THE MORNING AFTER THE DINNER PARTY, I had a bit of a lie-in, as they say here, then went out to the bakery down the street for cake and picked up a newspaper on the way back. I didn’t think there would be anything about the murder yet, if it was a murder, but there was a chance, and I wanted to see what the official word was.
Back home, I put the kettle on and scanned the paper. By the time the kettle started to boil, I’d made it through the first section of the paper with no mention of the Carrollton dinner party.
I was just settling back down with my tea — Earl Grey with a nice bit of Victoria sponge — when I was interrupted by a frantic pounding on the door. I wasn’t sure if I’d find a damsel running from a penny-dreadful villain or a bill collector at the wrong flat when I opened the door. I’d barely gotten the door open when Mrs. Albright burst in with Mrs. Pomeroy just behind her. “It was poison.”
It took me a minute to associate that with Mr. Ainsworth’s death. “Are you certain?”
Mrs. Pomeroy nodded. “They came early this morning and took everything from the dinner preparations.”
I brought extra cups from the kitchen. “But that doesn’t make any sense. Everyone at the table ate from the same serving plates.”
“That’s what Mr. Carrollton said, but they took everything. Even the plates.”
I‘d thought Mr. Carrollton wanted to save everything from the meal so he could give it to the police, but Mrs. Pomeroy looked so upset I didn’t want to add to her distress.
Mrs. Albright spotted my teapot and started pouring out. The distraction gave me a chance to think.
“Maybe they just want to rule out all of the food. Inspector Hamilton struck me as a very thorough man.”
“Then why am I being summoned to Scotland Yard?” Mrs. Pomeroy’s voice went up as she spoke, ending in something like a squeak.
“That’s why we’re here.” Mrs. Albright gave Mrs. Pomeroy a cup of my tea. “We want you to come with us. You’re so good at dealing with policemen. And you know people there.”
I was ready to make up an excuse — just because I was known at Scotland Yard didn’t mean I was popular, but I saw Mrs. Pomeroy’s hand shake as she took the teacup. “I suppose I could come along for moral support, but I don’t think I’d be much other help.”
“I knew you would come.” Mrs. Albright was beaming at me.
As I went to get my hat and bag, I saw Mrs. Albright give Mrs. Pomeroy my cake. It did seem to perk her up a little.
~ * ~ * ~
At Scotland Yard, I gave Mrs. Pomeroy’s name at the reception desk, and we were sent directly up to Inspector Hamilton’s office, which turned out to be a small closet of a room, barely big enough to hold a desk and a filing cabinet. Through the door, I could see Inspector Hamilton was seated behind the desk, looking at a file of papers that he had balanced over the clutter spread out across the blotter. I recognized the folder as the sort used for case files, so I deduced he was most likely reviewing his own notes.
When the three of us entered his office, Inspector Hamilton’s eyebrows shot up. Clearly he hadn’t been expecting the whole lot of us to turn up. But he hid it quickly. “Mrs. Pomeroy, thank you for coming. I wanted to verify the menu you served.”
“It couldn’t have been my food. I’ve cooked for Mr. Carrollton—” I could hear her voice going up again, threatening to surpass the heights it had reached in my flat.
Inspector Hamilton must have heard the same things in her voice as I did, since he interrupted her almost at once. “We believe we know how the poison was administered; we just want to confirm what was eaten.”
Mrs. Pomeroy sat down abruptly. Inspector Hamilton belatedly moved his hat and coat to the file cabinet so he could offer me and Mrs. Albright the chairs revealed underneath.
“Well, we started with salmon mousse, then salad, then the soup, and the poached whitefish with asparagus was supposed to come next, followed by strawberry trifle, but of course we never got that far, so Ross and I had the trifle for a late night tea after you left. We’re both fine. Well, Ross isn’t feeling so well, but that had nothing to do with the trifle. His head, you see.”
“Mr. Ross has a room at the house? I thought he was no longer part of the household.”
“No, he isn't, but he was wandering in the back garden after you left saying he couldn’t find a cab, so I had him bed down in the coatroom with some cushions from the settee in the servants’ sitting room.”
“And why was Ross there to begin with?”
“Most our regular staff was ill.”
“But why Ross, specifically?”
“He had been employed in the house as butler before Mr. Belmont, so Mr. Carrollton remembered him.”
“And the other replacement staff?”
“It was very last-minute, so I asked my dear friend Agnes here, and she found Cassie for me.”
“Miss Pengear is one of my lodgers.”
Inspector Hamilton moved a few things around on his cluttered desk so he could make space for a box he had under his chair. “And back to the dinner menu. I have some bottles here. Was anything else to drink served?”
Mrs. Pomeroy looked at the bottles lined up in the box. “Brandy when they arrived. The Chardonnay was meant for the fish. The Burgundy from the study after dinner. And the Vouvray with the first course and kept through the salad. That seems right.”
“Nothing else? No tea?”
“Not before he — not before.”
“And then there were buckets of it. Very well, that was all I needed.”
“So I can leave?” Mrs. Pomeroy sprang to her feet, bumping the desk in her haste. “I’m so sorry.”
Inspector Hamilton covered his hand in a handkerchief and caught the bits and pieces before they rolled away. “No harm done.”
I scanned the items: a money clip, a blue enamel pillbox inlaid with gold leaves, a book of matches, a pocket watch, a scrap of paper.
“I am sorry to have called you over, but I did need to confirm the information for my report—”
“No trouble at all.” Mrs. Pomeroy was already halfway out the door, probably hoping to get away before he changed his mind.
Mrs. Albright poked me in the back as she rose to leave. I understood what she was asking. I fumbled with my coat as Mrs. Albright followed Mrs. Pomeroy out the door. When I heard the latch click into place, I looked up.
Inspector Hamilton was staring at me, waiting. “I’d offer to help you with that, but I think it would defeat the purpose. What did she want you to ask?”
He didn’t seem upset, so I decide to be honest. “Mrs. Pomeroy is in a state. She’s convinced you suspect her cooking.”
“I thought it might be something like that. Only natural, I suppose, considering her cooking is her livelihood. I can give you one piece of information that has not been released, if it will stop you from interfering and put her mind at ease.”
I smiled at him, trying to avoid making a promise I would quite likely not be keeping.
“I spoke to Inspector Burrows about you. He seems to think you can be trusted. At least to avoid telling anyone else; he seemed to have some doubts about the ‘not interfering’ part. We’re certain the poison was not in the food. It was in his medicine.”
“The medicine? So you suspect Mrs. Delford? She seemed so devoted.”
“I said one piece of information, and that’s all you’re getting. That should be enough to put Mrs. Pomeroy’s mind at ease. Now, your friends are probably waiting for you.” He took my coat and held it for me.
I wanted to stay on Inspector Hamilton’s good side, at least for now, so I slid into my coat, gathered up my handbag and took one last look at the objects on the desk. Inspector Hamilton gave me a good two minutes to stare at the objects, then dropped his papers over them. “Shall I show you to the door?”
“I think I can manage to find it. Good afternoon.”
I found Mrs. Albright and Mrs. Pomeroy waiting by the door to the outer office. “Well?” Mrs. Albright had her arm around Mrs. Pomeroy.
I leaned in as if I was going to open the door for them. “It was in the pills, not the food.”
I could see the tension leave Mrs. Pomeroy’s shoulders. “I knew it couldn’t be my cooking.”
I pushed the door open. “Let’s get out of here.”
“There’s a tea shop just around the corner.”
I didn’t want to know how Mrs. Albright knew that. “Let’s go there, then.”