The Masterful Mr. Montague Read online

  They could have walked down The Mall and through Green Park, but that would have taken more than half an hour. Reaching the pavement, they hailed a hackney and, ten minutes later, reached Barnaby’s front door.

  Barnaby used his latchkey and led the way into his front hall. Mostyn, summoned by some mysterious alchemy, arrived to take their coats. “The ladies and the children are in the garden parlor, sir.”

  “Thank you, Mostyn.” Barnaby led Stokes down the short corridor to the comfortable parlor that ran along one side of the rear half of the house.

  Other than the library on the opposite side of the town house, the garden parlor was the room Penelope was most likely to be found in, especially when she had Oliver or others with her. One long side of the room and the wall at the far end were principally composed of windows and French doors; during the day, the room was awash with light. On chilly evenings, as now, the windows and glassed doors were covered by long curtains, and a large fire burned in the fireplace that occupied the center of the long inner wall. Well-padded damask-covered sofas and chairs were arranged around the room, and numerous lamps added their warm glow to the golden light thrown by the fire. Penelope’s garden parlor was a perennially cozy and welcoming space.

  The sight that met Barnaby’s and Stokes’s eyes as they walked in was one designed to warm the cockles of any man’s heart. Both Penelope and Griselda were sitting on the floor in the space between the twin sofas, their skirts billowing about them. Both were laughing, their gazes, their entire attentions, fixed on the two infants who were rolling on a thick fur rug spread over the Aubusson carpet a safe distance from the grate and its screen.

  Hearing their footsteps, both ladies looked up; seeing their husbands, they smiled.

  Barnaby and Stokes halted, both drinking in the sight, then, as one, they smiled back and went forward to join their families.

  To kiss their wives’ proffered cheeks, then sink onto the floor and join in the game of interacting with and entertaining their children.

  For the next twenty minutes, no mention was made of murder, money, or anything to do with the investigation.

  But eventually the children grew sleepy. Getting to her feet, Penelope paused to look down at their small assembly with a certain satisfaction, then went to the bellpull and tugged.

  The nursemaids—Oliver’s Hettie and Megan’s Gloria—had been waiting for the summons. Both arrived and carted their charges off to settle them in the nursery. Mostyn, who had also come in, gathered up the rug and the children’s toys and followed, pausing only to say, “Dinner is waiting, ma’am. We can serve immediately if you wish.”

  “Thank you, Mostyn,” Penelope said. “We’ll go in.”

  Wrapped in the lingering warmth the children brought to them, the couples ambled toward the dining room, still sharing anecdotes of the children’s days, of their latest fascinating exploits.

  Only after they’d settled about the dining table and Mostyn had served the first course did the talk turn to matters criminal.

  At their ladies’ urging, Stokes, aided by Barnaby, reported on theirs and Montague’s discoveries over that afternoon. Neither made any attempt to hold back; given Penelope had been present when they’d stumbled upon Runcorn’s murder, any notion of keeping their ladies distanced from proceedings was, both accepted, futile.

  As Barnaby and Stokes had come to expect, Penelope and Griselda had questions, some especially insightful and acute.

  It was Penelope who focused on the grounds on which both the teller and the street-sweeper had labeled the woman who had removed the money from the bank a lady. After several minutes of discussion, they agreed that the judgment had been based on dress, deportment, and speech, all of which, as Griselda pointed out, could easily be assumed.

  Subsequently, Penelope summarized, “So on the basis of the sightings near Runcorn’s office, and the associated searching of the Halstead papers, we believe Runcorn’s murderer to be one of the males of the Halstead bloodline. We’re assuming he killed Runcorn and arranged for some female, who was to pass as a lady, to present a forged letter to the bank the following morning and thus remove all the funds from Lady Halstead’s account.” Dark eyes bright, she looked around the table. As heads nodded, she asked, “Is it possible that someone else killed Runcorn, and the Halstead male simply searched the papers left on Runcorn’s desk?”

  Stokes considered for only a moment before shaking his head. “Unlikely given the timing of the sightings of our Halstead male outside the office. He entered soon after Pringle had left. If his sole purpose for visiting Runcorn was to search the papers—or have Runcorn provide information from them—then he would have seen Runcorn alive and left while Runcorn was still alive, and the papers on Runcorn’s desk wouldn’t have been in such a mess.”

  “Hmm.” Penelope nodded. “Yes, I will have to allow you that—which means that it was, indeed, our Halstead male who killed poor Runcorn.”

  Griselda frowned. “From your description of Runcorn’s body, I take it that you don’t believe he could have been killed by a woman, lady or not.” When Stokes, Barnaby, and Penelope nodded, Griselda asked, “What about Lady Halstead? Could she have been killed by a woman?”

  Stokes glanced at Barnaby. “Yes, she could have been. Her ladyship was ageing, frail, and physically weak. Any woman of average height and strength could have held the pillow over her ladyship’s face long enough to do the deed.”

  “So,” Griselda went on, “it’s possible we’re looking at two different murderers, whether acting in concert, as a conspiracy, or even possibly independently. We might be looking at a female and a Halstead male, or even two Halstead males, or a single Halstead male.”

  Several seconds ticked by, then Barnaby grimaced. “You’re right that we can’t tell if we’re looking at one murderer or two, but I seriously doubt they acted independently. The correlation between Lady Halstead being murdered so soon after announcing she was having her affairs put in order, and then Runcorn, the person actively engaged in putting her ladyship’s affairs in order, being murdered is simply too great.” Barnaby met the others’ eyes. “The motive for both murders is the same—to conceal those deposits. Subsequently, to prevent that money being absorbed into the estate, he, or they, removed it before we had a chance to put a watch on the bank and catch them.”

  Penelope nodded. “That’s logically sound.” After a moment, she went on, “From what Montague discovered, those deposits derive from some illegal trade, so we can assume that the drive to conceal the deposits is fueled by the fear of scandal. So by my reckoning, the one person in the family who isn’t involved in the murders is Wallace Camberly. He couldn’t have been the man seen near Runcorn’s office, could he? And so . . .” Breaking off, she wrinkled her nose. “I’ve just seen the hole in that. The person fearing the scandal might be Wallace, but he or his wife or his son could have killed Lady Halstead, and his son could have killed Runcorn.”

  “Exactly.” Glumly, Stokes grimaced. “If you entertain the possibility that there’s more than one of them involved, then any member of the family, females as well as males, could be one of the murderers—a male or a female having killed Lady Halstead and any male having killed Runcorn.”

  “But”—Griselda held up a hand—“it’s very much harder to see anyone other than a family member, even a female, being one of the murderers.”

  “Not unless there was evidence of some relationship between said female and one of the family’s males,” Penelope said. “And given what you’ve told us of the family’s social attitudes, I seriously doubt any of the men would have stooped to dallying with Lady Halstead’s staff, not even with Miss Matcham.”

  Barnaby snorted. “I’d put the boot on the other foot—I seriously doubt Miss Matcham would have stooped to having anything to do with any of the Halstead males.”

  Penelope frowned. “So where does that leave us?”

  Stokes growled, “Wanting alibis from the lot of them for the nights o
f both murders.” He stirred, sitting straighter as Mostyn reached around him to remove his plate. “I’ll have to see them all again shortly and broach that topic, which will no doubt prove to be a minefield.”

  Mostyn had silently worked around them, pouring wine and serving and removing courses. As he unobtrusively set out the cheese platter and a fruit trifle, Barnaby glanced at Penelope. “In your note you said the pair of you had had a wonderful day learning more about the Halsteads and the Camberlys. So what did you learn? And from whom?”

  “I fear what we learned was more by way of background information than directly relevant fact.” Reaching to serve herself from the trifle, Penelope grinned. “Griselda can tell you about the first part, which was the most interesting, then I’ll fill you in on the rest.”

  Griselda described their visit to the shops in Kensington High Street and related the gist of all they’d heard from the shop assistants. “In essence, the households of Mortimer Halstead and that of Cynthia Camberly, née Halstead, are engaged in a form of competition.”

  “A cutthroat one, by all accounts.” Penelope was engaged in hunting out the raspberries in her bowl.

  “Mind you,” Griselda said, “while the competition rages fiercely at the family level, the staffs view the antics of their betters with general amusement that borders on bemusement.”

  Stokes frowned in open puzzlement. “Why would an adult brother and sister behave like that?”

  “Ah.” Having emptied her bowl, Penelope set down her spoon. “Remember my earlier conjecture, based on, I might remind you, your own observations from your meeting with the family—that there was an intense competitiveness between Mortimer and Cynthia that I attributed to them being so close in age and therefore vying for their parents’ attention?”

  When both Barnaby and Stokes nodded, Penelope grinned. “I was right about the competitiveness—although it’s even worse than I guessed—but I wasn’t entirely right about the reason for it. And despite the Halsteads and the Camberlys largely falling outside the sphere of the grandes dames, both Lady Osbaldestone and Caro had significant insights to share.”

  Penelope proceeded to present a concise summation of the pertinent observations those ladies had imparted. “So, to bring it all down to a nutshell, it’s a combination of personal ambition and intense inter-sibling rivalry that drives all the Halstead children—Mortimer and Cynthia especially, but I doubt either Maurice or William are unaffected, at least with respect to the rivalry.”

  Stokes and Barnaby had been following the ladies’ revelations with all due concentration.

  After several moments, Stokes slowly nodded. He met Penelope’s eyes, then looked at Griselda. “Thank you. Courtesy of your efforts, we now have a very firm idea of what these people are like, of what’s important to them. And through that, you’ve solved one looming difficulty about motive—it’s rare for anyone to commit matricide, especially without any strong degree of personal animosity between mother and child. We know there was no strong antipathy between Lady Halstead and her children, so, if the family had been otherwise normal, it should have required a motive of immense weight to force one of her children to kill her. But they aren’t a normal family, and with the degree of parental neglect described by Lady Osbaldestone, the reason behind Lady Halstead’s murder at the hands of one of her children wouldn’t need to be so overwhelmingly powerful.” Stokes’s lips curved in almost feral anticipation. “Your information puts us on a much firmer footing with regard to the Halsteads. That’s going to be a considerable help when next we interview them and ask for their alibis—which is going to have to be soon.”

  “Apropos of that next meeting,” Penelope said, “in light of the usefulness of the information Griselda and I gathered, I really think that, if at all possible, she and I should be present.” Undeterred when neither Stokes nor Barnaby looked enthused, Penelope stated, “We see more than you do.”

  That was uncontestable. Stokes shifted. “I can’t imagine how we might arrange that—the family will question your presence.”

  “Actually,” Penelope said, “Lady Halstead’s funeral is to be held the day after tomorrow. The notice was in The Times this morning. As far as I can see, there’s nothing to prevent me and Griselda from joining the mourners, or attending the wake afterward, and I’m sure if we have a word to Miss Matcham, we’ll be able to pass ourselves off as her supporters and, with any luck, attend the reading of the will as well.”

  Barnaby eyed his wife’s irrepressible smile and inwardly shook his head. She had it all worked out, and as there was no danger involved . . . he glanced at Stokes. “It’s a good idea.” He could see in Stokes’s gray eyes that, despite his reservations, he agreed. Looking back at Penelope, Barnaby said, “If nothing else, you and Griselda will be able to monitor the family’s reactions and emotions while Stokes and I deal with the alibis.”

  “Exactly,” Penelope beamed. She looked at Stokes. “So it’s settled. Griselda and I will accompany you to the funeral and the wake.”

  I have to admit,” Penelope said, leading the way into their bedroom several hours later, “that I am very much looking forward to attending Lady Halstead’s funeral, and even more her wake.”

  Following his wife into the room and shutting the door, Barnaby grinned. “Only you, my love, could say such a thing, and with such jubilant, jaunty expectation.”

  Penelope shot him a grin of her own. “It’s . . . engaging to be involved in an investigation like this.” Turning to the mirror set above her dressing table, she started pulling pins from her dark hair, which had been anchored in a complicated knot on the top of her head. “I’d forgotten how enthralling it can be. Identifying a murderer, especially one in a case such as this, is such a complex puzzle, one made even more absorbing and challenging because one needs to learn about people, to understand them, their aspirations and motivations, and put those all together in order to find one’s way through the maze and reach the conclusion.”

  Barnaby shrugged out of his coat and draped it over his dressing stand, then unknotted and unraveled his cravat. While he understood—few better—Penelope’s attraction to investigations, especially those of the criminal variety, he still wasn’t entirely sure of how he felt about her plunging back into that arena.

  “I know Griselda and I helped a bit with that business with Henrietta and James, but that was primarily by way of planning and organizing, which is all very well but lacks the challenge of an investigation.” Her dark hair swinging loose, Penelope removed her necklace and earrings, then picked up her brush and started drawing it through her lush locks.

  His shirt hanging open, Barnaby found himself, as ever, drawn by the sight. Walking slowly to stand behind her, he set his fingers to the long row of tiny buttons running down the back of her gown.

  Feeling the tugs, after a moment Penelope set down her brush and stood straight and still, her hands on her hips, making it easier for him to slip the tiny loops over the rounded buttons.

  “That said,” she declared, “we—Griselda and I—are both still feeling our way, at least as to how much of our time we are willing to devote to investigating. Clearly, there has to be a balance struck, a weighing up, if you will, between all the other things we value in our lives, against the intellectual stimulation we derive from investigations.”

  He found knowing she was thinking along those lines comforting, yet . . . still engaged with her buttons, he murmured, “You and Griselda did well today.” After a moment of inner wrestling, he added, “I hadn’t realized you were going out again, that you had such an excursion in mind.”

  “We hadn’t thought of it before you left, but once we did . . .” She shrugged. “It was something Griselda and I could do that you and Stokes couldn’t. And, even better, it required no special consideration.”

  He frowned. “Special consideration?” The last button undone, he looked up.

  She slid the sleeves of the gown down her arms, pushed and wriggled until the skirts
shushed to the floor, then stepped out of them. Tossing the gown over her dressing table stool, she set her spectacles on the table and, clad only in a gossamer-fine chemise, turned to him. “Special consideration as to whether there was any danger involved.”

  “Ah.” He reached for her and she came into his arms, her small hands slipping under the hanging halves of his shirt to spread, tactilely greedy, over his chest, even as his fastened about her waist, the sleekness of her skin screened from his touch only by the finest silk.

  Tipping back her head, she looked into his face, then arched a questioning brow.

  They hadn’t bothered to light any lamp. Through the dimness, he met her gaze. “While I’m glad—and relieved—to know that you do, in fact, stop to consider that point, I have to admit that the key issue for me, and Stokes, too, in you and Griselda involving yourselves to a greater extent in our investigations is the question of the danger such involvement may bring. The risks you might, even unwittingly, take, the physical threats that might eventuate.”

  She tilted her head, a particular habit, as she studied his face, reading not just his eyes but his expression, then her lips gently curved. “You might be interested in a particular insight Lady Osbaldestone shared with us today. While she was speaking of the Halstead family, both Griselda and I took due note—as one needs to do when a lady as old and wise as Lady Osbaldestone shares her views.”

  “Indubitably,” Barnaby said, the cynicism in his tone quite clear.

  Penelope grinned. “Regardless, I—and Griselda, too—believed this was one time, one revelation, that was too apt not to give due weight. In describing how the Halstead family, the current generation, came to be such a fractious brood, Lady Osbaldestone pointed to the single fact that, as children, they did not have the direct presence of their parents. Their parents weren’t dead, but they were not there. Not present to guide and steer, to act as examples. In Lady Osbaldestone’s view, that’s the reason why, despite the senior Halsteads being exemplary people, their children are anything but.”