Page 21 of The Missing Maid
‘At first, everything was fine. The work wasn’t too bad and I had every second Friday off. Then Dora appeared one evening, told me I had the night off. I knew that wasn’t right – it was a Tuesday, not a Friday. But she insisted, said I should take myself to the cinema – I deserved it.’ Mildred’s lip wobbled as she looked from Harry to Oliver. ‘When I got back, everything was fine. And then the master and mistress came back and all hell broke loose. A gold ring was found in my bed and the police were called.’
Oliver shuffled through a pile of papers he had taken from his briefcase. ‘This was at approximately ten-thirty in the evening – is that right?’
The girl shrugged. ‘I suppose it must have been. I told them I’d been at the cinema but they didn’t believe me. The butler said he’d seen me in the kitchen when he couldn’t have done because I wasn’t even in the house then. Nobody listened to me.’
Oliver consulted the paperwork once more. ‘I see from your statement that you told the police about the house in Elephant and Castle.’ He rifled through the pages again. ‘It says here they sent an officer to investigate your claim. He found a family of nine living at the address you gave, including five children and a babe in arms. Neighbours confirmed they had been there for years.’
‘That can’t be!’ Mildred burst out. ‘There was no family when I stayed there, I swear to it. Are you sure they went to number 25?’
‘Hold on,’ Harry cut in, before Oliver could reply. ‘This isn’t 25 Tea Cutter Row, is it?’
Both Oliver and Mildred stared at her in astonishment. ‘Yes,’ Mildred said. ‘How did you know that?’
‘A very good question,’ Oliver said, eyebrows beetling together. ‘Perhaps one we shall come back to later.’ He returned his gaze to Mildred. ‘It appears the police officer did all he couldto corroborate your story but there was simply no evidence to support it.’
Harry was only half listening – in her mind’s eye, she was replaying her own visit to Elephant and Castle. She had stood almost on the doorstep of the house. Had there been any sign that a cluster of children lived there? She couldn’t remember seeing any toys strewn outside. And then another recollection hit her, of glancing up at the first-floor window and seeing a figure watching her. ‘It was you!’ she gasped, eyes widening as she looked at Mildred. ‘You were at the window when I visited the house in Tea Cutter Row. I saw someone watching me – it must have been you, Mildred.’
The girl’s expression went from puzzlement to elation as she considered what that might mean. ‘Then you can tell the police that – they’d believe a respectable legal assistant like you.’
Oliver cleared his throat meaningfully, just as Harry realised the error she’d made. ‘It’s certainly something to consider,’ he said, giving Harry a hard look. ‘But in the meantime, why don’t you finish telling us about the burglary?’
Mildred did not argue. ‘There’s not much to tell. They kept me overnight in a cell at Vine Street and in the morning I was up before the magistrate. I told him everything I told the police – about the theft at Lady Finchem’s and how it was the same as Lord Robertson’s but he didn’t believe me either. He sent me here to await trial and I’ve been here since.’
Oliver considered her thoughtfully. ‘When I first introduced myself, you seemed fearful of who was paying for my services. Why was that?’
For a moment, it seemed she would not answer. The silence grew thick and heavy around them. Then Mildred swallowed. ‘I thought you might be working for them.’
‘Who do you mean bythem?’
Her gaze slithered left and right, as though she was worried she might be overheard. ‘By the people who put me in here – Dora and Mrs Goodfellow and anyone else who pretended to help me.’ She shook her head. ‘They used me to steal a lot of money and jewels and other things. I don’t – I don’t know who to trust any more.’
Oliver started to speak but Harry cut across him. ‘You can trust us,’ she said quietly, reaching across the table to squeeze Mildred’s cold fingers. ‘I will do everything in my power to prove your innocence.’
Mildred let out a ragged sigh. ‘You believe me then?’
‘I believe you,’ Harry replied and she meant it. She did not understand how everything fitted together – not yet – but she was determined that she would. And when that happened, she would use what she knew to get Mildred Longstaff released from prison.
Beside her, Oliver was gathering up his papers. ‘That concludes our visit,’ he said, not unkindly. ‘Thank you, Mildred. I’ll see you again soon.’
After pushing back his chair, he crossed to the door and rapped once on the metal. There was a disconcerting scraping sound that made Harry wince as the key turned in the lock and the door opened to reveal the same guard as before. ‘Finished?’ he asked Oliver.
‘For now,’ Oliver said. ‘Until next time, Miss Longstaff.’
As the guard led her away, Mildred turned to call over her shoulder, ‘My family – will you tell them you’ve seen me? They must be so worried.’
‘I will,’ Harry called back.
Oliver said nothing as they were escorted back to the outer gates and seen through the door within a door to stand on the concrete outside the prison. In fact he did not speak until they were sitting side by side in his car, gazing at the rain thathad begun to mist the windscreen. Without looking at Harry, he started the engine and put the car into gear. ‘I don’t think you’ve been entirely honest with me, Harriet White,’ he said as he reversed carefully backwards and turned the car towards the road. ‘You didn’t ask me to bring you here out of a philanthropic desire to help a village girl, did you?’
Harry fought the urge to squirm in her seat. There was no way she could deny it – she’d let slip too many things she ought not to have known. ‘Not exactly, no.’
He nodded. ‘Are you going to explain?’
She didn’t want to. At present, no one knew of her efforts as a private detective – she hadn’t even told her family about the letters to Sherlock Holmes – and she felt the fewer people who knew, the better. But Oliver was unlikely to let this go unless she gave him some sort of explanation, no matter how mild his expression currently was, and he would see through a lie in a heartbeat. There was also the incontrovertible truth that Mildred’s predicament was much bigger than she had realised – Harry could not help her or catch the real culprits alone. Sooner or later, she would need help. Wasn’t it better to come clean with Oliver now so that she could call on him again in the future? She sighed. ‘Okay, but you must promise not to tell anyone.’
He applied the brake, bringing the car to a stop. ‘That depends on what you’re about to say. Are you in some way mixed up in the crimes Mildred described?’
‘What?’ Harry stared at him in dismay. ‘Of course not – it’s nothing like that.’
