Page 11 of The Trick of the Treasure
“Is it a possibility?”
“Sadly not,” Sydney replied. “I watched him lock the door and pocket the keys, and then we went downstairs together.”
Constance changed tack. “What did you do for the rest of the evening? After dinner?”
“Came in here so we could regale everyone with more of our adventures over the last eight months.”
“Who is ‘everyone’?” she asked.
Sydney looked amused again. “My mother and sisters and my aunt.”
“Did you have any visitors that evening?”
“No, it was a strictly family evening.”
“When did the family party break up?”
Sydney smiled at her. “Goodness, you are more thorough than the policeman in your questions! It must have been just before eleven. And yes, I went straight to bed. If you want the truth, I was exhausted and had, besides, drunk too much champagne and port. We didn’t have such luxuries on board the ship—which is a mistake, in my view.”
“Well, that is an argument for another day.” She finished her tea and set down the cup. “Did you sleep all night? Did any unusual sound disturb you?”
“Such as the clank of keys or the squeaking of the hinges on the strong room door? Sadly not.”
“How did you learn that the treasure had been stolen?”
Sydney grimaced. “My father creating a one-man bawling match. He was up with the lark as usual and went straight to gloat over his treasure—or to let Rachel poke around it, maybe.”
“Who is Rachel?”
“Rachel is my younger sister. She’s twelve years old, so fortunately you won’t see much of her. Would you excuse me? I should shake hands with poor old Ben.”
“Of course,” Constance replied.
As he rose, her sweeping glance caught the figure of his aunt, Miss Audrey Lloyd, knitting contentedly, quite alone by the fire. There was something oddly touching and yet unbearably lonely in the vignette—the maiden aunt living in another woman’s house, always there and yet, it seemed, used to being barely noticed.
Constance stood and walked across the room to her. “Miss Lloyd?”
The lady looked up in surprise, peering over her spectacles. “Indeed. How do you do, Mrs. Silver? What a lovely name to have.”
Constance drew forward the nearest chair and sat beside her. “Do you think so?”
“I do. Did I hear aright that you and Mr. Grey are helping Barnabas find his lost treasure?”
“We shall certainly do our best. It is quite a bizarre happening.”
Audrey shook her head. “Most peculiar. I can’t imagine what… Or who, which is even worse, don’t you think?”
“Yes, it might well be. Where does Mr. Lloyd keep the keys to the strong room?”
Constance asked mainly to see if his sister knew, but she answered immediately.
“On his person. Or in the drawer by his bed. Everyone knows that.”
“Everyone in the house?” Constance asked. “Or is there a wider community of family and friends who are aware of his habits?”
“Oh, I don’t think so,” Audrey said vaguely. “But then, I don’t pay a great deal of attention. I have my own interests.”
“May I know what those are?”
