Season of Darkness by Maureen Jennings Page B

with himself.
    “I’ve seen all I need to for now, Constable. You can go back to the station.”
    Collis headed off, and Tyler went to the kitchen where Mrs. Clark was waiting for him.
    “I made a pot of tea, Inspector. Would you like some?”
    “Thank you kindly, Mrs. Clark. Here’s a cup that was in the room.”
    Mrs. Clark’s eyes filled with tears. “She loved her Horlicks. She’d never had it before … I don’t think her family was very well off. There were lots of things that were new to her. Matching china for one. She particularly remarked about that.” Mrs. Clark pulled a handkerchief out of her apron pocket and wiped at her eyes. “I’m sorry, Inspector. I think it’s just really hitting me what has happened. There were some as didn’t like Miss Bates. They thought she was on the common side, if you know what I mean. But she was very good to me.Always giving me a hand when she could. She even bought me a pair of silk stockings. Can you imagine me in silk stockings? But it was a nice thought.”
    Tyler made sympathetic noises and sat quietly until she had poured his tea and he had doctored it up to his liking.
    “I’ll be in touch with her family to see about her possessions, but that will take a little while. I hope it won’t be inconvenient for you if we leave he room as it is for now.”
    “Not at all. That is the spare room and I never use it except at Christmas when my sister visits.” She wiped her eyes again. “It will be so strange without Elsie. She worked long hours and, being a young woman, she was often out in the evenings, but she was good company when she was here. We’d listen to the wireless together.”
    “Did Miss Bates ever bring anybody home with her?”
    Mrs. Clark blinked. “A boyfriend you mean? Oh no. Not that I would have minded as long as they sat in the living room, but no, she never did. She could have anybody she wanted, she was that pretty, but she always met them out at the dances.”
    “Did she mention anybody in particular? Any names that you recall?”
    “Now that you mention it, a couple of weeks ago she did say she thought she had met somebody special. She gave a little laugh, like a schoolgirl, and whispered in my ear. ‘Mrs. C–’ that’s what she called me. ‘Mrs. C., I might bring him home one of these days and you can tell me what you think.’ She treated me more like a mother than a landlady. Her own parents and her didn’t get along. They never wrote to her and she never wrote to them, so I were a substitute I suppose you’d say.” She hesitated and put her hand to her mouth. “Do you think it was a jealous boyfriend that killed her?”
    “I don’t know. It’s a possibility.”
    “She did have a best friend who came with her from London. She lives at the manor with the other girls. She probably knows a lot more than me. She came here a few times on the weekend to meet Elsie if they were going to a dance. Little scrap of a girl. A proper cockney that I could hardly understand sometimes, but very polite. She was in Elsie’s shadow and hardly said boo when she was here, but they seemed like really good friends. Rose is her name.”
    “When did you last see Miss Bates?” Tyler asked.
    “Last evening, it was. She brought in some fish and chips for our tea. She was always good like that. I went to bed early, oh about eight o’clock. I was feeling a bit poorly with my rheumatics. I left her sitting right there in front of the fire. She was listening to the wireless.”
    Tyler waited while Mrs. Clark wiped at her eyes.
    “Did she go out again?”
    “Not that I’m aware of.” Mrs. Clark fiddled at her ear. “I wear hearing aids and I take them out at night. They’re so uncomfortable if you don’t.”
    “So you didn’t hear anything?”
    “No.”
    “What about this morning?”
    “We have an arrangement because she has to get up so early. I leave her tea ready and the bread for toast. She makes her own breakfast.”
    “Did she