“But I wasn’t even in the village this morning.”Nonetheless, he stepped out of the motorcar and adjusted his coat.
“I assume he just wants confirmation of something or other,” Christopher said, fitting himself into the front seat.“Off you go, there’s a good chap.Don’t say anything you’ll regret.”
Francis eyed him.“Not sure what that would be.”
“Anything we would regret, then.”Christopher’s quick side-eye included me in the ‘we’.“Anything to suggest that either of us was complicit in Doctor Meadows’s murder.Or Morrison’s ditto.”
“I wouldn’t,” Francis said.“Besides, you weren’t.”
“Just make sure the constable knows that, if you please.”
Francis nodded.“I’ll be back shortly.”
He made his way to the front door, and Christopher twisted in his seat to address me.“Are you all right, Pippa?”
“Fine,” I said.“Why wouldn’t I be?He didn’t indicate any plans to arrest me, did he?Or suggest that he thought I was guilty?”
Christopher shook his head.“Although I don’t know that he believes you to be innocent, either, necessarily.There’s the note, and I suppose he has to take it seriously.”
“An anonymous note!”
“I know.But it’s an accusation, and he has to look into it.I didn’t get the idea that he thought it particularly credible.”
“I should hope not,” I said, disgruntled.“Why on earth would anyone think I’d murder Doctor Meadows?I can probably count the times I’ve met him on one hand.The only time he treated me, was six months ago when the bullet just missed me.”
I had never lived at Sutherland Hall, and never spent much time here, either.Unlike Christopher, who had eleven years of visits with Crispin before I showed up from Germany.
“I’ve met him more often than that,” Christopher said.“I broke my arm once, when I was seven or so, and Doctor Meadows had to set it.And that wasn’t the only time something happened when Crispin and I played together, either.But all the childhood illnesses and such I had, I went through at Beckwith Place, with Doctor White.Including the influenza.”
I had gone through the influenza with Doctor White, too.Before coming to England, I’d had a few of the standard childhood illnesses in Germany, and then there were the years I had spent at the Godolphin School in Salisbury, while Christopher was away at Eton.None of which translated into much time spent in Little Sutherland with Doctor Meadows.
“He suggested that you might be in the family way,” Christopher added, “and that Doctor Meadows refused to give you something for it.”
I snorted.“I hope he didn’t suggest that you were the father of my non-existent child?”
“He did,” Christopher said calmly.“I set him straight, of course.Then he suggested that it was Crispin’s.”
I rolled my eyes.“For the record, if I had been stupid enough to get myself up the duff by St George—and what an idea, Christopher!—I wouldn’t visit the Sutherland village doctor to have it taken care of.I’d go to someone in London, where I live.”
And where they would be less inclined to speculate about the identity of the baby’s father.
“I made certain to point that out,” Christopher nodded.“I also reminded him that Crispin is engaged to Laetitia, and that nothing good will come of asking that question of anyone else.”
I shuddered.No, indeed.I could just picture Laetitia’s face now, if Constable Daniels were to bring up the possibility.Not to mention Uncle Harold’s ditto.
“I did my best to impress on him the absolute ridiculousness of the notion,” Christopher assured me.“I got the feeling that he believed me.Or at least he believed that I believed it.Although, since we were together every minute of our visit earlier, there was no way you could have murdered Doctor Meadows even if you were expecting.”
“Good,” I told him decisively.“Did he ask you about anything else that I should know?Or let anything interesting slip?”
“Nothing he didn’t already tell you, I’m certain,” Christopher said.“I told him that we’d heard a door slam a minute or so after we left the infirmary, while we were still standing outside in the lane.”
“Did we hear a door slam?”
“I did,” Christopher said.“I don’t know about you.We didn’t discuss it.But I certainly heard something of the sort.”
So had I done, now that I thought about it.“I wonder whether that was when the murder took place?”
“I hope so,” Christopher said, “since we were indubitably together, and in full view of everyone in the village.”
