“Thank you, but say nothing about it,” Lady Alice said quickly. “I cannot yet speak of it. Pray tell me of yourself, yourfamily. How do you all go on? Your uncle is home for the summer, is he not?”
For a few minutes, therefore, they talked of Birchall House and the Strong family, before Winnie said gently, “Lady Alice, Captain Edgerton would very much like to see… the bedchamber. Should you mind that? He would not come in here.”
“He does not wish to talk to me? For I cannot, at least, not yet. It is all too raw.” Her voice trailed away into nothing.
Winnie was still holding her hand, so she stroked it gently. “No, no, nothing like that. He only wants to look at the place where… well, to look. He means only to help, and would do nothing you dislike.”
“Let him look where he will if it helps to bring Arthur’s murderer to justice,” she said, more robustly. “The perpetrator cannot be allowed to get away with such a dreadful crime.”
“No, indeed,” Winnie said. “Thank you, my lady.”
Rising to her feet, she curtsied respectfully and left the two ladies to their grief, summoning the gentlemen into the bedroom. Malling was still in the bedroom, folding undergarments, but the captain sent her away.
Never having been involved in a murder before, Winnie had no idea what to expect. If she had thought about it, she might have supposed that examining the room would be a swift affair, a quick look at the position of the bed, and not much more. The room was immaculate and surely there was nothing to be gleaned from it? But the captain prowled about, back and forth, this way and that, at first just looking, but then examining the furnishings in greater detail. He paced out distances, opened and closed the window, looked into the closets and even crawled under the bed. Then he asked Winnie to make a sketch of the room, showing every item of furniture, with the pacings recorded.
“Good. Sandy, will you ask Lord Birtwell to attend us here, if convenient?”
Winnie’s stomach gave a little flip. Lord Birtwell… Walter. She would see him, then, an unexpected gift.
When Mr Alexander had left, the captain turned to Winnie. “Have you been in this room before today?”
“No, sir, never. Occasionally, I slept in one of the guest rooms when I was here for a ball, and I have been in Josie’s room often, but most of the family rooms I have never seen.”
“So you cannot tell me if anything is out of place or has changed?”
“Oh, I can answer that very easily. Everything would be exactly as it always was. Because Lady Alice cannot see her surroundings, she requires everything to be kept in the same position and not moved about. That is true of the public rooms, too. I would be prepared to swear that nothing has changed, but Malling would confirm it.”
“The maid? I will ask her later. Ah, here is Lord Birtwell.”
Again, that little flip of the stomach as he strode in, quite at his ease, looking around the room and taking in the presence of Sir Hubert and Uncle Alfred. Then he saw Winnie and smiled that warm, lazy smile that always tied her in knots inside.
“Well, well, well, Mouse! What are you doing here?” he said, carelessly flicking her cheek with one finger.
Before she could respond, Captain Edgerton said smoothly, “Miss Strong is helping me with my enquiries, my lord.”
“Is that appropriate?” His eyebrows lifted. “How can aladybe of help to you in such a gruesome business?”
“In the same way as Sir Hubert and Mr Alfred Strong, my lord, by knowing Corland Castle and its inhabitants well, while being herself an outsider and therefore above suspicion.”
Walter’s eyes narrowed at the words‘above suspicion’, but he said only, “If any lady can help, it would be Miss Strong. She is the most sensible female I know.”
Winnie stored the compliment away with a little burst of pleasure. To be thought sensible was not much, but a great deal better than nothing. As he moved further into the room, she had the opportunity to feast on the sight of him, so tall, so perfectly proportioned for a man, so very desirable. But he was not for her, she knew that.
He had always been kind to her, including her in every childish game as they grew up, even when his brother Eustace would have kept her out. So many times he had been kind to her! Once, when he and Eustace had ridden over to see them, when they left, Winnie had run after them down the drive. Seeing her following, Eustace had only laughed and ridden off at a rapid pace, but Walter had stopped, dismounted, and walked beside her all the way to the gates. How could she not love him? But he was the heir to an earldom, and would never look so low as a baronet’s daughter.
Captain Edgerton had not taken his eyes off Walter, either. “My lord, I believe you were the first person to reach this room when the incident occurred. Could I ask you to describe to me, if you would be so good, where you were when you first became aware of something occurring, what you heard, and what you then did?”
“I was asleep in bed, of course, when—”
“And your room is…?”
“Oh… the principal guest room, since my own room is undergoing renovation. My mother always redecorates two or three rooms each spring. I am currently in the south-western tower… from here, to the right and past the stairs.”
“Thank you, my lord. Pray continue. You were asleep in bed and…?”
“I heard screaming, so naturally I came to investigate and found…” He glanced at Winnie. “You know what I found, Edgerton.”
“Did you pause to don a robe? Light a candle?”
