“Missing?”
“Torn out. Only a jagged edge remained. It wasn’t in the waste basket, drawers, nowhere.” He shrugged. “Sorry, but you’re not getting your money back. I did what you asked, at great risk to myself, and found nothing.”
“Thank you,” I muttered.
I left, but my despondency didn’t last all the way home. If nothing else, that missing diary page told me Lord Wrexham didn’t want me to find out where he was on the day Pearl died.
I tossedand turned for much of the night, unable to sleep. All the clues I’d gathered so far jumbled together in my head until they began to make no sense. At three, I gave up and threw on a dressing gown and headed downstairs. The library would be unlocked, as would the sitting room through which one had to cross to access it.
I turned down the gas on my lamp so that the light wasn’t too bright, but bright enough for me to traverse the stairssafely. The hotel was quiet, my footsteps sounding disembodied within the stairwell. When I reached the third floor landing, I realized my footsteps weren’t the only ones on the stairs. It sounded like several sets moving rapidly below me and going down.
“We want what we’re owed,” came a woman’s voice in a Cockney accent.
“We know you’ve got our money, you thieving prick, so give it,” said another woman.
“Let’s get out of here first,” a man said. “I ain’t hanging ‘round. Last time, we nearly got caught by the owner’s niece.”
I stopped and turned off the lamp. My heart hammered in my chest and I hardly dared move. Moments later, the footsteps receded altogether and I found the courage to continue, albeit in the dark.
When I reached the ground floor, I peered around the corner. The light was dim in the foyer, but I could discern three men. The one closing the door was the night porter, James, who did all the duties of the front-of-house staff overnight. He must have just let someone out of the hotel. The women?
The second man was Mr. Hirst. He accepted what appeared to be paper money from a third man whose face I couldn’t see. That man touched the brim of his cap and moved away. He also handed something to James before exiting the hotel. James had not held the door open for him.
If only I’d seen his face. While he’d dressed like the beak-nosed man I’d seen a few days ago, and had a similar build, it was impossible to know if they were one and the same. I was quite sure it wasn’t Mr. Clitheroe, the guest Mr. Hirst had claimed I’d seen that time and who also had a prominent nose. For one thing, he’d checked out, and for another, I’d never heard a hotel guest speak with a Cockney accent.
Mr. Hirst disappeared into the senior staff corridor and James roamed the foyer. I thought about asking him who’d just left but decided against it. The stranger had given him something, and if it was money in exchange for turning the other cheek, James wouldn’t tell me.
I abandoned my plan to get a book and headedback up the stairs, feeling my way with a hand on the rail. The women and man had emerged onto the stairwell on the second floor so I walked along that corridor. All was silent. If they’d been in one or more of the rooms, those occupants were most likely asleep now.
Unless the rooms had been empty.
I managedto finally get a few hours sleep, only to be awoken by Harmony holding my breakfast tray at eight. I let her in and crawled back into bed.
She followed me into the bedroom. “This was waiting for you in the corridor.” She set the tray down on the dressing table. “Why haven’t you eaten yet?”
“Because I couldn’t sleep and now I’m tired.”
“You won’t solve the case by lying in bed all day.”
“I don’t want to lie in bed all day, just for another hour.”
“I have to do your hair before I get on with my chores.”
“I’ll do it myself today.”
She stood with a hand on her hip. “I’ve got something interesting to tell you.”
“Write me a letter and leave it on the desk. I’ll read it later.”
With a shake of her head, she reached for the curtains.
“Don’t!”
She wrenched the curtains back letting in the dull light of a wintry London morning. It could have been the sunniest day as far as I was concerned. I pulled the bed covers over my head.
Harmony jerked them down. “Come on, Miss Fox. You’ll feel better once you eat and splash water on your face.”
“If you throw water over me I’ll never share my breakfast with you ever again.”
