“So tell me,” I said, steering the conversation back. “What did the servants have to say to Chief Prescott? Anything interesting?”
“Nothing much at all. He asked us whether Mr. Hannan was definitely expected last night and what orders he’d given to his staff. They all said that he sent them ahead and told them he’d got a spot of important business to take care of and he’d be coming up on a later train. The footman had brought the bags and had unpacked his master’s clothes—laid out his suit for dinner, so he was definitely expected by then.”
“But nobody saw him arrive?”
“That’s the funny thing, isn’t it?” The boy put his head on one side, like a sparrow. “House full of people—you’d think someone would have seen him. You’d think he might have said hello to his family before he went off walking in the dark.”
“It’s all very strange,” I agreed.
“You know what else was a bit strange,” he continued. “Mr. Parsons, he’s the head gardener. He said someone had been in the shed. Moved things around.”
“Ah, well, I think I can explain that,” I said. “Two people in fact. Mr. Hannan’s grandson Sam went out fishing early this morning and I gather the fishing tackle is kept in the shed, and also I was told that the master kept a bottle of whiskey and a glass in the shed, in case he wanted a tipple without anyone seeing him.”
“So that’s why nobody saw him.” He looked relieved now. “He went off for a quick drink in private.” Then a frown crossed his boyish features. “All the same, that don’t explain how he wandered the wrong way and went over a cliff, does it?”
“No, it doesn’t,” I said.
He lifted his shears again. “Ah, well, it’s no business of mine. I’d better get back to work. Mr. Parsons is a stickler about slacking off and I’m lucky to be one of the ones they keep on all winter. In the summer they take on five gardeners. In winter it’s just down to three.” And he went back to digging up dying plants.
I continued out of the gate and followed the road into town. As I passed the solid red brick colonial I glanced up and thought I saw a figure half hidden behind the drapes again. Someone in that house had nothing better to do than to sit and watch the road. I wondered if this observation continued after dark. If so the person might prove very useful to the police chief—but then he’d already decided that this was an accident caused by drunkenness, hadn’t he?
I went over this as I walked on. I’d been trying to form a picture of Brian Hannan in my head and what I’d heard didn’t add up. A man who was the clear head of the family, who could summon them, knowing they would all come. I’d gotten the impression they were all a little afraid of him. I’d heard how they had to be well dressed for him, how the staff were not allowed to slack off. And yet this man, the owner of the estate, a powerful politician and businessman, had apparently not wanted to face his family without taking a drink first. He had slunk off to a gazebo with a bottle he’d kept hidden away in a shed. That didn’t make sense. Surely a powerful, confident man like Brian Hannan would have said, “To hell with the lot of you. I’m going to take a drink in my own house.” He would have announced his arrival and expected his family to gather around him to pay their respects. The only reasons I could think of for this secret drink in the garden was that he was ashamed of his own weakness, or … He was meeting someone he didn’t want the family to know about. And my thoughts went to the man who had stood outside the gate and said, “Don’t tell him. I want to surprise him.”
Had the surprise been to push him over a cliff?
I decided to keep an eye open for him when I was in town. I also thought that I might find out whether Mr. Joseph’s ladylove was staying somewhere close-by. I went first to the chemist shop. The young man behind the counter remembered me.
“And how is your husband today?” he asked. “Did the medicines make him feel better?”
“Not yet,” I said. “In fact he is now suffering from a headache and a fever. I know how well aspirin works so I thought I’d bring him some.”
“Good choice,” he said. “I’ve got some packets already made up. You just need to stir them in water. I always find a spoonful of jam helps take the bitter taste away. And I’ve a good tonic to help build him up—it’s made with Fowler’s solution of arsenic and Culver’s root. Powerful stuff. Do you want me to make you up a bottle of that?”