3 The Affair of the Thirty-Nine Cufflinks

Author:James Anderson
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2011-02-28T21:50:51.609000+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Four

Stella was the first person to enter the room with an air of complete confidence. She sat down, folded her hands on the table and smiled at Wilkins enquiringly.

'Miss Simmons, I'd like to talk first about this intruder in your room last night. You can give no description of any kind?'

She shook her head. 'I was half asleep. It was almost totally dark. I was just aware of a presence, a kind of even blacker patch against the surrounding blackness, by the dresser. I think he'd most likely been using a flashlight or a match to see. I got the impression of a light going out just a split second after I opened my eyes. He probably put it out when he heard the crash, realising I might wake up.'

'I see. When you awoke, he, or she, was by the dressing- table—'

Stella interrupted. 'She? You think it could have been a woman?'

'Can you be sure it wasn't?'

She looked thoughtful. 'No, I suppose not. I assumed it was a man. But if it was a woman, who could it have been? Let's see, Gerry and Dorry were downstairs, Miss Mackenzie was in the picture gallery - oh, she's told us all about it now - and Clara was dead. That only leaves the Countess, which is surely absurd, and—' She broke off.

'And Miss Penelope Saunders. You did say the intruder had vanished by the time you got to the door. Miss Saunders' room was right across the corridor from yours. And according to Lord Burford's account, you told everybody that she appeared almost immediately after you looked out.'

'But that's screwy. Why on earth should Penny have been poking about in my room?'

'Why should anybody have been poking about in your room? Do we have to suppose they meant you harm of some kind?'

'You're not saying he was going to kill me, too?' She sounded incredulous.

'So you think your intruder was the person who killed Mrs Saunders?'

'Search me. But if not, it means that two people were up to no good last night.'

'For Alderley, that's nothing, I can assure you, miss. But when I wondered whether the intruder meant to harm you, I was thinking of something not quite so drastic.'

'You mean one of the guys was after my virtue? Come off

it!'

'Is it beyond the bounds of possibility?'

'I'd say yes. And I speak as someone not without experience. Tommy would be far too scared. I'd bet my bottom dollar that Timothy'd be absolutely horrified at the very idea. Gregory'd probably try it on if the time and place, and the woman, were right. He's quite a masher. But he's an MP, for Pete's sake! - and holding on by the skin of his teeth. He'd never risk the scandal. He'd be finished if it got out.'

'He might have thought there was no likelihood of a scandal: that you'd welcome it.'

For the first time, she looked doubtful. 'Well, I guess I did flirt with him a mite. But only for my own ends, though keep that under your hat.

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