Page 87 of Corpse in the Canal

“I saw it tear,” David interrupted.

“Then that confirms my other suspicion,” Constance said triumphantly. “Not only could she not have torn the gown at Larchford Wood yesterday, but someone must have deliberately planted the cloth there. I thought at the time the twig it was hooked onto was not strong enough to tear off such a chunk of good cloth.”

“But why would anyone do that?” David demanded.

“To implicate her,” Constance said. “And to de-implicate themselves.”

“Who?” David asked.

“I don’t know,” Constance said, deflated. “But a woman like her must have more than one admirer. Most of the men in the area must have noticed her, and that can cause ill feeling out of all proportion among the men concerned, and the women who know them. For example, I’m sure Penelope Owens likes Sir Felix Everett, and I’m even surer she doesn’t like Adelaide.”

A knock sounded at the door, and in answer to Solomon’s call, Adelaide herself entered.

She gazed only at Solomon. “You look better,” she said, “which is good. I have something to tell you.”

*

These days, Janey always seemed to come to work in a bad mood, which she hated, for she loved her work and took great pride in it. It was her new lodgings she hated. So, she tried to forget about having to go back there this evening and enjoyed being at the Silver and Grey office instead.

“Morning, Hat!” she called with assumed cheer, striding down the passage to their cubbyhole. “Here, do you know what that bloody old bag upstairs said…” She broke off at the sight of her employer’s mother seated at Hat’s desk with a cup of tea in one gloved hand. Oh well. Janey grinned. “Morning, Mrs. Silver. Pardon my French.”

“Fortunately, I don’t understand the language,” Mrs. Silver said comfortably.

Janey was fairly sure Constance’s mother could swear with the best of them. And probably in French, too. But she only said, “Got a cup for me, Hat?” and perched on the desk.

“Here you go,” said Hat, delivering it promptly. “Mrs. Silver’s looking for Mrs. Grey.”

The pain in the younger girl’s face told Janey that Hat was in an agonized dilemma. She knew she wasn’t to give away her employers’ whereabouts to anyone—the one time she had done so could have led to tragedy—and yet silence seemed unnecessarily cruel to Constance’s mother, who no doubt had good reason to speak to her daughter.

The decision was now up to Janey, as Hat’s superior.

“Hat tells me she’s out of town on a case,” Mrs. Silver said, nursing her tea.

“So she is. So’s himself. Not sure when they’ll be back. Is it urgent?”

Mrs. Silver sighed. “Increasingly so. Wretched girl hasn’t been at home for days.”

“Do you want to give me a message and I’ll take it to her?” Janey offered. How far was it to Channing, and how the devil would she get there? She shouldn’t really leave Hat alone, should she?

“No, that won’t be necessary,” Mrs. Silver said, relieving Janey’s suddenly uneasy mind. “She won’t thank me for disturbing her, and I’ve no time to travel now.”

All the same, she looked so lost that Janey’s heart was touched. “Is it something we can help with? She trusts us, you know.”

Mrs. Silver smiled, which made her look suddenly very like Constance. In fact, she seemed much less outrageous in appearance than she used to. She was still colorful, eccentric, but oddly ladylike.

“Of course she trusts you,” Mrs. Silver said stoutly. “Why would she not? I would too, only it’s not that kind of a problem. Not really a problem at all.”

“Write her a letter,” Janey advised. “I’ll see she gets it. I should have written myself by now. Why don’t you use her office?”

Mrs. Silver set her cup and saucer on Hat’s desk and stood up. “Perhaps I will.”

As she vanished into Constance’s comfortable office, Hat took a letter from her desk drawer and passed it surreptitiously to Janey, as though someone might be watching.

“Came first thing,” Hat muttered. “From herself.”

Janey opened it, read it, and her bad mood vanished.

Grinning, she jumped off the desk and hurtled toward the door. “Back in a shake! Just going to send for Lenny!”