Murder at the Mayfair Hotel (Cleopatra Fox Mysteries #1)- C.J. Archer Page 0,92
too. “Rubies?” I managed to scoff while still grinning. “I won’t accept anything less than diamonds.”
Harmony told me she planned to sneak a peek into the ballroom from the service corridor near the back of the dining room-turned-ballroom. She wanted to see what the other ladies wore, particularly the very modern and very fashionable actresses and opera singer, but she was reluctant to do anything until she’d found Edith. I warned her not to let on what we suspected about the maid’s involvement in the murder if she did happen to find her. She agreed, and wished me luck.
I wasn’t sure why I needed luck. I was simply going to find the inspector and tell him everything I could about Mr. Hookly and Edith. It was up to him what to do next. I doubted he would make an arrest tonight in the middle of the ball. He would want more evidence, something that left no doubt in his mind. At least by telling him our theories, he could make that judgement. It wasn’t up to me, and I couldn’t be more relieved. I could simply watch Mr. Hookly and gauge for myself whether he was acting guiltily or not.
I went immediately to the front desk when I stepped out of the lift. Peter was not on duty, however. He’d already left for the day. The night porter didn’t know anything about the detective inspector, and he hadn’t seen him arrive. He let me use his telephone to call Scotland Yard.
“Please tell Detective Inspector Hobart that it’s an emergency,” I said down the line. “He needs to come to The Mayfair Hotel at once and ask for Miss Fox or Mr. Armitage.” Hopefully by using Mr. Armitage’s name, the inspector wouldn’t dismiss the message lightly. He might think I was wasting his time, but he would pay attention to his son.
Music from the ballroom drifted into the foyer where some guests were chatting. According to the clock on the wall behind the front desk, the ball started an hour ago. Flossy must be wondering where I was.
I rushed into the vestibule, only to slow down again. I’d already seen the red carpet, but the rest of the room looked quite different. As with the foyer, large potted palms had been brought in to flank the double doors leading to the dining room—now ballroom—and a floral garland hung above them. The lights woven through it sparkled in the otherwise dim room.
Two footmen stood on either side of the entrance with trays of champagne flutes. I didn’t recognize either of them but they both greeted me by name. I plucked off a gold-stemmed flute with the M enclosed in a circle within the stem, and admired my surroundings.
The room was unrecognizable as a dining room. There was no sight of the tables or chairs, except for a few lining the walls where older ladies sat chatting. The first thing to catch my eye was the enormous clock on a dais towards the front. That must have been what I’d seen the delivery men wheeling through the foyer that morning. It was the size of a small carriage.
The garlands of flowers and greenery continued in here. They were draped above windows and across doorways, their small lights sparkling. But even more spectacular was the ceiling. It was covered in swathes of ribbons in the hotel color of burgundy with touches of gold and black. There must have been hundreds of them. Each end was tied either to a chandelier or to a ribbon cluster, depending on where it finished on the ceiling, and the other end was fixed to the edge of the room, high up on the wall. I could clearly see silver balloons above them, trapped between the bed of ribbons and the ceiling.
“Cleo, you made it!” Flossy caught my hands and looked me over. “You look lovely.”
“So do you,” I said, and meant it. She wore a pink gown that suited her complexion, and the seed pearls sewn into it somehow caught the light so that she seemed to sparkle. She had more bosom showing than me, but that was because she had more to show off. The expanse of her décolletage was broken up by a necklace of pearls and amethysts.
Flossy led me further into the ballroom, chatting excitedly all the way. I searched for Mr. Hookly but could not see him. The crowd was rather thick and I wasn’t overly tall.