The Bee's Kiss(66)

Mathurin’s interest was caught. ‘Then go ahead, old man. Just ask. But if it’s an introduction to the lovely Countess,’ he indicated the woman in gold, who’d joined a group on the balcony, ‘you can forget it!’ He gave a deprecating bark of laughter. ‘Some mountains even I can’t climb!’

Joe did not laugh with him. ‘No. I have in mind an introduction it is within your powers to make. I work, as you’ve probably guessed, at the Admiralty and I’ve seen there and admired from a distance a certain lady whom I am rather anxious to get alongside. A lively and popular red-headed lady who, I have it on good authority, is a cousin of yours . . .’

There was a stunned silence.

‘Good Lord! Beatrice? You’re saying you’ve been lusting after Beatrice? Oh, good God! How dreadful!’

‘Something wrong with that? I had heard . . .’

‘You can bet there’s something wrong with that, you buffoon! Is this a joke? Where the hell have you been for the last two days?’

Joe replied stiffly. ‘If it’s any of your business – three floors down under the Admiralty building is where I’ve been, in the cryptography room. Just surfaced this evening in time for a shave and a shower,’ he improvised.

Mathurin relaxed. ‘Ah. Then you wouldn’t have heard. Prepare yourself for a shock, man.’ He said quietly, ‘Bea got herself murdered. Saturday night. In the Ritz. She’s dead.’

Joe contorted his face into a series of expressions passing from disbelief through shock to dismay, making matching sounds to accompany the display. Mathurin seemed to be enjoying having such a receptive audience and he launched into a sprightly account of the whole evening spent at his old relative’s party.

‘. . . so I think I must be the last person she spoke to before she left the room on the stroke of midnight to go to her death,’ he said dramatically. ‘She disturbed a burglar in her room is what everybody’s saying because it wasn’t long after that we found ourselves surrounded by swarms of bluebottles. She’d just disappeared when the band started up again. I didn’t do any more dancing – after a quickstep, a foxtrot or two and a rumba, I blew a gasket and Joanna must have found someone else to dance with. Halfway through “Umcha, umcha, da, da, da” someone stopped the band and everyone was told to return to their seats. Officers of the Yard circulated amongst us taking notes. They even grilled the band! Joanna escaped all that – she’d nipped off home before it all got going. “Female problems” she calls it but she only seems to suffer when she’s bored, I notice. Can’t say I blame her. Family party . . . not the jolliest scene for a young girl. Finally someone came out with it. Then they let us go. Rum do! One minute she’s sparkling away – I’d have guessed on her way to some assignation or other – few dances later, she’s a gonner!’

Joe could only mutter incoherent condolences.

‘Sorry, old chap – you’ve missed this boat! But, hang on a minute . . . if it’s maturity and experience that stokes the old boiler, I’m sure my aunt Cécile . . . she’s French, you know . . . would . . .’

He droned on and Joe prayed for Tilly’s swift return.

Half an hour later, and just as the menus were being offered, Tilly was struck by a headache so debilitating it called for an instant return home. Sunk in the seclusion of the back seat of a taxi they looked at each other and laughed with relief.

‘Sorry, sir! I couldn’t bear to sit and watch Monty socking back the oysters.’

‘Damn it! No ear-nibbling smoochy last dance for me!’ grumbled Joe.

‘And we never did manage to hear the band play us out with “Three O’Clock In The Morning”! Do you really mind?’

‘No. Their licence runs out at two. I’d have had to arrest the management. Glad to have missed it,’ said Joe. ‘Sing it for you if you like?’

Joe recounted his talk with Mathurin, ending with, ‘. . . so if you hear on your social grapevine that a certain police commander is a degenerate who’s run off to Antibes with Mathurin’s frisky old aunt, you are to squash the rumour at once!’

‘If I can do that without compromising my own reputation, I certainly will, sir. But it looks as though Monty’s in the clear. I got Joanna to tell me all about that evening – no difficulty – she was spilling over with enthusiasm for the intrigue, and all she had to say confirms Mathurin’s story. Just one little extra detail I found quite intriguing.’

‘Go on, Westhorpe.’

‘Well, do you remember Sergeant Armitage was convinced that the Dame signalled to someone across the room before she left to go upstairs?’