They left together, and I locked the door behind them. And then I went and sat in the most comfortable-looking chair and thought hard for a long time.
Some time later, my head snapped up. I sniffed the air and was up on my feet in a moment. I hurried over to my door, unlocked it, and hauled it open. I sniffed the air again. The next door but one to mine opened, and Penny looked out. She hadn’t changed out of her day clothes, and she had a heavy iron poker in her hand.
‘Oh, it’s you!’ she said. ‘I thought I heard someone on the move, and this time I heard a door opening, so I thought I’d take a look. What’s wrong? Why are you looking like that?’
‘Can you smell anything?’ I said. ‘Like meat burning?’
Penny sniffed hard, and then shook her head. She looked at me doubtfully. ‘We’re a long way from the kitchens, Ishmael.’
And then we both looked round sharply as a horrible scream sounded from the far end of the corridor, by the stairs. Penny and I ran towards it.
Eight
Penny and I were halfway down the corridor when another door swung suddenly open, and Alexander Khan looked out. He was wearing a stylish and very colourful dressing gown, entirely ordinary slippers, and a confused look on his face. His normally slicked-back hair was all over the place. He’d clearly managed to get some sleep and was only half awake now.
‘What’s going on?’ he said roughly. ‘Did I hear … Did somebody scream?’
I didn’t have the time to answer him, and Penny didn’t seem inclined to. We ran on down the corridor. Khan stumbled after us. Jeeves and Leilah were already pounding up the stairs, gun in hand, their faces professionally focused. They reached the top of the stairs just as Penny and I got to the end of the corridor. A quick glance back past them showed me Walter and Melanie, standing together at the foot of the stairs in matching battered old dressing gowns. Walter was demanding to know what was going on, his voice loud but his eyes vague, while Melanie did her best to hush and comfort him. Walter would have none of it. He started up the stairs, moving as quickly as he could, leaning heavily on his walking stick. Melanie followed him up, if only because she didn’t want to be left on her own.
And finally, I looked at the door at the end of the corridor. Sylvia was staring through the open doorway into a room full of darkness, her face full of horror. She turned abruptly to look at me with wide shocked eyes. She’d stopped screaming now, but probably only because she had both hands pressed to her mouth. I took a moment to look her over, to make sure she was unharmed. Sylvia was wearing an expensive silk wrap, but no curlers in her hair or cream on her face. She didn’t look like she’d been sleeping. She gestured frantically at the room before her, unable to force the words out. I took her by the shoulders and moved her gently to one side. She stumbled and almost fell, but Penny was there to catch her and hold her up as I peered through the dark opening.
‘Stay with her, Penny,’ I said.
‘Hell with that,’ said Penny. She checked Sylvia could stand unsupported, and then moved quickly forward to stand beside me, peering into the dark beyond the doorway. Light falling in from the corridor didn’t travel far.
Jeeves and Leilah finally arrived.
‘Stay where you are!’ I said sharply. ‘You need to keep everyone else out of this room. We can’t risk contaminating a crime scene.’ I turned to Penny. ‘Whose room is this? Who’s in there?’
‘This is Roger’s room,’ she said steadily. ‘He invited me in, earlier, but I didn’t want to go. This isn’t going to be good, is it?’
‘No,’ I said.
‘Is Roger dead, do you think?’
‘It seems likely,’ I said. ‘Someone in this room is dead. I can tell.’
The light was off in Roger’s room, and with the shutters closed over the window there was no interior light at all. Just the darkness, hiding something, like a child with a nasty secret. I could smell burnt meat, clearer than ever. I could hear flames crackling, quietly, but there was no light from the room’s fireplace.
Penny crowded in beside me, but made no move to push past me. ‘I can smell something burning now,’ she said quietly. ‘Where’s the light switch?’
I reached inside the doorway and fumbled around till I found the switch. I turned the light on, and Penny cried out, despite herself.
A blackened, charred body sat in a chair by the cold fireplace, facing the door. The body’s clothes had mostly burned away, and the exposed flesh was scorched and cracked. The face was an unrecognizable mess. Teeth gleamed whitely in the ragged mouth. The eyes were gone. I moved quickly forward into the room, ripped the top blanket off the bed, and threw it over the body. I pressed down hard, but I already knew it was too late. I heard bones crack, from where I pressed down too hard. I let go of the blanket and stepped back.
‘I’m sorry,’ I said to Penny.
She swallowed hard. Her face was pale, but when she finally spoke her voice was steady. ‘This is Roger’s room, but can we be sure that’s him?’
‘Good point,’ I said. ‘It’s getting so I don’t trust anything in this house.’
I pulled back one side of the blanket, just enough to uncover the charred right hand. A little smoke rose up. I found a gold signet ring; huge and flashy. I showed it to Penny, and she nodded quickly.
‘Yes. I know that ring. He was so proud of it, always so keen to show it off, and I was always rude about it because it was ugly. That’s Roger.’ She stopped talking and shook her head briefly, her mouth compressed into a flat line, and then she looked unflinchingly at the body. ‘I won’t cry now. Not when there’s so much that needs to be done. I’ll cry later, when there’s time. I promise you, Roger.’ She looked angrily at me. ‘Who would want to kill Roger, of all people? He isn’t important, not like your Colonel. I don’t think Roger had an enemy in the world.’
‘He did say everyone in his family hated him,’ I said carefully.
‘Well, yes, but they’re not here,’ said Penny. ‘And why would any of them want to kill James?’
‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘I can’t see any obvious connection between the two murders. It doesn’t make sense.’
Jeeves leaned in through the doorway, looked at the body, and scowled. ‘Did I hear right; that’s Roger?’
‘Yes,’ said Penny. ‘He’s dead.’
She went back out into the corridor, Jeeves moving quickly to get out of her way. I went after her and stood in the doorway, blocking it off.
‘Roger’s dead,’ Penny announced loudly. ‘The killer set him on fire.’
A small crowd had gathered together in the corridor. They all made sounds of horror and distress, and huddled together. Everyone present seemed honestly shocked by the news. Khan was comforting Sylvia, who was weeping quietly against his chest. She looked like a child who’d just discovered how harsh and cruel the world can be. Khan looked lost and bewildered, even as he patted Sylvia’s shoulder automatically. Jeeves and Leilah stood close together, their guns in their hands. Neither of them seemed sure what to do. Walter and Melanie had finally made it up the stairs to join the rest of us. Walter was breathing hard, and the colour in his face wasn’t healthy. He leaned heavily on his walking stick and on Melanie’s arm. She looked wildly about her, as though expecting to be attacked at any moment.
‘I can’t believe it,’ said Walter. ‘Two of my guests dead, in my own home … First James, and now Roger? What the hell is going on? Somebody tell me what’s going on!’
‘Hush, dear,’ said Melanie. ‘For God’s sake.’
Walter seemed to realize for the first time how upset his wife was, and he patted her hand, on his arm.
I stepped forward, to address Sylvia, who was still leaning heavily on Alexander Khan. ‘I know you’re upset, Sylvia, but I have to ask you some questions. How did you happen to be here?’
Sylvia slowly turned away from Khan to answer me. Her voice was higher than usual, but still reasonably steady. Tears ran down her face, though she didn’t seem to notice.