Page 70 of Murder at the Dinner Party
“You can see that it’s not.”
I thanked them and left.
“Well?” Davey asked when we reached the front door. “Did you learn anything, Miss Fox?”
I sighed. “Not a thing.” I was about to walk out, but stopped. “Davey, do you think Mrs. Turner is right to end my involvement? Or do you still think Mr. Hardy was poisoned?”
He scratched the side of his clean-shaven jaw. “Well, I’ve never seen a person die before that night, but I would have thought poisoning would show some signs.”
“Not hyoscine.”
“Then how can you know he was poisoned?”
“Without an autopsy, you can’t. But the coroner won’t perform an autopsy and look for hyoscine poisoning unless there is a suggestion of foul play. Which there no longer is. The Whitchurches had no reason to murder Mr. Hardy.”
He gave me a flat smile. “At least Mrs. Turner can get on and not dwell or mope. I reckon she was half in love with him.” A bell rang in the depths of the house, and he sighed. “Goodbye, Miss Fox.”
“Goodbye, Davey. Good luck in your new position.”
Speaking to the Campbells’ servants reminded me that there were other servants who’d helped me understand the link between Mr. Hardy and the Whitchurches. They deserved to know the full story behind Charlotte’s murder. I also had nothing else to do that morning, and if I didn’t distract myself, I was in danger of wandering to Broadwick Street in Soho.
* * *
I pretendedto be interested in the tie display while Mr. Gannon finished serving a customer. Once he was free, he approached and pointed to a lovely blue silk tie.
“This color will look very fetching on him,” he said.
“Who?” I asked idly.
“Mr. Armitage, of course. He could wear any color, really, and I’d wager he’d look just as dashing in a navvy’s neckerchief.” He smirked. “Perhaps more so. Shall I wrap the blue one up for you?”
“No, thank you. I wanted to let you know that your information about the former Lord Whitchurch’s blood-stained jacket was helpful. We confronted the dowager and she admitted that her late husband tried to save Charlotte by keeping her warm, but it was too late. He then helped Rupert escape with the assistance of one of the grooms.”
“One of the grooms? Must have been one of the lads from the country estate. I didn’t get to know them. How intriguing. Thank you for coming here and telling me, Miss Fox. I’ve often thought back to my time there and poor Charlotte’s murder. I know I should have spoken up about the bloody jacket, but I also know it wouldn’t have gone well for me afterward. What would it have solved, anyway? Lord Whitchurch would see that the evidence was destroyed, then he would have ruined me. Besides, speaking up wouldn’t have brought Charlotte back.”
As much as it galled me that Mr. Gannon hadn’t come forward at the time, he had a valid point. If he’d done the right thing, he’d have been dismissed without a reference, and all for nothing, as it was unlikely old Lord Whitchurch would have faced justice over his part in helping Rupert escape.
“What a family they turned out to be,” he said with a shake of his head. “They had the seemingly perfect son in Rupert, but his actions could have destroyed their reputation if not for his father’s intervention.”
And his mother’s continuing intervention over the years, I could have said. I did not tell Mr. Gannon about the dowager’s letters from her son. With Rupert dead, it no longer mattered.
“Are you sure I can’t tempt you to purchase the tie?” he asked when I made to leave. “They say the way to a man’s heart is through his wardrobe.”
I laughed. “I’m quite sure that’s not the way.”
“It is for me,” he muttered.
“I have no interest in Mr. Armitage’s heart anyway, so no thank you, although it is a nice tie. I’ll return for my uncle’s birthday and perhaps you can sell it to me then.”
I left the shop and stopped to buy a box of chocolates from a confectioner’s before catching an omnibus to Bloomsbury. I found Mrs. Hatch looking the same as she had on my last visit, propped up by pillows in bed in her room at The Female Servants Benevolent Society shelter. She was pleased to see me, particularly when I gave her the chocolates.
“How thoughtful of you, Miss Fox, although you needn’t have. Your company is enough for me.” She removed the box’s lid and wiggled her fingers at the array of choices. She made a selection and popped it in her mouth. Her eyes fluttered closed as she hummed in pleasure. When she opened them again, she offered me one.
I declined and sat on the chair beside the bed. “I came to thank you for your assistance the other day. It was most helpful to learn that Arthur hadn’t been in his room on the night of the murder. I was able to use that information to pressure the family into giving me answers, although it turns out that he wasn’t involved in Charlotte’s murder. His father, however, helped Rupert escape.”
“And the dowager? She must have had something to do with it, surely.”
“Why do you say that?”
