Page 78 of Murder at Hambledon Hall
Janet chewed her lower lip.
“You shouldn’t take the secret to your wedding,” Flossy went on. “Share it with us and we’ll advise you whether you should tell your fiancé or not. Cleo is very discreet, and wise, too.”
I was pleased that I didn’t have to be the one to do the coaxing, for once. I simply tried to look suitably discreet and wise as I sat opposite Janet and waited for her to talk.
She gave in with a small nod. “All right. But I assure you, it’s nothing, really. While I can’t say for certain, I think my marriage was arranged quickly because of an incident that happened a few months ago at Hambledon Hall. I told my Aunt Kershaw and she must have told my uncle and shortly after that, I was engaged.” She shrugged slender shoulders. “It all happened so fast, but I do think that incident was what compelled them to marry me off to someone…safe.”
“What incident?” I prompted.
“I was staying at their house and caught their gamekeeper watching me.”
“At a shooting party?” Flossy asked.
“In the house. I was in my room, getting ready for bed. I heard a noise behind the wall panel beside the fireplace. I thought it was a mouse and went to look. I touched one of the wall panels, and must have released a mechanism. The panel opened like a door. Behind it was a large space, and the gamekeeper was in it. I screamed and he fled. I told my aunt when she came to see what had upset me. Together, we found the tiny peephole in the panel that he must have been looking through into my room. She didn’t know it was there, and said if she had, she would never have given me the room. She said my uncle didn’t know either.”
Flossy gasped. “Had the gamekeeper seen younaked?”
Janet lowered her head and nodded.
Flossy circled an arm around her friend’s shoulders. “So your aunt and uncle thought you should be married after that?”
Janet lifted one shoulder. “I was engaged shortly afterward, so I presume so. It all worked out for the best, though. My fiancé is a wonderful man. He’ll take good care of me. I know he will.”
Would he continue to take good care of her if he knew her uncle’s family were linked to a scandal that could embarrass him, at best, and ruin his career, at worst? How far would Janet’s family go to stop the secret from coming out?
I was listlesswhen I returned to the hotel. I felt close to a breakthrough, but wanted to wait for Harmony to return from St. Michael’s before I confronted Lord Kershaw. I needed solid proof before I accused his late father of being the father of the murdered gamekeeper, and that he, or one of the Brownings, murdered Esmond Shepherd to keep the secret from ruining Janet’s marriage. If Harmony found nothing, my next port of call would be the General Registry Office. I hoped I didn’t have to go that route. Getting records out of the GRO was time-consuming and this was something I wanted to get over with quickly. The sooner the killer was exposed, the sooner I could begin to repair the damage my investigation would cause to my relationship with my uncle and aunt.
I took the stairs rather than the lift up to the fourth floor to expend some of my nervous energy. When I reached my suite, I wondered if I should return downstairs to telephone Harry and talk it through with him. I decided not to when an opportunity presented itself.
Lady Elizabeth emerged from the lift. She thanked John, the lift operator, and walked slowly and unsteadily to her room. She stopped at her door and leaned the walking stick against the wall so that she could fish out the key from her bag. After a moment, she paused, sighed heavily and snapped the bag closed.
I approached and asked if she was all right. “Do you need some assistance?”
“I forgot that I gave my key to my nephew in the foyer earlier, so he could return my coat to my room. I realized I didn’t need it as it’s not that cold outside, after all. He never gave the key back, and now he’s downstairs reading the newspaper in the smoking room and I’m all the way up here and can’t get inside.” She tapped the door with the end of her walking stick.
“Would you like to join me for a cup of tea? I can send a message down to the kitchen through the speaking tube in my room and have someone retrieve your key.”
Her face softened with her smile. “Would you? That’s so kind, Miss Fox. Thank you.” She took my arm and together we walked to my suite.
I sent word down to the kitchen for tea to be sent up along with Lady Elizabeth’s key. We settled in the sitting room while we waited.
“Have you enjoyed your stay at the Mayfair?” I began.
“Very much so. I always like coming to London, although I do it so rarely, these days.”
“Is that because your family sold their house in Marylebone?”
She showed no flicker of surprise that I knew. It must be common knowledge. “I miss that house. It was a handsome place, and very well located. My bedroom window overlooked the garden square and, thanks to its height, I could see couples having clandestine meetings behind the bushes. They thought they couldn’t be seen.” Her eyes twinkled with her laughter. “I was annoyed with my brother when he sold it.”
“Why did he?”
“We didn’t need it anymore.”
“He sold it after 1855, didn’t he?”
“That very year, it was,” she said wistfully. “A long time ago, now.”
“After Esmond was born there.” I’d decided not to wait for Harmony. I was very sure of my theory, and the opportunity of speaking to Lady Elizabeth alone might not present itself again. The family was leaving the following morning.
