Page 87 of Murder at the Dinner Party
“Are you saying Davey administered a large dose and Hardy didn’t notice?” Sir Ian asked.
“He probably placed some in Mr. Hardy’s tea.” I turned to Mrs. Turner. “Did he take tea to the butler sometimes?”
“He did.”
“I’d wager Davey also placed the tonic in Mr. Hardy’s food, and perhaps his wine or spirits, too.”
“Mr. Hardy wasn’t a drunkard.”
“I suspect he liked to imbibe, Mrs. Turner. When I looked in the sideboard in his office earlier, there were fewer bottles than I would expect to see in a house like this. Betty, do you recall Davey coming in this morning as you were about to count the bottles in the sideboard?”
“I do. I never did count them. Do you think Davey stopped me on purpose?”
“Yes, although he had another reason for interrupting us.”
Before I could explain, Lady Campbell cut in. She seemed to have recovered from the shock of discovering her footman was a murderer and once again wanted to exert her authority. She looked down her nose at me. “Are you suggesting that a healthy man in the prime of his life was poisoned by a medicinal tonic?”
“Perhaps he wasn’t as healthy as everyone assumed. An autopsy will reveal if he had another condition, such as a weak heart, which wouldn’t have helped. Even so, an overdose of the tonic is what killed him.”
“But I take tonics from time to time.”
“If you’re careful to only consume the dose prescribed by your doctor, they’re quite safe.”
I wanted to return to the conversation between Betty, Davey and me in the office, so I continued before Lady Campbell could divert the conversation in another direction. “I noticed you and Davey exchange glances in the butler’s office, Betty. At the time, I thought it was love, after he claimed…” I trailed off, not wanting to reveal her secret to the others.
Betty was quite open, however. “After he claimed he fathered my child,” she finished.
Only the cook gasped. Birdy had lost interest in the conversation some time ago and wandered off. Lady Campbell and Sir Ian clearly knew. I suspected Mrs. Turner had made Betty inform them.
“But he’s not the father, is he?” I asked.
“I don’t understand,” Mrs. Cook said. “Why admit it if he isn’t?”
“Because it gave him a reason for a second argument he had with Mr. Hardy, this one outside in the courtyard. HeclaimedMr. Hardy discovered he’d got Betty with child, and he promised he’d do the right thing by her, hence eliminating any motive we assumed he’d have to kill Mr. Hardy. But their conversation wasn’t about that at all, so he had to get Betty to comply with his lie when he told it to me. The look he gave her encouraged her to agree with everything he said.”
Betty’s face crumpled. “I know lying’s a sin, but I didn’t know what to do. He just said it, right there in the office, and I couldn’t think fast enough. I thought he was helping me, you see. I thought he was my friend.”
Mrs. Turner put her arm around the girl’s waist. “There, there.”
“He was using you to buy himself some time,” I said. “He just needed to mislead me, so that I’d leave. That would give him time to pack his things and disappear.” I looked to Harry, who nodded.
“All his personal belongings are gone,” he confirmed.
“He knew you’d admit you lied eventually, Betty,” I went on. “He knew you couldn’t live with the lie for long and would realize why he’d said it, so that’s why he left immediately.”
Mrs. Cook placed her hands on her hips and glanced between Betty and Mrs. Turner. “So, if he’s not the father, who is?”
Betty’s instinctive glance at Sir Ian betrayed her.
Mrs. Cook lowered her hands to her side and bit her lip. Mrs. Turner showed no surprise, nor did Lady Campbell. The latter merely pinched her lips and headed back up the stairs, her head high.
Sir Ian pretended he wasn’t the focus of everyone’s attention. He cleared his throat. “Did you say the police are on their way, Miss Fox?”
“They will be, once I tell them everything I know.”
He grunted. “Tell them this must be handled with the utmost discretion. None of this is our fault, and yet we are the ones who will suffer when the investigation is reopened.”
“Not just you,” I pointed out.
