“Yes, sir. I’ll pass the word.” Sergeant Crickwell nodded and stepped back into the shadows.
Blanchard had heard their voices; he opened the front door before they reached it. Sebastian walked beside Sir Humphrey into the house. Blanchard closed the door and followed; he anticipated their direction and moved to stand by the drawing room door.
Frowning, Sir Humphrey halted and turned to Sebastian. “A man, don’t you think?” he murmured.
Sebastian considered, then said, “Most likely, but not necessarily. Whoever stabbed Ennis, he had to have known them to allow them to get that close.” He saw the scene in his mind, imagined how it would have played out. “As I recall, there was one clean strike—angled upward to hit the heart. I didn’t see any signs of a scuffle, did you?”
“No.” Sir Humphrey grunted. “And I suppose you’re right. With a sufficiently sharp weapon, a woman could have delivered that blow.”
“I believe,” Sebastian said, “that from the time they quit the dining table, all the ladies were together in the music room. If so, they can vouch for each other.”
“Excellent. We’d best get that out of the way first.”
Blanchard was hovering, his gaze flicking from Sebastian to Sir Humphrey, presumably seeking some hint of Sir Humphrey’s stance on Sebastian’s possible guilt.
Sir Humphrey noticed. He humphed and gave Blanchard the same instructions he’d given Crickwell. “No one at all to depart, mind, and that includes all the staff, although his lordship here and Lady Antonia are free to come and go.”
“We will, however, be remaining as part of the house party,” Sebastian clarified.
Blanchard inclined his head. To Sir Humphrey, he said, “The murder has shaken the staff, sir, as one might expect. If there’s any reassurance I might convey…?”
Sir Humphrey sighed. “At this moment, Blanchard, there’s nothing I can say that would reassure anyone.” He nodded toward the drawing room. “I’m going to ask a few more questions, then allow everyone to retire for the night. I’ll leave constables on watch inside and outside the house—that should calm any imminent hysteria. I expect to be back tomorrow morning with the inspector Scotland Yard will send down. You might ask among the staff if anyone saw or heard anything that might be relevant—for instance, whether anyone unexpected was seen leaving the house around ten o’clock.”
Blanchard bowed. “Very good, sir. I will inquire.” He moved to open the drawing room door.
Sir Humphrey led the way in. Sebastian followed. As the door closed behind him, he surveyed the company spread around the room. Everyone had looked up, but most gazes flitted over him and fixed on Sir Humphrey as the magistrate walked forward.
Only Antonia continued looking at Sebastian, incipient concern in her eyes. He met her gaze, infinitesimally shook his head, and strolled to reclaim his position on the sofa beside her.
Sir Humphrey, meanwhile, took up a stance at the end of the rug directly opposite the fireplace and faced the assembled company. “Now, if you will bear with me, I have a few simple questions, and then you may retire. I understand that, on rising from the dinner table, the ladies gathered in the music room, which from memory is toward the rear corner of the ground floor, beyond the breakfast room. At what time did you rise from the dinner table?”
The ladies exchanged glances, then Cecilia mumbled something around the handkerchief pressed to her lips, and Mrs. Parrish, beside her, spoke up. “It was about twenty minutes past nine o’clock.”
A murmur of agreement came from various female throats, and some of the men nodded as well.
“Excellent. So the ladies gathered in the music room. Did you all go there directly?”
“I believe so.” Mrs. Parrish looked at the other ladies for confirmation.
Antonia’s clear voice cut across the resulting chatter. “Miss Wainwright and I were the last of the ladies to reach the music room. As I recollect, all the other ladies walked ahead of us, and all of us went directly into the music room.”
Melissa Wainwright nodded. “That’s correct. We brought up the rear, and all the others were ahead of us. No one went anywhere else.”
“And you all remained in the music room until the murder was discovered?”
“Yes” and “Definitely” came from all sides.
Then Miss Bilhurst said, “I was at the piano for most of the time—until we heard the alarm. I was playing, and from the stool, I could see all the ladies and the door. No one was rude enough to leave—I noticed. Everyone was still there when we heard…” She waved vaguely.