Decked With Folly, page 7
“I see.” Cecily frowned at the ledger in front of her. “And you were quite alone with Ian until Clive arrived on the scene?”
“Yes, m’m.”
“That’s strange.”
Gertie looked puzzled. “What is?”
Cecily smiled at her. “P.C. Northcott said someone told him you had threatened Ian with a knife. He wouldn’t tell me who it was, but I can’t imagine Clive would say anything to him.”
“No, m’m. Clive would never say nothing that would get me in trouble. I’d swear on it.”
“Well, then, in that case, someone else must have heard you, unless-” She broke off as someone rapped on the door.
Gertie looked scared and hunched her shoulders as if bracing for a blow.
Cecily muttered an irritable, “What now?” Then louder, “Yes? Who is it?”
The door flew open and a young woman stepped into the room. She wore a fashionable skirt under a coat trimmed with fox fur, and silk ribbons adorned the wide brim of her hat.
Her face looked vaguely familiar and Cecily frowned. It was customary for one of the footmen to escort a visitor to her office and make an official announcement of her name. This sudden invasion was most unsettling.
Before she could speak, however, Gertie shot to her feet. “Oh, my gawd, it’s Gloria.”
Cecily stared at Gertie, then back at the visitor. “You two know each other? But how-?”
The woman glared at Gertie and walked farther into the room. Scowling at Cecily she said in a low, fierce voice, “I want to know where Robert is hiding.”
Cecily raised her eyebrows. “Robert? I don’t think I know-”
“She means Ian.” Gertie had a look on her face that suggested she was about to be sick. “Remember? That’s Ian’s real name. Robert Johnson. He changed it to Ian Rossiter when he came to work for you so she wouldn’t find him. This is Gloria Johnson. Ian’s real wife.”
“Oh, goodness.” Cecily rose from her chair. “Of course. I thought you seemed familiar but it’s been a good many years and I had forgotten-”
“Where is he, Mrs. Sinclair? Where’s my Robert?”
Cecily swallowed. “Actually, it’s Mrs. Baxter now. I… ah… perhaps you’d better sit down.” She glanced at Gertie, who still stared at Gloria as if she were looking at a hungry lion about to charge. “You, too, Gertie. Unless you’d prefer to leave?”
With a look of sheer relief, Gertie nodded, took another sidelong glance at Gloria, then fled out the door.
Out on the Esplanade, Gertie let the full force of the cold wind blow in her face. After the horrible morning she’d had, she needed something to clear out the tangle of thoughts in her head. Heedless of the wisps of hair escaping from the pins, she stood at the railing and watched the angry waves churning onto the wet sand in a tide of froth and spray.
Maybe she should have told madam everything. Maybe she should have told her how she’d seen Clive later the night Ian died, long after he should have gone home, and how he was soaking wet, as if he’d been out in the snow for a while.
She should have told her what really happened, and she might have done, if Gloria hadn’t barged in on her.
A tiny hand crept into hers and a voice struggled to be heard above the crashing ocean. “Mummy? What’s the matter? Are you all right?”
Looking down at her daughter, Gertie found the strength to smile. “Course I am. It’s Christmas, isn’t it. Everything’s always all right at Christmas.”
Lillian’s rosy-cheeked face glowed with the bite of the wind. “Is Father Christmas coming soon?”
“Soon.” Gertie gripped the small hand tighter. “As long as you and James behave yourself, that is.” She looked down the Esplanade to where Pansy stood throwing a ball for James to catch. A wave of panic almost made her cry out.
What would she do if the constable arrested her and put her in jail? What would happen to her children? Who would look after them? She couldn’t expect Daisy to take care of them until they were grown. Daisy was only a nanny, and she’d made it clear she wouldn’t be around once the twins were old enough to take care of themselves.
Madam and Mr. Baxter had to find out who killed Ian. They just had to, and quick. Because if they didn’t, it was very likely she could end up in prison or swinging from a rope for something she didn’t do. Gertie closed her eyes and prayed as she’d never prayed before.
“Mummy?”
A tug on her hand opened her eyes. Gertie blinked tears away and smiled at her daughter. “I’m all right, luv. Honest. I just got a little bit of sand in me eyes and it made them water a bit, that’s all.”
Lillian’s worried frown vanished, and she pointed down the Esplanade to where a tall figure of a man strode toward them. “Look! There’s Uncle Dan!”
James had already seen him coming and was tearing down the Esplanade toward him, with Pansy running hard to keep up with the little boy.
Gertie pulled in a deep breath. “Come on.” She took hold of Lillian’s hand. “Let’s go and meet him.”
Hurrying along beside her eager daughter, Gertie rehearsed how she would tell Dan everything that had happened. He’d be shocked, just like she was. She could only hope it didn’t ruin his Christmas.
She wasn’t going to let it ruin hers. Ian Rossiter had done enough damage to her and the twins, and no matter what happened afterward, she wasn’t about to let him spoil their Christmas. Somehow she’d get through it, and somehow madam would find out who did it and she’d be in the clear.
As for Gloria, well she felt sorry for her. It wasn’t going to be easy for her to hear Ian had been killed, even if he had been a rotten husband.
In fact, it amazed Gertie that they were still together. After Gloria had found out he’d gone through a fake wedding and all, Gertie was sure Gloria would have had nothing more to do with him.
They must have patched things up somehow.
But now Ian was dead and Gloria was all alone. They didn’t have no kids, Gertie had learned that much when Ian had tried to take Lillian away. Maybe it was just as well.
Gloria hated her. She’d seen the venom in Gloria’s eyes when she’d come in madam’s office. Not that Gertie could blame her for that. It must have really hurt to find out your husband had secretly married someone else.
Sighing, she put away the bad thoughts. She was close enough now to see Dan’s welcoming smile, and right then that was all that mattered to her. The rest of it could wait until she got back. Right now she was going to enjoy the next hour or two with the man she loved and her kids. Pansy, too. For a little while, life was good again.
Cecily folded her hands in her lap, reluctant to look at the silent woman seated in front of her. For the second time that day she had to tell a woman that the man she’d loved had died.
She’d had no idea that Gloria was still married to Ian-or Robert, if that was his real name. In fact, she was beginning to think she had never known Ian at all. After all that had happened, she could find nothing to equate the hard, bitter man who had just died with the bright young lad who had served her so well in the past.
“You know where he is, don’t you.”
With a start, Cecily looked up as Gloria broke the tense silence.“Yes, I’m afraid I do.” She cleared her throat. “Gloria, I am so very sorry. Ian… your husband was found in the duck pond this morning. I’m afraid he’s dead.”
Gloria’s expression remained stoic, though tears stole out from her eyes and coursed down her cheeks. “I suppose he was drunk?”
Her voice was accusing, as if this were all Cecily’s fault. She flinched, but met Gloria’s hard gaze steadily. “Yes, it appears that he might well have been enjoying a little too much spirits, but that was not the cause of his death. Not directly, anyway.”
Gloria’s eyes held a flicker of uneasiness. “So what did he die of then?”
“He… we think someone attacked him.”
It had sounded brutal, put like that, and Cecily wished she could have found a better way to say it.
Gloria, however, seemed to bear the brunt of it with remarkable fortitude. Although there was a distinct tremor in her voice when she asked, “So, do you know who it was that hit him, then?”
“Not at present, no, but we are endeavoring to find whoever killed your husband and bring him to justice.”
Gloria pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and dabbed at her eyes. After a long, difficult moment of silence, she muttered, “I thought, when he didn’t come home last night, that he might be over here.”
“I’m sorry.” Cecily fidgeted on her chair. There had to be something she could say other than that, but right then, she couldn’t think of a single thing.
After another long pause, Gloria spoke again. “Robert was always talking about the twins, and how he’d like to see more of them. I never thought, when he left to go down the pub last night, that it would be the last time I saw him. I went right to bed after he left, and I thought he’d be there when I woke up, but he wasn’t and I…” A slight sob escaped, and she blew her nose hard.
“I’m so sorry.” Cecily leaned forward. “Can I get you something? A cup of tea, perhaps?”
Gloria shook her head. “I bet it was someone at the pub. Robert was always getting into fights. I didn’t like some of the people he kept company with, neither, but he was always telling me I worry too much.” She dabbed at her eyes again.
At a loss as to how to comfort the grieving woman, Cecily said awkwardly, “Perhaps you’d feel better if you were at home. I’ll have someone drive you-”
“No!”
The woman’s vehemence startled Cecily and she raised her eyebrows.
Before she could speak, however, Gloria spoke, her words tumbling out so fast she stumbled over them. “I can’t go back there now. I really can’t. I’ll never go back to that place. Never!”
Concerned, Cecily quickly tried to reassure her. “It’s quite all right, Mrs…” She hesitated, having forgotten Ian’s real last name.
“Gloria.” The widow looked up at her, and Cecily saw a moment of intense fear flash across her face before she composed herself again. “It’s just that I don’t know what I’m going to do now. We’ve been living in the flat over Abbitson’s, the butcher’s shop in the High Street. It was free all the time Robert was working in the shop. I can’t stay there now that he’s gone.”
“You were living here in Badgers End?”
“Yes, m’m. Robert wanted to move down here to be closer to his children. I didn’t want to leave London but he said he’d come without me if I didn’t go with him.”
Cecily wondered if Gertie had known that Ian was living in Badgers End and how she would have reacted to the news. It seemed they had all escaped what could have been a very difficult situation, though she would have wished a better solution to the problem than Ian’s death. Much as she despised the treacherous thought, it seemed that someone had done Gertie an enormous favor.
She watched the other woman tuck her handkerchief back in her pocket. “Do you have relatives in London? Perhaps someone you can stay with until you can decide what you want to do?”
Gloria shook her head so violently a couple of hairpins flew out of her hair and skidded across the desk. “I can’t go back there. Really I can’t. I don’t have nowhere to go. There was just me and my mum. My dad took off when I was little and my mum died two years ago.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
Gloria squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again. “Robert was all I had left and now he’s gone, too. He didn’t have no one, either. What am I going to do? I have to take care of burying him and everything, and I don’t know what to do about that and…” Again her voice broke into a sob.
Cecily made up her mind. After all, it was Christmas, and she couldn’t bear the thought of this poor woman all alone and helpless. “You must stay here at the Pennyfoot,” she said, rising to her feet. “We will help you see to Ian’s funeral and burial.”
“Oh, I couldn’t.” Gloria jumped up from her chair. “Now that my husband’s gone I couldn’t afford-”
“Free of charge.” Cecily smiled at the other woman’s expression. Surprise, relief, and something else she couldn’t quite read flashed across Gloria’s face. “Just until you get everything settled and find something more suitable for your needs,” she added hurriedly. “No one should have to spend Christmas alone at a time like this.”
Gloria looked as if she would burst into real tears. “I don’t know what to say.” She spread out her hands in a gesture of helplessness. “All I can think of is-thank you.”
“There’s nothing else to say.” Cecily tugged on her bell rope. “I’ll have Samuel take you back to the flat to fetch your belongings, and then when you return one of the maids can show you to your room. I’m afraid it’s rather small, tucked next to the attic on the top floor. We usually keep it free for children, but we have no child guests at present so you are welcome to occupy it for as long as you need it.”
“That is most generous of you, Mrs. Baxter. Thank you.”
“Not at all. I feel we owe you that much, since your husband died on our premises.”
Gloria’s expression changed to one of sadness. “I’ll miss him. He wasn’t much of a husband, but he was mine. I’d like to know who did this to him.”
“We’ll find out in due time.” Cecily looked up when she heard a knock on the door. “Come in!”
Pansy stood in the doorway, her face full of curiosity as she glanced at Gloria. Obviously Gertie had told her the identity of their visitor.
“Pansy, please tell Samuel I need him to take Mrs. Johnson to the High Street to fetch her luggage. When she returns I’ll need someone to show her to room number one.”
Pansy looked surprised, but said nothing as she dipped her knees.
“Thank you again,” Gloria said, a little breathlessly, “I’ll try not to get in anyone’s way.”
“I hope you will join the guests for meals,” Cecily said, as the widow hurried to the door. “Especially the Christmas dinner. Michel always outdoes himself at Christmas.”
“I would like that. Most kind of you.” Tears glistened in Gloria’s eyes once more as she bowed her head, then followed Pansy into the hallway.
Cecily sank onto her chair. She wasn’t at all sure she’d done the right thing. There was bound to be animosity between Gloria and Gertie. Perhaps the two of them would find a way to avoid each other. Gertie would have to understand that she couldn’t turn the poor thing out into the cold, after losing her husband in such a tragic way and with nowhere else to go. All she could hope now was that Gloria’s presence in the Pennyfoot wouldn’t cause more trouble.
CHAPTER 8
“I really enjoyed that walk this afternoon.” Leaning across one of the dining room tables, Pansy laid a folded white linen serviette on the left of the place setting. “Your twins are really fun to be with.”
Gertie twisted her mouth in a wry smile. That was easy for Pansy to say. She didn’t have to clean up after them, or make them behave when they got into mischief. “They’re fun if they’re in a good mood and not scrapping with each other. They get bloody overexcited this time of year. They drive me blinking loopy wanting to know when Father Christmas is going to get here.”
Pansy laughed. “You’re lucky to have them. I wish I had little ones like that.” Her face sobered. “Don’t look as if I’ll ever have ’em, though, at this rate.”
Gertie snorted. “Watcha talking about? You’re only a young kid. You’ve got lots of time to find a husband.”
“I don’t want just any husband. I want Samuel.”
“Yeah, well, I wouldn’t hold your breath waiting for that one.” Gertie picked up a crystal glass and polished the rim with a corner of her apron. “How many times have I told you to look for someone else?”
“Well, if I can’t have Samuel, I want someone just like your Dan. I think he’s smashing.”
Gertie grinned. “Yeah, he is. He’s so good with James and Lillian.”
“He is that.” Pansy lifted the pile of serviettes and moved to the next table. “He was a lot of fun to be with today. He made me and the twins laugh. I like that.”
“Me, too. I don’t think I ever laughed as much as I do with my Dan.”
“He looked tired, though. Like he’d been up all night. How’d he get that graze on his cheek? It looks nasty.”
“Had an accident in his motorcar, didn’t he.” Gertie followed her, resting the tray of wineglasses against her hip. “He told me someone stepped out in front of him and he had to swerve to miss him. He hit another motorcar coming the other way.”
“Goodness!” Pansy looked at her in dismay. “He could have been killed.”
“Nah, he wasn’t going fast enough.”
“Don’t you get scared when you go out riding in that motorcar with him?”
Gertie shook her head. “Dan’s a good driver. He’s taking me out in it this evening. They’re having a Christmas party down at the pub, with dancing and everything.”
Pansy sighed, her face taking on a dreamy expression. “Oh, it must be lovely to have someone take you out dancing. I can’t imagine Samuel ever doing that.”
Gertie felt like shaking her. Here she was having to sneak out tonight to be with Dan and risk getting into big trouble, while Pansy was too timid to go after what she wanted. “Then find someone who will.”
Pansy made a face. “Not that easy is it. I don’t get out much, and when I do I don’t go to places where there’s single blokes.”
“Well, we’ve got a couple of single blokes staying here for Christmas. How about that Archie Parker? He’s here all on his own. He’d probably jump at the chance of taking out a gorgeous young woman like you.”
Pansy made a gurgling noise of disgust. “A fat old medicine man. I can do better than that.” She tilted her chin up and looked thoughtful. “Now, that Sid Barrett. I wouldn’t mind taking a turn around the Esplanade with that one. He can make me laugh, too. He knows how to treat a lady, and make her feel special, all right.”
