Page 21 of The Murder of Thomas Cardwell
Penelope approached with Griselda a step behind. “Come along, children.” Penelope’s smile was indulgent, but her tone was firm. “It’s time you went up to the nursery.”
“Your papas and mamas need to speak with Mr. Draper,” Griselda said.
Two nursemaids came into the room, and Griselda beckoned the pair forward. “Here’s Hettie and Gloria. They’ll take you upstairs for some cocoa, then they’ll tuck you in, and we’ll be up to fetch you later.”
Jordan rose, and the children and puppy were efficiently herded into the care of the nursemaids.
Within minutes, the drawing room had returned to its normal gracious state, and Barnaby had taken his place on the sofa, beside Penelope, with Stokes and Griselda on the sofa opposite. Penelope had directed the butler to set an armchair at one end of the pair of sofas, and Jordan had subsided into it. From that position, he could see the other four, and they could see him.
“Right, then,” Stokes said. “What brings you here?”
“First,” Jordan offered, “my apologies for interrupting the play, but I felt you’d want to know what I stumbled on late this afternoon.”
“You thought correctly,” Penelope said. “Was it something in Cardwell’s ledgers?”
“In a way.” Jordan explained his realization that Ruth Cardwell kept Thomas’s accounts. “I returned to Finsbury Circus and taxed her with it, and she confirmed that she kept theaccounts—all of them—while Thomas dealt with the clients and the other aspects of managing the businesses he represented.”
Penelope huffed. “I should have realized that she did the books. The figures were neat and precise, and now you’ve pointed it out, they were definitely in a feminine hand.”
“And that,” Barnaby said, “explains why she appeared that morning with an armful of ledgers. She and Thomas probably planned to work on them together that day.”
“Very likely,” Jordan said. “But that Ruth did the accounts was the least of what I learned.” He looked at Stokes. “While I was speaking with her, two gentlemen entered the house. One was Bobby Cardwell, and the other was Ruth’s and Bobby’s other brother, Gibson Cardwell.”
“Other brother?” Stokes shifted and hauled out his ever-present notebook.
Jordan nodded. “I think he’s older than Thomas, but younger than Ruth. He doesn’t live in Finsbury Circus, which, if you think back, means Ruth, Bobby, and Mrs. Cardwell didn’t actually lie when answering our earlier questions.”
Stokes paused in his jotting, clearly trying to remember.
Penelope supplied, “We asked about the composition of the family, and Mrs. Cardwell replied that it was just the four of them who lived there. She omitted mentioning that there was another member of the immediate family who didn’t live there.”
“Semantics,” Stokes stated, his lips thin. “They deliberately misled us.”
“But why?” Griselda turned a puzzled frown on the others.
“As to that,” Jordan said, “courtesy of the argument Bobby and this Gibson were having, and them not seeing me or Ruth until Ruth attracted their attention, I learned that Bobby had an ongoing disagreement with Thomas about funds, and Gibson, it seems, had an even more fraught relationship with Thomas, also, it seems, primarily about money.”
Penelope was intrigued. “The plot has certainly thickened.”
The door opened, and Mostyn appeared, his expression a question Penelope could easily read.
“Thank you, Mostyn.” She rose, bringing the others to their feet. “We’ll come through now.” To Jordan, she said, “Please join us for dinner. I’m sure Roscoe and Miranda can spare you for the evening, and it’s our habit to share information, then set it aside while we dine, before returning here, to the drawing room, to reevaluate the situation once any new insights have had a chance to sink in.”
“And digest, as it were.” Stokes regarded Jordan. “If Roscoe’s delegated you to be his eyes and ears in this, best you stay and help us make sense of your recent discoveries.”
Obviously curious as to their investigative process, Jordan readily consented to join them in the dining room. As per their stated habit, they eschewed all mention of the Cardwell case and spoke more generally, including sharing views on the recent opening of the Manchester and Leeds Railway, the first railway to cross the Pennines.
Having recently traveled by railway on Roscoe’s business, Jordan had much to contribute.
Penelope suspected that, having lived for so long in Roscoe and Miranda’s household, Jordan was accustomed to conversation of the style generally found about her dinner table. Indeed, judging by the ease with which he relaxed and became one with the company, it was clear he found their ways familiar.
Once dessert was consumed and the plates cleared, she rose and led the company back to the drawing room.
They settled in the chairs they’d occupied earlier, and Stokes opened the discussion with “I believe we can dismiss any notion of Hemingways’ Linens being the source of Cardwell’s nefarious activities.”
Penelope told Griselda, “The Hemingways themselves run the business, and they seemed distinctly upright men.”
“In addition,” Barnaby put in, “from Penelope’s subsequent inquiries and the extent of their customer list, they’ve worked hard to gain a reputation it would be folly to put at risk.”
