Taking a deep breath, Gertie turned around. “I haven’t got the faintest idea who killed your husband. The last time I saw Ian Rossiter he was alive and kicking. You can bloody believe that or not, I don’t care.”
“I think your boyfriend killed him.”
Gertie blinked. “What? Who? Are you talking about Dan Perkins?”
“If that’s his name.” Gloria kept looking over her shoulder as if she were afraid of being overheard. “All I know is that he was punching the daylights out of my husband down at the pub the night he died.”
Gertie felt her jaw drop. “My Dan was fighting with Ian? What for?”
The front door opened suddenly, making Gloria jump. She sent a scared glance at the door then seemed to relax as an elderly couple strolled in. Moving closer to Gertie, she lowered her voice even more. “I don’t know what it was about, but yes, he was fighting with Robert. Where do you think my husband got that black eye? If you don’t believe me, ask them down at the pub. They’ll tell you. Lots of people must have seen them going at it.”
Gertie stared at her for a long moment, then said quietly, “I never pay any attention to gossipmongers. I have to go now.” This time she didn’t wait for Gloria to answer. Turning her back on her, she strode purposefully toward the hallway and didn’t stop until she reached madam’s office.
CHAPTER 13
Seated at her desk, Cecily raised her head at the sound of Gertie’s knock. “Come in!”
Gertie appeared in the doorway, her cap askew as usual and strands of hair falling across her forehead. She barged into the room and shut the door with a resounding thud. “You wanted to see me, m’m?”
Noting the two bright spots of red on Gertie’s cheeks, Cecily waved at a chair. “Sit down, Gertie.”
The housemaid sat, her chest heaving as if she was having difficulty breathing.
Cecily waited a moment to give her time to calm down, then enquired gently, “You seem to be upset about something. Do you want to tell me what happened?”
Gertie pressed her lips together, then let out her breath in an explosive sound of exasperation. “Gloria. I just bumped into her in the foyer.”
“I see. I assume the exchange was less than cordial.”
“She wanted to know if I knew who killed Ian. She told me she thought it was Dan Perkins.”
“Oh, dear.” Cecily closed her ledger and set it aside. “I hope you set her straight.”
“You bet I bleeding did… sorry, m’m.”
“Quite all right, Gertie.”
“Yes, well, that weren’t the worst of it.”
Eyeing her warily, Cecily waited for her to continue.
“She said Dan was fighting with Ian down the pub that night,” Gertie burst out at last.
“Oh, I see.” Cecily paused, wondering how much to tell her. “Actually, I had heard that from someone else.”
“Who?” Gertie leaned forward, eyes blazing. “Well, they was wrong. My Dan wouldn’t-” She broke off, her eyes growing wide. “Oh, bugger.”
Cecily waited.
Gertie fidgeted around for several seconds, before saying carefully, “If I tell you something, m’m, can you promise not to tell the constable?”
“I wish I could.” Cecily sighed, “I’m sorry, Gertie. We are dealing with a murder here. After all, someone brutally hit Ian over the head and killed him. I can’t promise to keep important information from the police. I think you’d better tell me what you know, or you could end up in a great deal of trouble.”
“If I’m not already.” Gertie stared gloomily at her knees. “It’s just that, well, I was out with Dan last night and he had this graze on the side of his face. He said he had an accident in the car, but I couldn’t see no mark on the car but he said he’d rubbed it out, but then Gloria said he was fighting and…” She paused for breath.
“You think he might have got the graze from the fight,” Cecily finished for her.
Gertie nodded, her face a sea of misery. “That doesn’t mean he killed him, though, does it. I saw Ian later that night and he had a black eye. Gloria said Dan gave it to him. But then if I saw him after the fight was over it could have been anyone what killed him. It doesn’t have to be Dan.”
“No, it doesn’t.”
“I just can’t help wondering why he didn’t tell me about the fight.”
“Most likely he didn’t want to upset you.”
Gertie was silent for a moment, then muttered, “Yeah, that was probably it.”
Cecily folded her hands on the desk. “How did Gloria know that Dan and Ian had been fighting?”
Gertie looked startled. “What?”
“Or that Ian had a black eye? Gloria told me that when Ian left her at the cottage to go to the George and Dragon, she went to bed. She said that was the last time she saw him. So I’m wondering how she knew he’d been fighting with Dan and received a black eye.”
“I don’t know.” Gertie pondered the question. “She must have been lying about going to bed. Perhaps she went down the pub to look for him and someone down there told her.”
“That’s possible. But then why would she lie about it?” Cecily glanced at the clock. “While we’re on the subject, is there a reason why you didn’t tell me earlier that Ian came back again later that evening?”
Gertie looked surprised. “I didn’t?” She thought about it. “Oh, well, I was going to, but Gloria walked in while we was talking and I never got a chance to tell you the rest.”
She was right, Cecily realized. Gloria had interrupted their conversation. “Well, why don’t you tell me the rest of the story now.”
Gertie heaved a sigh. “All right. I might as well. Nothing is a bloody secret around here, anyway. Sorry, m’m.”
Cecily smiled. “Go on.” She settled back, eager to hear Gertie’s side of the story. Perhaps now she’d get some of the answers that kept eluding her and they’d help clear up some of her suspicions.
“Well, it was like this,” Gertie said. “As I told you before, Ian came to the back door demanding to see the twins. I told him he couldn’t see them. He got nasty and that’s when I picked up the knife. I was hoping to scare him off. Then Clive turned up and took him away.” Gertie shuddered. “I don’t know what I would have done if he hadn’t got there right then.”
“Then it’s just as well that he did. So what happened after that?”
“Well, like I said, Dan came over and we talked a bit. I told him what happened and he was pretty cross.” Gertie shook her head. “He must have gone down the pub after that and had it out with Ian.”
“Well, then-” Cecily broke off as something popped into her mind. Her conversation with Mrs. Chubb. I went back about half past seven to send Gertie down to the wine cellar.
Gertie looked worried. “Yes, m’m?”
“I was just thinking about something.” Cecily paused, then said abruptly, “I understand Mrs. Chubb sent you down to the wine cellar that night.”
Gertie’s frown deepened. “Yes, m’m. She wanted me to bring up a case of wine.”
“Did you happen to see Clive down there while you were there?”
Gertie looked surprised. “No, m’m. I didn’t.” She fidgeted her feet, staring down at them as if she’d never seen them before.
So Clive had lied about where he was that evening. Cecily was getting a very bad feeling about the maintenance man. So far she had resisted the possibility of him being involved, but there were just too many lies and evasions about that night for her to rule him out.
Much as she hated to admit it, the circumstances seemed to point rather strongly in his direction.
“Did I say something wrong?”
Gertie sounded worried, and Cecily forced her mind back to the subject at hand. “It’s nothing important. Now, where were we? You said that Ian came back here later that night, after you went to the wine cellar?”
“Yes. It was just before nine o’clock. I went out to fill the coal scuttle ’cos I knew Michel was coming back to take his puddings out the oven at nine and he’d raise merry hell if he saw the scuttle was empty.”