By the time all the dishes were collected and sent back to the kitchen, and the tablecloths changed and the floors swept, Gertie felt a hundred years old. All she wanted to do was go back to her room and rest her aching feet.
She went back to the kitchen for the last time to help put the clean dishes away. She was surprised to see Mrs. Chubb sitting at the table. Usually the housekeeper retired for the night once supper was served.
“I waited for you,” she said, when Gertie walked up to her. “I’ve got something to tell you.”
Gertie glanced at the maids giggling at the sink. “In the pantry?”
“All right.” Mrs. Chubb got up and led the way. Once inside the tiny, cold room she closed the door until just a sliver of light shone through. “I had a word with madam,” she said. “It looks as if we have a jewel thief in the Pennyfoot. Madam told me that one of the guests had some jewelry stolen from her room.”
Gertie gasped. “Does she know who took it?”
“No, she doesn’t. But whoever it was could have taken my ring as well.”
“Wait a minute.” Gertie clutched her throat as an idea came to her. “What guest was it who was robbed?”
Mrs. Chubb hesitated. “I’m not supposed to say, but madam did say it was room eleven, and that’s Lady Roslyn’s room.”
“Oh, blimey.”
“What’s the matter?”
Gertie sighed. “Well, I don’t know if this has anything to do with it, but I saw Mabel coming out of there this morning. I couldn’t think what she was doing up there, but she said you sent her up there to change the pillows in Lady Roslyn’s room so I didn’t think no more of it.”
Mrs. Chubb sounded grim when she answered. “I didn’t send her up there. She was lying about that. I think we need to talk to that young lady. It’s too late now, she’s already gone home, but first thing in the morning I will find out what’s going on with her.”
“I don’t want to get her into trouble or anything.”
“If she didn’t take the jewels then she’s got nothing to worry about.” Mrs. Chubb reached for the door handle. “I was going to ask Clive to take off the pipe underneath the sink to see if he could find my ring, but now I think I’ll wait until I talk to Mabel.”
Gertie gulped. “You think she took it?”
“I don’t know what to think. This is all very upsetting, coming so soon after all the upset over Ian. I suppose we’ll find out more in the morning.” The housekeeper pushed the door open. “It’s Christmas Eve tomorrow. I hate the thought of all this trouble right on Christmas.”
“We could be mistaken,” Gertie said hopefully. “Mabel could have had a really good reason to be up there, and just didn’t want to tell me.”
Mrs. Chubb tightened her lips. “Perhaps, but whatever she was doing up there, I’m going to find out about it.”
Gertie followed her out into the kitchen, feeling sorry for the young maid. She hadn’t really liked Mabel all that much, but the girl walked around as if she carried the troubles of the world on her shoulders, and Gertie felt sort of responsible for her. She just hoped that it was all a mistake and she wouldn’t have to worry what happened to the poor thing over Christmas.
It took another hour for her to put all the dishes away and get the kitchen cleaned up. Mrs. Chubb had sent the maids home, so she was all alone when she finally hung the tea towels over the stove to dry.
A quick glance at the clock told her it was time to go back to her room and relieve Daisy. The twins would hopefully be asleep, so she could just go to bed and drift off herself. Though somehow she knew that with Dan on her mind, as well as all the trouble with thieves and worrying about Clive being a murderer, it would take a long time for her to go to sleep.
Perhaps tomorrow, she thought, as she trudged down the hallway. Perhaps tomorrow they’d find out that Ian was the thief and not Mabel, that someone else and not Clive killed Ian, and that Dan would come to the carol singing like he’d promised and they could make up. That was what she hoped for most of all.
CHAPTER 20
“I told you that Mabel was up to no good.” Gertie pointed to the clock on the kitchen mantelpiece. “I had a feeling when I got up this morning that something was going to go wrong. It’s seven o’clock and she’s still not here.”
Mrs. Chubb sighed. “That’s all we need. The busiest days of the Christmas season and we’re short a maid. Well, you and Pansy will just have to work a bit harder, that’s all.” She wiped her hands on her apron. “I’ll go and tell madam that Mabel’s not here.”
“Well, now you can’t ask her what she was doing in Lady Roslyn’s room.” Gertie slapped a handful of polished forks onto the tray in front of her. “So we still don’t know for sure if she took the jewels or not.”
“You just can’t trust anyone these days, and that’s a fact. You’d better get upstairs and help Pansy with the serving.” Still grumbling to herself, Mrs. Chubb swung open the door and left.
Standing with Pansy at the dumbwaiter a few minutes later, Gertie waited for the load of dishes to arrive, her mind more on the coming evening than on the food waiting to be served. The day stretched before her like an endless ocean, hours to go before she had any hope of seeing Dan. He’d promised to come to the carol singing, and after that, she was supposed to help him distribute the toys to the orphanage.
She had no way of knowing if he would turn up, or if he would want her to help him with the toys. In fact, she didn’t even know if she would see him again, after the way he left her last night.
A sharp nudge in her side made her jump. Pansy was staring at her, her head to one side.
“What?” Gertie swiped a strand of hair out of her eyes. “Did I grow another nose or something?”
Pansy grinned. “I was just wondering what you were thinking. That Sid Barrett walked right past you and you never even blinked an eye.”
“Don’t talk to me about Sid Barrett.” Gertie leaned into the waiter and peered down the shaft. At the bottom someone was loading dishes, and she pulled back. “He’s a shifty one. Up to no good, if you ask me.”
“Go on.” Pansy laughed. “He’s all right. I’ve been thinking about going out with him. He was really nice to me this morning and asked me to go out with him, so I just might do that.”
Gertie gave her a dark look. “If I were you, Pansy Wat son, I’d stay far away from him. There’s something nasty about him, you mark my words.”
Pansy shrugged. “You’re just jealous, that’s all.”
Gertie’s derisive laugh echoed down the hallway. “Jealous? Of that smarmy snake? I wouldn’t trust him farther than my little finger. He’s always snooping around, listening to what everyone is saying. Remember when he was listening to us in the dining room? We didn’t even know he was there.”
Pansy frowned. “Yeah, I do remember. You know, I always thought that was really strange.”
Gertie looked at her. “What was strange?”
“Well, you know, how Sid knew Ian’s last name. When we were standing there talking about Ian dying and everything, we never said his last name. But then Sid came in and called him Ian Rossiter, like he already knew him.”
Gertie stared at her a moment longer. Just then a loud rattle stole her attention and she turned to see the dishes sitting in the dumbwaiter. “Well, we’d better get a move on and get this food served up before it gets cold.”
She grabbed a tray and headed for the dining room. She didn’t want to think about Ian or Sid Barrett. She didn’t even want to think about Dan, because when she did she got an awful ache in her stomach just thinking about what she’d do if he didn’t turn up for the carol singing.
Cecily had risen early that morning, eager to get the day started. The first order of business was to talk to Gloria, and the best way to catch the woman was to wait for her in the hallway outside the dining room.