Page 72 of Murder on the Brighton Express
Floyd sighed. “The suppliers have all supplied, Harmony. Everything is in place. They won’t back out now. I don’t see the problem.”
“The problem is, they’re furious their prices haven’t been agreed upon by Mrs. Hessing. They know she won’t pay. I know it, too. She’ll leave the country, and we’ll have to foot the bill or see the hotel’s reputation ruined. They won’t work with us again if we don’t.”
“There are always other suppliers who will.”
Harmony looked like she wanted to say more, but I suspected she held herself back. She appealed to me with a flash of her eyes.
It was time to pull out all the stops, and I knew something that might convince Floyd to act. Something Harmony would never dare say to him. “Your father won’t trust you to take on another event again, Floyd. Is that what you want?” For one sickening moment, I thought that might be his plan.
But he flinched as if the notion pained him. He rubbed his jaw. “All right. I’ll pay the suppliers from the hotel’s account first thing in the morning. That will tide them over and ensure they don’t speak ill of the hotel.”
“And then you’ll convince Mrs. Hessing to pay back the hotel?” I prompted.
“I’ll try.” He did not sound confident.
I checked the time on my watch. I needed to get ready. “Floyd, you’re coming to the theater with Flossy and me tonight.”
“Is something good showing, or is it a musical comedy?”
“I’ve heard it’s excellent.”
He pushed himself to his feet. “All right, then. I’ll order something to eat and meet you in the foyer in an hour.”
Harry didn’t slipinto the spare seat beside me until after the curtain had risen.
“You made it,” I whispered.
“It was a scramble. Luckily my mother kept some of my old clothes or I would have had to come in what I’ve been wearing all day. They still fit although there’s a small moth hole in the jacket sleeve.” He removed his top hat so the person behind him could see. “I borrowed this from my father.”
Seated on my other side, Floyd cleared his throat.
Harry leaned forward to peer past me and nodded a greeting. Floyd responded in kind. While Harry had helped Floyd escape a difficult situation that started Floyd on the road to cleaning himself up, he still didn’t like Harry overmuch. The employer-employee divide was too wide. Harry had worked at the hotel for so long that Floyd couldn’t take the leap across the divide and accept him as an equal. They probably wouldn’t get along anyway. Floyd oozed privilege from every pore. He was lazy and irresponsible. Harry was his opposite in almost every way.
“I see you brought the cavalry,” Harry whispered to me. “Worried about being alone with me in a dark theater?”
“That is not appropriate talk from a gentleman. And shhh. I want to watch the show.”
Harry settled into his seat and remained silent, but Floyd did not. “You shouldn’t have invited him, Cleo.”
“We’re working,” I whispered.
“I don’t care. It’s sending out a certain signal.”
“To whom? I don’t recognize anyone in the vicinity.”
“Not to anyone in the audience. To Armitage.”
“He knows where I stand on that particular matter.”
“That won’t stop him from trying. We’ll swap seats at interval. I’ll sit between you.”
We didn’t swap seats because I didn’t return to my seat after the interval and neither did Harry. While Flossy and I took care of the necessaries in the lady’s room, I informed her that I was meeting one of the actresses backstage to discuss my investigation, and Harry was helping me. She was tasked with telling Floyd. I suggested she wait until the curtain rose on the second act to give him as little opportunity as possible to protest.
It was remarkably easy to enter the backstage area. The crew were too busy to notice us, and the cast were either on stage or in the wings. The locked door of Beecroft’s office gave Harry no difficulty. He had it unlocked in moments.
Inside, he wordlessly indicated I should stay back. He then opened the door to the closet. It was empty except for costumes. There was no sign of Jack West. There was no sign of cigarettes, either, not even a lingering smell. If West had been there recently, he hadn’t smoked.
We sat and waited. When we heard the audience applause, Harry took his position against the wall near the door, so that when Beecroft entered, he didn’t see Harry until Harry had blocked the exit.
