“Must be,” said Derek. “How on earth did it get there?”
Alec caught Daisy’s eye. “Someone must have thought it was yours and put it there for you. Perhaps it was leaning, and fell over across the step.”
Daisy didn’t venture to mention that absolutely no one in the household could possibly have thought the butterfly net belonged to anyone other than his lordship.
Instead, she said, “Do you two want to find somewhere else to spend the rest of the night? Or are you all right with going back to your own beds?”
Ben looked up at Derek, who assured him, “Everything looks fine. No damage.”
“I don’t mind, then.”
“I’d better put a dressing on your head first. Derek, do you know where the first-aid kit is kept?”
“No, Aunt Daisy.”
Daisy sighed. “I’ll fetch it myself. Go on up to bed, but don’t lie down till I’ve bandaged you, Ben.”
She was halfway along the corridor when Belinda and Frank Crowley came round the corner from the landing. Bel ran towards her.
“Mummy, has something happened? I couldn’t go to sleep after that big thunder crash, and I started worrying about the boys, because lightning strikes the highest place, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, darling. The lightning conductor was the highest point. It gave them a shock—a surprise, I mean—and Ben had a bit of a tumble, but no worse than yours this afternoon.”
“He’s all right?” Frank asked.
“Yes,” Daisy said patiently, hoping the rest of the household wasn’t going to appear with the same questions on their lips. Geraldine, her housekeeper, a housemaid, Frank as Ben’s guardian—No one else had any reason to know where the boys slept. No good reason. “I’m just going to get a dressing for Ben’s head. Daddy’s with him and Derek. Go back to bed, darling, and don’t worry.”
Frank grinned. “I’ll take that advice as meant for me, too. Thanks for taking care of him.”
She went down to the second floor with them. They headed for their beds and Daisy continued down to the housekeeper’s room, where the first-aid box had been kept in the same cupboard since time immemorial. Lint, Germolene ointment to keep it from sticking and to kill germs, and a bandage; sticking plaster might come in handy. She had a vague feeling that aspirin was not a good idea after a concussion, however slight. Oh, and the famous bruise ointment, if any was left after the heavy use it had undergone recently. Too many accidents.…
A branch, some kind of reflector, the butterfly net—It was fortunate that Edgar wasn’t the irascible sort. He wasn’t at all likely to blame the boys for breaking his net. He was more likely to blame himself because it was responsible for Ben’s injury.
When she plodded up the circular stairs, she was careful not to brush against the banisters or touch the rail more than was absolutely necessary to keep her balance. For one thing, she didn’t want blood on her dressing gown. For another, she wasn’t sure whether Alec would be interested in looking for the fingerprints of whoever had set the trap, though it was probably too late by now anyway.
It must have been a trap. The odd thing, one of the odd things … But she’d consider that later.
She could hear voices—Alec’s, and Ben’s distinctive lilt—but not what they were saying, the floor effectively blurring their words until her head emerged through the trapdoor.
The boys were both in bed, Ben sitting up, Derek already nearly asleep. Alec sat in a chair where he could watch Ben.
“No signs of trouble so far,” Alec assured her.
“Thank goodness.” Daisy neatly bandaged Ben’s head, about the limit of her nursing ability. He looked as if he were wearing a turban. “Do you feel sleepy?”
“Not very.”
“Hop out of bed and stand up for just a minute, Ben,” said Alec. “Do you feel at all dizzy?”
“No, sir.”
“Roll your head a bit. All right? It looks as if you’ve been lucky. Back into bed and try to sleep. Don’t be alarmed if one of us comes and wakes you up in a couple of hours just to check.”
Daisy tucked him in and dropped a kiss on what was visible of his forehead below the bandage. “Sleep well, Ben.”
“Good night, Aunt Daisy, Uncle Alec. Thank you.”
Despite his words, when Daisy glanced back before turning off the light and following Alec down the stairs, he was fast asleep.
“One of us…?” she said, joining him in the corridor.
“I’ll set the alarm clock and you—”
“Oh no, you’ve much more idea of what symptoms you’re looking for. Alec, the net on the stairs, and everything else that’s happened—I don’t understand it. What on earth do you think is going on?”