Murder at the Mayfair Hotel (Cleopatra Fox Mysteries #1)- C.J. Archer Page 0,86

that it was her key that might have been stolen. When Mrs. Kettering and Mr. Hobart found out, she’d lose her position, even though it wasn’t her fault.

“We’ll start in the staff parlor,” Mr. Armitage said in answer to the unspoken question of where to look for Edith.

The parlor was empty, however. Considering all the maids would be busy helping ladies prepare for the ball, and the porters were assisting new arrivals with their luggage, it wasn’t surprising. But it left us uncertain where to look for Edith next. She could be anywhere. She might not be in the hotel at all.

Mr. Armitage touched the side of a teapot that had been left behind. “It’s still warm.”

I fetched two cups from the cupboard and he poured. I accepted a cup and sat. “Something Mrs. Kettering said got me thinking. She said girls like Edith. I suppose she meant shy, nervous girls.”

Mr. Armitage shrugged. “Go on.”

“Edith’s nature would make her easier to bully than someone like Mrs. Kettering. The killer may not have had to steal the key from her. He could simply have bullied her into giving it to him.”

He nodded thoughtfully.

Now that I’d said it out loud, I doubted my own theory, however. “But Edith has friends among the other staff, if a guest bullied her into giving up the key, she would have told one of the other maids. She seemed to trust Harmony.”

“True,” he said. “Knowing Harmony, she would have encouraged Edith to tell Mrs. Kettering immediately.”

“If not immediately, she would have come forward after the murder. She might be timid, but she’s not a fool. So we’re back to the stolen key theory.”

Mr. Armitage’s teacup clanked back into the saucer. “Unless Edith was in love with him.”

“With the murderer? Don’t be ridiculous.”

“It’s feasible, particularly when you know what I know.”

I arched my brows. “Go on.”

“We both assumed Mrs. Kettering was referring to Edith’s timidity when she said girls like that. But if she’s the maid Mrs. Kettering suspected of having a lover among the guests, then her comment takes on a different meaning.”

“Edith have a lover? One of the guests?” I scoffed. “Come now, Mr. Armitage, you know her. She’s a shy little thing. She finds it difficult to even make eye contact with me, and I’m a woman. I hate to say it, but men don’t usually notice girls like that.”

“Just because she’s a mouse, doesn’t mean she’s not capable of taking a lover,” he said.

The more I thought about it, the more I liked his theory, but for different reasons. “He seduced her precisely because he knew a girl like Edith would welcome the attention. Indeed, she probably craved it. If he paid her pretty compliments and promised her a future life out of servitude, she would have taken the bait along with the entire hook. It’s a sad fact that shy girls are easy prey for unscrupulous men.”

“Which Hookly clearly is.”

“Are you sure Edith is the maid Mrs. Kettering suspected of having a lover?” I asked.

“She never named her to me, but we can ask her now.”

We set down our teacups at the same time and hurried out of the parlor, across the foyer to Mrs. Kettering’s office. She wasn’t there.

Mr. Armitage thumped the doorframe. “Damn.”

I sighed. “Now we have two people to find.”

“I remember when Mrs. Kettering told me about the maid she caught on the wrong floor once, and how she suspected she was having a liaison with one of the guests. I told her the maid probably made a mistake and went to the wrong floor, but she insisted it meant more.”

I frowned, recalling a conversation between the two women I’d overheard. “What floor is Mr. Hookly on again?”

“The fifth. Why?”

I met his gaze. “Because Mrs. Kettering confronted Edith in the stairwell as they were both leaving level five on the day of the murder. Mrs. Kettering told Edith she was supposed to be on the second floor turning down the beds. Edith offered a poor excuse, saying she lost count of the levels. She was clearly lying.”

Mr. Armitage frowned back at me. “Are you sure Mrs. Kettering told her it was time to turn down the beds? And this was Christmas Eve?”

“Yes, the day I arrived. Why?”

“Because Mrs. Kettering should have been checking the linen supplies in the dining room all afternoon on Christmas Eve to make sure there were enough clean napkins and tablecloths for luncheon the following day.”

“You think she was having a rendezvous with Mr. Hookly?”