Page 78 of The Hollow of Fear
The old woman wrinkled her nose. “Why should I volunteer information that might send an innocent man to the gallows?”
“What makes you still think that he is innocent?”
“What makes you think he is guilty?”
“Simply from what you’ve told us, it’s obvious that Lord Ingram was hiding something. He requested for you to supply the ice so that none of his servants would need to go near the icehouse.”
There could be no other conclusion, yet Treadles still cringed to hear it said aloud.
If Lord Ingram killed his wife, then he could never again appear before Miss Holmes.
Mrs. Newell had said that, Mrs. Newell who was obviously biased in favor of Lord Ingram. But Treadles clung to that statement, to the implied integrity of Miss Holmes.
Mrs. Newell, unlike him, was not disheartened by Fowler’s charge. “If that were the case, wouldn’t Lord Ingram have made sure no one entered the icehouse the next day as well? Why would a servant be able to waltz in a mere twenty-four hours later?”
“Perhaps he underestimated how much ice the kitchen needed. Perhaps he thought the amount you supplied would be enough to last the entirety of your guests’ sojourn at Stern Hollow.”
Mrs. Newell scoffed. “Would you make such assumptions, Chief Inspector, if you hadyourwife’s dead body lying in a structure that is sure to be visited at some point by members of your staff? Lord Ingram is not stupid. And any inference of guilt that starts with him doing something stupid is, by default, a line of reasoning that must be rejected.”
The fog was stillrampant when they left Mrs. Newell’s house but had begun to clear by the time they reached Stern Hollow. Instead of calling for an interview with Lord Ingram, Chief Inspector Fowler requested to speak to his valet, Cummings.
They had already spoken to Cummings once, when they had interviewed all the other servants. When Treadles consulted his notes, he saw that Fowler had already written, in the margins,Need to question this man again.
“Mr. Cummings, do you recognize these boots?”
Cummings, a small, neat man, examined the contents of the boot box, which had been taken from Lord Ingram’s dressing room the evening before. “They belong to Lord Ingram.”
“You have seen them before?”
“Yes. They are quite old, from before I came to work for his lordship.”
“Are they usually kept in the dressing room?”
“No. Usually they are kept near one of the side entrances, along with his Wellington boots, for when he wishes to walk about the estate.”
“Were you not concerned they were no longer there?”
“Boots that are never worn in public do not fall under my purview, Chief Inspector. The hall boy has the responsibility of cleaning them. I check on them once in a while, to make sure he has done them properly. But I usually inspect only one of the side entrances at a time, and there are several in this house. If I don’t see a pair of boots at any given point in time, I assume that they have been stowed near one of the other doors.”
“Why do you suppose these boots have been stowed in the dressing room?”
“I can’t say, Chief Inspector.”
“You are responsible for Lord Ingram’s wardrobe, which means the dressing room should fall entirely under your purview. You didn’t think to ask his lordship about the appearance of these boots at a place they didn’t belong?”
“I might have, if they’d been put on my side of the dressing room,” said Cummings. “The innermost quarter or so of the dressing room is where Lord Ingram keeps his letters, journals, portfolios, and such. I do not venture into that part of the dressing room. My instructions are clear. Even if I see something on his side that has clearly been misplaced, say, a necktie or a comb, that should have stayed on my side of the dressing room, I am to leave it alone and let his lordship sort it out in time.”
“So you have seen this boot box in the dressing room but not gone near it.”
“That’s correct, Chief Inspector.”
“How long has the boot box been in the dressing room?”
“Years.”
“Years?” Fowler frowned. “I see, let me ask a different question. When did it move to Lord Ingram’s side of the dressing room?”
Cummings bit his lower lip. “Two or three weeks ago. Three, most likely.”
