Feted to Die: An Inspector Constable Murder Mystery (6 page)

“Well, we can’t very well ask him, can we, sir. Perhaps there’s something at his cottage.”

A murmur of voices was heard, and the constable from the front gate put his head through the flap of the booth.

“Excuse me, inspector, but they’ve come to take the body away, and SOCO are here. Is it all right for them to come through?”

“Yes,” replied Constable. “We’re pretty much finished here for the time being.” He stood aside as the overall-clad group of men entered the tent. “Oh, just one thing.” He addressed the group’s leader. “Let me know as soon as you can if there are any prints on that glass ball.”

“Will do, sir.”

“What next, guv?” Copper wanted to know. “Do we want to have a word with that lot in the house? Doesn’t do to keep a Lady waiting, sir.”

“I’m perfectly well aware of that, Copper. Just take a look through that door first – let’s see what’s on the other side of it.”

Sergeant Copper rattled the handle of the door in the wall surrounding the garden. “Sorry, sir, it’s locked. And no key. Shall I try and find one?”

“It’ll keep for the moment. Come on, let’s see who we’ve got indoors and what they can tell us.”

“Hang about, sir. Have a look at this.” Copper gestured to a pair of yellow rubber gloves lying almost invisible at the base of the tent wall. “Relevant, do you reckon?”

“Quite possibly, Copper, quite possibly. So what relevance might they have?”

Sergeant Copper thought for a moment. “Maybe the murderer wore them to handle the ball. In which case, we’re not going to get any prints off it, are we? But … we may get some DNA off the insides.” He crouched to take a closer look. “No blood on them as far as I can see – just a couple of leaves stuck to them, but they could have come from these.” He gestured to the adjacent flowerbeds.

“Sergeant, we may make a detective of you yet,” smiled Constable. “Get SOCO to bag them, and we’ll go and see what we can find out in the lions’ den.” He headed towards the house.

Chapter 4

A tense silence reigned in the drawing room of Dammett Hall as the detectives entered the room. At once, Sandra Lawdown surged towards Andy Constable.

“Inspector, thank goodness you’re here. Now we can get this awful business sorted out.”

“Good afternoon, your
ladyship. We’ll certainly do our best. This is my sergeant – Detective Sergeant Copper.”

“Oh …yes, of course.” Lady Lawdown dismissed the very idea of the lower ranks with a nod and turned to the others in the room. “Everyone, this is Inspector Constable.” The room murmured a greeting. “He’s a marvel. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve had him in my court …” She broke off with a laugh. “Giving evidence, of course. I wouldn’t want anyone to get the wrong idea! Anyway, he always gets his man, or whatever it is you do when you’re not a Mountie. That’s why I asked for him specially. Your Chief Constable really is very sweet, you know.”

Sergeant Copper, who had never heard the Chief referred to in quite such terms before, seemed to have difficulty in avoiding choking.

“I think we’d better make a start, your ladyship, if you don’t mind,” said Constable with a sideways glare at his colleague.

“Oh do, do. I have to tell you, I’m absolutely furious.”

“Yes, it must be very upsetting to have a murder in your house. And I imagine Mr. Cope was a close friend …?”

“What? Oh, I suppose so. No, I mean I’m furious because I’ve spent ages organising this year’s fete, and now it’s all been spoilt by that wretched little man getting himself killed!”

Inspector Constable cleared his throat. “Of course, that is one way of looking at it, madam …”

Lady Lawdown began to pace the room. “Sorry, inspector. I know I should be more sympathetic, but sympathy isn’t going to pay for my roof repairs, is it? Or the poor vicar’s church roof, of course,” she added hastily. “We’re sharing the proceeds, you see.” She paused by the fireplace as a new thought seemed to strike her. “Mind you, it could be good, in a way.”

“How would that be exactly, madam?” put in Sergeant Copper, who was beginning to feel a sense of disorientation.

“Don’t you see, sergeant? We could just postpone for a bit, and then all the publicity would bring the crowds flocking in. We might make even more money. Of course, I’d have to replace Horace.”

“That certainly would be necessary, my lady,” commented Constable in dry tones. “Given the late Mr. Cope’s current … indisposition.”

“Oh, yes. Poor Horace. Actually, he was very good at what he did. Not a charlatan at all. Not like some of these other media clairvoyants. Oh sorry, darling.” Lady Lawdown glanced over her shoulder towards the seated figure of Seymour Cummings. “No offence. Tell me, inspector, did you ever read Horace’s column?”

“Actually no, your ladyship,” confessed Constable. “In fact, before today, I have to admit I’d never even heard of Mr. Cope.”

“Goodness! That is a surprise. It was amazing, some of the things he could tell you.” And with a brisk switch of tone, “Well, I won’t keep you, inspector, because I suppose you must get on.”

“If we may. Is there by any chance a room we can use?” He looked around the assembled company. “I shall need to speak to all of you, starting with the person who discovered Mr. Cope’s body.”

“That’s the vicar,” responded Lady Lawdown, “but he’s upstairs at the moment. Poor man, he came tottering in, gasped out that he’d found Horace, and went out like a light. When he came round we poured a brandy down him and sent him upstairs to lie down. Laura will fetch him for you, won’t you, darling. And I suppose you’d better use the library if you want to talk to people. There’s nobody in there.”

Dave Copper couldn’t help himself. “No Body in the Library, eh? I bet that makes a nice change.” Six pairs of eyes gazed at him blankly. From alongside him came a low growl from his superior officer. “Sorry.”

After a moment’s frozen pause, Lady Lawdown resumed as if nothing had happened. “Laura darling, would you show the gentlemen the way. I’m going to have another drink, if you don’t mind, inspector. I’m absolutely frazzled.” She turned back to the drinks table.

Laura Biding led the detectives back into the hall and closed the drawing room door behind them.

“Can we just check the layout of the house first, miss,” enquired Sergeant Copper. “It may be important.”

“Certainly, sergeant. What would you like to know?”

“What’s through that door there?” Copper gestured to the door opposite the drawing room door.

“That’s the dining room, but we hardly ever use it these days, unless Mother’s having a big dinner party. We usually eat in the morning room – that’s this door opposite the flower room corridor, and you know where that goes.”

Dave Copper poked his head through the green baize door to refresh his memory. “And these doors in here?”

“That one on the right goes through to the kitchen, the one next door is just a loo, and the one on the left leads back into the dining room. Whoever designed this house was really quite clever,” Laura remarked, as Copper rejoined her in the hall. “We actually get our food hot. This door here on the left doesn’t actually lead to the kitchen – it’s just a dummy to match the library door. And the library’s in here.”

She opened a door at the foot of the stairs and gestured her companions inside. The detectives entered a leather-furnished room with dark oak panelling and two book-lined walls. Heavy velvet curtains subdued the light from the windows, which gave on to the lawns and lake.

“This will do very nicely, miss,” said Inspector Constable. “Thank you.”

Laura Biding hesitated on the threshold of the room. “Inspector …”

“Yes, miss?”

“You’ll have to forgive my mother – she’s got a funny way of looking at things sometimes. I’d hate you to get the wrong impression.”

“Not at all, Miss Biding. It is ‘Miss’, is it? I mean, you being her ladyship’s daughter. Or is it ‘The Honourable’? We wouldn’t want to cause offence by getting it wrong.”

Laura smiled. “No, inspector, just plain Laura Biding. My dad was Mother’s first husband, so I don’t get a title. But I don’t think anyone worries about things like that these days, do they? So, would you like me to go up and fetch Mr. Pugh?”

“I think we can leave the vicar for a little later, miss. If he was as shocked as your mother said, it sounds as if a bit of a rest might not go amiss. But if we can just have a word with you first …”

“Would you like me to take notes, sir?” Copper seemed keen to return to the investigation.

“Thank you for the reminder, sergeant,” replied the inspector with a shade of annoyance. “Please take a seat, Miss Biding. Although it seems a little odd to invite you to sit down in your own house, but I’m afraid we do have to ask you some questions about Mr. Cope’s murder.”

“Poor Uncle Horace! Isn’t it awful!”

“Uncle Horace? You mean he was …”

“Oh no,” responded Laura hastily. “Don’t misunderstand me. I called him Uncle, but he wasn’t actually a relative – he was one of those old friends of the family. He’s been around forever, and he was always buying me presents and taking me out to the theatre or for meals and so on. I expect it was because I was an only child. Perhaps he thought I was lonely.”

“So very close then?”

“I think he even introduced my mother to my stepfather. Sorry, that’s Lord Lawdown, of course. It’s a bit complicated, isn’t it?” She looked up wide-eyed at Andy Constable.

“I think we get the general gist, miss,” the inspector reassured her. “And Lord Lawdown himself died a little while ago, I believe.”

“Yes,” assented Laura. “So my mother’s a widow now. Twice over, actually.”

“So your real father …?”

“Oh, he died when I was a tiny child. I hardly remember him at all. It wasn’t the sort of thing that got talked about when I was growing up.”

“No, of course, miss. I quite understand.” Inspector Constable thought for a moment. “Can you tell me who was in the house at the time of the murder.”

Laura reflected. “There was Mother and me, and we had a few people in for drinks before the start of the fete. There’s Seymour, who’s staying with us … Mother’s friend Helen from the village … Robin, that’s another friend … Horace’s cousin Albert … and of course Mr. Pugh. That’s the vicar – he was supposed to open the fete at one o’clock. Oh, I almost forgot – Amelia Cook was in the kitchen because Mother asked her to do the catering. Amelia runs the village tearooms, you see. Good Lord – I hope she’s not still in there making sandwiches!”

“Don’t worry, miss, we’ll check on that. So you’re sure that nobody else was in the house at the time of the crime? No servants?”

“No, we don’t have any live-in staff. There’s Mrs. Richards who comes up from the village in the mornings to do the cleaning, but she’s always gone long before mid-day, which is when Uncle Horace arrived.”

“Could anyone else have gained access to the house without you knowing? After all, you did have a large number of people in the grounds.”

“I can’t see how. The front door was open, but I’m sure nobody could have got past the drawing room without being seen. We always keep the house quite secure these days. We had a burglary a few months ago – nothing too serious, mostly just a few pieces of silver, but there’s not really all that much in the way of valuables left to steal these days. Anyway, after that, we always make sure that the doors are locked.”

“What doors are there, miss?” asked Sergeant Copper. “I am going to have to check.”

“Not that many, actually. There is a door to the kitchen from the stable yard, but that’s one of the ones we keep locked, and Amelia was in there anyway. The french windows in this room and the drawing room are always bolted, and so are the ones out on to the West Terrace from the dining room. The door from the flower room is usually open, but the terrace only leads to the Secret Garden anyway, and the gate in there is always locked.”

“We know that, miss,” replied Copper. “We tried it. Can you let us have a key, please.”

“Certainly, sergeant. There’s one hanging on a hook in the flower room. I used it yesterday. Would you like me to fetch it for you?”

“If you wouldn’t mind, Miss Biding,” said Inspector Constable. “I think that’s all for the moment. If you could just pop the key in to us, and then ask the other lady if she could come through.”

Laura Biding left the library, and reappeared in only a matter of seconds. “I’m sorry, inspector. That key … it’s gone.”

Helen Highwater knocked at the library door.

“Please come in, madam. Have a seat.” Dave Copper indicated a chair in front of the desk, behind which Inspector Constable had taken position. The sergeant seated himself unobtrusively near the fireplace.

“I’m afraid I have to ask you some questions about today’s events, madam. We’ll try not to keep you too long.”

“Oh, I quite understand, inspector. You have your duty to do. And Sandra says you’re very good, so I’m sure you’ll have everything sorted out in a tick. Sandra’s such a good judge of character.”

“Sandra?”

“Oh, I’m so sorry, inspector. I meant Lady Lawdown, of course. I forgot that you don’t know her as well as I do. Yes, we’ve known each other for years. Ever since she came to live here, which of course is ages ago now. And her husband was a dear, dear friend. Now he was a lovely man. Such a shame he died. I was very upset. But Sandra just picked herself up and got on with everything. Said she had to keep the Lawdown flag flying over the Hall, so she carried on with all the traditions, and she’s so devoted to public service, and of course things like the fete are so important in a village like this, don’t you agree? So that’s why we were all here today, because Sandra always has a little party for a few of her friends just before the fete starts, and of course she asked me, and I think I was the first to arrive. So …” She took a deep breath. “How can I help you?”