‘There is much in what you say. You feel sure that this particular murder was committed by a woman, I think.’
‘I cannot be sure, but it seems likely because of the means employed.’
‘It could be a crime committed by a man astute enough to make it look like the action of a woman, don’t you think?’
‘I had not thought of that. But, you know, Dame Beatrice, if Margaret Denham is not the guilty party, then, as I said, one of us must be, and that is a thought I find hard to face.’
‘There are the Lunns, of course.’
‘Mattie and Redruth? Oh, but they have been in my grandmother’s service for years and years.’
‘That is hardly a valid defence. Circumstances change. Grievances arise, and so on.’
‘I suppose so. Now that I come to remember, I was told that Mattie’s employment as groom had been terminated,’ said Bluebell thoughtfully, ‘and she did not know that she was to be given the horses. But, is summary dismissal an adequate motive for so serious a crime as murder?’
‘As I always contend, who can say what is or is not an adequate motive?’
‘You have seen Margaret Denham and heard her speak. Do you think she is guilty? As a psychiatrist you must have formed an opinion.’
‘The only opinion I have formed is too trite to be worth repeating. However, here it is, and it coincides with your own, so we are going round in circles. If Margaret Denham did not do it, somebody else did, but to take the matter a little further, as the police have arrested the girl they will not look for that somebody until or unless the magistrates dismiss the charge.’
‘They are not likely to do that, unless something more comes to light than is known at present. Failing a more obvious suspect, there is a prima facie case against Margaret, as any unbiased person is bound to admit.’
‘But you are not unbiased,’ said Garnet, when Bluebell reported the conversation to him.
‘No. I am prejudiced in the girl’s favour. I don’t believe she has the intelligence to think of such a method of murder, let alone the wickedness to carry it out.’
‘Is there anything in Gamaliel’s suggestion that a malicious practical joke misfired? Not his own practical joke, I hasten to add.’
‘Not the sort of joke which would be played in these parts. Country people have a wide knowledge of poisonous plants and the monkshood is notorious. If it were not, it would hardly be known also as the wolfsbane.’
‘I suppose the roots did come from a plant of the cultivated variety? I believe it is also found growing wild in south-western districts, and this part of England is the most south-western of all.’
‘I believe there is a wild species. You would need to ask Rupert. I believe he is writing a book on Cornish flora. Of course, the most damaging evidence against the girl is that the plant in question seems to have been dug up in her sister’s garden while she was staying in the cottage.’
‘To be fair, the police ought to inspect all the gardens in the neighbourhood. Perhaps a murderer clever enough to have thought of this way of killing would also be far-sighted enough to attempt to throw suspicion on this girl, knowing her to have a grievance about her dismissal from the Headlands kitchen and also knowing that, because of her service there, she would have known exactly how the cook prepared the horseradish sauce and exactly what kind of jar she put it in. That is the trouble unless the cook herself did it, or the present kitchenmaid.’
‘Oh, I am sure we can exonerate the present girl, Sonia. What reason could she have had? She knew nothing of the tiny legacy which she is to receive and there is no story of her having fallen foul of her mistress. As for Mrs Plack, I would as soon suspect myself!’
‘That is no proof of her innocence, but, however illogically, I agree with you.’
‘There is one other person who could have known all about the preparation of the horseradish sauce,’ said Bluebell.
‘I am at a loss to think of anybody, unless you mean Fiona,’ said her brother.
‘Or my mother, come to that. It is just as unlikely. No, I had not, for one moment, thought of either.’
‘Oh!’ said Garnet, as her meaning dawned on him. ‘But I would have thought that particular person had a perfect alibi. Wouldn’t she have been in London? In any case, what had she to gain?’
‘Absolutely nothing. So far as we know, she also had no grievance against my grandmother, far from it. She has received nothing but kindness in that house. In any case, it is not in her nature to think of such a method of killing. I can envisage Antonia picking up a dagger and doing the thing in grand style and with a histrionic flourish, but I don’t believe she would kill in this cowardly hole-and-corner manner. She is going to be a success on the concert platform, you know. She would never mortgage her chances by committing this loathsome crime, even were she capable of committing it, and I repeat that I am perfectly convinced she is not. Gamaliel put forth the suggestion and I repudiated it.’
‘Well, I did not commit it and neither did you,’ said Garnet. ‘Is Dame Beatrice interested?’
Chapter 13
Monkshood
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‘But why are you bothering?’ asked Laura on her first evening back at The Smugglers’ Inn. ‘I mean, from what you tell me, the girl had a genuine grievance, she knew all about this horseradish stuff, how it was prepared, what kind of jar was used and all the rest of it, and she had gone to live in a cottage where this poison plant was not only growing in the garden but a root or two of it, easily mistaken for horseradish, had been dug up.’
‘I know,’ said Dame Beatrice mildly.
‘Well, then, why are you bothering? Don’t you think the girl is guilty?’
‘I have no idea whether she is guilty or not, but I find the case interesting. The people concerned are fascinating in their own way, and (what perhaps is more to the point), some of them had far more to gain from the death than Margaret Denham had, for, in her case, the motive could only have been to avenge herself on one who had dismissed her from her position as kitchenmaid for what the girl may have thought to be an insufficient reason.’
‘But insolence in a servant is not an insufficient reason. The only reason I ever belted a kid in school was for beastly back-answering. You know—“I can connive at immorality, but I can’t stand impudence”.’
‘What you say is very just.’
‘Anyway, what had others to gain that she had not? Money?’
‘A great deal of it. The deceased left a valuable property, four hundred thousand pounds, and a number of more or less indigent relations.’
‘Oh, I see. But you are always arguing that the strength of a motive for murder is so variable that you can’t really go by it. Have you changed your ground?’
‘By no means, so let us go back to the beginning and say that I find the case interesting.’
‘Shall you go and see the girl?’
‘Later on. My commitments to the Home Office will provide ample opportunity for that.’
‘But you’re going to do a bit of ferreting round first.’
‘As often, I deplore the metaphors you use, but this one covers the facts.’
‘Do I come with you?’
‘I shall value, as always, your company.’
‘Where do we start? Do we sniff out all the gardens where the monkshood might have been dug up, but wasn’t?’
‘We also survey the shadows and windy places which have lisp of leaves and rustle of rain.’
‘You’re thinking of the wild variety. Does it grow in these parts?’
‘We shall enjoy some pleasant rambles to find that out, but the cultivated variety must come first. We shall begin by paying a visit to that Mrs Antrobus with whom Margaret Denham was staying when, apparently, the murder was conceived and carried out.’