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“She?” I prompted, after a lengthy silence.
Eleanor pressed her hands to her burning cheeks. “My mother. We were naked, on my bed. We were actually making love.” She broke off in distress, the tears spilling over. “He was just about to—you know—and he was telling me how much he loved me, that there would never be anyone else for him. And my mother overheard every word.” Her hands moved to cover her face. “Oh, dear God, Dita! I know how wrong it was, but I love him so much.”
After a minute or two, she collected herself and went on to explain that Lucy, with characteristic briskness, had sent her away to boarding school to remove her from the sphere of influence of her forbidden lover. He really must have been most unsuitable, I thought. Perhaps a married man? Even, possibly, someone of lowly birth? I quashed my burning curiosity. To ask Eleanor his identity at that moment would have been unbearably clumsy.
“What happened to him? I asked.
“He went away, too. He left that very night—the night she caught us together.”
Reflecting on her confidences later, I recalled that Eleanor had said “I love him so much.” Present tense. Which did not bode well for any quest to find a suitable husband for the only daughter of the house of Athal.
* * *
Inspector Miller and his junior colleague appeared decidedly ill at ease in the elegant surroundings of Athal House. Sergeant Ross seemed content to regard me with open-mouthed admiration as we sat making polite small talk. He was recalled to a sense of his surroundings by a pointed cough from his superior, and he blushed apologetically. Lucy poured tea and offered biscuits while Tynan questioned the inspector about the direction of the investigation.
“That’s why we are here, my lord.” The inspector’s voice was mildly apologetic. “It seems the last sighting of Amy Winton was of her walking along the cliff path with a man resembling Mr Charles Jago.”
“But when was this?” Lucy asked in surprise. “Cad has only been home a day or two, and the doctor said it was likely Amy Winton died the night she disappeared. Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn’t that almost two weeks ago?”
“It was, my lady.” The inspector actually appeared to squirm slightly under her gaze. “But Mr Jago is a well-known figure in these parts and several witnesses have said they saw him with her.”
“Then you must, of course, speak to my son,” Tynan said, forestalling any further questions from Lucy.
Cad entered the room, filling it as always with his presence. His eyes travelled briefly across my face, scorching the air between us slightly before he turned to shake hands with the two police officers.
“Good Lord, was that the girl who was killed?” he asked, when the inspector had outlined why he was there. “She was little more than a child.”
“But you weren’t here when she disappeared.” Lucy persisted.
“Yes I was, Mama,” Cad reminded her with unruffled calm. “I came down for one night, if you remember, to settle that nonsensical mill issue and get my father’s signature on the papers.” He turned back to Inspector Miller. “I travelled down by train but I wasn’t expected, so there was no one to meet me. I was lucky because, when I stepped out of the station intending to hire a vehicle to fetch me here, Tom Carter was delivering barrels to the pub over the road. He gave me a lift as far as the village and I walked the rest of the way. The girl—Amy, did you say?—was walking ahead of me along the path. She was struggling because the ribbons on her bonnet had come untied and she was trying to hold it on with one hand. But she was also carrying a basket almost as big as herself. I caught up to her and held the basket while she tried to repair her bonnet. It was a bit of a lost cause because one of the ribbons had come loose. She said it didn’t really matter, she was on her way to visit a relative—her grandmother, I think—so she would pin it there. I gave her back her basket and we went our separate ways.”
Inspector Miller nodded. “That fits with the description out witnesses gave. They said Mr Jago here was carrying a portmanteau. And, of course, Amy Winton’s basket and bonnet were found on the cliff path. Did you see the girl talking to anyone else, sir?”
