Social Graces Read online

  ‘Right, we shall introduce ourselves.’

  Jake took the stairs two at a time, Parker close on his heels. He gave several sharp raps with the handle of his cane on the door to number four. It elicited no response, so he rapped again, louder and longer. Eventually they were rewarded with the sound of shuffling feet and colourful cursing. The tousled head that appeared around the door bore little resemblance to the strutting actor Jake had seen the day before. His eyes were bloodshot, his skin blotched and his scowl seemed to crease his entire face.

  ‘Who the devil…oh, it’s you again. What do you want at this uncivilized hour?’

  ‘A moment of your time, if you please.’ Parker forced the door open, almost knocking Tyrell from his feet. Both men strode through it and Parker closed it behind them.

  ‘Here, you can’t just barge in. Who the devil are you, anyway?’ the question was for Parker.

  ‘Lord Torbay requires a moment of your time,’ Parker said in a tone that implied it wasn’t a request.

  ‘Lord Torbay, you say.’ Tyrell rubbed both hands down his face. ‘Well, in that case you’d best come in, but if you’re thinking of investing in one of our productions, I’m not the person to talk to. I’m an artist, not a money man. How did you find where I lived, anyway?’

  ‘Miss Saville,’ Jake said, watching closely for a reaction that wasn’t long in coming. Tyrell threw himself into a chair in the small, chilly living room and blinked up at Jake.

  ‘A tragedy.’ He sounded sincere, but Jake reminded himself that he was an actor and must have been bracing himself to be questioned on the subject at some point. ‘That fancy lover of hers probably allowed his temper to get the better of him.’

  ‘You knew Connie well?’

  ‘For years. Before she became famous. We attended the same acting classes, became friends and I helped her to get where she was.’

  ‘Very selfless of you,’ Jake replied in a wry tone, minded of Olivia’s warning that actors guarded their careers more jealously than Chichester had protected his relationship with Connie. ‘And there was me thinking it was her agent who’d made her famous.’

  The actor gave a dismissive wave. ‘Semantics, dear boy. In actual fact, I advised her against taking Barton’s offer. I turned him down outright and thought she should, too. We could both do better than that.’

  ‘Better than being represented by one of London’s leading theatrical agents?’ Jake sent the man a puzzled look. ‘I don’t understand you.’

  ‘Agents like Barton cherish their main players, but the rest are very much second best, often neglected. Better, in my opinion, to be represented by a less prodigious agent who gives you his undivided attention.’

  ‘How did that work out for you?’ Parker asked, gazing around a cluttered room that was half the size of Connie’s.

  Tyrell shrugged and said nothing, but Jake could sense his smouldering resentment. He also suspected that he had moved to an address that he probably couldn’t afford when he learned that Connie lived there, if only to play upon their connection.

  ‘Connie was thinking of touring with Felsham, playing your leading lady, because she felt she owed you something?’

  Tyrell gave another shrug. ‘We were both offered the opportunity to be taken on by Felsham when we were fresh out of acting classes. Together we could have made the stage come alight and our futures, both of our futures, would have been secure. But she was lured away by Barton and…well, like you say, she owed me something.’

  ‘If you are such a good actor, why couldn’t you set the stage alight with another leading lady?’ Parker asked.

  ‘Clearly you don’t understand,’ Tyrell said impatiently. ‘It’s rare to find such an affinity with another actor. I can’t explain it but it was there between Connie and me. I’ve never found it with another.’

  ‘Perhaps because she was skilled enough to cover your deficiencies,’ Jake suggested.

  Tyrell leapt from his seat. ‘If you’ve just come here to insult me then you can damned well get out! I thought you were trying to find out who killed her, although no one in this building can be in much doubt about that. Her fights with Chichester were loud and frequent. Don’t suppose anyone would dare to accuse him, though. The laws for the ruling classes are different from those that apply to the rest of us.’

  ‘Stop being so melodramatic, Tyrell,’ Jake said calmly. ‘You’re not performing now.’ Although Jake imagined that to some extent he was. ‘If Connie was such a dear friend to you, why did you steal from her?’

  ‘What!’ He thrust his chin our pugnaciously. ‘That’s an outrageous suggestion and I demand an apology.’

  ‘Demand all you like.’ Jake stared the man down. ‘Diamond earrings,’ he said conversationally.

  Fear flickered through Tyrell’s expression but was quickly replaced by his actor’s mask. ‘Oh those. Connie gave them to me.’

  Jake slammed his hand on the surface of a table hard enough to make the objects on it leap in the air. ‘Don’t take me for a fool, Tyrell! You knew she had them and when you heard she was dead you took the opportunity to help yourself.’

  ‘No, it wasn’t like that.’ Tyrell ran a hand down his face. ‘You have to believe me.’

  ‘I don’t have to believe a liar and a thief. Now, for the last time, how did you come by them?’

  When Tyrell fell silent, Parker spoke for him. ‘I reckon, my lord, that he helped himself after he’d killed her.’

  ‘What! No! How can you think that?’

  ‘He killed her,’ Parker continued, ignoring the interruption, ‘because he was counting on her joining his tin-pot repertory company and reviving his failing career. She told him she’d had a change of heart, he lost his temper and killed her. Then he saw the earrings and took his chance.’

  ‘An interesting hypothesis that we ought to take to Superintendent Dowd,’ Jake agreed.

  ‘No! Connie was going to do the tour. She assured me that she would.’ Tyrell’s pomposity gave way to pleading. ‘Why would I cut off my nose to spite my face?’

  ‘Then explain how you came by those earrings, and all the other trinkets you’ve pawned since you’ve been living in this area,’ Jake invited. ‘This is your last opportunity to tell me the truth. I am fast running out of patience with you.’

  ‘All right, I’ll admit that I heard a commotion in her apartment, even louder than usual.’

  ‘When?’ Jake asked.

  ‘Late in the morning on the day she died. These walls are thin and it woke me. Then there was a thump and everything went quiet. I was curious. It wasn’t like the usual noises I heard, so I went to see if she was all right.’ His blotched skin had turned deathly white and Jake thought it was possibly the first time since their arrival that he had not been playing a part. ‘That’s when I found her.’

  ‘Dead?’

  He nodded. ‘The door to her apartment was ajar so I went in and found her there. It gave me the shock of my life.’

  ‘No one else was around?’

  ‘No, but I heard someone run down the stairs. By the time I recovered from the shock and went after him he was long gone.’

  ‘And I suppose you asked the porter.’

  ‘By the time I thought of it and went down, he wasn’t there. Probably hadn’t been for some time. Likes his ale, does our Stoker.’

  ‘You didn’t call the police?’

  Tyrell shook his head emphatically. ‘I didn’t want to draw attention to myself. I knew Chichester must have done it. He’d been there earlier. I’d seen them come in together the night before but didn’t hear him leave. Anyway, her earrings were in a box on the table, like he’d just given them to her. I figured they’d be no use to her. I needed money desperately, so I took them.’

  He sat with splayed legs, elbows on thighs and his head in his hands. A pathetic sight—but whether because he was genuinely upset or because he was worried about being gaoled for theft, Jake was unable to decide.

  ‘You moved t
o this house because you knew Connie lived here. You wanted her to see you daily, if only to remind her of what she owed you—what you thought she owed you, at least. But you couldn’t really afford to live here,’ Jake added, glancing at the empty fireplace in a cool room that cried out for a decent blaze. ‘Hence the desperate need to get Connie to tour with the company.’

  ‘And she was going to!’ came the anguished reply. ‘How many more times do I have to tell you?’

  ‘Until I can find independent proof,’ Jake replied without an ounce of compassion in his tone. ‘I don’t believe a word you have told me thus far and where we go from here depends upon subsequent enquiries. In the meantime, you can do yourself some good by redeeming the earrings and returning them to their rightful owner, who is Miss Saville’s sister. I shall call again tomorrow and you can give them to me to pass on to her.’

  ‘I don’t have the money,’ he said in a small voice.

  ‘Then I suggest you find it.’ Jake’s expression hardened. ‘Borrow it if you have to. Believe me, being in debt is better than being in gaol.’ Jake returned his hat to his head. ‘Good day to you.’

  ‘What did you make of him?’ Parker asked as the two of them made their way back down the stairs.

  ‘Not sure. He needed Connie to resurrect his career, but if she had decided against the tour, who knows what form his retaliation might have taken.’ They nodded to Morris, left the building and re-entered the carriage. ‘I think he told the truth when he said the earrings were in their box, though. The pawnbroker confirmed it and if Tyrell was ransacking the apartment, looking for something to steal, unsure if he would be interrupted, he wouldn’t take the trouble to look for the box as well.’

  ‘Unless Connie kept them in it.’

  ‘She kept the rest of her jewels in the carved box that Miss Larson now has. Riley thinks the earrings were an attempt on his father’s part to placate Connie because she had become restless and he was worried about losing her. We know Chichester was there all night. Perhaps she told him that she was ending the affair—’

  ‘But let him stay the night?’

  Jake shrugged. ‘That does seem like an oddity, but stranger things have been known to happen. Perhaps Connie was exhausted after the performance and not ready for Chichester’s protests, so she left it until morning to break the bad news.’

  Parker nodded. ‘Seems like a reasonable assumption.’

  ‘Anyway, Connie told him she was going on tour with Felsham and attempted to return his latest gift, just to prove that she was sincere. That would explain the earrings still being in the box. Chichester was too proud to take them back, or flew into such a rage that he forgot about them and stormed out.’

  ‘Before or after killing her?’

  ‘That, Parker, is a very good question.’ Jake scowled as he consider the scandal it would create if a belted marquess did prove to be the killer. There would be repercussions for the entire aristocracy. ‘Hopefully Woodford will be able to cast additional light on Connie’s intentions when Otto and I see him this afternoon. I don’t know much about him, but given that he was such a frequent visitor to Connie’s lodgings, I get the impression that she confided in him.’ He ground his jaw. ‘Let’s hope so, because we have precious little else to go on.’

  ***

  Otto’s thoughts were for Sophia’s predicament rather than his client’s when he arrived at the Old Bailey. He wondered what had possessed him to almost kiss her, probably igniting expectations he wasn’t in a position to fulfil. But there was something about her, something that none of his mother’s aspirants for his hand in marriage had manage to ignite, that compelled him. Her vulnerability, coupled with her quiet determination to defy the wishes of her strict parents and make her own way deserved his admiration. His respect. His everything.

  Happily the case Isaac had entrusted to him was relatively easy to defend, and Otto had the satisfaction of seeing the accused walk free after a very short deliberation on the jury’s part. It was only the second occasion upon which Isaac had let him conduct a defence alone and Otto was relieved not to have let his mentor down.

  He took luncheon in chambers and was then given leave by Isaac to continue the investigation into Connie’s death.

  ‘Someone must show that lazy devil Dowd how to conduct a proper enquiry,’ he said.

  He arrived at Grosvenor Square just as the family had finished their own luncheon and was received warmly. Sophia smiled at him and immediately asked how his case had gone. Otto was touched by her concern. Despite her own travails, she still remembered his nervous confession of the night before about his fear of disappointing Isaac.

  ‘Happily the jury saw sense,’ he said.

  ‘Then we have all had a successful morning,’ Lady Torbay replied. ‘Sophia and I have been shopping. We had the most marvellous fun.’

  ‘Olivia talked me into spending far more than I should have,’ Sophia confessed. ‘She assured me that it would be liberating, and I have to confess that she was right.’

  ‘Every woman knows that replenishing her wardrobe is the panacea for all ills.’

  Everyone laughed and then Jake explained about his discoveries that morning.

  ‘Every time we speak to someone, we appear to acquire another suspect,’ he finished by saying.

  ‘Evidently,’ Otto replied.

  ‘Shall we call upon Woodford and see if we can add one more?’

  ‘By all means.’

  ‘Riley Rochester is seeing if he can find out what his father’s valet was doing consorting with the odious Stoker,’ Lady Torbay said. ‘He is to dine with us this evening.’ Otto’s concerned glance rested upon Sophia. ‘Don’t worry, Sophia is keen to make his acquaintance.’

  ‘He’s awfully young to be put in that position, don’t you think?’

  ‘Actually, no,’ Jake replied. ‘He is young, but wise beyond his years and quietly determined to get to the truth, even if it does further implicate his father. He’s quite extraordinary in that respect. How he will react if he concludes that his father is the guilty party I have yet to decide. Suspecting it is one thing. Having those suspicions confirmed is entirely another. However, if I didn’t involve him, he would probably conduct his own investigation. Better to let him feel useful and keep control of him.’

  ‘I agree,’ Otto said, unsure if he actually did. Blood, in his experience, was always thicker than water, regardless of whether or not the family members in question liked one another.

  ‘Please dine with us as well,’ Jake said. ‘We are all in this together.’

  ‘If you are not already sick of the sight of me, Lady Torbay, then I shall be delighted.’

  Jake and Otto set off for Woodford’s office in Strand Lane. It turned out to be a small yet prosperous looking affair, squashed between a boot-maker and a grocer. They walked into a small entrance area, where a number of people sat, presumably waiting to be seen. They glanced up at Jake and Otto with varying degrees of interest and then returned to their newspapers or conversations. Jake presented himself to a young receptionist and gave his name. He was asked to wait but a short time later was, to the evident chagrin of others waiting ahead of him, asked to step into Woodford’s inner sanctum.

  Otto went with him, wondering what to expect. He had not thus far been over-impressed with anyone whom he had met connected with the theatre. At first glance he decided that Woodford could well prove to be the exception to the rule. The tall, exceptionally handsome man of no more than thirty who rose who from behind a polished mahogany desk and extended his hand made a good first impression.

  ‘Gentlemen,’ he said, indicating the chairs in front of his desk. ‘I am told you are here on Miss Larson’s behalf. I know who she is of course. Connie spoke of her often but I never had the pleasure of making her acquaintance. I am so very sorry about her sister. It is the most terrible tragedy, and if there is any way I can be of help to you, you have but to say the word.’

  Otto looked at him more clo
sely and noticed swollen eyes, about which signs of strain were evident. At first he mistook those signs for guilt, but he quickly realised that the man was genuinely grief-stricken.

  ‘You were a regular visitor to Connie’s apartment, we’re told,’ he said.

  ‘She was a rare and special talent, the likes of which one is seldom privileged to see. But she wasn’t making enough of herself because she wasn’t being given the best advice. I couldn’t bear to see her being exploited.’

  Otto raised a brow. ‘Exploited?’

  ‘No one she trusted seemed to be putting her interests first, so I was trying to persuade her to sign with my agency.’

  ‘Even though you knew she was under contract to Barton?’ Otto sent him a disapproving look. ‘A bit unethical, wouldn’t you say?’

  Woodford gave an evasive shrug. ‘He wasn’t negotiating the best parts for her. I know of several that would have worked wonders for her career, but he turned them down without even consulting her. I have no idea why, although I have my suspicions. Anyway, I couldn’t stand back and let her make mistake after mistake simply because she trusted the people surrounding her.’ He gave a derisive snort. ‘They were simply using her for their own selfish reasons.’

  ‘Felsham?’ Jake suggested.

  ‘Amongst others. Connie was too kind for her own good. Most actors of her stature become selfish and demanding. Connie was just the opposite, and put other people’s feelings ahead of her own. Her thoughtfulness, her inability to say no, was in danger of destroying her. I couldn’t permit that to happen.’

  ‘You looked upon her as more than just a potential client, I think,’ Otto said, studying the man closely and sensing the passion underlying his words.

  ‘Very much more.’ Woodford paused to wipe a tear from his eye. ‘We were in love and planned to marry,’ he said.

  Chapter Eleven

  Jake and Otto exchanged a glance, both equally astonished. Jake recovered the power of speech first.

  ‘This is the first we have heard of it,’ he said. ‘Her sister was certainly not aware.’ Since Jake wasn’t yet convinced that Woodford was telling the truth he decided against revealing that Connie had told her sister she had an important secret that could only be revealed in person. This, if Woodford was being honest, had to be the exciting news.