Chapter 33

“I lay a curse upon you and yours! May Waverley all within it droop and wither from this night on!”

-Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sir Nigel

Toller smoothed down his hair and extracted a handkerchief from his jacket pocket. He stared at Morgan for a minute. “I remember you, Lieutenant,” he said. “You were here investigating the Dowager’s death.”

“That’s right,” Morgan said.

“Is that why you’re here? Is there a connection between her death and my Jean’s?”

“It’s possible.”

“Aye. There’s been a lot of bad things happening here.” He rubbed his eyes. “Jean and I had been wondering whether...”

“What?” Morgan prodded.

“I told Jean not to say anything. Maybe I was wrong.”

“Mr. Toller, your wife did tell me that it was not like the Dowager to try to go down the stairs herself. She said either the nurse or herself would always be called. Was that true?” I asked.

Toller nodded. “Aye. It stuck us both as odd that she’d try the steps herself. That’s what we told the Lieutenant here when it happened.”

Morgan sat down next to him. “But was there more you didn’t tell me at the time?”

“I...”

“Mr. Toller,” Morgan said, “You must tell me what you know.”

“It might help find who killed your wife,” I added.

“We didn’t tell you at the time, and that’s my fault. I told Jean not to. See, Jean saw funny things going on in the mansion. A few times she found Nurse Holder searching the house. I remember the night before the old Dowager died, Jean told me she caught Nurse Holder in the library.”

“Did she discover what Nurse Holder was doing?”

“All she said was she was sure Nurse Holder was searching for something. And Jean thought she’d found it. I remember Jean saying that Nurse Holder had such an odd grin on her face - like she was the cat that had put one over on the rest of us.”

“What was Nurse Holder like?” I asked.

“She was professional. Can’t say she wasn’t. But she wasn’t friendly in the way you’d expect with our smallish staff. She was hired when we were at The Haven, the Grange’s Wisconsin estate. That must have been about a year or so before we moved to Chicago. She moved with us and at the time, Jean and I were right glad. She knew all the routines, and we were used to each other’s ways. Mostly she kept to herself, excepting that Jean saw her snooping around the house all the time. So you can well see why I told Jean not to speak of it. There was nothing particular we could tell against her, and we didn’t want to cause trouble. But it was Nurse Holder’s duty to be there with the Dowager when she came down the stairs. She talked herself out of responsibility and made some excuse or another saying the Dowager took off by herself. But Jean and me, we always believed that what happened was no accident. And that we did say to you at the time.”

Morgan nodded. “I’m sorry Mr. Toller, but I have to ask you this. Where were you when your wife was attacked last night?”

“Asleep in our bedroom. It’s on another floor on the other side of the house.”

“And you heard nothing?”

“Like I told the officers, I’m the proverbial sound sleeper. Jean used to say I slept like I was pure done in and blootered too.”

Morgan looked quizzical.

“Translated, that means he sleeps like he was tired and drunk at the same time,” I explained.

“Oh, “ Morgan said. “So had you gone to bed before her, or had you gone to bed together and she got up again later?”

“The officers asked me that, too. I’ll say again as I told them. She shooed me off to bed. Said she’d be coming in a trice. She had a last bit of cleaning up she wanted to do. She’d already sent home the help from the party and was tidying up before morning. Miss Douglas doesn’t like anything out of place. I don’t remember her coming to bed. The officers said she had on all her clothes when they found her.” He put his head in his hands and struggled to control his emotions.

“Thank you for explaining all that, Mr. Toller,” Morgan said.

“Do you know anything about Tom Joyce falling down the spiral staircase the other day?” I asked him.

He looked up. His eyes were red and unfocused. After a while he said, “I know he came to our quarters as I was leaving and Jean spoke with him.”

I glanced at Morgan. “If Tom was talking with her there, that explains why he was using that staircase off the kitchen and not the main one.”

“Right,” Morgan nodded.

Toller blinked a few times and continued. “Jean told me Tom asked her about any safes or secret hiding places in the house.”

Morgan pointed at the open wall safe. “Did you and Jean know this was here?”

“No, that we did not. Jean said the Dowager talked about losing a combination for a safe in the library. That’s all we knew.”

“That’s what your wife told me, too. She said the Dowager was looking for it the day before she died.”

Toller nodded. “But why would someone murder my Jean? She didn’t know any more than that, and that’s not something you get killed for.”

“Maybe someone thought she knew more,” Morgan said.

“Did Nurse Holder leave a forwarding address?” I inquired.

“Not that I know of. She only stayed on for three weeks after the Dowager’s death.”

“That’s about when the investigation ended and her death was officially declared an accident,” Morgan said. “You’ve never heard from Nurse Holder since?”

“No. Not a word,” Toller said as he drew out a handkerchief and blew his nose. “Can I go now? I don’t feel well.”