“And no one noticed he was missing before now?” Tiberius’ tone was frankly incredulous.
“He always rises early,” Mertensia put in. “He often has trouble sleeping and even after a good night, he does not lie in.”
“You don’t miss him at breakfast?”
“His habits are not fixed. He will sometimes take a bit of cold meat and walk out early to look in on the crops or the quarry. Other times hewill take nothing and break his fast with the tenant farmers. It is not unusual for him to absent himself through the morning, but none of the estate folk has seen him today.”
Tiberius looked to Trenny, who nodded in agreement with her young mistress. Tiberius gave her a nod of dismissal and she left, moving more slowly than was her custom.
“I do hope Trenny will be all right,” Mertensia lamented. “And where on earth can Malcolm have got to?”
“There, there,” Caspian told her in a surprisingly kindly voice. “It’s all right. I’m sure Uncle Malcolm is just off in the village having a laugh with the local lads.”
Mertensia snorted at the notion of her brother consorting with the local ruffians but seemed to appreciate his effort at civility.
“In the meantime,” Tiberius went on as if no one had spoken, “there is no call for alarm. If it is his custom to be out and about the island, then no doubt he has simply lost track of time and will return in due course.”
“But Trenny,” Helen began in a halting voice. Tiberius gave her a kindly look.
“Mrs. Trengrouse is no doubt upset after all this talk of ghosts and has leapt to a conclusion. The rest of us needn’t follow. Still, Stoker and Veronica will have a look around the castle for Malcolm. Caspian, you might send word to the village and farms to see if he has been spotted, while Mertensia can ask the staff. I will be in the library should any of you discover his whereabouts. I am certain this is all a tempest in a teacup and he will turn up in time for his dinner. I have never known Malcolm to willingly miss a meal,” he finished.
It was a testimony to his authoritative manner that no one questioned him. The two Romillys merely nodded and took their leave to do his bidding, the luncheon dishes abandoned. I saw Stoker glance longingly at the casseroles of macaroni cheese before turning manfully aside.
“My God, you would have made quite a Caesar,” I told Tiberius when the others had gone.
“I believe taking a firm hand is the best strategy in all situations,” he told me with a meaningful look. I sighed. The vulnerable, confiding fellow of the previous evening was gone. Tiberius had resumed his mask and his custom of saying outrageous things.
“I saw Mrs. Trengrouse last night,” I told him. “In the music room, shortly before I came to your room. If she were the last to see him, it was most likely at that time.”
“So quarter to one, then,” Tiberius said.
“Something like that. And now he’s gone missing.”
“I cannot blame him,” Stoker put in. “He must be horrified at how his plan has turned out.”
“His plan?” I asked.
“Yes, his plan to embarrass his friends and relations with this idiotic farce of a house party.”
Tiberius gave him a level look. “Explain.”
Stoker folded his arms over the breadth of his chest and lounged against the mantelpiece. He looked relaxed and yet possibly lethal, like a lion at noontime rest. “Malcolm invited the lot of you here to investigate Rosamund’s death.”
“Disappearance,” Tiberius corrected swiftly.
Stoker waved a hand. “Either. Both. In any event, he brought everyone together and arranged for her flowers to be placed on the table. He organized a séance. He wanted you to talk about her, to stir memories of what she was like and how it was when she was alive.To what purpose?”
“To investigate her death,” I supplied patiently. “He was quite clear upon the point.”
He shook his head slowly. “I wonder. Malcolm presented evidence that Rosamund never left the island alive. What if he has other evidence that he did not share—evidence implicating one of his guests?”
Tiberius did not deny it. He flicked an invisible bit of lint from his lapel. “How very interesting,” he said blandly. “Do go on.”
“Very well. What if Malcolm intended to lure Rosamund’s murderer to the island to take his revenge?”
“You have no proof of that,” Tiberius pointed out reasonably.
“No, but it is a working hypothesis that fits all of the circumstances.”
