‘Does that remind you of anyone?’ I said.
‘No,’ said Melanie. ‘Should it?’
She didn’t seem to get the inference, so I moved on. ‘Do you really think Diana would murder her own son?’
‘I don’t know what to think,’ said Melanie. ‘Nothing in this house makes sense any more …’
‘How do you feel about Alexander Khan?’ I said bluntly.
Melanie was immediately defensive. ‘How do you mean?’
‘Do you see him as a suspect?’ I said.
‘Oh, I see,’ said Melanie. ‘Well, I don’t know … I wish Walter had never invited any of these people. We should have celebrated Christmas alone, just the two of us, like I wanted. Everything was going fine until all these people turned up! Excitement like this is very bad for Walter … I won’t have him upset! He needs his peace and quiet.’
‘Why did you come to see me?’ I said.
‘To warn you about Diana,’ Melanie said firmly.
‘That’s it?’ I said.
‘Isn’t that enough?’ said Melanie.
She turned her back on me and strode out, closing the door behind her very firmly, as though to cut off any comment I might make. I wasn’t sure what to make of Melanie. Could any woman really be as self-centred as she appeared to be? Perhaps only a woman that self-centred could carry out a murder right in the middle of a family gathering. She did seem very protective of Walter; if she saw him threatened by James’ return … Or saw her own position with Walter threatened by James and Diana … I was still thinking my way through that, when there was another knock at my door.
Before I could say anything, the door burst open and Jeeves and Cook strode in together. Cook kept a watchful eye on me, while Jeeves peered back out into the corridor, to check no one was watching. He closed the door, and then the two of them took up a position side by side before me, shoulder to shoulder, as though they belonged together. The tall black butler and the short blonde cook. Except they no longer looked like a butler or a cook; they looked a lot more like soldiers.
‘Good evening,’ I said. ‘Do come in. No doubt you’re wondering why I summoned you here …’
‘Flippancy will get you nowhere,’ said Jeeves. ‘It’s time for the truth to come out.’
‘I’m all in favour of that,’ I said.
‘Leilah and I are a husband and wife security team,’ said Jeeves. ‘We were hired to provide security for Mister Walter Belcourt, for this weekend get-together. Things seem to have got a little out of hand.’
‘So we thought it was time we asked you a few leading questions,’ said Leilah. She produced a small handgun from her Victorian cook’s outfit and aimed it at me. She looked like she knew how to use a gun. I sat very still.
‘Leilah and I always work together on assignments,’ said Jeeves. ‘One obviously, the other less so.’
‘We’re here to interrogate you,’ said Leilah.
‘Is that so?’ I said. ‘Why me in particular?’
‘You’re the outsider,’ said Leilah. ‘No one here knows you. You claim to work for the deceased James Belcourt, but we only have your word for that. I’ll bet you don’t even have a Security ID, do you?’
‘No,’ I said. ‘The Organization I work for doesn’t officially exist. People who need to know, know who we are.’
‘Well,’ said Leilah. ‘You would say that, wouldn’t you?’
‘You can see why you make such a good suspect,’ said Jeeves.
‘Of course,’ I said. ‘I’m sure I’d do the same, in your shoes. Those are your shoes, aren’t they? Good. What can I do for you?’
‘He’s being flippant again,’ said Leilah.
‘Ask the questions,’ said Jeeves.
‘Ask away,’ I said.
‘You can start by telling us everything about yourself,’ said Leilah. ‘Who you really are, who you really work for, and what you’re really doing here. Everything we need to know, to protect our client. You talk, and we’ll tell you when to stop.’
‘And if I don’t care to do that?’ I said.
Leilah grinned nastily. ‘Then I will beat it out of you. I’m really very good at that. Ask Jeeves.’
I looked at him. ‘You’d let her do that to me? A possibly entirely innocent bystander?’
‘Let her?’ said Jeeves. ‘I plan to stand well back to avoid getting blood on me, take notes and cheer her on as necessary. We’re not police, we’re not government, and the only rules we follow are our own. That’s how we get results.’
Leilah waggled her gun at me, in a meaningful manner. ‘Start talking.’
I came up off the end of the bed in a rush, slapped the gun out of Leilah’s hand, grabbed her by the front of her cook’s outfit, and threw her on to the bed. She hit it with enough force to drive the breath out of her. Jeeves was already going for his gun as I closed in on him. I grabbed his arm with one hand and squeezed the muscle until he groaned with agony. All the strength went out of his hand, and the gun dropped from his nerveless fingers. I caught it, and then grabbed Jeeves by the front of his butler’s outfit and threw him on to the bed, next to Leilah, who was only just getting her breath back. I picked up her gun from the floor, and then stood at the end of the bed, training both guns on their previous owners. I wasn’t even breathing hard. Jeeves and Leilah glared at me from the bed and didn’t move a muscle.
‘Damn,’ said Jeeves. ‘You’re fast. And very well-trained. All right; I’m convinced. To be able to take us down that easily, you must work for the Organization.’
‘And, I am not a suspect,’ I said.
Leilah scowled at me. ‘You can say anything you like while you’re covering us with our own guns. But you’re still a suspect. It would take someone as cold-blooded and expertly trained as an Organization agent to kill James Belcourt in such an extreme way.’
‘I thought we’d agreed I couldn’t have been here when the Colonel was killed?’ I said.
Jeeves did his best to shrug, while lying on his back. ‘The cold changes everything. Who knows when he was killed, really?’
‘Fair enough,’ I said. I tossed both their guns back to them, and they caught them expertly, out of mid air.
‘Please get up off my bed,’ I said. ‘You make the place look untidy.’
Jeeves and Leilah rolled off different sides of the bed and were immediately on their feet again, each with a gun in hand aimed at me. I raised an eyebrow. Jeeves and Leilah looked at each other, as though each was hoping the other would have some idea what to do. In the end, they both shrugged more or less simultaneously and put their guns away.
Leilah looked at me defiantly. ‘I suppose you expect us to trust you, just because you’ve given us our guns back?’
‘I don’t trust anyone in this house,’ I said. ‘And neither should you. Tell me, before you go. Who do you think killed the Colonel?’
‘We only care about that as it pertains to protecting our client,’ said Jeeves. ‘Are you sure the attack on the son is connected to the father?’
‘Don’t you think that?’ I said.
‘I strongly suggest you stay in your room until morning,’ said Jeeves. ‘And lock your door. I’ve managed to contact my people, and they’re hoping to have someone here by tomorrow. Leilah and I will spend the night standing guard in the hallway. Perfectly ready to open fire on anything that moves that isn’t us.’
‘I was surprised to see both of you up here,’ I said. ‘Leaving poor Walter unattended.’
‘Melanie has the door locked,’ said Leilah. ‘And with the whole place shut down, we can hear anybody moving about.’
‘Really?’ I said. ‘You weren’t my first visitors tonight. I’ve spoken to several people, and they all reported hearing someone moving about up here, in the corridor. But whenever someone went to look, there was never anybody to be seen.’
Jeeves and Leilah looked at each other. ‘Have you seen anyone moving about up here, Ishmael?’ said Jeeves.
‘No,’ I said. ‘But I’ve heard someone.’
‘It’s an old house,’ said Jeeves. ‘Maybe it’s haunted.’
Leilah winced. ‘Don’t. I hate ghosts.’