Murder of a Martinet [I Could Murder Her] by E. C. R. Lorac

Author:E. C. R. Lorac [Edith Caroline Rivett]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fiction, mystery
Published: 1951-07-15T05:00:00+00:00

4

Mrs. Farrington’s will was a very straightforward affair. Windermere House and its contents was left to Tony Strange; the income from the invested capital, which was assessed by Macdonald at £2,000 a year, was left to Colonel Farrington for his lifetime, thereafter to be divided among Tony, Joyce, Paula, and Peter. The jewellery was divided between Paula and Joyce. Madge’s name was not mentioned.

“Ungrateful old devil,” said Reeves, commenting on this omission. “Madge has worked like a slavey in this house and doesn’t even get a thank-you. I hope her pa lives long enough to save her a nice little bit.”

“The missing diamonds are left to Joyce,” observed Macdonald.

“She’s the one who hasn’t showed up yet,” said Reeves. “Perhaps she had the bright idea of pinching them first and claiming the insurance afterwards. Double value from dear departed. Now what about this notebook? I’d better go through all the doings.”

Reeves began to search the drawers in his neat, methodical way, while Macdonald examined the other keys in the bedside box. “One of these will be the key of the glass cabinet which Paula said she left on the kitchen table,” he said. “The others may be keys of the bureau and cabinets in the drawing room. I’ll go along there and have a look.”

There were five rooms altogether on the ground floor of Windermere House. As you entered by the front door the drawing room was on the right, a fine room which ran from back to front of the house, having french windows at the garden end. On the other side of the hall the rooms had been altered to meet the requirements of a flat. Mrs. Farrington’s bedroom, in the front of the house, was the original dining room, but a portion had been cut off its farther end and utilised as a dressing room and bathroom. In the rear of the house on this side were the present dining room and the tiny sitting room of Colonel Farrington’s. This arrangement was evidently made for Mrs. Farrington’s satisfaction. It had given her a magnificent drawing room, a handsome bedroom, and a fair-sized dining room, all very handsomely furnished. In addition were the Colonel’s tiny dressing room, with a compactom cupboard and camp bed, the bathroom with two doors, one of which opened from Mrs. Farrington’s bedroom, and the little “study.” The old service lift, which Madge had mentioned, came up from the kitchen to a hatch at the back of the hall. Under the main stairs were a cloakroom and lavatory and the door to the basement stairs.

Macdonald, considering Anne’s narrative about the person who had come downstairs on Monday night observed that there were plenty of places of concealment on the ground floor: the cloakroom, the bathroom, the drawing room, the study, and the basement stairs were all available.

Macdonald went into the drawing room. The glass cabinet stood at its farther end; it was a beautiful bow-fronted piece of eighteenth-century craftsmanship, almost worthy of a place in a museum.

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