A Very Messy Business In Belgravia

Chapter Nine

The following morning, the private detective rang the bell just after ten.

They had no more interviews scheduled, but as they had failed to discuss their visit to the solicitor the previous afternoon, there was much to talk about.  Also, Gabriel had some news.

"My contact in Italy thinks he has found the address, and I'm inclined to agree."  He paused, and the countess could barely contain her excitement.

"Don't keep me in suspense, Gabriel!"

"San Francesco Convent, in Fiesole, Florence."

"San Francesco.  Of course!  San Francisco!  That has to be it."  She frowned.  "But why would Aunt Emily suddenly start writing to a nun she met eight years ago?"

"I have no idea," Gabriel admitted.  "It may be that now we have something more specific to go on, I need to speak to your friend Lady Grey again.  The additional information might jog her memory."

Amalthea nodded thoughtfully.  It was a shame that Charlotte thought she was no longer involved in the case.  She would have to leave this task entirely to Gabriel.

As if sensing her disappointment, the private detective quickly changed the subject.

"We have not had a chance to discuss the matter of the victim's will."

Amalthea's face brightened immediately.

"Yes, we were rather lucky that Charlotte paved the way for us in that respect, although I'm a little surprised she didn't mention it previously."

"The solicitor's evidence is consistent with what the maid, Clara, told us," Gabriel mused, "but if the will is the motive, I just can't figure it out.  As Mr Bracewell said, the new bequest would not have taken anything away from any of the other individual beneficiaries."

Amalthea thought for a moment.

"Perhaps it was not the bequest itself," she suggested, "but rather the person who was to receive it?"

Gabriel nodded.

"That would make the most sense.  But still, to be so against someone that you would rather murder their benefactor than see that person receive a gift."  He shook his head.  "As I see it, it points to one of two things.  Either an intense hatred that transcends all sense of reason, or a secret that can only be maintained if Ms Banforth's intentions are not carried out."

He pushed the conundrum to the back of his mind for the moment.

"Let's consider the potential suspects again in the context of the Italian lead."

Amalthea was quick to respond.

"The person with the most access to Aunt Emily was the maid, Clara, but I can't think for a moment it was her."

"Indeed," Gabriel agreed.  "Clara is still quite young, and her family has no connection whatsoever to Italy, let alone an Italian convent.  Also, I do not believe they have even travelled outside of London.  It makes no sense."

"Other than Charlotte and Clara, the person with the greatest opportunity to remove the letters to Italy and the solicitor was the butler, Padmore," Amalthea mused.

"Correct, but he provided valuable information about the Italian address.  It would have been very easy for him to simply say that he did not remember, and then we would have been in real trouble."

"That's true, and it was too big a clue to give away just to throw suspicion off himself."  She thought for a moment.  There's always Mrs Bateman, but she had no access below stairs.  If it was her, the arsenic had to come from somewhere else."