Page 22 of The Missing Maid
He raised his hands. ‘Sorry. I had to ask.’
‘I’m not sure you did,’ Harry grumbled. ‘But you must also promise not to laugh at me when I tell you.’
Now it was Oliver’s turn to stare. ‘Laugh at you? This is a serious case, involving theft, coercion and organised crime –the last thing I expect to do is laugh. But I do confess myself intrigued. What on earth have you been up to?’
‘Promise,’ Harry demanded.
‘Okay, I promise,’ he said. ‘Now tell me.’
She took a deep calming breath and rehearsed the words in her head, preparing to say them out loud.I’m working for Sherlock Holmes. I’m secretary to Mr Sherlock Holmes. I’m investigating on behalf of Sherlock Holmes.It was no good. Every possible permutation sounded utterly ridiculous. Harry shook her head. ‘It all began with a letter,’ she said slowly. ‘Actually, it began with a lot of letters, more than I’ve ever seen in my life, in fact. But before we get into that, I need to tell you about Simeon Pemberton.’
9
To his credit, Oliver did not laugh. Harry hadn’t wanted to relive the moment Mr Pemberton had first advanced on her as she’d been placing some documents for signature on his desk. She spared Oliver most of the detail but the memory of hot, fetid breath on her neck as her employer had loomed behind her had made the windscreen of Oliver’s car swim out of focus for a moment. She could still feel the sudden panic as Mr Pemberton’s arms had encircled her, the slick warmth of his moist moustache as it swamped her mouth in a clumsy, unwanted kiss. Most of all, she remembered the soft crunch as her knee rose up to drive into his groin, and the agonised howl of pain as he crumpled to the floor.
Harry hadn’t waited for him to get up. Stiffly, almost robotically, she’d gathered up the unsigned papers and taken them back to her desk, where she’d continued with her work as though nothing had happened. The next morning, she had found herself reassigned to the post room.
Oliver’s expression hardened into fury at her description but he didn’t interrupt, not when Harry went on to explain her well-meaning deception of the Longstaffs, nor when she describedher visit to Mrs Haverford’s, and not even when she revealed the circumstances of her journey to Tea Cutter Row. He listened in attentive silence as he drove her home, refraining from asking even the simplest of questions even though she knew he must be bursting with them. And when she had finished, he didn’t speak for several long minutes. ‘I don’t know whether to congratulate you or have you arrested,’ he said at last, shaking his head. ‘Secretary to Sherlock Holmes indeed. I’m almost jealous.’
‘Don’t be,’ Harry said. ‘You should read some of the things people demand of him. There’s at least one work of fiction in them and probably several.’
‘I can imagine,’ Oliver said dryly. He glanced briefly across at her. ‘You know, I’m surprised and somehow not surprised at the same time. I knew there was more to your interest in Mildred Longstaff than you were telling me but I would never in a million years have guessed what it was.’
Harry smiled but something he had said earlier was troubling her. ‘You don’t really think I’m doing something illegal, do you?’
Oliver considered the question. ‘I don’t think so, no. You aren’t taking payment so you’re not obtaining money under false pretences, and you aren’t impersonating a real person, or even a fictional one since you’ve invented your own pen name under which to investigate.’ He paused to navigate a tricky junction. ‘The bank might take a dim view of things if they ever find out but I don’t suppose you’re going to tell them and I imagine you’ve sworn the Longstaffs to secrecy as a condition of investigating.’
She hadn’t, Harry realised with a flush of mortification, and made a mental note to rectify that as soon as she was able. ‘Mmmm,’ she said noncommittally. ‘Something like that.’
‘It wouldn’t stand up in court, of course,’ Oliver went on, ‘which brings me to an important point. You cannot becomeofficially involved in Mildred’s case. Questions would be asked that put both you and her at risk, legally and physically.’
‘Oh,’ Harry said, her cheeks growing warm at the thought. ‘What do you mean?’
‘The people who burgled Lord Robertson are not opportunistic thieves,’ he said soberly. ‘They are organised and they’re playing a long game. I think they chose Mildred quite specifically for the job they had in mind and set up her dismissal from the Finchems to facilitate a bigger crime.’
‘I think so too,’ Harry agreed. ‘Clearly, she was chosen for her similarity to the girl I saw in Selfridge’s, although I don’t totally understand why that matters. Unless – oh!’
He frowned. ‘What?’
‘It all makes sense,’ Harry exclaimed. ‘Mildred said Lord Robertson’s butler claimed she had been at the house all evening but we know she was actually at the cinema. What if it wasn’t Mildred the butler saw but her lookalike?’
Oliver followed her line of reasoning. ‘Mildred said it was Dora who gave her the night off. Perhaps the lookalike you saw is the girl Mildred knows as Dora.’
‘They must be the same person,’ Harry said, clicking her fingers. ‘There’s enough similarity between Mildred and Dora to fool someone who wasn’t looking too closely and we know Dora isn’t afraid to break the law. Those shoplifting gangs are as bold as brass.’
‘They’ve been around a long time, in one form or another, although I agree they’re getting more ambitious,’ Oliver said. ‘They dress well, fool the shop assistants into thinking they’re ordinary customers and then make off with a fortune in jewellery and furs. I’m surprised the thieves in Selfridges didn’t have a fast car waiting to whisk them away.’
If they had, it hadn’t been obvious, Harry thought. But although she agreed some of the shoplifters had been well-dressed, Dora had worn a shapeless coat and floppy hat that screamed potential thief.
‘She was probably there to distract the guards,’ Oliver said when she mentioned the anomaly. ‘They’re clever, these women. Most of them are members of a gang called the Forty Thieves, also known as the Forty Elephants, because they started life in Elephant and Castle. I’ve seen plenty of them on trial for their crimes, including the old matriarch, Alice Diamond, and some of what they get up to is worse than their male counterparts.’
‘Elephant and Castle again,’ Harry observed. ‘It can’t be a coincidence. You don’t think Alice Diamond could be the one behind the Robertson burglary, do you?’
‘Not likely. She retired years ago, after a stint in prison. There’s a new queen in charge of the gang now but I’m not sure they’re the power they once were.’
Harry filed the information away for future consideration. ‘Well, someone is definitely pulling the strings,’ she replied. ‘The whole thing has the feel of a set-up, going right back to the supposed theft of Lady Finchem’s bracelet.’
He nodded. ‘Planted under Mildred’s pillow by a member of the household staff, probably the maid, Polly.’
