Tess seemed not to notice the flirty looks coming her way. Something had upset her, that much Polly could tell. The girl sat twisting her glass around in her hands as if it were someone’s neck she were wringing. “Sadie’s playing darts over there,” she said, her voice low enough that Polly had to strain to hear her above the racket the dart players were making.
“She’s always playing darts.” Polly shot a look at the dartboard as a cheer went up from that corner. “She comes down here a lot. She likes playing ’cos she nearly always wins. She says it makes her feel good to beat the boys at something.”
“There’s not much else to do for excitement in this place, is there.”
Polly shrugged. “Depends who you’re with, I suppose.”
“I know. There’s someone I . . .” Tess’s face crumpled, and she covered her mouth with her hand as if to smother a sob.
Polly felt a stirring of sympathy. She knew what it felt like to miss someone. “I’m sorry,” she murmured awkwardly.
After a moment or two, the other girl seemed to get herself under control. “Well, my father will be happy. He hated Brian. He kept telling me he was too old for me and that he was only after me for the money.” She looked up, her face clouded with misery. “Brian was only thirty-three. Daddy made him sound positively ancient.”
Polly’s attention sparked, in spite of herself. After all, this was a subject dear to her heart. “So how old are you then?”
“Twenty.” Tess hunted in her pocket and found a handkerchief. She blew her nose with it, then crumpled it in a ball in her hands. “It’s only thirteen years’ difference.”
Thirteen years!
There’d been only seven years difference between her and Sam. Deciding she had something in common with this hoity-toity miss, after all, Polly found herself telling her all about her and Sam. “Everything was going fine,” she finished, “until he had an accident in the Jeep and messed up his face. I know it was because he couldn’t stand me looking at his scars.”
Tess shuddered. “How awful. Where is he now?”
“Gone back to America, hasn’t he.” Just thinking about him made her own eyes prickle with tears. “I’ll never see him again.”
Tess leaned forward. “You’re still young. You’ll find someone else.”
“I don’t think so. I tried it once, but I picked the wrong bloke. He turned out to be a criminal.”
Tess’s eyes widened in shock. “How absolutely rotten for you!”
“It was,” Polly agreed gloomily. “I don’t seem to have any luck with men. Really I don’t.”
“Well, I’m sure you’ll meet someone nice soon.” Tess shook her head. “I thought Brian was going to be the man of my dreams, but I was wrong.” Her face turned suddenly ugly, startling Polly. “I hate to say it, but Daddy was right about him after all.”
“So what happened?” Polly asked, now glued to her chair.
“Well, we’d been seeing each other on and off for quite a while. Behind Daddy’s back, of course. I told Brian I was going to be in Sitting Marsh for the wedding, so I wouldn’t be able to see him this weekend. But then I missed him so much, and I was pretty bored that first night at the manor, so when Sadie offered to bring me down here I thought it would be fun.”
Polly nodded. “Sadie told me you’d come down here with her on Thursday night.”
Tess sighed and passed a hand across her forehead. “Yes, well, the first thing we saw when we walked in was Brian sitting at the bar. I never dreamed he would follow me down here. He said he was staying at the pub, and that he planned to go to the wedding reception so we could be there together.”
Impressed by this bold move, Polly said breathlessly, “You must have been so thrilled!”
Tess shrugged. “Not really. To tell you the truth, I wished he hadn’t come. I knew Daddy would be livid, and I didn’t want to spoil the wedding for Aunt Prissy. I told Brian he couldn’t come to the reception. He said he hadn’t come all that way to sit around the pub by himself all weekend. We had a nasty row and he stalked off. I thought he’d gone home, but then he turned up at the reception this afternoon.”
Polly sucked in her breath. “So what did your dad say when he found out?”
“Well, he was livid, of course. Just as I thought. He called Brian a swindler, said he was using me and that he was only after the money. He told Brian if he came near me again he’d have him arrested for harassment.”
“So did he leave?”
“No, he wanted to dance with me.” Tess’s lower lip trembled. “I was really angry with Daddy. I loved Brian and I told Daddy if he didn’t let me see him I’d run away with him. I knew Daddy wouldn’t make a scene at the wedding, so I danced with Brian anyway.”
Polly frowned. “I don’t remember seeing you with anyone. Which one was he?”
“The tall fellow, in the dark gray suit and blue tie.”
“Oh, him.” Polly nodded. “Nice-looking bloke.”
“Yes, I suppose he is.” Tess drummed on the table with her fingers. “It’s just a shame he turned out to be such a rotter.”
“So what’d he do then?” Polly demanded. But before Tess could answer, another voice broke into the conversation.
“Come on, Pol, let’s go and join the sing-along at the piano.” Sadie’s grin took in both of them. “You, too, Tess. We need some girls over there to drown out the Yanks.”
Polly looked at Tess, who shook her head. “I’m tired. I think I’ll go back to the Manor House. Where can I call for a taxi?”
Sadie burst out laughing. “You’re joking. There’s no taxi in Sitting Marsh.”
Tess stared up at her in dismay. “Then how am I going to get home?”
“Well, I could give you a ride on me bicycle,” Sadie said doubtfully, then shook her head. “Nah. We’d never get up the hill. Wait here.” She bolted back to the crowd at the dartboard, where she grabbed the arm of an American serviceman.
“Looks like you’ll be going home in a Jeep,” Polly said, as Sadie gestured at them.
“Oh, help.” Tess sighed. “Well, I suppose it’s better than walking all that way. These shoes have such high heels I’d have blisters all over my feet by the time I got there.”
Sadie came back to the table, dragging a shy-looking soldier with close-cropped red hair and worried eyes. “Here,” Sadie announced, “this is Joe. He’s a good friend of mine. He’ll give us a lift to the Manor House.”
Joe stared anxiously at Tess. “It’s not a very comfortable ride, ma’am, I—”
“Oh, stop worrying, Joe!” Sadie gave his arm a little shake. “It’ll be a lark. I can throw me bicycle in the back. You can give Polly a lift, too.” She winked at Polly. “That’s if you’re ready to go home?”
“More than ready.” Polly got to her feet. “I’ve got me bicycle with me, though.”
“There won’t be room for all of you as well as two bikes,” Joe protested.
“It’s all right.” Polly picked up her handbag and shoved it under her arm. “I’d rather ride, anyway.” She left before Sadie could talk her out of it. The truth was, it hurt to see Sadie so happy with her boyfriend. Polly tried not to let it bother her, but seeing them together only reminded her of when she was happy too, with Sam. She would never be happy like that again.
To Elizabeth’s dismay, it was Violet who answered her summons on the bell rope. As the huge front door swung open, she bounced inside, asking breathlessly, “Is Martin all right? He’s not ill, is he?”
Violet clicked her tongue. “Calm down, Lizzie. You’ll give yourself a heart attack with all your worrying. Martin is in bed, sleeping off the glass of scrumpy he managed to gulp down when I wasn’t looking. Went straight to his head, it did, silly old goat. I warned him not to touch it. The Winterhalters were nice enough to bring us home in their motorcar. Really posh it is. The sort of motorcar you should have, Lizzie, instead of that noisy, smelly old motorbike. Your father would turn in his grave if he saw you riding that around the village, I’m sure. Not at all what a lady should be riding, that’s for certain.”
Elizabeth followed her down to the kitchen, paying scant attention to her housekeeper’s prattling. Settling herself at the kitchen table, she watched Violet fill the kettle with cold water. “What about the Winterhalters? Are they here? I didn’t see the motorcar when I came in.”
“Desmond put it in the stables for them. Can’t leave a nice motorcar like that out all night. They’re in the library. I took up a bottle of that good Scotch your major brought over. I thought that nice Mr. Winterhalter was going to kiss me, he was so pleased. Can’t get good Scotch for love nor money nowadays, he told me.”
Deciding she couldn’t put it off any longer, Elizabeth said carefully, “Well, you all missed a good deal of excitement at the wedding.”
Violet set the kettle on the stove and lit the gas under it. “Don’t tell me. Rita Crumm drank too much scrumpy and did a striptease on the tables.”
Surprised her housekeeper even knew about such things, Elizabeth almost laughed. “No,” she said. “I’m afraid it’s a lot more serious than that. Bessie found a dead body in the cellar.”
Violet spun around, one hand over her mouth. “Go on! Who was it?”
“Well, no one seems to know. Apparently he wasn’t invited to the wedding, though one of the guests thought Tess might be acquainted with him.” She glanced up at the clock. “In fact, I think I’ll pop upstairs and have a word with the Winterhalters before George gets here. I want to warn them. It’s quite possible they might know the gentleman.”
“What happened to him?” Violet asked, as Elizabeth headed for the door.
“Someone stabbed him in the chest with the missing knife that was supposed to cut the wedding cake.”
“Oh, my. I imagine Rita was put out about that.”
“She wasn’t too pleased, to say the least.” Elizabeth paused at the door. “When George arrives, see if you can keep him busy down here until I get back.”
Without waiting for her housekeeper to answer, she let the door close behind her and headed for the stairs.
She found Rodney and Daphne seated in the library, each immersed in a book. They had both changed out of their wedding finery—Rodney now in a dark red velvet smoking jacket and Daphne wearing a fetching housecoat covered in pink and white embroidery.
They looked up as she entered, and Rodney immediately sprang to his feet.
“Oh, there you are, Lady Elizabeth!” he exclaimed, his voice overly loud and jovial. “Our apologies for leaving the festivities so abruptly. The little woman had a headache, didn’t you, precious.”
Daphne gave him a nervous smile. “Did I? Yes, of course. I did.”
The infuriated look he gave her made Elizabeth uncomfortable. Obviously, the Winterhalters were having some kind of disagreement. “I’m afraid I have some bad news for you,” she said, coming straight to the point. “It concerns a gentleman guest at the wedding. A rather tall chap wearing a dark gray suit and light blue silk tie. Was he a friend of yours?”
Daphne stared blankly at her, while Rodney’s eyes narrowed. “If you are referring to Brian Sutcliffe, he’s nothing but a two-timing fortune hunter. He barged into the wedding uninvited and made a general nuisance of himself. The man is a rake of the worst kind.”
“Rodney is absolutely right,” Daphne agreed fervently. “The man is a cheat and a liar. I can’t imagine what my daughter sees in that charlatan.”
“In that case,” Elizabeth said quietly, “I imagine neither of you will be too upset to hear that someone killed him this afternoon.”
Rodney Winterhalter met her gaze without so much as a blink. “Is that so.”
Somewhat taken aback by his indifference, Elizabeth was lost for words.
Then, in the silence that followed, Daphne gasped, then whispered fearfully, “My God, Rodney. What have you done?”
Elizabeth watched Rodney’s face as he stared at his wife, his eyes burning with fury. “What the devil are you talking about, Daphne? I didn’t stick a knife in the blasted chap, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
Daphne looked as if she didn’t believe him, and Elizabeth said hastily, “I think I should warn you that police constable Dalrymple is on his way up here to question Tess. By all accounts, she was one of the last people to see the gentleman alive.”
A worried expression clouded Daphne’s face. “Oh, dear. I do hope—” She broke off, and stared helplessly at her husband.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Rodney snapped. He turned to Elizabeth. “I’m quite sure my daughter has nothing to do with this. Unfortunately she was quite infatuated with the rotter.”
“I don’t—” Daphne was interrupted by the sound of a sharp tap on the door.
At Elizabeth’s command to enter, the door opened and Sadie poked her head into the space. “Pardon me, your ladyship,” she said, flicking a glance at the Winterhalters, “but Violet said to tell you P. C. Dalrymple is in the kitchen.”
“Thank you, Sadie.”
The girl nodded and started to withdraw her head when Rodney asked sharply, “Did Tess come home with you?”
Sadie opened the door wider. “Yes, sir. My friend gave her a ride home in his Jeep a while ago.”
Daphne rolled her eyes in horror, but Rodney merely nodded. “Be so kind as to tell her I wish to speak to her. Now.”
“Yes, sir, but I think she’s gone to bed.”
“Then get her out of bed,” Rodney ordered harshly. “I want to speak to her before the constable gets to her.”
Sadie’s eyebrows rose and her eyes widened as she looked at Elizabeth.
“It’s all right, Sadie,” Elizabeth said quietly. “Do as Mr. Winterhalter asks at once.”
“Yes, m’m.” Sadie’s face disappeared and the door closed with a quiet snap.
Daphne folded her arms across her chest and started rocking back and forth, while Rodney paced across the soft carpet to the bookshelves and back again.
“You don’t mind if I stay?” Elizabeth murmured, as she took a seat across from Daphne.
Daphne shook her head, while Rodney muttered, “Of course not, your ladyship. We have nothing to hide.”
Elizabeth attempted to make light conversation, but her efforts were largely ignored, and she was quite relieved when the door opened and Tess, wearing a yellow silk robe tied with a black silk sash, wandered into the room.