WE HAD JUST FOUND a second box of biscuits, this one some crumbly shortbread, when Miss Kleinman came into the room. “Everyone, the police have arrived. I’m sure they will want to talk to you, so please give them your full cooperation. Would you like some tea before you begin?”
“No.”
I recognized that abrupt voice and looked up from the biscuits to see the lean, dark-haired figure I was expecting. His gaze darted across the room and landed right on me. “Miss Pengear.” It was somewhere between a sigh and a groan.
“Inspector Wainwright. How nice to see you."
“There's no need to lie. I know you're slightly more pleased than I am. Is there a body?"
Miss Kleinman looked from one of us to the other.
Mr. Morris broke the silence. “I'm certain I told your receptionist it was a robbery."
“Which is what she told me. However, Miss Pengear has an uncanny curse for finding dead bodies. Never mind. Show me the scene of the crime."
Miss Kleinman looked back at me. I shrugged. I had told her I knew people at Scotland Yard. She gave me a sort of half nod that seemed to say she had enough trouble to deal with already and led Inspector Wainwright back into the hallway. I wanted to follow and hear what Inspector Wainwright thought of the crime scene, but of all the Scotland Yard inspectors I knew, he appreciated my help the least, and that was saying something.
Miss Henderson looked up from the tea kettle. “Should someone let Mr. Kleinman know he’s here?”
My chance, or at least my excuse. “I’ll get him.”
~ * ~ * ~
Mr. Kleinman was in his office, sitting behind his desk. He looked up when he heard me open the door and slipped the paper he was reading under the blotter. I walked to his desk as I said, “The man from Scotland Yard is here. Inspector Wainwright.”
“Excellent. Lead the way.”
I turned back towards the door, but not before I caught a glimpse of the paper he’d been trying to hide. Only two words had been visible, but they were “Lady Suffolk.” I supposed it was natural that she would be the first person he’d want to contact, but why was he so insistent on not insuring her necklace? Maybe he was going to ask her to take it back in light of the morning’s events, I speculated as I led the way to the crime scene.
We found Miss Kleinman in the short hallway outside of the crime scene. Inspector Wainwright was walking through the foyer, studying the floor as he made his way around. There were two constables standing near the table in the corner of the foyer. I recognized Constable Edwards as the one standing nearer the door waiting for orders and Constable Kittering as the one taking notes.
Mr. Kleinman went to stand by his sister. I leaned against the door to the main hallway, which meant I could hear everything that was said and see most of it while not being readily noticeable myself. Not that it would fool Inspector Wainwright for long, but he was engrossed in his crime scene and wouldn’t be looking for anything but clues for a little while yet. He was still walking around the foyer, firing off questions without looking up. “I take it the missing pieces were insured?”
Miss Kleinman gave Mr. Kleinman a look of controlled panic.
“They were insured, correct?”
“Well,” Mr. Kleinman answered, “there might be some grey area with that.”
Inspector Wainwright straightened up and looked directly at them, slapping his notebook cover against the backing. “Some grey area? You own a jewelry store with thousands of pounds worth of jewelry inside, and you don’t know if it’s insured?”
Miss Kleinman fixed Inspector Wainwright with her best schoolmarm look. “It’s not that simple, Inspector. We are in the process of switching the company who carries our policy. As I am sure you are aware, companies do not like to pay claims like this. The uncertainty is simply over which policy was in force when the theft occurred and how we will get the company to pay us what we’re due.”
Inspector Wainwright tapped his pencil against the page. “Who knew about the change?”
“All of our employees had at least some idea. We were here before the shop opened to talk with the new representative, and that was why we hired Miss Pengear. She was the only person outside of the company whom we told. However, her references are excellent.” She turned to me. “You would not have told anyone, correct?”
I used the question as an excuse to join her by the door so I could see into the foyer and the vault. “My landlady knows where I am, no one else.”
Miss Kleinman nodded. “You will have to ask the insurance companies directly whom they told.”
“And your employees. And whoever they told.” Inspector Wainwright scribbled something in his notebook that I suspected was nonsense since nothing worth writing about had occurred. “Now your staff will need to be questioned to see if they have anything helpful to add.”
“Of course. You can use one of the offices.”
Mr. Morris peered around the edge of the door and I realized he had been eavesdropping as well. “I’m sorry to interrupt, Miss Kleinman.”
“That’s all right, Mr. Morris.”
Inspector Wainwright gave her a look that said it wasn’t all right, and she glared right back at him. “You needed something, Mr. Morris?”
“I heard you were wondering about which policy was in force.”
So he’d been listening for a while, then.
Miss Kleinman nodded.
“Mr. Tolland said that the new policy would take effect as soon as the paperwork was filed, and I believe the last information needed was the descriptions.”
“And the first of those were dropped off last night, so any pieces that were dealt with yesterday will be under the new policy. That just leaves the question of the un-described pieces. Thank you, Mr. Morris.”
Mr. Morris nodded and slipped back into the hallway. I tried to see where he was watching from but couldn’t, which was unfortunate since if I couldn’t find it, I couldn’t use it myself.
Inspector Wainwright continued as if there had been no interruption. “I will need an inventory of what has been taken.”
Mr. Kleinman looked up. “Deborah would be better at that.”
Inspector Wainwright turned to her, waiting for an answer.
“Of course, provided I can look through the room and check what is still in the safes.”
“Constable Edwards will stay with you. Touch as little as possible.”
Miss Kleinman took a notepad from the chatelaine at her waist and a pair of gloves from the pocket of her skirt before she stepped carefully through the foyer and into the vault. “I’ll begin at this end, if you don’t mind.” She went to the safe she had begun with the previous morning.
Constable Edwards nodded, and I watched as Miss Kleinman went through each tray, occasionally glancing at the floor―presumably to see what had been dropped during the robbery―and making notes.
Mr. Kleinman nodded to the door. “If you’d like, Inspector, I can show you to an office where you can start your interviews.”
“Constable Kittering can handle the initial interviews. He will begin with this Miss Crawford.”
“It’s her day off,” Miss Kleinman said without looking up from the trays.
“Then Mr. Garver.”
Constable Kittering saluted and left with Mr. Kleinman.
“Miss Pengear, you’re not needed here. You may retire to the lounge with the others.”
Inspector Wainwright did not look like he would listen to an argument, so I smiled as sweetly as I could and left the vault.
As I passed through the hallway, I noticed light hitting the wall in a way that made me think the front door had been opened. That did not seem to be the safest thing under the circumstances, so I went to close it. I was at the door to the sales floor when I realized the only reason the door would have been opened was to admit the police, meaning Inspector Wainwright was probably the last person to have been there, and he certainly would not have left it open. Briefly, I considered going to the lounge and getting reinforcements, or at least someone to put the odds in my favor if we did encounter the thief, and then I reminded myself that we hadn’t seen anyone who didn’t belong and I was being ridiculous, and I hadn’t taken my hat off yet, which meant I had access to three particularly fine, long hatpins. With these comforting thoughts, and the thought of how foolish I’d look going into the lounge and asking someone to come with me to close a door, I made my way to the sales floor.
“Miss Pengear I believe it is, correct?”
“Hello, Mr. Tolland.” Of course, the insurance man. The entire reason I was here this morning. How could I have forgotten?
“The door was unlocked, but I don’t seem to see anyone around.”
“There was a―bit of an incident. I think you’d better come in and speak to someone.”
He nodded and followed me into the shop.
Now to determine the best place to put him. I wanted him to talk to Miss Kleinman or Mr. Kleinman first, but they were probably still busy with Inspector Wainwright. The lounge was filled with the staff, which meant gossip, and I didn’t think that was the best thing for him to be hearing. An office. Constable Kittering was probably already in Mr. Kleinman's, but I knew which one was Miss Kleinman’s. That seemed to be the best course of action. “I’m sure Miss Kleinman will want to explain everything. If you wouldn’t mind waiting in her office for just a moment.” I had timed it so I would be speaking to him as we passed the door to the vault room, meaning he had to look at me and hopefully not notice Inspector Wainwright and Miss Kleinman inside.
“Certainly.”
But I had forgotten the lounge. Not that it existed, only that we would have to walk right past it as we went to the office. And as luck would have it, that was just as Miss Eaton was enthusiastically theorizing.
“Maybe they used a cast or something like that in place of the hand. That could have over-ridden the lock.”
“Do you think?” Miss Henderson asked.
“If it did,” Miss Peters said, “I bet there would still be plaster dust inside. We should make certain they check.”
I pretended I hadn’t heard anything and kept walking briskly towards the offices, but that was exactly the sort of thing I was trying to avoid having him hear.
Mr. Tolland didn’t say anything until we were in the office, and then it was merely a polite acknowledgment of my offer to get Miss Kleinman while he sat. I didn’t know him well enough to know if I should read anything into that, so I hurried to the vault room.
As I crossed the hall to the crime scene, I could see that Inspector Wainwright was still questioning the Kleinmans. “What’s upstairs?”
“We only have access to the first floor. Miss Fairfield and Mr. Morris have their workrooms up there. The rest is storage. There are flats above, but they don't share an entrance with us.”
Inspector Wainwright didn’t bother to write that down. “Now I will need a list of anyone with access to the shop that is not here today.”
Mr. Kleinman answered from the short hallway. “One of the shop assistants isn’t in; it’s her day off. There’s the insurance man, although he doesn’t have a key. Our charwoman, Mrs. Donovan.”
“Is there anyone else?”
Mr. Kleinman shook his head. “Unless you want to talk to some of our suppliers, but they wouldn’t have access to the keys either.”
Inspector Wainwright put his notebook back in his pocket. “I’ll need a list of addresses; however, I don’t think it will be necessary to contact them at this juncture.”
That seemed to be a good time to interrupt. I poked my head into the foyer so I could see Miss Kleinman in the vault. “Miss Kleinman? Mr. Tolland is in your office.”
Miss Kleinman pinched the bridge of her nose as she let the notebook fall to her side. “Of course he is. How could we have forgotten about him? Gentlemen, if you will excuse me. Will you need to speak to him, Inspector?” Everything about her tone said please say no, but I was fairly certain Inspector Wainwright ignored that. Still, he said,
“Not today. I trust you have his address?”
“Of course. The business address should be sufficient. I’ll give it to you with any others you need. This inventory should be accurate, but I will be able to do a more thorough job when I can move things around. Miss Pengear, if you wouldn’t mind bringing us some tea, it might smooth things over.”
“Of course.” I followed her back into the hallway. She didn’t seem to be in the mood to talk, so we walked in silence to the point where I turned to the lounge.