Page 61 of Death of a Courtesan
‘Only my assistant in my premises in Dover Street is aware of them. He is of French parentage and is the one who told me about the vineyard in the first place. I trust him implicitly.’
And, Riley thought, he had no obvious reason to kill Adelaide.
‘But if you had started sounding out some of Huxton’s existing customers, anyone might have spoken out,’ Salter said.
‘True.’ Clement spread his hands and shuddered. ‘God forbid that I inadvertently caused Adelaide’s murder. I should find it hard to live with myself if that proves to be the case.’
‘Which it has not. Not by any stretch of the imagination. And speaking of imaginations, can you think of any reason why Ray would have been drunkenly proclaiming that the world was better off without Adelaide in it?’
‘Ah yes, perhaps. He found us in close conversation one day in the back room of my shop.’
‘Did he overhear what you were discussing?’
‘Lud, I hope not! If he did I…Anyway, I can only assume he followed her, or recognised her for what she was. That would be enough to set him off into one of his rages.’
‘He didn’t ask you about her?’
‘No, I was called to attend a customer, and he was gone by the time I finished with him. But,’ he added pensively, ‘oddly, he never raised the subject again. Funny that.’
‘You supply the wine to Mrs Sinclair’s establishment, I believe.’
Clement clapped a hand over his mouth and his face turned deathly pale.
‘What is it?’ Riley asked, sitting forward.
‘I do supply the wine,’ he said slowly, ‘but it is Ray who delivers it.’
‘He does deliveries for you?’ Riley asked. ‘You did not say.’
‘It didn’t seem relevant. I allow him to do them because it makes him feel involved and it’s something that he can’t easily make a mull of.’
‘Ah,’ Riley said. ‘So he might well have seen Adelaide there, even before he saw her speaking with you.’
‘It’s entirely possible.’
‘And he would know the lie of the land in that house,’ Salter added. ‘Presumably he took the wine in through that side door which Tennyson keeps locked, but would be familiar with the kitchens as well.’
Clement scrubbed his hands down his face. ‘Possibly,’ he conceded. ‘Even so, despite his famous temper, I don’t like to think that Ray would gothatfar.’
‘We shall talk to him again, a little more assertively on this occasion,’ Riley said.
‘Have a care, inspector. Ray and that temper of his.’
Riley thought that Clement was contradicting himself—one moment expressing his doubts about his step-sibling being capable of murder, the next warning them that he was dangerous. ‘I doubt whether even he would be foolish enough to try anything with us.’
‘Let’s hope not.’
Riley stood and extended his hand. ‘Thank you for your frankness, Mr Clement. You have been very helpful. Rest assured that we will be in touch again at the earliest opportunity, hopefully with good news.’
‘Well,’ Riley said as they made their way back to his office. ‘What did you make of that?’
‘I’d say he spoke the truth, sir. We now know that Adelaide’s uncle didn’t tell us everything and that he had a compelling reason to silence his niece permanently.’
‘And is the sort who would know how to access a brothel by the back door, I shouldn’t wonder.’ Riley threw himself into the chair behind his desk. ‘We now have suspects lining up. The uncle comes top of the list. But there’s Ray Clement too. He has a temper and resented Adelaide’s involvement in the life of a brother whom he looked up to and probably wanted to protect from her feminine wiles. He felt threatened by her as well and, given that he regularly delivered his brother’s wine to the brothel, he would know his way around it.’ Riley leaned his head back and closed his eyes. ‘Of course, there are also the other girls employed by Mrs Sinclair to take into consideration. I wouldn’t put murder past any of them, especially Mirabelle, who makes no effort to hide her jealousy of Adelaide. Adelaide was more popular than her and probably earned more. Now Adelaide is gone and Mirabelle is top dog. That is more than reason enough to kill her,andshe wouldn’t have to break in to carry out the deed. How someone got into the house and persuaded Adelaide to meet him or her in the room where she plied her trade has been bothering me.’
‘There’s also the aunt,’ Salter reminded him. ‘I really want it to be her. And also Grant, who proposed to Adelaide twice and was rejected twice. His hurt feelings cannot be overlooked.’ Salter sighed. ‘Out problem is that we have an abundance of suspects and not a shred of evidence to tie any one of them to the crime.’
‘Then we’d best stir the pot a little, and see what demons we can agitate.’
