Hyde Park Heist (Piccadilly Ladies Club Mysteries Book 1) Read online

  “I gave all of this information to the constable who arrived at the park last night but it was Mattie Hawkins, as I said. One of our friends. My friends and I were out and about in Hyde Park when the poor thing stumbled across the gruesome scene.”

  “Your friends, then, this morning, at your brunch gathered to discuss the victim and her murder?”

  His voice was laced with something between amusement and incredulity. Her hackles rose, but she went on, refusing to be goaded by this—this Inspector.

  “That is correct. As I said, I work for the paper and I want to be the one who solves the crime and breaks the story for my paper.”

  “That’s quite an ambition, Julia. Perhaps these crimes are best left to the professionals?”

  She responded in a clipped, angry voice. “I am a professional, Inspector Gibbs. You may refer to me as Miss Barlow, not my given name. Now—” she was aware that her voice harsh and unkind but continued anyway, “—why don’t you get on with the business of finding Oscar, since you seem to have grand faith in your ability to solve crime?”

  His face flushed. It was obvious to Julia that he wasn’t used to women talking back to him, and she was weary of men speaking to her as if she were helpless with no wits.

  “Very well, then Miss Barlow, what did you discuss at your brunch? Be as specific as possible, which I’m sure you are quite capable of doing given that you are a professional.”

  Julia bit her lip to keep from escalating this pointless banter with such a wool-headed man.

  “We simply discussed different motives. Mattie Hawkins found the body so of course she’d be a suspect. Everyone in the city knows about the bad blood between Sidney Guinness and Philip Withers. One doesn’t have to be a trained policeman to know that love or money are the most common inciters of murder.”

  “Why was Oscar Goodall at this brunch, then? Does he have any motive to harm Lady Withers?”

  Julia thought carefully before she answered. She was going to have to account for the reason that Oscar was there, as well as the reason Jimmie was there without implicating either of them, since she was convinced of their innocence and saw no need to drag them into this. She was walking a tightrope, though, because given what she knew about the friendship between Philip and Oscar, it was at least a possibility to consider that his disappearance was connected to the Withers murder.

  “I invited Oscar because he is an acquaintance of Lord Withers and I thought he might be able to shed some light on either the murder or the marital relationship.”

  “Was he? Able to shed light?”

  “He seemed just as surprised as the rest of us to learn of Eliza’s condition. In fact, perhaps even a bit more surprised than the rest of us.”

  “Her condition being that she was dead?”

  “No, of course not. We all knew she was dead. We all saw her body last night—well, I suppose it was in the wee hours of the morning today.”

  “To which condition are you referring then, Miss Barlow?”

  Every time he placed an emphasis on Miss, her internal temperature increased. She would burst into flame if she had to listen to his condescension for much longer.

  “Lady Eliza Withers was pregnant, Inspector. I assume you’ve spoken with her husband and he supplied you with that rather significant detail.”

  Julia let the smallest smile turn up the corner of her mouth as she realized the fleeting look on the Inspector’s face meant he did not know about the pregnancy. His eyebrows climbed and shock registered in his eyes for the briefest moment before he recovered himself and reassumed his stoic mask.

  “You say the rest of you were surprised by this information, but Oscar seemed more so? Can you elaborate?”

  “He simply seemed a bit more shaken. I would assume that since he is the one that had a close relationship with Philip that he was imagining the grief his friend must be feeling at the loss of not only his wife, but his unborn child.”

  Julia would hold the information about Philip’s suspected infertility to herself for now. That certainly wasn’t relevant information in the search for Oscar. She made a mental note to see about finding some sort of physical evidence, perhaps a doctor’s chart, that Philip Withers was in fact unable to father children. She shifted her mind back to the matter at hand.

  Opal continued to hold back the tears, clearly having taken Julia’s pep talk to heart, but she wasn’t saying much. Julia wanted to take the questioning away from the conversation at her brunch. Oscar hadn’t gone missing at the brunch. It was irrelevant to his missing persons case.

  “Opal, why don’t you tell Inspector Gibbs what your plans were with Oscar this evening? Opal?”

  It seemed she hadn’t heard Julia speak to her, so Julia touched her softly on the shoulder and Opal jumped in her seat as though startled.

  “Please excuse me. I was—What did you say, Julia?” She had a faraway look in her eyes.

  “Would you please tell the Inspector about the evening you and your brother had planned?”

  “Oh, yes, of course. Oscar and his friends, he has lots of artist friends, they were going to hold a demonstration for me and Mattie. I’ve been wanting to improve my painting skills and Oscar, well, he—he—he was going to help me.”

  At that, Opal broke down again and her face was once again lost to the, by now completely sopping, handkerchief.

  “Inspector, would you mind?”

  He gave her a questioning glance.

  “A clean handkerchief for Miss Goodall, please?”

  Awareness filled his eyes. “Oh, yes, of course.” He pulled one out of his coat pocket and handed it to Julia who tucked it into Opal’s lap. Julia resigned herself to being the only one of any use at this interview, possibly including the Inspector. Poor Opal had always been the first to fall apart in any catastrophe. She was probably the most loving member of their friend group, always quick to embrace someone out of joy or comfort those who suffered. Her sensitive disposition was an asset to both her and her peers most of the time, but in very emotionally intense situations she could collapse under the pressure, as she was doing tonight.

  “If you’re amicable, Inspector, I’d like to get Opal home and settled. She needs to rest. I’m afraid this all too much for her.”

  “Of course. I’ll contact you if I have any additional questions, but for now, we’ll get searching. Given that Mr. Goodall is an acquaintance of Lord Withers, I’ll inquire whether Philip Withers might have an idea as to Oscar’s whereabouts.”

  “Thank you, Inspector.” Julia softened a bit towards the inspector. As much as he’d annoyed her with his condescension, he did seem to be willing to take Oscar’s random and uncharacteristic disappearance seriously. “I’ll be in touch, I’m sure.”

  As Julia stood and turned toward Opal to help her to her feet, there was a commotion behind her. She turned and watched in horror as a handcuffed Jimmie Hutchins was escorted into the building.

  Julia left Opal, still oblivious to her surroundings, where she sat and hurried across the room to Jimmie. She’d barely started trying to prove Jimmie’s innocence and already she was failing miserably.

  “What is going on, Jimmie? Did you find Cecil or Frankie?”

  “Move along, miss,” one of the constables escorting Jimmie commanded.

  “May I please just have a moment with him? He’s helping me find a lost friend.”

  “He’ll not be helping you find anyone. He’s been arrested for the murder of Eliza Withers. Best you find someone else to help you.”

  Inspector Gibbs appeared next to Julia’s side and the constables continued their forced march through the station with Jimmie in between them.

  Julia turned to him. “Inspector. Please. I know Jimmie is innocent. This is preposterous.”

  “If he’s innocent,” the inspector replied, “he has nothing to fear. It will all be sorted out eventually.”

  “At least let me just ask him what he’s discovered from our friends about Oscar’s where
abouts. Please?”

  The inspector looked from Julia to the further retreating figure of Jimmie, then called after them.

  “Constables, one moment.”

  The escorting officers stopped and turned toward the inspector and waited.

  Inspector Gibbs said to Julia, “You’ve got one minute with your friend. Make it count.”

  “Thank you!”

  “Let her speak to him.”

  “Sir,” the gruff constable agreed.

  Julia rushed to where Jimmie was standing handcuffed, and the constables moved slightly away so they could speak privately. Julia noticed them speaking quietly with Inspector Gibbs.

  “Are you all right, Jimmie? What’s happened? Did you find Cecil? What did he say?”

  “He hasn’t seen Oscar since Hyde Park last night. He’s asking around. There’s something else, though, Julia,” he dropped his voice until it was nearly inaudible. “It’s Frankie. I found him, he was passed out in his own sick up. He was snoring loudly and I couldn’t wake him. It’ll be a few hours before the booze wears off, but, Julia, he’s got Eliza’s ring.”

  “What?” whispered Julia fiercely. “You can’t be serious.”

  “I wish I wasn’t. You should know, they found letters between Eliza and me. Those letters, if you don’t have the whole picture, they look very incriminating for me. They speak of secrets and escape.”

  “Why did they arrest you? I don’t understand how they even made the leap.”

  “Anonymous tip, they claim.”

  “Anonymous, my arse. Philip Withers is the tipster. I’d bet my cloche on it.”

  “Hope you can find out. I promise, I didn’t do this. You believe me, right?”

  “Of course, Jimmie. I already told you I believe you and I will find Eliza’s killer. That’s a promise. They got to you quicker than I’d expected thanks to their tipster, but I’ll have you out of here in no time. Don’t worry.”

  The constables approached. “That’s all, miss.”

  Jimmie spoke again in a normal voice. “Find Oscar, Julia. That’s the key. I’m sure of it.”

  Julia ignored the reproachful look on the officer’s face and leaned in to hug Jimmie. His hands were cuffed so he couldn’t hug her back but while her arms were wrapped around him she whispered a command in his ear. “Don’t talk to anyone about anything.”

  “Cheers, Julia.” Jimmie answered as their embrace ended.

  The constables moved back in to position on either side of him and started walking.

  “Don’t worry, Jimmie,” Julia called after him as they led him away.

  “I won’t worry with Julia Barlow on the case,” he called out over his shoulder and flashed her a wicked smile, and then he was out of her sight.

  Just like Jimmie to not worry about himself at all.

  After the constables led Jimmie away, Julia returned to the Inspector’s desk where Opal still sat, practically comatose, seemingly unaware of the entire series of events that had just occurred. Inspector Gibbs returned to his seat on the other side of the desk.

  “Did you learn anything that might help our search for your friend Oscar?”

  “He didn’t find anything useful yet. One of our friends will continue the search.”

  “Jimmie Hutchins…how well do you know him?”

  “Very well. Since childhood. We schooled together at boarding school and at Cambridge, and we work together at the paper. There’s no possibility he did this to Eliza. He was with me all evening. We have several witnesses that confirm his alibi. Besides, he was good friends with Eliza. He would never have hurt her.”

  “Good friends, you say? How good?”

  “Don’t be daft, Inspector. Friends. That is all. Good friends.”

  “You seem quite sincere, Miss Barlow.”

  Julia noted the absence of the condescension this time when he said Miss.

  “You can call me Julia.”

  He smiled. “Julia, there’s something you should know about your friend Jimmie. The constables told me they found significant physical evidence at his home to link him to the murder.”

  “Yes, the letters. He told me. He said they would look incriminating if one didn’t know the whole story.”

  “It’s more than letters. They found garroting wire. And red poppies. As you know, having come upon Mrs. Withers immediately, red poppies were a significant detail of the crime scene. Garroting wire is what she was strangled with.”

  Julia’s stomach sunk heavy as a stone.

  “Someone must have planted that, Inspector. I’m telling you, I know Jimmie and I’ll stake my reputation and that of my family on that truth. He’s innocent.”

  “That’s not what the physical evidence says. If your friend wants to prove his innocence, he should hope there’s more physical evidence somewhere to prove it or he’ll be convicted as certainly as I’m standing here in front of you.”

  “Thank you for your candor, Inspector. I trust you’ll continue to attempt to locate Oscar?”

  “Of course,” he said, “it was lovely to meet you, Julia Barlow. I wish it would have been under different circumstances. May I offer assistance to help get your friend home?”

  ‘Thank you, but no. Opal would, if she could say so herself, want you to focus all your efforts on her brother.”

  Chapter 6

  Early Sunday Morning

  Barlow Residence

  London

  Julia climbed the steps to the front door of her home thoroughly exhausted. She’d spent quite a long time with Mattie and Edith attempting to comfort Opal and now it was after midnight. Julia opted not to mention to Edith and Mattie that Jimmie was arrested. Their hands were quite full helping Opal, and there was nothing they could do about it anyway. Secretly, Julia knew that part of the reason she didn’t mention Jimmie’s situation was because she simply didn’t have the energy to deal with Mattie falling apart, which was certain to happen if she’d known.

  In the end, Mattie and Edith agreed to stay with Opal for the next couple of days or until Oscar was found, whichever came sooner, so that Julia could continue the search for Opal’s brother. Her first order of business was going to be confirming her suspicion that Philip Withers was behind the anonymous tip and, hoping to kill two birds with one stone, inquire of him regarding Oscar’s whereabouts. She didn’t hold out a lot of hope that he would be honest with her, but even confirming that he was lying would point her in a direction. Philip Withers didn’t bluff well, she’d discovered that night at the Candlelight.

  Starting her day with Philip Withers sounded positively awful but entirely necessary. She was more than weary from her search efforts for Oscar so at the very least sleep would come easy. Unfortunately, her father was there to greet her.

  “Julia Barlow, what is the meaning of this? Two nights in a row staying out until all hours. What will people think?”

  “Oh Father. Don’t be so dramatic. I had a lovely evening with Sidney Guinness, as you know, and then I was with Edith and Opal looking for her brother, Oscar. I could hardly abandon our good friends, the Goodalls, in their hour of need, now could I? I’m hardly a child that needs tending to. Or would you have me run my daily itinerary by you?”

  Once again, under her father’s suffocating control over her life, Julia redoubled her conviction to solve the Withers mystery, make her big break at the paper, and finally be in a position to find other living arrangements. She simply couldn’t abide the conflict every day in her own home.

  “We have a guest in the parlor. Join me, Julia. This is not a request.”

  “At this hour? Who could possibly…?” she asked.

  George Barlow was already moving towards the parlor and didn’t bother to acknowledge her question. She sighed loudly and followed him. As she followed in his footsteps, her mind was split between considering what her first steps would be tomorrow when she woke up and contemplating who could possibly be waiting for her in the parlor past midnight. She had a glimmer of hope that
maybe it was Oscar, come around to reassure her that he was okay, but knew that if Oscar was reassuring anyone, it would be Opal first.

  The moment she passed through the parlor doors, she wished herself back at the Goodall residence dealing with a near catatonic Opal. Sidney Guinness sat on the sofa in the middle of the room, holding a whisky in his hand. He stood upon noticing her arrival.

  “Good evening, Julia.”

  She tilted her head in a greeting and forced a passable smile, then took a seat in an overstuffed reading chair opposite the room from where Sidney sat. She was tired and in no mood for company. Being polite was going to require herculean effort on her part.

  “How do you do, Mr. Guinness? I’m quite surprised you are out so late. What can I help you with?”

  George spoke before Sidney had a chance to.

  “Have you heard that your photographer friend has been arrested for the murder of Lady Eliza Withers? I was worried sick about you, Julia. We disagree on a lot of topics, young lady, but your safety and security is paramount for both your mother and I. These late nights must stop. You’ll put your mother into an early grave.”

  “Jimmie Hutchins is his name and he did not do what they have accused him of. You’ve hated him since I was a girl, Father. You also know he’s a perfectly respectful gentleman from a good family. You’ve been friends with his father since I can remember. You can’t possibly think he was capable of something so heinous.”

  “It doesn’t matter what you or I think. The police wouldn’t have arrested him without evidence of his guilt. You’re a smart girl. Don’t be naive.”

  Julia sat silent, her back straight and her chin high. She looked to Sidney and then back to her father, her stomach turning over with a distinct feeling of dread. What was he here for?

  “Sidney Guinness has approached me with a lovely proposition.”

  Julia remained silent and wished the floor would swallow her whole. If this was what she thought it was…

  When she didn’t speak, George motioned for Sidney to speak.

  “Julia, I have quite enjoyed our strolls in your family garden and our evenings at the Candlelight Club. You are quite a charming girl. I find myself being very amused by you. Both of our families are well-suited for each other and I should like to offer you my hand in marriage. What I mean to say is, I should like to have a lifetime of garden strolls and dinners and dancing with you, my love.”