“Or to knock him out and make it easy to murder him.” Daisy laughed. “All right, I know, wild speculation, and there isn’t anything you can do about it anyway.”
“Nothing. I can’t keep an eye on all of them and I have no grounds for requesting help.”
“So let’s assume none of my relatives have plans to kill one another.”
“All the same, I hope Pearson brings the answer when he comes on Friday. Once everyone knows who’s the heir, it’ll clear the air a bit.”
“Yes. Now if you’ll just fasten my necklace, I’ll go and check up on Belinda and see if Martha needs any help. See you downstairs.”
Bel wasn’t in her room or the nursery. Daisy decided to check the turret room. One of the enticing things about it was the access by way of a narrow spiral staircase of openwork wrought iron, leading up to a trapdoor in the high ceiling at the end of the corridor below. The room had not been intended as a habitable room. In fact, it had had no windows until Gervaise took a liking to it and Daisy’s father had it done up for him. It now had windows in five walls, with the trapdoor opening right next to the sixth.
Daisy stood at the bottom of the staircase looking up. She heard no voices. For the benefit of adults unwilling to climb halfway up and knock on the underside of the trapdoor above their heads, a bell rope dangled beside the steps. She gave it a tug and heard the jangle.
There was no response.
If they had all gone off together, Belinda must feel better, Daisy deduced. She went down to Martha’s room.
Martha was sitting with her feet up on a chaise longue, sipping tea. “It’s peppermint tea,” she told Daisy. “I had an attack of indigestion and Mrs. Warden said peppermint will help. I do feel better.”
“That’s good. Would you prefer to have dinner on a tray up here?”
“Oh no, I’ll come down.” She set down her cup on the small table beside her. “I didn’t realise it’s time.…”
“No hurry. Finish your tea.” Daisy sat down. “I had terrible indigestion with the twins. I sucked peppermint drops but I wish I’d known about peppermint tea.”
“Mrs. Warden says it grows like a weed in the kitchen garden, so I can have as much as I want. It even tastes nice! Medicine the Myal-women give you almost always tastes nasty. There.” She set down her cup. “I’m ready.”
Down in the entrance hall they crossed paths with Ernest.
“Miss Belinda said to tell you, madam, they’ve gone down to the river. They promised to be back before dark.”
“Did she mention whether they were going to go boating?”
“She didn’t say, madam.”
“Let me know when they come in, please.”
“Certainly, madam.”
Daisy wasn’t really worried. Derek and Belinda had learnt to swim at school and, given the irresistible proximity of the river, she had made sure that Ben was also competent in the water. Both he and, more important, Frank said he was.
Besides, the backwater wasn’t very deep, even if Edgar had kept his promise and had it dredged. On the other hand, she remembered thinking that Derek and Bel wouldn’t be satisfied with puttering about on the backwater much longer. What if they went out on the river? Had the boat been refurbished, as she had requested? How easy would it be to sabotage a rowing skiff in a way that wouldn’t be obvious until it sank beneath its load?
“What’s wrong, Daisy?” Martha asked anxiously.
“Oh, nothing, really. I was just hoping the children are being sensible.”
“I hope they’ll come in before the storm arrives.”
“Storm?” Daisy glanced at the west-facing window. The lower edge of the sun had disappeared behind dark cumulus clouds towering far off, probably over the Welsh mountains. The air was hot and still. “It may not come this far. Not for quite some time, if at all.”
“Do you get hurricanes in England?”
“Good gracious no. Nothing so dramatic.” She decided not to mention the occasional cloudburst that could send water racing down the Severn to inundate flood-prone Upton. “Just a bit of thunder and lightning. Would that bother you?”
“Not really. I should think this house is solid enough to survive a hurricane, anyway. What if lightning strikes it?”
“I know of at least two lightning conductors. There’s one on the cupola over the main hall and one on the turret. It’s perfectly safe. I only asked because some people are afraid of thunderstorms, even though there’s no danger.” Violet for one. Daisy didn’t give her away.
She and Martha went down to the drawing room. Geraldine and Frank were already there. Vincent and Laurette came in shortly after, full of solicitude about Belinda.