Ten Lords A-Leaping: A Mystery Part 15

"For the sake of pa.s.sing on moth-eaten ermine and a tarnished coronet?" Dominic grunted and popped the top of the bottle.

"Morborne House? Four Paul Cezanne, three Paul Gauguin, two Claude Monet, and Renoir's painting of a pear tree?"

"But are they real or are they forgeries?" Dominic squeezed a dollop of cream onto his fingers. "Anyway, as Maximilian stands to inherit all of this-Egges...o...b.. and the rest of it-and needs must pa.s.s it on, I'm sure one day he will put his mind to his duty."

"Well, Hector did." Lucinda's laugh eased into a sigh as Dominic's hands pressed into her back.

Dominic smiled at Tom, who realised his expression must have betrayed the curiosity he felt. "I think you'll find, Vicar, that with Max the apple hasn't fallen far from the tree."

CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

Georgina arrived at the great hall next to last. She hesitated in a swift, sweeping a.s.sessment of the a.s.sembled, and clacked across the floor in low heels to the long oak draw-table where Ellen Gaunt had laid out tea and stood ready to serve. Tom thought Lady Fairhaven's eyes rested for a fraction of a second longer over her mother-in-law, the dowager countess, who had a.s.sumed earlier a red wing chair to the right of the fireplace, matched throne to the wing chair to the fireplace's left, which accommodated Hector in slumped repose, one ankle over the other. Each had a familiar: Roberto rested on a hard cane-backed chair next to Marguerite, arms folded over his chest, eyes directed to the chimneypiece, as elaborately carved as the screen above the door; Gaunt stood stiffly by Hector, arms by sides, eyes alert to the needs of those in the room. Bonzo was slumbering at his master's feet.

"Darling, take a seat, why don't you?" Hector spoke impatiently to his wife as she received a cup of tea from Mrs. Gaunt.

"Georgie, have this one," Marguerite said, though she made no effort to move.

"I'm all right to stand for a moment." Georgina took a tentative sip. "There's room on the sofa with Jamie and Jane. Lucy, what on earth are you wearing?" she added, her cup hitting its saucer with an elegant sc.r.a.pe.

"A dressing gown, can't you tell? I've been by the pool and have sun cream all over me."

Lady Fairhaven's lips disappeared into a disapproving moue. "And what are you drinking?"

"I had Gaunt make me a blanc-ca.s.sis. I don't feel like tea."

Tom glanced from Lucinda, who was seated beside him in an upholstered chair, into the milky stew of his own half-finished cup. He didn't much feel like tea, either, though the great hall, with its north face, its white marble floors, and its soaring plasterwork ceiling, seemed to cling to the chill of a spring months past. In late-medieval times when the hall was built, it would have been the heart and hearth of Egges...o...b.., crackling with fire and life. Now its wintry resplendence served only to impress. Tom suspected that in Hector's choosing the great hall to receive the police detectives, he wished to make plain that this was his house; possibly he hoped to intimidate them. If so, he wasn't certain the strategy was wise. He felt vaguely apprehensive, as if he were about to sit exams, and he expected the others, as evinced by Lucinda's snappish remark, were too. The atmosphere was sour with a tension that might have been soothed in the relatively homely surroundings of the sunny drawing room. He exchanged a glance with Madrun, who stood with Ellen at the draw-table, but he could discern no particular sentiment behind the reflective gla.s.s of her cat's-eye spectacles. It was as if she had taken on the impersonal mien of a servant, though he was certain her mind was coursing wonderfully over this scene. Whatever would old Mrs. Prowse be treated to in the next letter!

Porcelain tapped porcelain, a throat cleared, fabric shushed along fabric as legs crossed and uncrossed: The waiting seemed interminable, though-Tom let his eyes fall surrept.i.tiously to his watch-the detectives were not late. Finally, though Tom heard no heralding sound, Gaunt squared his back, glanced at Hector, then at Dominic, who sat bolt-upright in a cane-backed chair near Hector, and slipped out of the hall. A moment later, heads turned to the two blocky figures in dark suits Gaunt ushered into the room. Hector rose from his seat and indicated two chairs that had been placed in front of the fireplace, closing the straggling ring of family, guests, and staff, and introduced them.

"Some of you, I believe," Hector continued, his voice controlled and plummy, "have already spoken with Detective Inspector Blessing and Detective Sergeant Bliss-"

"Detective Inspector Bliss, Your Lords.h.i.+p," Bliss corrected. "He's Blessing." He flicked his thumb to his partner, who sat himself on the spindly chair and pulled a notebook from his jacket pocket.

"Quite." Irritation flickered on Hector's face. "Detective Inspector Bliss and Detective Sergeant Blessing asked to see us as a group to ... to-"

"To try and get a picture of Lord Morborne's activities and movements here since he arrived at Egges...o...b... We'll also be speaking with you separately, later, of course."

"Why don't you sit down, Detective Inspector," Hector said, dropping into his own chair. "Would you care for tea?"

"I'll stand for the time being, if you don't mind." Bliss squared his feet along the marble tiles. "And thank you, no."

"Darling"-Hector, nettled, turned his attention to his wife-"do sit down."

"You're all welcome to sit," Bliss said as Georgina tucked her skirt behind her legs and took the end cus.h.i.+on of the couch next to Jane.

"We'll stand, Inspector." Gaunt looked to his wife and Madrun. Tom glanced around the spa.r.s.ely furnished room. There were no other chairs. Gaunt had intended staff to stand.

"Suit yourselves."

"I should point out, Inspector"-Lucinda lifted her lips from her gla.s.s-"that some of us only arrived yesterday."

"I'm aware of your arrival times," Bliss responded evenly. "Lord Morborne arrived Wednesday afternoon, for instance, having driven down from London-alone, I might add."

Hector frowned. "Is there some significance to his coming down alone?"

"I understand that Lord Morborne announced his engagement last evening to a Serena Knowlton of Knightsbridge, London. It seemed to me if you'd got engaged you might bring your fiancee down to meet your family."

"He was down for a charity event, you know," Hector said.

"Has anyone spoken with Serena?" Marguerite interrupted. "We discussed doing so at luncheon."

"Marve, no one has a number." Georgina lifted her teacup.

"Nonsense. Frank Knowlton is hardly ex-directory. He has a business empire. Hector, you must have a number for him. Or couldn't someone have simply looked on Oliver's mobile?" Marve looked to Gaunt. "Besides, mightn't she have phoned here? It's all over television. I looked."

"No, my lady," Gaunt replied.

"We've shut off the switchboard, Mother," Hector explained. "You can understand why."

"I spoke with her," Bliss interrupted. "When she couldn't get through here, she was patched through to me."

"Well, I hope she doesn't think you all callous," Marguerite murmured.

Bliss cleared his throat noisily as Hector opened his mouth to protest. "The Honourable Serena Knowlton told me that Lord Morborne did not tell her he planned to be in Devon other than for the jump yesterday. He texted her when he arrived here Wednesday saying he had business in the area. What, she didn't know."

"I might be able to help you there, Inspector," Tom said. "Lord Morborne paid a visit to my church's music director, Colm Parry-whom you know from Thornford Regis. I understand Lord Morborne was trying to coax him from retirement to perform at some musical event next year in London."

"But, Tom"-Jamie leaned forward to address him-"Mr. Parry was among the party that came with you to the airstrip at Plymouth for the charity jump. I remember because it was such fun to meet the guy who sang 'Bank Holiday.' "

"That's true. They could have spoken anytime before or after the jump," Tom reflected.

"Maybe Oliver just wanted a few days out of London," Jane said, though Tom could hear the doubt in her voice.

"It's true he can be impulsive," her husband added.

"Then I take it, Lady Fairhaven"-Bliss turned his attention to Georgina-"that you hadn't expected your brother to arrive when he did."

"Well, no." Georgina looked to her husband. "But of course he was very welcome to come and stay, with or without notice. There's plenty of room-usually," she amended.

"And how did he spend his time here those few days before yesterday's jump?" Blessing looked up from his notebook, speaking for the first time.

"On his b.l.o.o.d.y mobile," Jamie laughed. "Talking or texting. Doing business. He wasn't a relaxed sort of fellow, Olly. I took Friday lunch with him at the Pilgrims Inn at Abbotswick and the thing was going off all the time until I wrenched it from his hands and switched it off."

"Lord Morborne's fondness for his mobile has arisen several times in our investigation." Bliss frowned. "And yet there is no evidence of it. Anyone explain that? No? We may need to search the house, Lord Fairhaven."

"Of course, if you must."

"You might want to consider reinforcements, Inspector," Dominic remarked. "Egges...o...b.. isn't exactly a suburban semi."

"What did you talk about with Lord Morborne?" Blessing addressed Jamie before Bliss could apply a snappy comeback.

"Oh, gosh, nothing that seems memorable. The jump the next day. Cricket, business ..." Jamie shrugged. "We had a bit of a family catch-up ..."

"Did he seem different in any way?"

"Different?"

"Worried? Frightened? Threatened? Anxious? I ask this of all of you," Blessing added, his biro hovering over his pad.

Lucinda made a rude noise. "Oliver fforde-Beckett? Don't be ridiculous."

"He seemed quite himself, Detective Inspector." Jamie directed an annoyed frown at Lucinda. "I don't see my cousin often, usually at family gatherings or at the Leaping Lords events we do a few times a year. We travel in different circles on the whole. Anyone else think him a bit off these last days?" He looked around at the others encouragingly, but received only noncommittal shrugs.

"And he remained on the estate the whole time?" Bliss picked up the questioning.

"Except for our lunch in the village, as far as I know," Jamie responded. "And, of course, the trip to Plymouth, to the airfield, yesterday morning."

"Then did anyone visit him here?"

"I wouldn't think so." Hector replied. "Gaunt?"

"No, my lord. Not that I was made aware of."

"We prefer a quiet life when we're down here in August, you see, Inspector. We entertain few visitors. I do a little const.i.tuency business. The Leaping Lords fund-raiser was a rare exception, which we were pleased to do," he added, nodding at Tom, "but most of the estate staff, except for a few of the gardeners from the village to keep the weeds at bay, have a fortnight's holiday when Lady Fairhaven and our son are in residence. Oh, and a daily girl or two comes in. So, you see, Inspector"-Hector seemed to be losing his train of thought-"life's quite uneventful, really, down here."

"Was quite uneventful, Hector, darling," Marguerite said.

"Thank you, Mummy," Hector responded evenly.

"My lord, there was the trespa.s.ser ..." Gaunt prompted Hector sotto voce.

"Yes! Thank you, Gaunt. Inspector, we have been troubled a few times by a trespa.s.ser. I believe he's ... importuned Mrs. Gaunt when she's been working in the kitchens. Is that not correct?" He glanced at Ellen, who nodded in the affirmative. "Perhaps you should be concentrating your efforts in that direction, Inspector."

"Anything you tell me will be given due consideration," Bliss responded impa.s.sively, glancing down at his colleague's notebook. "So, despite Lord Morborne's unannounced appearance Wednesday, nothing happened that you would say was out of the ordinary."

"There was that policeman, Hector," Jane remarked.

"Yes," Jamie chimed in. "You were seeing him off when we arrived Thursday."

"Oh, yes." Hector frowned. "I can't think what he wanted."

"You told me it was about the police presence at the nomination meeting next weekend," Jane said.

"Yes, that was it."

"PC Widger, sir?" Blessing turned a page in his notebook.

"I believe so, yes. Yes, it was. New to the village."

"Are you sure he wasn't here examining the vehicles on the estate, Lord Fairhaven? There's an ongoing investigation into a recent hit and run in the area."

"Oh! Yes, you're quite right. That's why Widger was here. I'd forgotten. I told him he was welcome to look around. There was only mine and Oliver's in the front drive anyway. Gaunt, you had parked the van next to the stable block. Mother?"

"Yes, he looked at mine, too."

"I'm surprised he didn't drive down in that ridiculous pink Cadillac he spends ten thousand pounds a year to garage in London," Dominic remarked.

"How do you know he spends ten thousand?" Jamie looked faintly aghast.

"It's a guess."

"Well, as it happens, Olly started out in his Cadillac," Jamie continued. "He told me at lunch in the pub. But it had engine problems near Salisbury, so he hired a car."

"Olly in a nasty little hire car, imagine!"

"Is any of this relevant?" Lord Fairhaven sighed, appealing to the inspector.

"I would like to move on," Bliss said evenly, placing his hands behind his back. "Yesterday evening, Lord Morborne left Egges...o...b.. Park around ..."

"Around ten thirty, sir." Blessing looked up from his notebook.

"Yes." Hector picked up the story. "That would be correct. You see, Inspector, despite the size of this house, we don't really have the facilities to have large parties to stay, so I arranged for those who wished it, to stay overnight at the Pilgrims Inn. Several did. So Oliver went off with them ... to continue drinking, I expect."

"And none of you joined him."

"It had been a rather long day, Inspector. Leaping Lords events usually have an early start."

"Olly's a bit of a night owl." Jamie sipped his tea. "Wouldn't you say, Georgie? Part of his job, really."

"Who saw him last?" Bliss asked.

"I haven't the faintest," Hector replied peevishly, looking around. "Does it matter? Gaunt, I think. Didn't you go after them with a torch?"

"It was quite dark, my lord, despite a full moon."

"You were expecting him back, then," Bliss continued. "He would need a light to walk back in the dark."

"I had no idea he hadn't returned until Lady Kirkbride informed me that his bed didn't appear to have been slept in. He didn't tell you he had other plans, did he, Georgie?" Hector addressed his wife. "Oliver knew the security code to get in. I asked Gaunt not to bolt the doors so Oliver could return without having to make a fuss and wake up the household."

"Then, Detective Inspector," Marguerite said, placing her cup on a table next to her, "where was Oliver most of the night?"