After a rather bleary-eyed breakfast the next morning, Fina and Ruby made their way to Vera’s room.
Fina half carried, half dragged, the bags full of Vera’s gowns. They were finally complete. If she could get through the next few minutes in Vera’s presence, she wouldn’t have to openly interact with her any further. She did feel like she had the upper hand, though, since the dress unveiling provided a convenient excuse to confront Vera about her violent behaviour last night.
Instead of her usual gliding motion, Ruby’s step seemed a little more leaden this morning. Hardly surprising given how late they had stayed up the night before. Fina held her woozy head.
As they approached Vera’s door along a long corridor, Fina noticed how preternaturally quiet it was. There were a number of rooms along the corridor and yet it was completely silent.
Ruby tapped on Vera’s door. Fina could feel cold air streaming out, over her ankles.
No answer.
Ruby knocked.
Silence.
Then she banged at it again.
Fina’s heart began to race, even though she said in a calm voice that was surely not her own, “Must be sleeping.”
“But do you feel cold air at your feet? The window must be wide open inside.”
“Maybe she likes to sleep with oodles of fresh air?” said Fina, not believing her own statement for a moment.
“Let’s find a scout,” said Ruby. “I’m worried.”
Beatrice was wandering the halls, picking up errant pieces of linen from the bathrooms. Fina thought her trembling curls looked a little less, well, curly today. Must be her own overactive imagination. In times of strain, Fina fixated on the most insignificant details around her – such as someone’s hair. It had come in handy in their past cases, she had to admit.
Ruby strode up to Beatrice. “Miss Truelove, we’re concerned about Vera Sapperton’s well-being. We’ve knocked on her door – loudly – several times. There’s no answer.”
“Well, that one has a wicked night life, if you ask me,” said Beatrice. “Comes in all hours and sleeps in late. I know, because she often comes in past curfew and I have to get up and let her in,” she said, shaking her head. “When she came in last night, it was gone one o’clock. Still sound asleep, like as not.”
Ruby stood still. Waiting.
Beatrice looked up at her. “Oh, very well,” she said, fishing out an enormous key ring. It looked like enough keys for a castle, thought Fina.
Beatrice led them down the hall.
Tap, tap.
“Miss Sapperton. It’s Beatrice. Beatrice Truelove. Are you in there?” She banged on the door. Heads began to pop out of doors down the corridor.
Beatrice began to flip through her keys, one by one. Selkies and kelpies, thought Fina. We’ll be here all day.
Finally, she held up the key in triumph and plunged it into the lock.
Cold air hit them in the face. All the windows were wide open.
Fina looked around the familiar mess of Vera’s room. Clothes were strewn everywhere, covering books, papers and boxes. There was a thin layer of ash in the fireplace, indicating it hadn’t been used that often. This made sense since Vera probably wasn’t in her room very frequently.
The beds in college were set off in a little recess, so you could only see someone lying in bed if you came all the way into the room. As they approached the middle of the room, or nearly stumbled in the case of Fina, who had a tangle with some clothes on the floor, they saw Vera.
She lay in bed, one arm over her chest and the other arm outstretched over the side of the bed, as if she were dancing the tango in her sleep. But this was not sleep.
It was death.
Fina rubbed her eyes. She’d had plenty of strong tea, so she knew she was awake. This couldn’t be happening again.
She went over to Ruby and gave her a side embrace, as much for herself as for her friend. Beatrice sat on her haunches in front of the bed. She felt Vera’s outstretched hand for a pulse. Then she shook her head and removed her cap.
Vera’s lifeless eyes stared at a small oil painting on the opposite wall. It was of a landscape – it looked like the English countryside. Perhaps it was where she grew up. A little pang of regret hit Fina as she recalled all the awful things she had thought about Vera.
She was shaken from her reflection by Ruby’s action. Her friend moved toward the bed, bending over Vera’s face. Then she looked on the nightstand. There was a little silver snuffbox next to a hairbrush, water glass, notebook and small clock. After poking her nose into the teacup, Ruby pulled out her favourite blue handkerchief her grandmother in St Kitts had given her. She used it to pick up the silver snuff box.
“You’d better leave that be, Miss Dove,” said Beatrice, not unkindly.
“Don’t worry, Miss Truelove,” said Ruby, first smelling the contents. “I’ve had experience with this – and I won’t disturb any fingerprints.”
Then she inserted her pinky finger into the snuffbox and transferred a tiny dab of its contents to her mouth.
“Ruby! What on earth are you doing? It could be poison,” said Fina.
She shook her head. “Don’t worry, I had a tiny smidge to confirm what I thought.”
“What is it?”
“Cocaine.”
Beatrice, who had still been sitting on her haunches, fell over onto the floor.
“Cocaine?” she sputtered. “You’re having me on!”
Fina and Ruby bent over to help Beatrice to her feet.
“It must not be that out of the ordinary for a scout to come across drug usage in college.”
“Well, yes, I’ve heard of these things. But not in a women’s college,” breathed Beatrice.
“I’m afraid addiction does not respect gender roles, Miss Truelove,” said Ruby.
Fina leaned over and whispered to Ruby. “Is that why she hit Gayatri on the head last night? Do you think Vera was trying to buy more cocaine?”
Ruby whispered back, “I think so, but it was more than that. Remember the bag Vera carried last night? Very unfashionable for someone like her. I think she had some of the stolen jewellery in there and was trying to trade that for drugs. It may even have been Gayatri’s necklace. I don’t think she would have assaulted Gayatri just to keep her from seeing her buy drugs. It was to keep Gayatri from realising she was the college thief.”
As Beatrice stood there in shock, Ruby and Fina made the most of her distraction. They began to search the room – just with their eyes. Ruby grabbed Fina’s arm and pointed silently.
There, in the corner, sat a heap of women’s underclothes. Fina whispered, “She was a terrible pack rat. Perhaps it’s her own clothing?”
“There’s only one way to find out for certain whether she was the college thief,” replied Ruby as she marched over to the pile. She picked up the nearest white brassiere and held it across her chest. “What do you think? We were probably about the same size, though I’m taller.”
The brassiere was clearly not made for the likes of Ruby or Vera.
Next, Ruby selected a pair of knickers, barely touching them. Beatrice still stood transfixed, staring at Vera’s body.
Ruby gave the knickers to Fina. “You were closer in size to her knickers.” Fina held them up to her. They were enormous. Ruby began to giggle.
Beatrice whirled round to see Fina holding up the pants to her waist. The look of horror on her face prompted a snort of laugher from Fina. Must be the shock, she thought to herself, trying not to feel ashamed.
“Wait until I tell the police about your behaviour, young ladies!” said Beatrice as she marched out of the room.
They followed her out like children who had been scolded by the headmistress.
Beatrice turned the key in the lock.