Hasty Death by Marion Chesney

reputation.’
    ‘I do not have a damaged reputation.’
    ‘Anyone who has supported the suffragettes has a damaged reputation.’
    The previous year, Rose’s photograph, taken at a suffragette rally, had appeared in the Daily Mail.
    ‘Sir Richard, I do not wish to be unkind. I find your proposal flattering. But there is a great difference in age.’
    ‘What do you mean? I look like a man in his thirties.’
    ‘It is pointless to stand here arguing,’ said Rose. ‘I am so very sorry, but I must refuse.’ She dropped him a curtsy and hurried out of the room.
    Lady Polly and the earl and Humphrey were standing outside the door. Rose rushed past them and up the stairs.
    Sir Richard emerged. ‘Your daughter is mad,’ he pronounced. And Humphrey saw her chance.
    ‘No, no, my dear Lord and Lady Hadshire,’ said Dr McWhirter later that day. ‘It is not an asylum. It is for people with nervous disorders. Two months under my
care and your daughter would be restored to obedience and sanity. The place is called The Grange, just outside Barnet. Like a country house.’
    The earl and countess faced him, each thinking that two months without worrying about Rose would be a treat. They could get rid of Daisy Levine, of whom they had never approved.
    The earl cleared his throat. ‘We could have her back for the beginning of the season, hey?’
    ‘Of course.’
    ‘But she would never go.’
    ‘You do not tell her where she is going. Simply tell her you want her to make a call on an old friend of yours. Shall we say tomorrow morning? I shall be there personally to receive
her.’
    ‘I’d feel better if we told Cathcart what was happening,’ said the earl.
    ‘We’ll phone him when we get home.’
    So the earl phoned but Miss Jubbles said that Captain Cathcart was not in his office but she would tell him as soon as he returned.
    Harry came out of his office just as Miss Jubbles was putting the phone down.
    ‘Who was that?’ he asked.
    ‘Just someone who wanted you to find her lost dog. I told her you were not taking any cases at the moment.’
    ‘Quite right. I’m off to Scotland Yard.’
    ‘No further forward,’ said Kerridge gloomily.
    ‘Not traced the owner of the pistol?’
    ‘There are so many arms around after the Boer War and this one was used in the Boer War, as far as we know. It’s a German-made Mauser, Model 1896. You know that weapon?’
    ‘Of course. It was called the “Broomhandle”. Clumsy thing but deadly. Carries ten 7.63mm rounds in its magazine. It’s a more dangerous weapon than the normal six-shot
Webley. Hardly a ladies’ weapon.’
    ‘I told you I got that statement out of Baker-Willis which gives Lord Alfred an alibi.’
    ‘Where were they all when Freddy was shot?’
    ‘I went back and got statements from them all despite their threats to have me removed from my job. Lord Alfred was dining with – guess who?’
    ‘Tristram Baker-Willis.’
    ‘Right’
    ‘And Mrs Stockton?’
    ‘Giving a lecture in a side room at the Café Royal.’
    ‘Mrs Jerry?’
    ‘No alibi. Says she can’t remember what she was doing. I sometimes wonder if the three of them were in it together. I’d like to see how they act.’
    ‘I think I might find a way to arrange that,’ said Harry. ‘Lady Glensheil owes me a favour. I could get her to invite all three to a house party.’
    ‘Where? In Scotland?’
    ‘No, in Surrey. She has several residences.’
    ‘Wish you could get me an invitation as well.’
    ‘Not possible. But I could get Lady Rose and Daisy invited. She knows Mrs Stockton.’
    ‘Go ahead with my blessing,’ said Kerridge. ‘I’m blessed if I can find a single clue.’
    Daisy was feeling uneasy. At dinner that evening, to her surprise, neither the earl nor countess referred to Sir Richard; in fact, they seemed quite affectionate towards their
daughter.
    But she sensed an underlying apprehension coming from them; and why, earlier, had Humphrey kept shooting triumphant glances