“Because it was not cooked yet,” Mr. Vance said. “And who had access to the garden, where there was foxglove and monkshood growing? And who could convince Mr. Greg to eat a plate of roast beef with horseradish?”
“The housekeeper,” Isabel said.
“Oh no,” Lord Lymington said. “That cannot be right. You see, a housekeeper would never harm anybody. Our Mrs. Kelton is such a jolly soul.”
“She sounds marvelous,” Mrs. Thompson said to Lord Lymington. “I suppose she slipped you cakes and biscuits with a wink when you were a boy?”
“Yes, she still does!” Lord Lymington exclaimed.
Footmen came round with decanters of wine and while Isabel was grateful to have a glass herself, she was rather worried about what Miss Rightstone might do with one.
Dishes followed, though the mystery distracted everybody from making much of it. At least, Isabel was distracted by it. It seemed Lord Lymington and Miss Thompson were becoming distracted by each other. The lord was going into some detail regarding his housekeeper’s good qualities, one of which was cheering him up when he was downhearted after a talk with his mother.
Lord Lymington’s housekeeper might be all sweetness and light, but Isabel was certain it must have been Mrs. Roberts’ housekeeper who was the murderer. But why would she do it?
Isabel could imagine the how of it, but not the why. There had been some argument in the garden, and then a scuffle. Perhaps it had even been accidental, just as Lord Melburton certainly had not meant to actually kill his neighbor.
Then, Mr. Greg arrived for a late luncheon and the housekeeper provides some excuse for why Mrs. Roberts is not present, she is ill perhaps, and then she insists that her mistress wishes him to proceed with the roast beef.
Then, with both dead, she runs out for help as if she’s just arrived to the house and found the disaster.
It could be done. But why?
Mr. Vance was bent over and writing like mad across the blank side of the paper. He said, “I believe you are right, Lady Isabel. It was the housekeeper.”
“Why though?” Isabel asked. “What could have been her two different motives for killing those two people? I understand that she might have had a disagreement with her mistress and that of the two suitors she favored Mr. Lamprey, but it does not explain murder.”
“It does, though,” Mr. Vance said, continuing to write. “Why did the housekeeper so favor Mr. Lamprey over Mr. Greg? It would seem to me that a housekeeper would enjoy living in town, she must have friends she visits and shops to stop into. I will guess she had lived in that house for some time and had established a life there. Why was she so eager to move to a dairy farm three miles out of town?”
Isabel did not answer, because she did not know.
“And what of the estate? Mrs. Roberts was a widow of just eighteen months and there is only a cameo and some silver? Her husband had been a doctor, surely he left more than that. Where is the wedding band, for instance?”
Isabel had not noticed the lack of a wedding band. Now she began to see its’ absence as significant.
“The housekeeper so favored Mr. Lampreybecausehe was new to town and he was a farmer,” Mr. Vance said. “She didnotfavor Mr. Greg because he knew Mrs. Roberts’ history, he’d known her late husband, he would have known what was likely to be in the estate, and he was an accountant. The housekeeper had been robbing Mrs. Roberts’ blind and if the lady married Mr. Greg, she would be found out.”
“And so,” Isabel said, “Mrs. Roberts somehow discovers the theft, confronts the housekeeper in the garden, and then she is attacked.”
“She had foxglove in her hand,” Mr. Vance said.
“Perhaps she suspected the housekeeper would use poison and took it from her,” Isabel said.
Mr. Vance nodded. “Mrs. Roberts also likely gave away that she’d told Mr. Greg of her concerns, sealing his fate too. The housekeeper leaves Mrs. Roberts dead in the garden, and she serves the roast beef that was meant for both her mistress and her suitor, claiming Mrs. Roberts was indisposed but would be greatly saddened if he did not go on with the lunch.”
“Yes, I believe that must have been what happened,” Isabel said.
Mr. Vance wrote out a few more lines and folded the paper. He stood and said, “Lord Ryland, I believe Lady Isabel has solved it.”
As Lord Ryland approached, Isabel said, “Mr. Vance! I did not solve it.Youdid.”
“We solved it as a team,” Mr. Vance said, “because we are a remarkably suited team.”
Lord Ryland read through the solution, nodding.
“This is not right,” Isabel whispered to Mr. Vance.
“There is everything right about it,” Mr. Vance said. “At least, I feel so.”
