“Oh, but I could sit quietly in the corner with my embroidery, you know. I should not say a word.”
“Even so, ma’am, Miss Parish will be able to concentrate her thoughts more fully if she is alone. She will speak more freely without an audience, even one so benign as your good self, and that is what I hope for, you see — those little drops of information that arise unbidden when one has nothing to distract one. It may be that Miss Parish, if her mind is left to roam freely, will light upon the one vital clue that resolves this case once and for all.”
It was tosh, of course, and Mrs Cathcart would have pressed the point, but her husband said quietly, “We must allow Captain Edgerton to know his own business best, my dear. Katherine is a sensible girl, and the captain is a respectable man of some standing in the community. His wife is cousin to the Earl of Morpeth, remember, and he has been a guest of Lord Rennington these many months.”
“Oh yes! I never meant to suggest otherwise,” she said, flustered.
“Katherine cannot get into the slightest difficulties in here with the captain with Davis in the hall outside. Or you might wait out there yourself, in case Katherine should call for you.”
“Of course,” she said, rather pink. “I beg your pardon, Captain, if you thought… I intended no offence.”
“And none was taken, I assure you, ma’am,” Michael said, rising to bow to her. “Your concern for Miss Parish’s welfare is commendable.”
And finally, after only three more apologies, she left and Michael awaited Miss Parish. She had rather high colour when she arrived, but he knew that was her habitual state, so he took no notice. One could not be ascribing every young lady’s blush to guilt or the gaols would be overflowing.
“You wished to talk to me, Captain?”
“I do, ma’am. I understand that you were recently inside the tower over at Welwood, and I should like you to tell me everything you can remember of the interior.”
Her colour came and went, and for a moment he was afraid she was going to burst into tears. But he busied himself with pulling out his notebook and pencil while she composed herself, and by the time he looked at her again, she had straightened her spine and lifted her chin.
Sitting on the nearest chair to the door, she said, “The interior? All of it?”
“I am particularly interested in the top floor.”
And so she told him essentially the same tale as Mr Kent Atherton, of the disordered bed, the candlestick, the food remains and the bag. Every detail was the same, even the green leather bag. There was only one new piece of information, that the brazier was cold.
“You checked it?” Michael said, looking up from his notebook in surprise.
“I was curious about whoever was staying there, for the tower was chilly even in the daytime, but at this time of year it would be very cold overnight. But the brazier was stone cold. I do not think it had been lit for some time.”
“Hmm. Interesting. And the bag was definitely locked?”
“Yes.”
“And no sign of a key?”
“No. Oh, that reminds me. The key for the door to the balcony and roof was missing, too. The door was unlocked, though, yet Mr Atherton said it had been locked on his previous visit, and the key was missing then, too.”
“Now, that is very curious,” Michael said thoughtfully, for when he had visited the tower, the door had again been locked. Who was locking and unlocking it, yet keeping hold of the key?
When he had exhausted every aspect of the tower, he said, “I understand that you have engaged Daisy Marler as your lady’s maid. Could you tell me how that came about… how you met her?”
“Daisy? Oh… let me see… we met in church… not at a service, though. I had never seen her at a service. I had gone in one day to pray, and there she was, weeping at the altar rail. She told me her conscience was troubling her, I advised her that she would feel better if she corrected her transgression, although she did not seem to want to. She told me she had too little to do, and as I was sharing a maid with two of my cousins, I saw a way to improve all our lives a little. She has never been a lady’s maid before, but she is proving to be a quick learner.”
“She has not caused any trouble in the household?”
“Daisy?” she said, sounding surprised. “No, not at all. She is a willing worker, and gets along with everyone.”
Michael chewed his lip thoughtfully. It was not for him to warn Miss Parish against talking too intimately with Daisy, a girl who had made a useful additional income by being obliging to Eustace Atherton, and no doubt plenty of other men. And perhaps Daisy had repented of her former ways, and only hoped for a fresh start in a more respectable occupation.
Still, he had to ask the obvious question. “Did she tell you anything of her… transgressions?”
“Not in detail, and I did not like to pry, naturally.”
“In general terms?”
“She said that she had told a lie.”
