“His carriage. The doors were green.”
The doors of the carriage the warty gentleman had driven away in were green. It had to be the same man. I opened my bag and pulled out some coins. How much did one pay for this sort of information?
The doorman put up his hand to halt me. “Keep your money, miss. I really didn’t see his face and that’s the truth.”
I thanked him and headed off into the busy early evening throng of Piccadilly Circus and wondered what path to follow next. While I’d learned quite a bit about Pearl from those who’d known her, I was little better off than I’d been at the start of the day.
I wasin luck and caught Mr. Hobart just as he was about to leave the hotel for the day. “Did you think of something that I can do to involve Mr. Armitage in the investigation?” I asked.
He plucked his hat off the hat stand by the office door and reached for his coat. “I’m afraid not.” He indicated I should go ahead of him into the corridor.
I waited as he locked the door behind us and walked with him to the foyer. “What about the situation with Mr. Clitheroe?” I whispered lest we be overheard by Mr. Hirst.
“There is no situation,” he whispered back. “The fellow you saw must have indeed been Mr. Clitheroe. He does have a prominent nose. Besides, there’s no reason for Mr. Hirst to lie.”
Mr. Hobart really was naïve if he thought that. Indeed, now that I thought about it, the former housekeeper had stolen the silverware from under his nose. If it hadn’t been for one of the staff telling him directly that it was missing, and if Mr. Armitage and I hadn’t investigated, the former housekeeper would have got away with it. For some reason, that naivety only made me like Mr. Hobart more. But it didn’t help solve crimes.
“There’s one way to solve this definitively,” I said. “You must point out Mr. Clitheroe to me. I’ll be able to tell you immediately if he’s the same man I saw that night.”
Mr. Hobart gave me an apologetic look. “I’m afraid Mr. Clitheroe checked out today. So that’s the end of that.”
I doubted it, but bit my tongue. Perhaps I could involve Mr. Armitage in the case again. He didn’t need his uncle’s approval to investigate. He could make discreet inquiries of the staff or follow Mr. Hirst when he left the hotel. Indeed, it was a good compromise. If he wouldn’t share the Pearl Westwood case with me, perhaps he would consider the Hirst one.
I headed up to my room and, using the speaking tube, asked the kitchen to bring up a cup of tea. To my surprise, Harmony brought it along with two cups.
“Shouldn’t you have finished for the day?” I asked her.
She set the tray down in the sitting room and poured tea into the cups. “I’ve been waiting in the kitchen for you to get back. I thought if you didn’t order tea straight away, I’d soon hear you were back fromGoliath.”
“Am I really that predictable?”
She handed me a cup and saucer then eased herself down on the sofa with the other. “Lord, my feet ache.”
“Put them up on the table. I don’t mind.”
“Lord no! This is a sitting room in one of the Mayfair’s best suites!”
I couldn’t help smiling. “You’re such a snob when you want to be.”
She pouted. “This table looks expensive and it shouldn’t have feet on it.”
“Then kick your shoes off and recline on the sofa.”
She considered this a moment then undid the laces on her shoes. She sighed with contentment as she leaned into the sofa’s end, her long legs outstretched beside her. “Mrs. Short had me running all over the hotel today, up and down, fetching this or that. I think it’s a test.”
“For what?”
“To see how agreeable I am. She’s been doing it to all of us. Those who complain get the pointy end of her sharp glare.” She sipped then put down the cup. “So what did you learn today?”
I told her about the funeral this morning and the anonymous gentleman paying his respects, as well as the conversations I’d had at the memorial service at the Playhouse. “Everyone agrees that Pearl was frivolous and liked the nice things Lord Rumford gave her, but there were differing accounts of jealousy. Her understudy says no one was jealous of Pearl or Rumford, yet another actor said men adored her and would have liked to be in Rumford’s place.”
“And if she’d rejected one, he might have become angry and violent?”
“Precisely.” I sipped my tea as I thought. “Perhaps I should ask Danny for his opinion of the actor. Mr. Alcott says he knew Danny, and I suspect that knowledge was of an intimate nature.”
“I’ll ask him,” Harmony said. “He’ll be honest with me.”
“Why wouldn’t he be honest with me?”
