Page 74 of The Hollow of Fear
All the pain and pleasure in his heart, however, did not prevent him from noticing that another person had been in the room. Not the servants—they had strict orders to leave those rooms alone unless otherwise instructed by either himself or Holmes.
Who, then? Bancroft? Or someone else?
He descended for breakfast and ate, staring at the writhing fog.
Footsteps raced across the marble floor of the entrance hall. Bancroft burst into the breakfast room, still in his overcoat, his walking stick hooked over his forearm.
Lord Ingram leaned back in his seat. He couldn’t remember the last time he saw Bancroft in such agitation. “What’s the matter?”
“When was the last time you bedded her?”
Lord Ingram stared at his brother, his mind stuttering at the baldness of the question.
Bancroft didn’t seem to notice. “Your wife. When did the two of you last sleep together?”
Oh, withLady Ingram. “Before I inherited.”
More than three years ago, his interminable celibacy broken only yesterday evening.
“I just came from the autopsy,” said Bancroft, tapping his walking stick on the floor for emphasis. “She was with child.”
16
There wereno signs of tampering on the cisterns at Mrs. Newell’s house. A Mr. Jones, who had been hired to oversee the repair and rebuilding of the cisterns, showed Inspector Treadles and Charlotte Holmes, in her full Sherrinford Holmes guise, photographs that had been taken of the cisterns, right after the accidents had happened, as well as those of the pipes leading in and out.
“They weren’t built well to begin with. Mrs. Newell got rid of her former estate manager several months ago, after it was discovered he’d been skimming from the top for almost as long as he’d been working for her, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d got the cheapest everything and pocketed the difference. And he hadn’t bothered with proper inspection and maintenance in the years since.
“The new estate manager seems to be a decent fellow. But his predecessor left things in such a state he hasn’t got around to the cisterns—had to replace the boiler first. Me, I’m not surprised the cisterns flooded the house, only that they didn’t do it sooner.”
The dismantled parts of the cisterns indeed appeared shoddy, brown with rust and neglect, bulging and sagging alarmingly, and almost paper thin in spots. But there were no incisions, and no marks that had been left by a saw, a hatchet, or any other tools of sabotage.
The tampering of the cisterns, coinciding with the transportation of an additional and now unaccounted-for crate to Stern Hollow, would have made for a strong, if circumstantial, case that someone was trying to frame Lord Ingram.
But now that the cisterns had turned out to be an overdue accident, this elegant house of cards came tumbling down.
Treadles swore inwardly. Miss Holmes couldn’t be pleased that her hypothesis had been proven wrong, but she gave no outward signs of disappointment, only rubbed her beard gravely as she thanked Mr. Jones.
Afterward, they found themselves alone in Mrs. Newell’s foyer, both waiting for their next appointment, Miss Holmes having applied to see her sister, and Treadles, Mrs. Newell’s cook.
“How is Lord Ingram holding up, if I may inquire?” he heard himself ask.
“I have never seen him not hold up,” said Miss Holmes. “I expect he will continue to do so.”
“But is he all right?”
Miss Holmes thought about it. “Sometimes he has hope. Other times he might be preparing himself for an unhappier future.”
Again, that inhuman detachment, as if the hangman’s noose were but a bit of a bother.
You are irrational at times—more so than you want to admit.
He recoiled. But was the voice right? What would he have thought had Miss Holmes displayed greater fear or distress?
You would have considered her far too emotional to handle an investigation with your friend’s life at stake.
“I very much hope that unhappier future will not come to pass,” he said quietly.
Miss Holmes turned to him and inclined her head. “No matter what happens, Lord Ingram and I are both grateful to you, Inspector, for allowing us to search for the truth unhindered.”
