“Mr. Brown, please tell me.”
“I think that’s a task for Mr. Griffith. You’d best go up to the house now and let him explain how it was.”
Eric was waiting for Jessica in the great hall. “I’d like you to join me in the library, my dear,” he said. “We’ve had some unpleasant goings-on here while you and Maud were away. Since it’s a family matter, I want to explain everything as clearly and frankly as I can.”
The lights and colors in Jessica’s inner vision were now dazzling and white, shadows forming with a powerful sense of urgency along a corridor of diamond-bright illuminations.
Aunt Maud had seated herself on a sofa in the library, long, slim legs crossed and a drink in her hand. Standing beside her was a man with dark hair and a dark complexion, and an array of rings and cufflinks that glittered as brilliantly as the lights behind Jessica’s eyes.
“Jessica, this is Mr. Saxe, an American I met in Ballytone,” Eric said. “He’s spending a few days with us. Tony, may I present Jessica Mallory.”
“A real pleasure, Miss,” Tony Saxe said.
“Now, Jessica, I want you to sit down and hear me out.”
“I prefer to stand, Uncle Eric.”
“Suit yourself.” Eric paced slowly in front of the fireplace, rubbing his large, bony hands together, his expression grave and thoughtful. The measured tread of his footsteps and the tinkle of ice in Maud’s glass were the only sounds jarring the stillness of the shadowed library.
“It was just a week or so ago when I noticed the antique snuffbox was missing.” Smoothing back his blond, thinning hair, Eric then closed his hands over the lapels of his tweed jacket. “It was right over there, plain as day, on the teakwood table, a beautiful little thing, as you know, mother-of-pearl insets and carved Chinese characters. At first, I thought one of the girls had taken it away to clean, but a day or so later something else turned up missing — that solid silver darning egg that belonged to some queen or other. That was always in plain sight, too, on the second shelf of the vitrine in the drawing room. Well, I waited another day for that to show up and then I asked the maids. But Lily and Rose and Mrs. Kiernan, they pretended to be as much in the dark as I was.
“I didn’t want to act in haste, Jessica. I simply couldn’t believe we had a thief in the house. So I waited another day and then I informed the staff that if the objects were returned by the following morning, that would be the end of the matter, that I would consider the incident closed. But the next morning, those objects were still missing.”
Eric’s histrionic talents were now functioning at their sharpest and most subtle pitch. His expression suggested that of a man wrestling with decisions and judgments that brought him almost physical pain.
“In fairness, I gave them all one last chance. I announced that I was driving into Ballytone for a supply of tobacco and would not return until lunch. In my absence, I expected they would take advantage of this last period of grace.”
Eric’s hands twisted together with a sound like that of dry, rustling leaves.
“When the objects failed to appear, I had no recourse but to ask Constable Riley to look into the matter. I truly hoped he would find we had been the victims of a sneak thief, a gypsy, or some other vagrant who might have slipped in when the staff was below stairs.”
Eric raised his hands and let them fall in a gesture of despair. “Constable Riley searched the house from top to bottom, but there was no sign of forcible entry, no broken locks or window panes.”
Eric looked intently at Jessica. “It is now my duty, dear, to tell you where the Constable found those missing objects. The silver darning egg was wrapped in a silk stocking and tucked into one of Lily’s Sunday slippers. The snuff box was in the bottom of Mrs. Kiernan’s trunk, hidden in a button box. In Flynn’s room we found six silver fish knives and a sterling soup ladle bundled up in a towel and stuffed away in his wicker fishing creel. We hadn’t even missed those last items, so there’s no telling how long they’ve been robbing you blind.”
Jessica said quietly, “This just doesn’t make sense, Uncle Eric.”
“I beg your pardon. Are you suggesting Constable Riley doesn’t know how to perform his duties?”
“But there must have been some reasonable explanation.”
“Oh, you can be sure they tried to brazen it out, claimed they had no idea how those things had got into their rooms.”
“Then that’s the truth of it,” Jessica said in a deliberate voice. “If you’ll excuse me, I’d like to talk to them now.”
“I’m afraid that won’t be possible,” Eric said. “They’ve packed and gone.”
Jessica looked at him, her expression incredulous. “You mean, they’ve left Easter Hill?”
“I did not make the decision on my own, Jessica. I only acted after consulting with Mr. Ryan’s office in Dublin. His people agreed with me that the servants here should be dismissed on the spot.”
This last statement of Eric’s stretched the truth considerably. He had indeed covered himself by calling the solicitor’s office in Dublin, but presented the facts of the thefts to a secretary in so garbled and rambling a fashion that she had at last interrupted him, suggesting he put the whole matter in writing for the benefit of the insurance company.
“After I explained my decision to the guilty servants, Kevin O’Dell and Rose also decided to leave. They talked rather grandly about their loyalty to one another but my guess is they were using that as an excuse to clear out before we caught them at something else...
“Just one last thing,” Eric said. “Then we can close the book on this unfortunate episode. I took it on myself, Jessica, to inform Constable Riley that we wouldn’t press charges against Lily, Mrs. Kiernan, or Flynn. I went farther than that, in fact, and assured them that we would provide them with reasonable character references when they sought other employment. However, I think it’s unlikely they’ll find positions in this county and so we’ll have to mail them their papers when and if they need them.”
“If you’ll excuse me, Aunt Maud and Uncle Eric, I’ll say goodnight.”
“Have a good sleep, Jessica,” Eric said. “Try to put all this unpleasantness out of your mind. Starting tomorrow, we’ll carry on here at Easter Hill just as before...”
Jessica stopped in the arched doorway of the library and looked steadily at the three adults whose figures were silhouetted by the spurting flames from the fireplace.
“Uncle Eric, where is Fluter?”
“I don’t have a clue, my dear. I think Brown’s been looking after him.”
Jessica turned and walked into the great hall, crossing to the corridors that fanned out toward the servants’ quarters. She went swiftly through the dark kitchens and storerooms, looking into the shadows behind the salad sinks and pot cupboards, calling Fluter’s name softly but insistently. Even the air itself seemed unresponsive to her summons, heavy and motionless in the cavernous rooms.
Jessica walked through the pantry and laundry, opened the door to the rear staircase, and went to the second floor of the sprawling house.
There was no sign of Fluter in her bedroom. Jessica hurried along the corridor, looking into the open doors of the various other suites, calling for the big collie. At the end, she retraced her steps, discouragement settling like a physical weight on her slim shoulders.
The lights of her inner visions flickered constantly now, but she could discern no pattern or meaning in the shadows silhouetted by their illuminations. However, when she reentered her own bedroom, she heard a weak whimpering sound and, snapping on the lights, she saw the great merle collie pulling itself sluggishly from under the bed.