Payment in Blood (Inspector Lynley, #2)(49)

Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind. Exposed for years to death in a thousand and one horrible varieties, Lynley understood far better than Francesca Gerrard could ever have realised. But he said only, “You’ll find that, in a case like this, a burial of grief comes hand-in-hand with justice. Not at once, of course. But eventually.”

“And you need me for that. Yes. I do understand.” She drew herself up, blew her nose shakily on a wadded tissue from her pocket, took another hesitant sip of whisky. Her eyes brimmed with tears again. Several escaped in a wet trail from cheeks to lips.

“How did you come to have the necklace in your room?” Lynley asked. Sergeant Havers took out her pencil.

Francesca hesitated. Her lips parted twice to speak before she was able to go on. “I took it back last night. I would have told you earlier in the drawing room. I wanted to. But when Elizabeth and Mr. Vinney began…I didn’t know what to do. Everything happened so quickly. And then Gowan…” She faltered on the name, like a runner stumbling and not righting himself properly.

“Yes. I see. Did you go to Joy’s room for the necklace or did she bring it to you?”

“I went to her room. It was on the chest of drawers by the door. I suppose I had changed my mind about her having it.”

“You took it back as easily as that? There was no discussion?”

Francesca shook her head. “There couldn’t have been. She was asleep.”

“You saw her? You got into her room? Was the door unlocked?”

“No. I’d gone without my keys because I thought at first it might be unlocked. Everyone knew each other, after all. There was no reason to lock doors. But hers was locked, so I went to the office for the master keys.”

“The key wasn’t in her lock from the inside?”

Francesca frowned. “No…It couldn’t have been, could it, or I wouldn’t have been able to unlock it with my own.”

“Take us through exactly what you did, Mrs. Gerrard.”

Willingly, Francesca retraced her route from her bedroom to Joy’s where she turned the door handle only to find the room locked; from Joy’s room to her own where she picked up her desk key from her chest of drawers; from her room to her office where she took the master keys from the bottom drawer of her desk; from her office to Joy’s room where she unlocked the door quietly, saw the necklace in the light from the corridor, took it, and relocked the door; from Joy’s room to her office where she returned the keys; from her office back to her own room where she replaced the necklace in her jewellery box.

“What time was this?” Lynley asked.

“Three-fifteen.”

“Exactly?”

She nodded and went on to explain. “I don’t know whether you’ve ever done anything impulsive that you regret, Inspector. But I regretted parting with the pearls directly after Elizabeth took them to Joy. I lay in bed trying to decide what to do. I didn’t want a confrontation with Joy, I didn’t want to burden my brother Stuart with anything else. So I…well, I suppose I stole them, didn’t I? And I know it was three-fifteen because I had been lying awake watching the clock and that’s what time it was when I finally decided to do something about getting my necklace back.”

“You said Joy was asleep. Did you see her? Hear her breathing?”

“The room was so dark. I…I suppose I assumed she was asleep. She didn’t stir, didn’t speak. She…” Her eyes widened. “Do you mean she might have been dead?”

“Did you actually see her in the room at all?”

“You mean in the bed? No, I couldn’t see the bed. The door was in the way and I hadn’t opened it more than a few inches. I just thought, of course…”

“What about your desk in your office? Was it locked?”

“Oh yes,” she replied. “It’s always locked.”

“Who has keys to it?”

“I have one key. Mary Agnes has the other.”

“And could anyone have seen you going from your room to Joy’s? Or going to the office? On either of the two trips?”

“I didn’t notice anyone. But I suppose…” She shook her head. “I just don’t know.”

“But you would have passed any number of rooms to make the trips, wouldn’t you?”

“Of course, anyone on the main corridor could have seen me if they were up and about. But surely I would have noticed that. Or heard a door opening.”

Lynley went to join Macaskin who was already on his feet, examining the floor plan that was still spread out upon the table from their earlier interview with David Sydeham. Four rooms had immediate access to the main corridor besides the rooms belonging to Lady Helen and Joy Sinclair: Joanna Ellacourt and David Sydeham’s room, Lord Stinhurst and his wife’s, the unused room of Rhys Davies-Jones, and Irene Sinclair’s at the junction of the main corridor and the west wing of the house.

“Surely there’s truth to what the woman is saying,” Macaskin muttered to Lynley as they looked the floor plan over. “Surely she would have heard something, seen something, been alerted to the fact that she was being watched.”

“Mrs. Gerrard,” Lynley said to her over his shoulder, “are you absolutely certain that Joy’s door was locked last night?”