prescott appeared around the side of the house just as we stepped out of the front door. “I know the family members have indicated that they would like you out of their hair as soon as possible, but please don’t plan to leave just yet.”
“So you think you might need my help after all?” Daniel said. “Or are we the prime suspects?”
I tried not to smile.
“Of course not. Nothing of the kind. It’s just that—I’d rather everyone stayed in place until we’ve conducted a thorough investigation—as a matter of principle, you understand.”
“Oh, yes. We understand very well, don’t we, Molly?” Daniel said. “We’ll be at the guest cottage if you need us, Prescott. If not, we may be lurking at the top of the cliff, or snooping around. Come, my dear.”
We did not wait for his reply.
*
I tried to put Daniel back to bed when we reached the cottage but he was having none of it. I suppose a possible murder for a detective is like the scent of a fox to a hound.
“I’d dearly like to get a look at that body for myself before they go and spoil things,” he said, pacing to the window and back. “They have probably moved everything and destroyed every clue by now.”
“I don’t think that police chief would welcome you with open arms.” I put my hand fondly on his shoulder. “We are under suspicion, remember.”
“Damned fools,” Daniel muttered.
“I could go and look,” I said. “An inquisitive woman is not seen as a threat.”
“You’re a threat to that housekeeper,” he said with a grin. “It was you she was glaring at when she launched into her tirade about suspicious people arriving out of the blue.”
“That’s because she caught me snooping around the passage behind the kitchen when I went to see if I could find a chicken for you. I opened a door and found her on the other side of it. I can’t tell you which of us was more startled.”
“Why was that, I wonder?” Daniel said. “I suppose she was used to having the servants’ quarters to herself.”
“No, it was more than that. She looked—well, shocked, scared.”
“Guilty, maybe?” Daniel suggested.
“Possibly.”
“Then she was up to something she shouldn’t have been doing. I wonder if that door led to the butler’s pantry or the wine cellar and she’d been helping herself to a tipple?”
I smiled almost in relief. It could have been something as petty and simple as this that had turned her against me. She was afraid of being reported to the master and losing her position. Daniel started coughing again.
“Come on,” I said to him. “Back to bed, young man. I’ll bring you up tea and a boiled egg.”