“I have witnessed the same of him,” Slye said. “If you have lacked invitations, Mrs. Grimes, I believe his temperament and, er, roving eye had more to do with your exclusion from local society than any thoughts about your former career.”
I wasn’t sure Slye was being truthful, given the stuffiness of some of his neighbors, but I said nothing. His opinion, however, was supported by Wishy.
“Indeed!” Wishy said. “Hate to speak ill of the dead, but-well, if I don’t, I suppose there’s not much to say about him.”
“Did he allow you the same freedoms he insisted upon for himself?” Slye asked.
“Oh, no. Everett was a man who would suffer no insult to his pride.”
“Had he experienced such an insult recently?” Slye asked.
“Yes. Perhaps that’s why he took poison? I would not have thought it of him.”
“Tell us what happened,” Slye asked, not answering her question or correcting her assumption that Grimes was a suicide.
“He had been doing his best to annoy one of the kitchen maids, Jeannie Lindstrom. We have had trouble keeping young female help for this very reason. I was about to offer her enough severance to be able to support herself while she looked for another position, but as it turned out, she ran off with the chauffeur. Billy’s also young, and as handsome as Jeannie is pretty. I could see he was smitten with her, but it has caused a tremendous amount of upset here. Billy’s mother is my housekeeper, and she is beside herself. And now we are not only short-staffed, but…” She gave us a rueful look.
“What is it?” the sheriff asked.
“I was going to say that Everett can’t drive worth a-worth a darn, but I suppose I no longer need to worry about that.”
“What day did the lovers take flight?” Slye asked.
“Two days ago. Everett phoned me in quite a state. It took me a while to understand that he thought Billy had arranged to run away with Jeannie, and furthermore, that Billy had vandalized the Hudson. That was late in the afternoon. He was upset, but made a point of asking me to swear the staff to secrecy. I could tell even then that it was a terrible blow to his pride. He sounded shaken.”
Slye said, “May I ask, Mrs. Grimes, what the arrangements were for staff at the quarry house?”
“He had decided that Jeannie should work as the cook while he was there to do some fishing. Mrs. Huddleson, one of our other maids, was to be there as well, doing cleaning.”
“Did they stay at the property?”
“Oh, no. Mrs. Westley-Billy’s mother-does her best to protect the female staff. Billy would come here early in the morning and drive whoever would be helping up to the cottage, then depending on where he or they were needed most, brought them back in the early evening. It’s just a few minutes’ drive, as you know. Billy stayed there overnight-you’ve seen the little house?”
“Yes,” the sheriff said.
“That’s where Billy stayed when Everett was at the quarry. So if Everett needed assistance or wished to leave, his driver was right there. Billy was a favorite of Everett’s-like his mother, he had a way of dealing with Everett that prevented many an upset. And his mother relied on Billy to protect the women.”
“So, if this Mrs. Huddleson was there, how did the young couple manage to elope?” the sheriff asked.
“Everett went fishing. Mrs. Huddleson asked to be brought back here-she had much to do, and Everett’s habit was to take a basket of sandwiches and a thermos with him early in the morning and stay out all day. Jeannie was completing some work in the kitchen, and Billy said he’d make a second trip. Mrs. Huddleson thought nothing of it. They were careful not to raise any alarms here-took none of their possessions from this house, although Everett said Billy cleared out all his own things from his quarters at the quarry.”
She hesitated, then added, “Perhaps Mrs. Huddleson knew what was going on and aided them-if true, that wouldn’t surprise me. Billy grew up here and is much doted upon by the older staff, who have all adopted him to one degree or another.”
Wishy’s brows drew together. “But if the Hudson was still at the quarry, how’d the lovers run off? I mean, not a second automobile missing, is there?”
“Billy wouldn’t have stolen an automobile from us,” she said. “Everett was convinced that a friend must have aided them-drove up to the cottage while Everett was out on the water, fishing.”
“Two days ago,” Slye said, musing. “Since Mr. Grimes was then left without help, did he drive himself back here?”
“No. He was in a foul mood and said he didn’t want anyone to disturb him, that he had plenty to eat and would just drive the Hudson down to the village if he needed anything more.” She shook her head. “He was emphatic about being left alone, but I swear to you, I had no idea that he meant to do himself harm.”
“Please don’t let that trouble you,” Slye said. “You had no way to predict what would happen at the quarry.”
“Yesterday,” the sheriff asked, “who from this household went there?”
“Mrs. Westley. He asked for her specifically, but it would probably have been her anyway-I’m the only other person in the house who drives. She drives as well as Billy, so she took the Ford-we have a Model T that she uses for errands.
“Everett was so upset when I spoke to him, and behaving so oddly, I told her to take Mrs. Huddleson with her, even though that left us very shorthanded here. I asked them to work together and to try not to be out of each other’s sight. Everett wanted to have someone clean the place thoroughly, and the small house, too. They spent most of the day there. It was rather cruel of him, I think, to take his frustrations out on Mrs. Westley. She’ll eventually come to accept Billy’s decision, but right now she’s unhappy about it.”
“What time did the women come back?”
“About four, I think. Then they drove back later, to take his dinner to him.”
The sheriff looked to Slye, who said, “Mrs. Grimes, may we please speak to Mrs. Westley?”
“She is so upset-”
“Please. It is important.”
She watched him warily for a moment, then rang for the butler and asked that the housekeeper be brought to the parlor.
Mrs. Westley’s face bore the marks of grief in more than her swollen eyes, reddened nose, and trembling lips. A sturdily built woman of a certain age, she nevertheless seemed to me a fragile being, lost in some fog of remembrance, nearly unresponsive to her environment. I offered her my chair. She suddenly seemed to see me for the first time and cringed away from me, but when I moved aside from the chair, she collapsed into it.
“Mrs. Westley,” Mrs. Grimes said, “you must answer the questions these gentlemen put to you. And thank you, Dr. Tyndale. I apologize for my housekeeper’s lapse in manners. Forgive her-she is not herself. Please, have a seat here by me on the sofa.”
This speech had a fortifying effect on Mrs. Westley, who offered her own apology.
“Mrs. Westley,” the sheriff asked, “did anything seem unusual when you were at the cottage yesterday?”
“Mr. Grimes was in a strange mood, and behaving as if he was angry with me, telling me I had done a poor job of raising my son to have him run off with Jeannie. I expected as much of Mr. Grimes.”
“Anything else?”
She twisted her hands together in her lap, then said, “I saw that he had been moving the furniture about, which was unusual. He seldom does things for himself, but if he gets a whim, there’s no telling what he’ll be up to. He had got rid of one of the headboards-in his room, that is. And the room smelled of patch and paint, but we didn’t dare ask him about it. Mrs. Huddleson and I just did our work and tried to stay out of his way. He upset me, I admit it. I am sorry that things have-have come to this. Truly sorry.”