Page 20 of The Missing Maid
Oliver was talking but Harry did not register much of what he said. She was too busy reviewing everything she knew in light of this enormous revelation. The two young women looked alike – bore more than a passing resemblance to each other, in fact. Did that have some relevance to the case? That the girl Harry had met was not Mildred certainly explained the bewildering differences in personality between Esme’s descriptions and Harry’s own experience. It might even explain the park keeper’s supposed sighting of Mildred in Hyde Park, where she had been accused of picking someone’s pocket. What if that had been Mildred’s lookalike too? Once again, Harry could have kicked herself. It was all so obvious now and made Mildred’s innocence much more believable as a result. And yet… there must be some connection. The young woman in Tea Cutter Row had known Mildred’s name – Harry was sure of that. But how?
Still turning the puzzle over in her mind, she tuned back in to the conversation in front of her.
‘I didn’t steal anything,’ Mildred was saying, her eyes swimming with tears. ‘Not from Lady Finchem and not from Lord Robertson. You have to believe me.’
‘That’s why we’re here,’ Oliver soothed, offering her a clean white handkerchief. ‘Why don’t you begin by telling us what happened at Lady Finchem’s?’
There was little Harry didn’t already know. Mildred had been horrified when the missing bracelet had been found in her bed and had vehemently denied taking it. Her cries of innocence had fallen on deaf ears, however, and none of the other staff had stood up for her. Harry stirred, recalling her conversation with Dobbins in the hall of the Finchem house. Leaning towards Oliver, she murmured a question. He nodded his understanding. ‘If I may just interrupt, Mildred. Am I right in thinking you shared a room with another member of the domestic staff?’
‘That’s right,’ Mildred said. ‘It was a girl named Polly. I thought she was my friend. Turned out I was wrong about that.’
‘I see,’ Oliver said thoughtfully. ‘And Polly also had access to Lady Finchem’s jewellery?’
‘Oh no.’ Mildred’s reply was firm. ‘None of us did. Only the housekeeper looked after Lady Finchem’s things.’
‘But they were not locked away,’ Oliver pressed. ‘In a drawer or a safe, perhaps?’
‘In a drawer, I think,’ Mildred said, frowning. ‘I only went in there to clear out the ashes and lay the fire. Like I said, it was Mrs Rivers who took care of Lady Finchem.’
Harry knew what Oliver was getting at: who had the opportunity to steal the bracelet in the first place? Unfortunately for Mildred, it appeared that she might have but it was important that others could have taken it too. Any of the household staff could have hidden it in Mildred’s bed but Harry was inclined to suspect Polly, the maid. Another question occurred to her. Oliver dutifully asked it. ‘Tell me, how did you come by your position with the Finchems?’
‘I placed an advert in theMorning Herald,’ Mildred answered. ‘The housekeeper replied.’
Harry regarded her, crestfallen. She had hoped there might be a link to the employment agency Dobbins had mentioned. She whispered to Oliver again. ‘And you have never heard of Mrs Haverford’s Bureau of Excellence?’
Mildred’s expression was blank. ‘No. Should I have?’
Oliver glanced at Harry, who gave an almost imperceptible shake of her head. ‘Not at all,’ he said smoothly. ‘Tell us what happened after you left Lady Finchem’s employment. You did not return to your family in Surrey. Am I correct?’
Mildred agreed that she had not. Once she had been unceremoniously escorted from Farm Street, she had been at a loss what to do. ‘I was in a terrible state – crying and shaking. I sat on a doorstep for a while, then I walked for a bit – I don’t remember where. And then, somewhere around Piccadilly or Oxford Street, this girl stopped and asked me if I was all right.’ She dabbed at her eyes with the handkerchief. ‘Of course I blurted out the whole story and she told me she had some friends who could help. I was so fuddled that I didn’t think to question it – I just went with her.’
‘Perfectly understandable,’ Oliver said, as Mildred hung her head. Harry whispered to him. ‘You didn’t go to Hyde Park at all? Have an argument with someone?’
‘I—’ Mildred’s brow wrinkled in thought. ‘I don’t think so. At least, I don’t remember going there, or any argument. Is it important?’
Again, Harry shook her head. ‘No,’ Oliver said. ‘Now go on – what happened next?’
‘We took the Underground to Elephant and Castle.’
‘Elephant and Castle,’ Harry repeated abruptly, earning her a reproachful glance from Oliver. ‘Are you sure?’
Mildred nodded. ‘Positive. Dora bought my ticket, said I could pay her back once I was back on my feet.’
Harry’s head spun. It couldn’t be a coincidence that the Mildred’s lookalike had also turned up in Elephant and Castle, could it? But how could it be anything else? Mildred was speaking again. ‘We ended up in this house. It wasn’t the nicest place but what choice did I have? Dora said I could stay for the night and she would take me to the station so I could go home to my parents the next day.’ She picked at a grimy fingernail. ‘I didn’t mind that. I was scared to go home.’
Harry wanted to tell her how much she had been missed, how diligently her parents had searched for her, but Oliver’s instructions still rang in her ears and she stayed quiet. There would be time for that once they had extricated Mildred from this nightmare.
‘One night became two, and then three,’ Mildred went on. ‘They said they’d find me a new job, so I wouldn’t have to tell my family what had happened. All I had to do was stay indoors and be patient, they said, while they sorted everything out.’
‘Who do you mean by “they”?’ Oliver asked.
Mildred shifted uneasily. ‘Dora, mostly. But she wasn’t always there. Other people came and went – there was a lady called Mrs Goodfellow, and another one whose name I never knew. She seemed to be important.’
‘How long were you there?’
‘I – I don’t actually know. The days blurred a bit and I lost count – mostly I stayed in one of the rooms upstairs. One day Dora said they’d got me a job in a fancy house. She said I was lucky, not many girls got that chance.’ Mildred laughed softly. ‘I should have known it was too good to be true.’
Harry shook her head. It was beginning to look as though Mildred’s only crime had been being too trusting but she said nothing. ‘So you went to Lord Robertson’s house. What happened then?’
