‘Who, Joe? Who traded on her sense of fun to lure her into this death trap? Someone she knew. Someone we both know! Has to be. You don’t need to be a smart detective or a pathologist to see that she was stabbed while she was lying down there. I’ve got that right, haven’t I?’
Joe nodded. ‘The lack of vertical blood trail down the dress would indicate that you are correct. What blood there was has ponded in the chest area. If I could bring myself to do it, I’d lift her skirt and check for post-mortem discoloration. There’s always gravitation of the blood to the lowest point of the body-it shows up as a reddish-blue bruising. She was, I think, killed right there where she now lies. But-again-I’m keeping my hands off what is the French Inspector’s scene.’
‘She knew him. Trusted him. You didn’t know Estelle! I tell you she’d have fought like a hell cat if she’d thought she was in danger. Scratched him to pieces! Look at her hands … no, no … I understand. I won’t get too close. No sign of fending off an attack, is there?’
‘Not as far as I can make out. They’ll need to take samples from under her fingernails.’
‘He’s over there, isn’t he? In the hall, finishing his breakfast … Still in bed, exhausted after his night’s activity? But what did he say to her?’ Nathan blundered on, his voice rising to a shrill note of disbelief as he worked through the implications of the grisly scenario. ‘To make her do this? Did he kill her somewhere else and arrange her up here for a laugh?’
Joe saw a flash of panic twist his features. ‘Good God, Joe! You don’t suppose …? Oh, no! I couldn’t bear it!’
‘No immediately obvious sign of a sexual attack-at least a physical one,’ said Joe. ‘But I have to tell you, Nat, I’m not going to pursue the possibility. Not now. That really must be left to the proper authority, properly equipped. I can just say-I think it highly unlikely. No. Whatever our perpetrator had in mind, I don’t think it was rape.’
With a groan, Nathan moved forward at last to pull the camera clumsily from Joe’s grasp. ‘Let me have it. You’re useless! I’ll finish for you. And develop the plates. It’s all I can do for her now, isn’t it? You’ve got to find him, Joe. We’ve got to find the bastard.’
It was with difficulty that Joe persuaded Nathan to leave the chapel and return with him to the house. He explained that he was anxious to speak to the child Marius before too many well-meaning souls had put ideas of their own into his head. He was, if not the key to all this horror, at least the witness of it and they would advance faster and further towards catching Estelle’s killer by getting his information. Joe was only surprised that the child had himself escaped the murderous attentions. He’d been shut in here with a killer and his victim. He was small for his age, his neck could have been snapped like a chicken’s and the sole witness removed in a second.
‘How strong are you feeling, Nat?’ Joe asked. ‘Steady enough to go back into the hall and break the news?’
Nathan nodded.
‘Look, I ought by rights to isolate you and make certain you don’t spread this story around. But I don’t think anyone’s going to be able to keep the lid on for five minutes in the circumstances. And all things considered, if it’s going to come out, I’d rather it came out straight. From you. You know what this bunch are like for speculation. Will you just say Estelle is dead and in the chapel which remains out of bounds to all? Can you manage to avoid going into details, do you think?’
Nathan agreed. ‘What’ll you do now, Joe? What can you do?’
Joe grimaced. ‘Hands tied, I’m afraid! At home I’d ring for a squad, establish a scene of crime set-up, arrange interviews … As it is, we’ll just have to wait for the French spearhead to arrive, all unwitting.’
Joe made his way into the kitchen through the side door, not knowing what he should expect, certain only that it would be an unpleasant scene.
To his surprise, all was calm and orderly. All kitchen activity had been suspended and the staff were standing around, an attentive chorus backing up the main players. Dorcas was close by, he was relieved to note. Centrally placed on a chair that had been brought in from the dining room, Madame Dalbert sat holding her little son on her lap. Marius was no longer yelling. He was sitting, pink and vastly recovered from his ordeal, staring with fascination at the steward who had arrived to take charge.
De Pacy was on his knees in front of Marius. Joe almost looked for a gift of frankincense, myrrh or gold in his hand but he was holding out for the child’s inspection a Limoges china bowl with a silver spoon standing up in it. The cherub was showing an interest in the contents. A kitchen boy thoughtfully came to take the bowl from de Pacy and held it steadily, allowing the steward to dig in with his good hand and tentatively offer up a spoonful of strawberry ice-cream. Marius’s eyes flicked in astonishment from the anxious face of the commanding officer on a level with his own and back to the silver spoon. Joe tensed. Would the child put back his head and howl or accept the offering? Marius made the right decision. He opened up his mouth like a baby cuckoo.
Joe approached quietly and watched the scene until the bowl was empty. De Pacy got up, grunted and tousled the boy’s hair. ‘Brave lad!’ he murmured. ‘He’s a soldier like his father, Madame Dalbert.’ He turned to Joe and spoke in English. ‘I’m a bit lost. But I think you may be able to make some sense out of all this. All I can gather-and that mainly from Dorcas who came to fetch me-is that the poor lad spent the night trapped in the chapel and that you let him out just now. He’s terrified. He hasn’t told us anything. Doesn’t seem to be able to speak-although I know he can! He has a fine way with words for one so young and swears like a trooper. He refuses to talk to me. Perhaps you could-’
‘Why don’t you both move away and let me speak to him?’ said Dorcas. ‘You’re both big frightening men-he’s been told to keep out of your way. He won’t talk to you.’
They went to stand behind Madame Dalbert while Dorcas approached him and took hold of his hand. ‘Awfully glad you’re back, Marius! We missed you.’ She spoke reassuringly in what Joe thought of as her ‘Provençal voice’. ‘We thought you’d gone to Granny’s but we searched all over the place just in case. Never thought of looking in the chapel. However did you manage to get in?’
‘It was all right. I was let in by a grown-up,’ muttered Marius.
‘Thought so. Which grown-up was that?’
‘Estelle. She found me running to the gateway and stopped me. Said I shouldn’t go down by myself, I’d be missed.’
‘Well, she was certainly right. You were missed. And then what did you do?’
‘She was a bit cross. I think I was in the way. She said she was meeting someone … And I’d better just come along with her and keep quiet and she’d take me back to the hall for supper when she’d finished.’
‘Was she carrying anything?’ asked Dorcas, remembering the conversation in the dormitory.
‘Yes. A brown case. A small one.’
‘And then what did you do?’
‘She opened the door and let me inside. She came in too. She looked at her watch. She told me she’d found the best ever hiding place and I could try it out. She put me in a sort of cupboard with a seat in it and a curtain hanging down.’
‘Sounds like a good hidey-hole …’
‘It worked! He never saw me!’
‘He? Who was that, Marius?’
‘The man.’
‘A man came in?’
‘Yes.’
‘Which man?’
‘Don’t know.’
‘How did you know it was a man?’