“And do you dust the armour display every day? Or every couple of days?”
The maid slid her eyes warily towards the housekeeper. “Oh, every day, sir, without fail.”
“Hmpf,” the housekeeper said, frowning. “Thatwould be a miracle, Milly Thompson. I know how you skimp on the bits you think no one notices.”
“I don’t like cleaning all those sharp things,” Milly said. “Not after Dolly Ithwaite was almost skewered by one of those great, tall things.”
“A spear?” Michael said.
“I remember that,” the housekeeper said. “It wasn’t tied on properly and came crashing down. I gave Mr Eustace a piece of my mind, so I did, putting my girls at risk like that. But I never saw that axe just there, and that’s the truth, sir.”
“Well, itmighthave been there,” Milly said. “I don’t remember it, but it might have been, I suppose. I don’t always notice what I’m dusting.”
“That’s because your head’s in the clouds, my girl,” the housekeeper said. “If that’s all, sir, we’ve got work to do.”
“One more question, if you would be so good. Lord Farramont — did he stay here the night Mr Nicholson was murdered?”
“No, sir, definitely not.”
“But he did stay the night recently?”
“Oh yes, sir. One of his flying visits, for Lady Farramont had already left. But it weren’t that night.”
“Was it before or after the murder?” Michael persevered. Goodness, this was hard work!
“Before. Definitely before, but I couldn’t rightly say what night. He never went on the board, since he’d missed dinner.”
“The board?”
“Guests go on the board in the kitchen, so everyone knows how many for meals and what rooms they’re in, but his lordship arrived late, had a tray in his room, then left before breakfast. I keep a record of the board, but he were never on it. Can we go now?”
“Of course. Thank you for all your help.”
But it was not much help at all, in fact.
Nor was the head groom much better.
“Lord Farramont? No, he weren’t here that night, sir. I think it were the night before… but I can’t be sure. But it weren’tthatnight, because we all heard the screams from poor Lady Alice and it weren’t even light then, not properly. His lordship wanted to be off at first light, so we’d have been just getting his lordship’s carriage ready for him when the screaming started, and we weren’t. We were all in our beds, you see, sir. So whatever night it was, it weren’tthatnight.”
“Well, that’s nae use,” Sandy said disconsolately, when they returned to the nursery. “What are we to do now?”
“We add Lord Farramont to our list of suspects,” Michael said. “Until we know for sure that he was not here… but then he could have left and returned later, for all we know. And MrEustace, too. We only have his word for it that he was tucked up in bed with his lady-bird. And Miss Tess Nicholson and her mother.”
“The list is getting longer,” Sandy said.
“And we still have no conceivable reason why any of them would have wanted to kill the chaplain.”
“Is it possible it’s to do with this ordination business?” Sandy said. “Someone got wind of it and took revenge? The heir, maybe? He’s likely tae lose everything.”
“But how would he have known? It is hardly likely that Nicholson himself would have told anyone. We only found out by chance, from that one letter. If Miss Strong had not spotted it, or Luce had not realised the significance of it, no one would know to this day.”
“Blackmail, perhaps? The chaplain tells the heir he knows something that will lose him the inheritance unless he pays up.”
“Hmm, interesting,” Michael said. “I like the idea of blackmail very much. It could be how he has managed to accrue this fortune he has left to his daughter, yet it is also an activity likely to get a man murdered. According to Eustace, his brother has a temperandhe was the first on the scene. He could have killed the chaplain, nipped back to his own room to rid himself of his bloodstained garments and reappeared when the screaming started. Add Lord Birtwell to the list, Sandy.”
10: A Summons From The Earl
The message was brief, but unequivocal. “The earl sends word that you are to attend him at a quarter before noon in the study, my lord,” Rashleigh said, as he woke Walter at a disagreeably early hour.
