Heirs of the Body(102)

“No, that’s a good point. I will. All right, if you can’t think of anything else.… Do you know where the kids are?”

“No, but wherever, I’m sure they have Edgar or Frank or one of the Worcester bobbies, or all three, on guard and doubtless cramping their style. That reminds me, I promised to go and look at the river, to see whether it looks safe for boating.”

“You’re the expert, Mrs. Fletcher?” Tom teased, grinning.

“Experienced in the Severn’s moods, at least. My brother and I used to do quite a bit of boating.”

“Ah.”

“Thanks, Daisy. I’ll probably be asking you to go back over your impressions of the other incidents, but Raymond’s being the only death—”

“So far.”

“The only death, I trust. We’re concentrating on it for the moment.” Alec stood up and the others followed suit, so Daisy reluctantly accepted her dismissal and left them to their cogitations.

The all-knowing Ernest told her the kids had set up a badminton net on the lawn. Bel and Derek were teaching Ben and Frank to play. Daisy went upstairs to tell Martha that Dr. Hopcroft would call after lunch.

Sam was in their bedroom, reading poetry to Martha. She looked a bit brighter, whether because of the poems or the attention.

“John Masefield,” Sam announced cheerfully. “Lady Dalrymple recommended him. Do you know Sea Fever? It’s a cracking good poem.”

“Does it begin, ‘I must go down to the sea again’?”

“Seas, with an s.”

“Very appropriate for you, Sam. How clever of Geraldine to think of it. I always liked that one.”

“It’s pretty,” said Martha, clutching Sam’s hand, “but I don’t want you to go to sea again till the baby’s born.”

“I can’t promise, sweetheart, but I’ll do my best.”

Daisy told them about the doctor, which made Sam look anxious. He went with her to the door and whispered, “Do you think she’s really ill?”

“No, not for a minute. I just think it won’t hurt to have him take a look. Perhaps she needs a tonic or something like that.”

Satisfied, he returned to Martha’s side. Daisy went down to the garden. She waved to the badminton players, but went straight on down the lawn to the river. The comparative coolness of the air near the water made her realise how hot the day was growing.

Though the river was well below the banks, swirls and eddies in the brown torrent made it too dangerous for a small rowing boat with kids at the oars. A narrow boat was barely making way upstream, the boatman standing in the bow with a boat hook to fend off floating branches, while his wife steered. She waved to Daisy. The superstructure was painted with the usual cheerful, colourful roses and castles, but Daisy thought it must be a hard life. She couldn’t imagine living in such a tiny space.

She returned to the house via the backwater. The skiff looked spruce, either undamaged or repaired earlier. Clouds of midges danced about Daisy. She fanned her face with her hand to keep them away.

The winding path through the wood, along the little stream, was shady. Daisy peered into the brambles and nettle beds as she passed, not that she expected to spot a blade where Alec and his minions had failed. All the same, she walked a few yards along some of the narrow paths made by rabbits and foxes and badgers, hoping to see a glint of metal.

The soft leaf mould underfoot changed to gravel when she reached the laburnum alley. Dappled sunlight filtered through the close-woven, well-leaved vines overhead, with their dangling pods full of poisonous seeds. She must remind Nurse never to bring the little ones here in search of a shaded place to run.

Coming to the break in the alley, with the footpath leading across the park on her left and the lawn on her right, Daisy paused before stepping out into the full sun.

This was where Vincent had been stabbed. As he left the deep gloom under the laburnums for the sunset twilight, or as he moved back into the shadowy continuation of the alley? Laurette had babbled about it but Daisy couldn’t remember.

It was really an odd place to choose for a stroll at dusk. Very little light would have penetrated the dense foliage above.

She looked about, trying to envisage exactly what had happened.

The attack must have occurred as Vincent and Laurette moved out of the shelter, as Daisy was about to now, because if the attacker had been lurking ahead, outside the laburnums, they might well have spotted him. Vincent had been on Laurette’s left, because the cut had been on his left side. The attacker would not risk waiting on the right, the lawn side. At the time, Alec and Daisy had been walking there, where the kids and Frank were still busy with shuttlecock and battledore.