On
the afternoon in question, the young couple were not completely alone. A part
from Mrs Martha Carmichael’s mother, Mrs Johnson-Scott, who was a widow, and
Miss Valeria Brewis, her efficient housekeeper and companion, the Mardsoncousins,
Georgina and Leonia, life long friends of Mrs Johnson-Scott and sexagenarians
like her, were also there. These two ladies had white hair, a rosy complexion
and an inoffensive appearance. Their chauffer, an athletic young man of around
thirty years named Hector, was also there. There were two reasons for his
presence; he had to escort the Mardson cousins to their home afterward, and,
furthermore, Hector and Martha were childhood friends and had not seen each
other for a long time. That afternoon, they all made their way to the spacious and
charming living room.
“We
have had a wonderful evening, Carolina. And it has been a pleasure to see you
again, Martha, and you, inspector”, said Leonia Mardson sitting down on one of
the sofas.
“As
have we, needless to say”, said Martha Carmichael. “We had not seen each other
for almost a year.”
“A
year…” whispered Georgina. “How time flies! Almost as long as that unpleasant
affair with the Haworths”, she said to herself. “Do you remember, Leonia?”
“Oh,
yes!” her cousin replied pensively. “I remember what happened perfectly”.
“The
Haworths?” the beautiful Mrs Johnson-Scott with her golden hair and thick
complexion exclaimed curiously. “Who are the Haworths?”
“Some
acquaintances of my son, Spencer’s” said Leonia. “Every time I think about it,
it makes me want to cry”.
“Did
somebody die?”
“No,
but there was…a theft.”
“Theft?”
Exclaimed Miss Brewis, a thin fifty-something year old woman who was taller
than a cypress tree and had short black hair.
“Yes”
Georgina affirmed heavily. “It took quite a long time to discover who the
culprit was. And to think there were only three people in the house!”
“Well
with three people it should seem quite obvious” said Mrs Johnson-Scott.
“The
police took almost four months to find the culprit. My son, Spencer, would say
to me sometimes that police officers have brains the size of a mosquito’s.”
After
those words there was a long silence. Then Leonia Mardson noticed the
inspector, who was smiling at her. Right away the old lady realised her
mistake. The inspector proceeded to light a pipe, a new habit, which was not to
the liking of his wife.
“Oh!
I’m sorry… I did not mean to say…The truth is…”
“…please
tell all of us the story and between us we can reach the explanation which has
already been discovered, if you fancy it?” said the inspector.
“Oh,
yes!” exclaimed Miss Brewis who seemed enthused by the idea.
“Edward,
do you really want to solve a case now while we are on holiday?”
“It
could be interesting.”
“Without
any evidence or anything?”
“We
will deduce the evidence as we go along, Martha. What’s more, these autumn
afternoons are ideal for telling them.” He proceeded to give his wife a kiss.
“Alright,
although the truth is I should not be surprised by this. It is not the first
case where Edward has heard or read a mysterious story and then analysed it
with interest and managed to discover the culprit in the end.”
“Oh,
really?” The Mardson cousins exclaimed together.
The
beautiful Mrs Carmichael affirmed with a nod of her head.
“Mrs
Leonia, begin the story, please” the inspector then said.
“You
see, it all happened like this”, she began explaining with a pained expression.
“The Haworths lived in a beautiful Victorian house called ‘The Oaks’, near to
Bibury. They were both almost seventy years old and lived alone, for all of their
children lived in different parts of the world: the first in Venezuela, the
second in Canada, the third in France and the youngest in Ireland. The only
people who lived with them were the cook, who had quite a strange surname,
Mcbitirrinturry, I seem to remember, and Mr Haworth’s secretary, a fairly
arrogant man whose surname was Fergusson. We will not count the woman who would
go to clean the house as a suspect, for she was completely loyaland would only
go there a couple of days per week.”
“Alright”,
said Miss Brewis.
“How
old were the cook and secretary?” asked the inspector.
“The
cook thirty something and the secretary around forty, approximately”
“Continue,
please”.
“So
it turned out that one afternoon, around four o’clock, Mrs Haworth realised that
her gold ring had disappeared when she awoke from her habitual nap in the
living room. She would always leave it on the mantelpiece of the fireplace. As
would be expected, she immediately asked her husband, worriedly, if he had
taken it, and when he said that he had not, she asked the cook. When she
answered that she had not either, she asked the secretary, who she was not at
all fond of. He also denied it.
“Why
did she dislike him?”
“It
seems that he was more in charge than her husband. Mr Haworth was not what he
used to be, but mentally he was perfectly well. But the secretary had his way
on most matters with great ease.”
“Where
were the others when the theft took place?”
“This
is where it all gets complicated” her cousin Georgina continued. “Because everyone
had…they had…damn it, now I cannot think of the right word.”
“An
alibi?” said the inspector smiling.
“Oh,
yes, thank you. Well, that, an alibi, or more or less, as, in the cook’s case,
she was alone in the kitchen” said the woman, and then went into more detail,
“you should know that after lunch, the Haworths would head to the living room
and sit in their armchairs. After some ten minutes or so, Mrs Haworth would
fall asleep, as usual, but before doing so, she would take off that damned ring
which was starting to become too tight on her. The cook had already cleared the
table and was in the kitchen. Mr Haworth was going to the library to read a
while and escape his wife’s snoring and a little after he would start to work
with Mr Fergusson. That afternoon was no exception. As you can see, aside from
Mrs Haworth, there was nobody else in the living room.
I
will also tell you that, that morning, the secretary had not eaten with them as
he would go to London twice a week for work-related reasons. It was all
routine. At the weekends, the secretary would always stay in London and the
cook in the nearby village in which she was born and where the boy she was
dating lived. To replace the cook, at weekends, her sister would come. But the
disappearance of the ring took place one Tuesday in the month of May and so the
main cook’s sister will not feature in our story either.”
“And
that is where the story ends”, Leonia concluded. “Doesn’t it seem both simple
and complicated all at once? And now tell me. Who was it? Who stole Mrs
Haworth’s gold ring?” she asked with a mysterious air.
“The
truth is it seems quite difficult” said Mrs Johnson-Scott, who kept
unconsciously fingering the pearl necklace resting on her chest. “I am
particularly suspicious of the secretary, though I am not totally sure. Did
they know him well?”
“Fourteen
years he worked for Mr Haworth and there was never a single complaint. He was a
lawyer and economist.”
“And
what was he secretary of?”
“Mr
Haworth was retired but he owned many buildings which were for sale and other
small businesses. Mr Fergusson would help him.They demanded a lot of work.”
“Of
course, he thought he was clever, the little sneak. Too bossy with Mr Haworth,
he was. And what if he had made an investment which ended badly? And what if he
had lost a lot of money? How would he get it back? Well, very simple: stealing
the mistress’s ring. I’m sure he did not go to London that day. Yes…maybe that
is what happened. Seeing Mrs Haworth sleeping through the window, he set
everything up to get in there through it (I bet he had already opened it from
inside a few hours before). Yes, it seems quite simple. I think the
suspect…that is what they are called, right, Edward?”
The
inspector affirmed.
“…well,
the suspect was the secretary” declared the woman.
“Oh,
no!” Miss Brewis exclaimed with a conviction which surprised Mrs Johnson-Scott.
“I think it was the cook. I bet she was not very well off financially.”
“You
are mistaken” said Leonia. “The Haworth’s were very generous. Both the
secretary and the cook received good salaries. What is more, the young woman
desperately wanted to get married for she was coming up to thirty years old.
She saved and saved, I am sure of that.”
“A
young woman of her age also has the right to have fun. What do you know about
her at weekends? Yes, she would have saved, but on the other hand she also must
have spent money. Practically all week locked up in there! If I had been her I
would not have saved so much.”
“Oh,
really?” said Mrs Johnson-Scott looking at her with surprise.
“Think
about it, do not misunderstand what I am saying, ma’am. But that young woman
probably realised she did not have as much money as she thought and acquiring
that valuable ring would not have been a very bad thing for her. My suspicions
lie with the cook, I am convinced.”
“Valeria,
you don’t think that she stole the ring to wear it on her wedding day, do you?”
said Leonia.
“Oh,
no. That would be stupid of her. How would she be able to wear it? She would
have showed herself up in front of everybody. I think she put it away to air it
in some other place once she was married, somewhere quite far from where the
Haworths lived. Yes, yes, that must be what happened. Does anyone else agree
with me?”
Nobody
responded right away.
“Miss
Brewis” said Hector, looking at her, puzzled. “If you think about it properly,
there are so many possibilities in this case that I am not at all surprised it
took them so long to find the culprit.”
“Who
do you suspect, Hector?” asked Mrs Johnson-Scott.
“Mr
Haworth.”
“Mr
Haworth? Explain what you mean, please.”
“Sometimes,
when they reach a certain age, men have the urge to fall in love with younger
women. Was Mrs Haworth attractive?”
“No”
admitted Leonia. “She was ugly as sin, but a wonderful person.”
“I
think that Mr Haworth fell in love with the cook” continued Hector. “And he
gave her the ring. If the cook had refused to accept it, maybe he would have
accused her of something and then laid her off. Something similar happened to a
friend of mine. The man was courting the poor maid. She would refuse…at the
beginning, but later a bracelet disappeared, then a ring, then some earrings,
then a hairband…and nobody, nobody said anything.”
“But
what did that man do for a living?” interrupted Mrs Johnson-Scott brusquely. “Was
he a jeweller or something of the sort?”
“Oh,
yes, ma’am. How did you know?”
“I
worked it out straight away. Too much jewellery. It was obvious.”
Hector
continued while the inspector looked at his mother-in-law, astonished.
“As
I was saying, I think that at the beginning, she must have refused, but not
later. Too many gifts. He was a wealthy man, extremely wealthy. I bet the
girl’s boyfriend was nowhere near as rich.”
“No,
he was not at all” said Leonia. “He was a very honourable and hardworking boy,
but not rich.”
“So
you think it was Mr Haworth” Georgina concluded.
“Mr
Haworth and the cook, to be specific.”
“But
do you really think she would wear her ring?” asked Martha incredulously.
“Of
course she would wear it, dear” replied her mother. “She would wear it once the
two of them had run off.”
“I
really doubt that Mr Haworth would act like that. Had they been married for
long?”
“Almost
forty years” said Georgina.
“See,
mother. And do you think that after forty years of marriage Mr Haworth lost his
senses over the cook?”
“And
why not, if she had been living with them for a long time…? I bet she let
herself be loved.”
“But
she was engaged!”
“I
do not believe that. It must have been an excuse. She would leave at weekends,
right? And Mr Haworth would also go away some weekends, would he not?”
“Yes,
of course” said Georgina.
“Alone
or with company?”
“Sometimes
alone, sometimes with company.”
“See.”
“And
do you think, mother, that just because he went alone he would meet up with the
cook?”
“Why
not?”
“Oh,
it is absurd. I am sure he would go away for work.”
“Who
knows” her mother maintained, unwilling to be defeated.
“I
cannot imagine Mr Haworth acting like that, in no way” said Martha, altered
almost as if it concerned a member of her own family.
“The
truth is it all seems quite complicated, though I do have my own opinion” said
the young chauffer.
“But
Hector” Martha continued. “Do you not think that your idea is a little bizarre
and old-fashioned? This idea that the master fell crazily in love with the
cook, the maid or the secretary, I think it is a little antiquated. I think the
couple must have been very much in love. Perhaps Mrs Haworth felt a little sad with
the passing of the years, because her husband did not pay so much attention to
her anymore. You must all remember that nearly every afternoon Mr Haworth would
work in his office with his secretary. Mrs Haworth must have felt lonely.”
“What
did Mrs Haworth do all day then?” asked Mrs Johnson-Scott.
“Not
much of anything” replied Leonia. “She would have breakfast in the morning,
then read the paper and do the puzzles, and she would knit clothes for her
grandchildren and grand nieces and nephews. But in the afternoons, she would
often go to a nearby city where she participated in some meetings where there
were only women her age. They would do various activities there.”
“All
women?” said Hector, puzzled.
“I
think there were a couple of men too” responded Georgina.
“A
couple of men?” Miss Brewis was surprised.
“Maybe
she flirted with some mystery man” added Mrs Johnson-Scott.
“Mother!”
“He
would let her love him, of course, because he knew that Mrs Haworth had a lot
of money.”
“You
have a great imagination, Mrs Johnson-Scott” said her loyal housekeeper.
“Don’t
be so sure. It could have happened, couldn’t it, Edward?”
“Perhaps”
was her son-in-law’s limited response.
“And
did she not want to fire the cook or the secretary when the ring disappeared?”
asked Mrs Johnson-Scott. “She must have thought it was one of them.”
“No.
Though it seems absurd, she wanted them to stay, she did not believe it had
been one of them” said Georgina.
“Her
husband either?”
“Oh
no, her husband even less so!”
“I
do not understand at all. So, who, then? A mysterious thief who was spying on
them?” exclaimed Mrs Johnson-Scott. “It seems that woman was a bit strange.”
“I
agree” said the inspector.
“But,
listen” said Martha suddenly. “I was thinking that…and what if there had been a
sudden distance between the couple? The disappearance of the gold ring, for
her, would have changed Mr Haworth’s attitude towards his wife. Maybe he would
have been more communicative and affectionate.”
“That
she was hiding her jewellery to later ‘find’ it herself?” said her mother
incredulously. “Are you trying to suggest that she was a neurotic woman?”
“It
is possible, many women are not yet they behave in a similar way.”
“Stealing
from themselves?”
“The
poor things appear to be inconsolable victims” continued her daughter. “And
then the worried husband consoles them.”
“Dear
daughter, sorry but your idea also seems quite odd. Anyway…this…inspector,
Edward, I mean, you still have not said anything. Tell us what you think of
all of this. Because you must think something, right?”
“Of
course. We could say that what Hector said is part of the truth.”
“I
don’t believe it” said Mrs Johnson-Scott immediately and furiously, “so Mrs
Haworth and that young woman were carrying on together in secret. Poor Mrs
Haworth! How humiliating!”
“Not
exactly. You will see. Hector said one thing which is true. There are so many
possibilities that it is necessary to analyse everything very carefully. In
reality it is difficult to find the solution if one is not at the scene of the
crime. However, I know what it is.”
Suddenly
there were many exclamations. How? When? Where? This is surprising! They all
looked at the inspector as if hypnotised. The inspector did not seem earthly in
that moment, but rather like a god.
“I
heard somebody say that in the afternoons she would go to a nearby city to
distract herself a little bit. At those meetings,every so often, she must have
had to go and spend the afternoon in some bigger cities, London, I would say.
And once she was there, sometimes she would go to the theatre, or to the
cinema, or a museum, other times…to the bingo.
“To
the bingo?” said Miss Brewis, confused.
“Yes,
to the bingo. I believe our Mrs Haworth became very addicted to that game, too
addicted.”
“And
there was me thinking that, in a desperate moment, Mr Haworth or the cook would
have left the library and kitchen respectively and headed to the living room to
take the ring” said Mrs Johnson-Scott.
“It
could have happened too. But it didn’t, it was the exact opposite” said the
inspector.
“What
happened?” asked Miss Brewis.
“The
poor woman became addicted to the game and lost a lot of money. As a result of
this, she had to sell her precious and valuable gold ring one afternoon when
she went to play. The thing about the disappearance of the ring that afternoon
was all a farce.”
“The
poor woman!” exclaimed Mrs Johnson-Scott.
“The
ring was retrieved, thank God, for the manager of the bingo did not sell it,
rather he kept it. Thanks to him it was possible to get it back.”
“And
when the ring went missing, who did Mr Haworth suspect? Because he must have
suspected somebody, right?”
“I
think he thought his wife had lost it. And with the excuse of the disappearance
she would not have to own up to it” said the inspector.
“Very
nice” continued his wife, a little angrily, “and because of that they all
seemed guilty of theft.”
“She
was unwell, Martha.”
“I
know. I had forgotten for a moment. However, they must have had quite a quarrel
when it disappeared.”
“It
is true! That is what happened!” exclaimed Leonia in ecstasy. “I can’t believe
it!”
“You
are a genius, inspector”, said Hector, astonished.
“I
am proud to have such an intelligent son-in-law. How were you able to work it
all out so quickly?”
“Well…that
is a professional secret” said the inspector whilst winking at his wife.
“You
seem more of a visionary than an inspector” Georgina Mardson pointed out, also quite
surprised. “When I tell Charlotte Darnell she will not believe it.”
“I
am not surprise you managed to become an inspector at Scotland Yard” said Miss
Brewis, fascinated. “You are extremely intelligent. But the story is actually
very sad deep down” she added, afflicted. “And what happened afterwards?”
“Well,
now is the part I like most” concluded Leonia. “The cook got married after some
time, but she continued to work there. The one who stopped working there was
the ambitious secretary as, when Mrs Haworth became ill, hetried to gain
greater control over the business affairs. That was the straw which broke the
camel’s back. Mr Haworth fired him very diplomatically.”
“That
is what happened” confirmed Georgina. “Now Mrs Haworth is much better. Not long
after, they took a trip almost around the whole world and were able to visit
all of their children. When they returned they both seemed ten years younger.
It was a marvellous trip.”
“Traveling
does not agree with everybody” said Miss Brewis slowly and seriously. “I
remember that many years ago a friend of mine told me that someone she knew had
taken a trip to Africa with a group of friends. The woman became ill there with
some fever caused by insect bites and had to be urgentlytransported back to London
by aeroplane.”
“Poor
woman” said the emotional Georgina Marsden sorrowfully.
“What
happened?” asked Mrs Johnson-Scott. “You have never told me this.”
“It
was so long ago. Actually, it is quite an extraordinary story, I do believe.”
“Tell
us it, Valeria” said Leonia who was already very curious to hear the tale.
“Oh,
yes” concurred her cousin. “I like mysterious stories”.
THE END
No comments:
Post a Comment