“Only the earl, and he was… not precisely unhelpful, but very unwilling to embroil himself in the details of the affair. He wants the murderer found and the whole business tidied up as soon as may be.”
“That is understandable.”
“Oh, yes, and I shall be very happy to oblige him, if I can, but I have a feeling things are going to get messy. However, he has given mecarte blancheto talk to anyone and everyonein the castle, and the magistrate is being very accommodating. His daughter is a terrific help, and the coroner has left me an exceptionally detailed description of the body, which is very useful since the fellow has been buried already.”
“You have not talked to the widow yet, then?”
“No, nor the daughter.”
“Oh, there is a daughter, is there?”
“Teresa — Tess, just twenty, who is seemingly set to become a very wealthy woman, but only if she marries a gentleman. Those are the terms of her father’s will, apparently. A bit of a surprise, by all accounts.”
“That he left her a fortune on such terms, or that he had a fortune at all?” Luce said, eyebrows raised. “In my experience, chaplains tend not to be wealthy men.”
“You, my dear, are a very perceptive woman. That is indeed an intriguing question.”
“So, is the daughter a suspect?”
“Everyone is a suspect at this point… well, perhaps not the earl himself, or his lady. If either of them had a problem with Nicholson, they could simply dismiss him. And the Dowager Countess is bedridden, so she is out, too. But anyone else, including Nicholson’s daughter, although so far as anyone knows, she was unaware of the fortune that might be hers. The principal suspect at this point, regrettably, is the grieving widow, who was discovered standing over her husband’s body with blood dripping from the axe in her hand,” he said grimly.
“Oh dear,” Luce said.
4: A Prowl Around The Castle
With the arrival of Captain Edgerton, Winnie’s father decreed she should travel to Corland Castle in the carriage thenceforth.
“It was all very well when it was just us and all very informal, but to be honest, Winnie, I expected Captain Edgerton to want you out of the way from now on. However, it seems your orderly methods made quite an impression, and if you are to be involved with the investigation as it proceeds, and moving about the castle and so on and so forth, you will find a day gown more convenient than your riding habit. The captain asked especially if you could wear a white gown today… do you know why?”
“No, but I am sure he has a good reason,” she said calmly. “Not that I have worn white for years, but I can borrow one of Lily’s.”
“You look so pretty in white,” her father said wistfully. “I do like to see a young lady in white.”
That made Winnie smile. “So sentimental, Papa! But you know how I attract dirt. Brown is the most suitable colour for someone like me — the colour of mud.”
When they arrived at the castle, well before the usual hour for the family to be up and about, they found the energetic Captain Edgerton already ensconced in the room which had been made over to him for his investigation. He and Mr Alexander were busily rearranging furniture.
“It seems we can use both this room and the tower room beyond,” the captain said, “so we are going to keep the tower room as an inner office, with all our notes and your plan of the castle, Miss Strong. Then we can use this outer room for interviews.”
Winnie wandered through to the tower room, where her plan of the castle had already been nailed to the wall, and the chalkboard list stood beside the empty fireplace. A small desk and a couple of chairs sat haphazardly about.
The captain followed her through. “Do you approve, Miss Strong?”
“It is not for me to approve or disapprove your dispositions, Captain. It is just a little odd to see the nursery put to such use.”
“Ah… the nursery, was it? It was not marked as such on your plan.”
“It is a very long time since it fulfilled that purpose. This tower room was the night nursery for the babies, and the outer room was the day nursery, and latterly the schoolroom. I used to come here myself, sometimes. Lady Rennington very graciously allowed us to share the various masters she engaged for Josie, Izzy and Olivia. Italian, dancing, drawing… I attended all of those, but not the regular lessons. They had a very high-class governess, but we had only Mama and Papa.”
“Then you probably did better than they did,” he said.
“Oh no. They are all fearsomely accomplished, and married very well. At least, Josie and Izzy did, and Olivia will when she makes her appearance in town. She was wild to go this year, but Lady Rennington thought the Dowager Countess would expire in the middle of it, so it was put back a year. The whole family stayed at home this spring.”
“But her ladyship has not… erm, expired as yet?”
Winnie chuckled. “No, although she is very frail, and keeps to her bedchamber now. There is every expectation she will have expired before the start of next season. Six months before, ideally, so that everyone will be conveniently out of black gloves.”
“Miss Strong, even though you may not befearsomely accomplished, as you phrase it, you have qualities that any man of sense would value more highly, I assure you.”
