The ISMW panel at which the relative merits of large cities versus small towns as settings for murder mysteries was discussed turned out to be, in my estimation, a monumental bore. The others on the panel tried to outprecious one another, as a certain ilk of writer is prone to do, and I found myself with little to offer. I was delighted when it ended and I could get on with the rest of my day. I was free until a dinner that night sponsored by Marjorie’s British publisher, Archibald Semple. I was glad I’d been able to have dinner with Seth and Morton the previous night because I didn’t see another evening together for the rest of the week.
I had a half-dozen invitations for lunch that day but politely declined all of them. Seth and Morton had left a message that they were off to do some sightseeing and shopping. I knew Seth was eager to explore the possibility of having a suit made on Savile Row. Once he saw the prices, however, I had a suspicion he would shelve the idea in favor of off-the-rack selections back in Bangor. Morton’s hobby was collecting toy soldiers, and he’d heard about a shop called Under Two Flags that specialized in English and Scottish regiments. That was obviously on their agenda, too. It was good they were entertaining themselves because I’d decided that I would indeed attend the reading of Marjorie’s will after taking care of the two other items on my list.
The Liverpool Street Station area was far less ominous in broad daylight. I made a point of walking up the street on which I’d been mugged and stopping on the spot where the young man had stepped out from behind the packing crates. I would probably always stop there on subsequent visits to London. “It happened right here,” I would tell whomever I was with, increasing my attacker’s height each time, and embellishing my fearless defense of my purse.
I entered Jason’s building and went upstairs. The black door to his flat was locked. I looked through the open door into the flat across the tiny landing, and assumed it was where the man lived who had come to the door the night I was in Jason’s flat with Maria. I peered inside. Aside from a few scattered pieces of furniture, it seemed to be uninhabited.
“ ’Ere now, what might you be lookin’ for?” a shrill female voice said from the landing below.
I looked down the stairs and saw an old woman with frizzy hair and thick glasses, wearing a housedress and carpet slippers. “I was looking for…” I couldn’t say Jason Harris. “I was looking for the young lady who was a friend of Mr. Harris.”
“ ’Aven’t seen that bint since ’e got ’is throat slit. Who are you?”
“A friend of the family. The man who lives across the hall. I met him the other night and-”
“God blind me, talkin’ about the likes of him. The bugger scarpered out in the middle of the night, owes me rent, too, he does.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said, coming down a few steps. “What was his name?”
“Maroney, if you believe ‘im. Probably got ’imself a dozen of ‘em. Blokes like ’im usually do. You a family friend of ‘is, too? Maybe you’d like to pay up for ’im.”
“No, I only met him briefly. You say Mr. Harris’s friend, the attractive young woman named Maria, hasn’t been here?”
“Not that I’ve seen, only I don’t spend my day snoopin’ on me tenants.”
I bet you don’t, I thought. I said, “Well, I think I’ll leave a note on Mr. Harris’s door if you don’t mind.”
“Harris owed me rent, too. You say you’re a friend of the family? How about payin’ ’is rent?”
“I’m not that much of a friend. Excuse me.” I wrote a brief note asking Maria to call me, and slipped it under Jason’s door.
I descended to the ground floor, the landlady yelling after me every step that no one had any sense of honor or decency anymore, that all she ended up with in the building was bums, and that she intended only to rent to “proper ladies” from now on. I wasn’t sure how many “proper ladies” would be interested in living in that building, but you never knew. Then again, how did she intend to define “proper ladies”?
I moved on to Soho and David Simpson’s talent agency. The waiting room was filled with young women of varying shades, sizes and dress. Simpson would have no trouble filling openings for exotic dancers that night. Carmela, the receptionist, was in her usual pose behind the desk, reading a magazine and chewing gum. I asked for Mr. Simpson, and she curtly told me he was gone for the day.
“Will he be here tomorrow?” I asked.
She shrugged. “Wouldn’t I like to know that? He owes me pay.”
I left feeling as though I’d touched base with the Debtors’ Society of London. It was three o’clock; an hour to go before Marjorie’s will was read. I hadn’t eaten, and stopped in the Soho Brasserie for a sandwich and soft drink, then headed for Mr. Gould-Brayton’s office on Newgate Street, where the Roman and mediaeval wall dissects it.
As I entered the spacious, richly paneled, and sedate surroundings of Gould-Brayton & Partners office, I expected to see very few people. Certainly Jane Portelaine would be on hand, as might those members of the household staff who were named in the will. Instead, the conference room looked like a re-creation, minus food, of the dinner party at Ainsworth Manor the night Marjorie died. There were some notable exceptions; Jason Harris, of course, wasn’t there, nor was William Strayhorn, the London book reviewer. The other missing personages included Sir James Ferguson, the theatrical producer, and Clayton Perry’s wife, Reneé.
I was seated next to Count Antonio Zara, who held out my chair for me and, I suspect, had intentions of kissing my hand, which I deftly avoided by wrapping both of them around my purse.
Mr. Gould-Brayton looked the way he sounded, terribly overweight, dark three-piece suit with gold chain draped across his large belly, and rimless spectacles, and, I was certain, had bad breath, although I wasn’t close enough to confirm that supposition.
My assumption that Jane Portelaine would be there had been confirmed the moment I entered the reception area. Victorian posy hung heavy in the air and dominated the conference room.
Jane sat across the large mahogany conference table from me, flanked by American agent Bruce Herbert, and American publisher Clayton Perry. Her appearance this afternoon interested me. She wore lipstick, just a touch, but surprising nonetheless. She’d done something with her hair that allowed it to fall with more softness about her face. Her nails appeared to have been freshly manicured, and a subtle, rose-colored nail polish, the same shade as her lipstick, had been expertly applied. Her dress, too, was different, although not dramatically so. She wore a teal blouse and had left the top button open, of all things. A simple chain suspended the gold letters of her name above her bosom. The heavy gray cardigan sweater seemed the only throwback to how I’d always remembered her, although I couldn’t see her skirt and shoes.
“Hello, Jane,” I said.
She smiled at me. “Hello, Mrs. Fletcher. It’s good to see you again.”
What a change from our strained conversation at the graveside.
“Bloody shame we meet again like this,” said Archibald Semple, Marjorie’s British publisher. “We’ll have a more festive atmosphere this evening at dinner. I trust you are joining us, Mrs. Fletcher.”
“Yes, and looking forward to it, Mr. Semple.”
Bruce Herbert, whose suit looked as though it had come minutes ago from Tommy Nutter or Henry Poole on Savile Row, leaned as far as he could over the table and asked, “Have you given any thought to the suggestion?”
“What suggestion?”
“About the nonfiction account of this tragedy.”
“Oh, no, no further thought at all, Mr. Herbert. It really doesn’t interest me.” Herbert sat back. The broad, engaging smile that had been on his face disappeared, and he cast a sideward glance at Clayton Perry, who sat in his usual bolt-upright posture, tanned hands folded neatly on the table. Perry smiled; I returned the smile.