‘That’s the stuff,’ she says, a fresh round of clinking glass suggesting the first was a warm-up. ‘I told Helena this party was a terrible idea, but she wouldn’t hear of it and now look: Peter’s hiding in the gatehouse, Michael’s holding the party together with his fingernails and Evelyn’s playing dress up. The entire thing will be a disaster, mark my words.’
Drink in hand, the elderly lady resumes her position in front of the fire. She’s shrunken magnificently after discarding a few layers, revealing pink cheeks and small pink hands, a crop of grey hair running wild on her head.
‘What’s this then,’ she says, lifting a white card off the mantel. ‘Were you going to write to me, Cecil?’
‘Sorry?’
She hands me the card, a simple message written on the front.
Meet Millicent Derby
A.
Anna’s work no doubt.
First burning gloves and now introductions. As strange as it is having somebody scattering breadcrumbs throughout my day, it’s nice to know I have a friend in this place, even if it does put paid to my theory about Mrs Derby being one of my rivals, or even another host. This old lady’s much too herself to be anybody else underneath.
Then why was she sniffing around the kitchen asking questions about the maids?
‘I asked Cunningham to invite you for drinks,’ I say smoothly, taking a sip of my whisky. ‘He must have got distracted while writing the message down.’
‘That’s what happens when you trust the lower classes with important tasks,’ sniffs Millicent, dropping into a nearby chair. ‘Mark my words, Cecil, one day you’ll find he’s emptied your accounts and done a bunk with one of your maids. Look at that damnable Ted Stanwin. Used to waft about this place like a soft breeze when he was a groundskeeper, now you’d think he owns the place. The nerve of it.’
‘Stanwin’s an objectionable fellow I agree, but I’ve a soft spot for the household staff,’ I say. ‘They’ve treated me with a great deal of kindness. Besides, word has it you were down in the kitchen earlier, so you can’t find them all bad.’
She waves her glass at me, splashing whisky over my objection.
‘Oh, that, yes...’ she trails off, sipping her drink to buy herself time. ‘I think one of the maids stole something from my room, that’s all. It’s like I say, you never know what’s going on underneath. Remember my husband?’
‘Vaguely,’ I say, admiring the elegance with which she’s switched topic. Whatever she was doing in the kitchen, I doubt it had anything to do with theft.
‘Same thing,’ she sniffs. ‘Dreadful lower-class upbringing, yet built himself forty-odd cotton mills without ever being anything less than an absolute ass. In fifty years of marriage I didn’t smile till the day I buried him and haven’t stopped since.’
She’s interrupted by a creaking sound from the corridor, followed by the squeak of hinges.
‘Maybe that’s Helena,’ says Millicent, pushing herself out of the chair. ‘Her room is next door.’
‘I thought the Hardcastles were staying in the gatehouse?’
‘Peter’s staying in the gatehouse,’ she says, raising an eyebrow. ‘Helena’s staying here, insisted on it, by all accounts. Was never much of a marriage, but it’s disintegrating quickly. I tell you, Cecil, it was worth coming for the scandal alone.’
The old lady heads into the corridor, calling out Helena’s name, only to fall suddenly silent. ‘What on earth...’ she mutters, before poking her head into my parlour again. ‘Get up, Cecil,’ she says nervously. ‘Something odd is going on.’
Concern drags me to my feet and into the hall, where Helena’s bedroom door creaks back and forth in a breeze. The lock has been shattered, splinters of wood crunching underfoot.
‘Somebody broke in,’ hisses Millicent, staying behind me.
Using my cane, I slowly push the door open, allowing us to peer inside.
The room’s empty, and has been for some time by the looks of things. The curtains are still drawn, light delivered second-hand from the lamps lining the corridor. A four-poster bed is neatly made, a vanity table is overflowing with face creams, powders and cosmetics of every sort.
Satisfied that it’s safe, Millicent appears from behind me, offering me a level glance best described as a belligerent apology, before making her way around the bed to wrestle the heavy curtains open, banishing the gloom.
The only thing that’s been disturbed is a chestnut bureau with a roll-down top, its drawers hanging open. Among the ink bottles, envelopes and ribbons scattered on it, there’s a large lacquered case with two revolver-shaped hollows in the cushion. The revolvers themselves are nowhere to be seen, though I suspect Evelyn brought one of them to the graveyard. She did say it was her mother’s.
‘Well, at least we know what they wanted,’ says Millicent, tapping the case. ‘Doesn’t make any damn sense though. If somebody wanted a gun, they could just as easily steal one from the stables. There’s dozens of them. Nobody would bat an eyelid.’
Pushing aside the case, Millicent unearths a moleskin day-planner and begins leafing through the pages, running her finger across the meetings and events, reminders and notes crammed inside. The contents would suggest a busy, if rather dull life, if it weren’t for the torn-out last page.
‘That’s curious, today’s appointments are missing,’ she says, her irritation giving way to suspicion. ‘Now why would Helena rip those out?’
‘You believe she did it herself?’ I say.
‘What use would anybody else have for them?’ says Millicent. ‘Mark my words, Helena has something foolish in mind and she doesn’t want anybody finding out about it. Now, if you’ll excuse me, Cecil, I’m going to have to find her and talk her out of it. As usual.’
Tossing the planner on the bed, she stalks out of the bedroom and up the corridor. I barely notice her leave. I’m more concerned with the black smudged fingerprints on the pages. My valet’s been here, and it appears he’s looking for Helena Hardcastle as well.
18
The world’s shrivelling beyond the windows, darkening at the edges and blackening at the centre. The hunters are beginning to emerge from the forest, waddling across the lawn like overgrown birds. Having grown impatient in my parlour waiting for Cunningham’s return, I’m heading to the library to inspect the encyclopaedia.
It’s already a decision I regret.
A day of walking has sapped all my strength, this ponderous body growing heavier by the second. To make matters worse, the house is alive with activity, maids plumping cushions and arranging flowers, darting this way and that like schools of startled fish. I’m embarrassed by their vigour, cowed by their grace.
By the time I enter the entrance hall, it’s filled with hunters shaking the rain from their caps, puddles forming at their feet. They’re soaking wet and grey with cold, the life washed right out of them. They’ve clearly endured a miserable afternoon.
I pass through nervously, my eyes downcast, wondering if any of these scowling faces belongs to the footman. Lucy Harper told me he had a broken nose when he visited the kitchen, which gives me some hope that my hosts are fighting back, not to mention an easy way of picking him out.