Page 74 of Marriage and Murder
Everyone smiled, and O’Donnell, Morgan, and Price leapt to help.
They set out for Penrose Cottage at a few minutes before two o’clock. Stokes, Barnaby, and Penelope led the way, with Henry and Madeline following and O’Donnell, Morgan, and Price bringing up the rear.
Penelope remained behind Stokes as he went out of the Lavender Cottage gate, along the lane, then turned in at the gate of Penrose Cottage. Over the sandwiches, they’d come up with a possible way to trick Ida into showing her true colors and incriminating herself. That would give them the clearest, neatest, least challengeable outcome. Whether their gambit would work was another matter.
As she trailed Stokes up the severely neat, rigidly straight path, Penelope drew in a settling breath and prepared herself for an interview that she expected to be akin to a mental chess game.
Stokes halted before the door, raised his fist, and knocked, quite loudly.
They waited.
When no footsteps approached and the door remained firmly shut, Stokes glanced at Barnaby and Penelope, then he faced the door and knocked again, rather more peremptorily.
Standing on and about the stoop, they waited again.
When no one came, Henry said, “I’ll take a look around the back.”
“I’ll go, too.” O’Donnell set off, shadowing Henry around the side of the house.
A minute later, Henry returned. “They’re in the orchard—Ida, Arthur, and Jim.”
“Doing what?” Stokes asked.
“Ida is just standing there,” Henry reported, “watching while Jim and Arthur work at cutting down a large branch.”
Stokes glanced at the others. “Well, so be it. Fitting in a way, I suppose.”
He stepped off the stoop, and with Henry rejoining Madeline, their small procession marched around the house. On the way, they collected O’Donnell, who had remained by the rear corner of the house, watching their quarry, and proceeded down the path between the kitchen garden beds to the gate in the orchard’s waist-high stone wall.
They could see the Penroses and Jim Swinson deeper in the orchard, gathered beneath an old tree. The sound of sawing had masked any noise the group had made, and the trio had yet to register their approach.
Stokes opened the gate and stepped through, but before Penelope and Barnaby followed, Henry murmured, “It might be more appropriate if Madeline and I remain here. We’ll be close enough to see and hear what’s said, but at this distance, we won’t intrude nor be tempted to contribute.”
Stokes nodded. “Good idea. This is going to need careful handling.” He looked at Price. “Best you remain with his lordship and Miss Huntingdon.” He glanced at O’Donnell and Morgan. “You two, come with us.”
O’Donnell and Morgan looked relieved, while Price looked faintly disappointed.
Smiling slightly, Stokes held the gate open and waved Penelope through. Barnaby followed, and with O’Donnell and Morgan trailing a few paces behind, they made their way down the grassy central path.
They were within ten yards when Ida heard them. She half turned, saw them, and frowned. She didn’t alter her stance but remained with her arms folded across her chest and an unwelcoming expression on her face. “What do you lot want?”
Jim, who’d been looking at the branch Arthur had started sawing, heard her and glanced across, then Arthur noticed, stopped sawing, and after seeing who had arrived, he lowered his saw and waited.
Stokes halted two yards away, and Barnaby and Penelope flanked him. O’Donnell and Morgan did their best to be inconspicuous as they halted farther back.
Ida shifted to face the investigators. As far as Penelope could detect, no spark of emotion showed in her strong-featured face. Not even curiosity colored her dark eyes.
She didn’t repeat her question, which had bordered on a challenge, but waited, her gaze steady on Stokes, Penelope, and Barnaby. Penelope didn’t think she was imagining the slowly rising tide of hostility directed toward them. She was quite sure Ida didn’t want them there.
Calmly, Stokes nodded to her. “Mrs. Penrose.” He shifted his gaze and acknowledged the men. “Mr. Penrose, Mr. Swinson.” Then Stokes returned his gaze to Ida and calmly stated, “Ida Penrose, we’re here to arrest you for the murder of your neighbor, Viola Huntingdon.”
They’d discussed what they wouldn’t reveal, but not how they would conduct this interview, and Stokes’s unexpected declaration left even Penelope faintly stunned. The effect on the Penroses and Jim Swinson was even more marked. For aninstant, all three froze, not breathing or moving in even the smallest way.
In that second, Penelope would have sworn even the light breeze stopped.
Slowly, Ida’s eyes narrowed, but she said nothing.
Uncomprehendingly, Arthur looked at her. “Ida? What’s this?”
