Bainton Gray and the Mystery Of Barnaby Hall - Part 2

The Murderer Is Revealed

Bainton thought about the upper floors and the objects he’d seen there. He recalled that there was one item that stood out in his mind - the mannequin. Being a milliner, he regularly looked at the fashion house windows. He often discussed fashions with his female clients, as it helped him to make sales. But the mannequin upstairs was bare, which was most odd. He wasn't in the habit of seeing undressed mannequins. He tried to picture what it would have looked like wearing Clementia’s clothes. But if the room had been left untouched since her death, why was the mannequin bare? Perhaps Annie knew why that was?

Bainton went out into the corridor to look for Annie. She was dusting the bannisters nearby. Seeing him approach, she smiled coyly at him. Once again he felt nervous in her presence. He found himself staring at her small hands as she dusted. It was then that he noticed something. She was wearing a gold ring. A large gemstone that sparkled as she moved had caught his eye. Bainton knew at once that it must have been expensive. Certainly not the sort of thing to wear when scrubbing floors.

“Annie, that ring you're wearing?" asked Bainton."It's such a beautiful ring. I'd like to buy one like that for my sister. Would you mind if I looked at it? I have a good knowledge of gems. I'd be most interested to see which jeweller made it, by examining the maker's mark".

Annie flashed him a smile. "Right you are, Sir!" She took off her ring and held it out on her upturned palm towards him to examine it. It was then that Bainton noticed how pale and delicate her hands were.

"Annie, you told me that you'd been scrubbing floors all morning. But you're hands are pale; they're not red as they would be from cleaning." Annie hurriedly withdrew her hands.

Just then, the valet, Mr. Phoenix, came downstairs. He walked past them carrying a cloth and a tin of boot polish. As he entered the kitchen, he and Mrs. Merryfoot exchanged sideways glances at each other.

Bainton paused, and rubbed his chin whilst trying to think. Annie picked up her duster and headed towards the kitchen. Bainton followed her.

"And there's another thing...." he continued.  "We've only just been introduced. Already you're trusting me with an expensive ring. How can you be so easily charmed by me, a complete stranger?” Annie looked embarassed and turned away. But Bainton knew by her reaction that she had lied. She had to be involved in this murder.

The woman at the window had been real, hadn't she? Bainton tried to remember her hands tapping against the glass. In his mind he pictured her white hands and the long dark hair. Bainton stared at Annie. She was still looking frightened. She stole a quick, nervous glance towards Mr Phoenix. The valet however, looked quite calm. Bainton looked him up and down, whilst thoughts raced through his mind.  His eyes focused on the brightly polished buttons of the valet's stylish jacket.

Bainton started, as a flashback came to his mind. He could remember a similar coloured jacket, on the man at the window. But the mystery man's head had been obscured by the curtain. The mannequin came into his mind once more. Then the truth dawned! But he’d try a test first.

“Mr Phoenix, when I smelt the roses, there were two types - red or yellow, which colour rose did I smell?” The valet looked uneasy and didn't answer. He glanced towards Annie, as if looking for the answer. Bainton knew then that he was getting nearer to the truth…

“I believe that it was you Annie, at the window, dressed as Lady Clementia. You drew attention to the windows, so that I’d see what looked like Mr Phoenix standing at the window.” But it wasn’t Phoenix. You'd dressed the mannequin in the valet’s spare clothes to make it look like he wasn’t downstairs at the time of the murder."

Annie didn't reply, but her eyes became tearful and she bowed her head. Mrs. Merryfoot looked shocked.  She shook her head in disbelief and clasped her hands to her mouth.

Bainton turned his attention to the valet. "So, it was you, Mr Phoenix, who killed Lady Castledine!”

Phoenix looked horrified, he started to shake. Suddenly, he jumped up and ran towards the door. Bainton acted quickly; he grabbed a kitchen knife from the table and ran after him. A police constable also gave chase. They were followed by Holt the gardener.

Catching up with the valet in the garden, the three of them managed to apprehend the valet. Holding him down, Bainton waved the knife in front of his face. Seeing the sharp glint of the blade, Phoenix became submissive and recoiled in fear. Grasping Phoenix by the collar, the policeman then marched him back towards the kitchen.

“Sit down,” ordered the policeman, pushing the valet towards an empty chair. “You know very well that you've committed a heinous crime! You may as well tell us why you did it!”

* * * * * * * * * *

Some time later, after numerous attempts by the police to extract a confession, the valet reluctantly began his story…

“For the past year I’ve had gambling debts. I couldn’t pay them, so I stole jewellery from Lady Clementia. I was in her room when she caught me holding her necklace. She said she'd tell her father when he got back. I knew he'd dismiss me. My name would be blackened and I’d never work again. I couldn’t risk ending up a pauper in the workhouse, so I tampered with her sleeping draught.

Months later, I was racked with guilt over her murder. I used to walk around in her room upstairs. One day Lady Alethia Castledine caught me. She thought I was going mad. I didn’t want to be sent to an asylum either, so she had to die like her twin.

I started courting Annie. I told her that I’d seen Clementia’s ghost walking around upstairs. That girl is so stupid, I knew she'd gossip and start a rumour about a ghost. Then I talked her into my plan. I knew she'd do anything for me. All I had to do was get her to provide an alibi for myself.  Of course, she's so simple, she never even realised that she didn’t have one for herself!

I also charmed Mrs. Merryfoot. I told her it would be best to keep our relationship secret. If the Butler found out he would go and tell the Master, then I'd lose my job.  I promised her that I’d buy her a new hat. It was me who suggested she should arrange for a milliner to visit. I had it worked out that you would be here at 2 o'clock to see what looked like myself at the front window. I told her that the Master would be out, so if the milliner arrived at the front, then it would be more impressive.

I gave her the money for the hat and told her to choose one. But really I'd stolen the money from the Master, when he went to his Gentleman's Club. He'd been drinking with friends and thought he'd lost it in the Club".

He looked up at Bainton. "I couldn’t risk you, Mr Gray, coming around the back of the house; the gardener was working there. I didn’t want him to have an alibi."

His eyes darted towards Holt, who angrily glowered back at him from the far corner.

"What about the housekeeper?" demanded the policeman. "What was her role in all this?"

"Mrs Merryfoot didn’t know about the murders", replied the valet. "I even secretly proposed to her this morning." He laughed derisively at his own cunning. "She was so excitable and flustered," he added scornfully.

"I murdered Lady Alethia, then I went into the passage way and scrubbed the floors, I had to make it sound like Annie was working. I did that while Annie was upstairs, taking off Lady Clementia’s outfit and putting her own clothes back on. She then undressed the mannequin and put my spare jacket in an unused cupboard.

She came downstairs and whispered to me what she had seen whilst looking through the window. She told me you were strolling near the rosebeds. But the wretched girl didn’t tell me what colour rose you chose to smell!" He thumped his fist on the table with anger. "I came so close to getting away with it!”

* * * * * * * * * *

Soon after, Lord and Lady Castledine returned.  The master of the house was heartbroken to learn that both daughters had been murdered. But on hearing that Bainton had stopped the valet from running away, he rewarded him handsomely for catching the killer.  Bainton now had enough money to purchase his very own hat shop!

As Bainton was leaving, he turned to look at Barnaby Hall for one last time. He remembered how he thought it had looked creepy when he first saw it. As his eyes wandered upwards, remembering the pale faced woman at the second floor window, he thought he saw two identical young women gazing back at him. Startled, he blinked; it had been quite an eventful day. Was his mind playing tricks on him?

When he looked again, they'd vanished from sight. Bainton promptly picked up his hat boxes and walked down the long path. This time he didn't stop to look back. He knew he would never see them again.....

The End

Bainton Gray and the Hat Shop Mystery - Part 2

 

 

Part Two  (Contains the Solution to the Whodunnit)

Bainton sat down on the stool in the hat shop. The local police constable had arrived. He'd asked lots of questions. But the police were nowhere near solving the theft.

Bainton sighed and ran his hands through his thick wavy hair. His poor sister Penelope was distraught that her hard work had been taken away. They tried to tell themselves it was just a hat. But then again, it was such an expensive one. One that could have made them a good profit. The truth was, they'd really needed the money from the sale for the advertising.

Bainton ran over the names of people who had motives.

He didn’t know why Peter had given him such evil looks. He’d only been chatting politely with Cordelia, even though she was rather lovely.

Bainton shook himself, he needed to think clearly! Could Cordelia have been so secretly offended by his remark about her complexion, that she had taken the hat? But how? He didn't think that she had been alone in the shop. Unless Penelope had her back turned?

“Penelope, did you turn your back when Cordelia and Peter came in?” But his sister replied no,  she'd kept an eye on both of them. They were ruled out.

Mr. Stone had been furious with Bainton for kicking him. Bainton rubbed his chin regretfully. Perhaps he had acted rashly, but he was so angered to see an animal ill treated. Yet Mr. Stone had come into the shop.

Bainton looked at the handwriting. With a feeling of dread, he thought he recognised it. It looked rather like Mara’s! Yet when he examined it closer,  there were differences. But how could it be Mara that had taken the hat? He'd seen her leave the shop empty handed.

Bainton thought about the notes left under the door. Could there have been other notes, perhaps ones that he didn’t know about? May be someone else had discovered them? What if Mr. Stone had found them? 

It came to him soon, something he remembered….

Bainton suddenly realised that  it couldn't have been Mr. Stone.

Because no-one could enter without the door chime ringing.

So Mr. Stone couldn't have entered the shop while they were out the back, without being heard.

Peter had no way of taking it, nor did Cordelia. They would have been seen by Penelope.

And he knew that Mara had left empty-handed.

That only left one other person - Penelope. Could she have made the substituted hat?

It pained him to even consider his sister as a suspect, but he had to do so. For months he had spent his days working with her. He'd spent many evenings with her, planning the display and designing the hats. He doubted that she would have had the spare time to make one. But ordering the items for the hats was his job. He calculated that she simply wouldn’t have had enough materials left over to make an extra hat.

No, he concluded, it couldn't have been Penelope.

So it must have been Mara?

Bainton thought about when she'd been in the shop that day. Yes, she had talked for a while. He'd had his back turned. For how long?  It was always the same, whenever he did something she didn’t like. She’d use cruel words -  like arrows that struck deeply. Bainton always turned away from her. Sometimes he felt he had to hide his exasperated expression, whenever she was being so shrewish yet again!

He needed to find out if his instinct was correct.

He set off to her small cottage, where she lived alone. He knew the door would most likely be open. Her cottage was surrounded by trees, so he hid behind one of them. He could see Mara now, watering her flowers in her front garden. So Bainton took off round the back. He had to work quickly.

He opened the back door. If she did have the hat, it would be in her bedroom. So he crept quietly up the stairs and prayed that she’d be out in the garden for a while. He didn’t know which was her room, so he peeked into the first one that he came to. It turned out that it was her bedroom.

Where could the hat be? He thought for a minute. His sister always kept her hats in her wardrobe. So he opened the wardrobe door and peeped inside. Bainton spotted a hat box and eased open the lid.

He could not believe his eyes. There, before him, was the hat that had been stolen!

Bainton decided that it was time to leave.  But then, to his horror, he heard footsteps coming up the stairs! 

Thinking quickly, he crammed the hat and himself into the wardrobe and closed the door. He stood as still as possible and thought over and over again “don’t open the wardrobe”.

But his nightmare came true and the door was opened. Mara stood there before him in complete shock.

Bainton had to think quickly.

“Oh, hello Mara!   Don't be so alarmed...... I’m here for a reason...... I wanted to surprise you!"

He continued: "You see, I was thinking of you and me and the future. Well, I've changed my mind. I want to marry you!”

Mara looked astonished, but then a delighted smile appeared on her face. She gazed at him adoringly.
Mara thought to herself, "What does it matter about revenge now? Bainton loves me!" She was pleased to have him here. Mara threw her arms around him.

Bainton really was trapped now. He needed to plan his next move.

He remembered that Mara had certain fixations about some things. Apparitions was one of them.  She'd been so interested in the story he'd told her about seeing ghosts at Barnaby Hall. She was also quite superstitious. Knowing that Mara was so gullible where anything supernatural was concerned gave him an idea.

“Mara, I noticed there's an odd pattern in the wood in your wardrobe door. It's shaped rather like a religious figure. I swear it’s an omen!"

She peered inside, but declared that she couldn't see anything.

“No Mara, it only shows when you're inside the wardrobe, you have to close the doors slightly. You can only see it in a certain light. It’s quite eerie, have a look darling. Perhaps it's a sign that we should get married?"  

Mara clambered inside. Bainton quickly slammed the doors shut and turned the key!

She began hammering on the doors, calling his name and cursing. But Bainton was out of the door and heading back to town to find the local bobby.

He found Constable Wright and told him that he'd found the thief at last.

He took the constable back to Mara's cottage. Mara was still there, of  course, locked inside the wardrobe.  When she was let out, she shrieked such unlady like insults at Bainton, that the constable believed she should be arrested for using offensive language!

The evidence was there for the constable to see, so Mara had no choice but to confess.



Later that evening, Bainton had a lot to tell Penelope:

 Mara had done it all for revenge. She couldn’t accept that he'd broken off their engagement. She used to peer through the shop window. She'd seen Penelope working on that special hat, and she'd overheard them talking about it. Then she'd hatched a plan to get her own back by stealing the hat.

 Mara knew about hats, after years of courtship with Bainton. It hadn't been too difficult to make a substitute..... She wasn’t sure that she could pull it off, but it would be worth it. In her bitter state of mind she never really considered the consequences of getting caught.

She had planned to sneak in, but realised that she’d be caught by the door chime. So instead, she wore a small close fitting hat over her head, which she planned to substitute for the expensive hat in the window. She'd simply placed her much larger hat over the top of it to conceal it.

Then she'd gone to the shop. Knowing Bainton had such a soft spot for ladies, she'd deliberately used words that she knew would pain him. She knew that being sensitive, he would look away.

As soon as Bainton had turned away, wracked with emotion, she'd seized that brief moment whilst his back was turned to carry out the switch. She'd quickly taken off her huge hat, placed the substitute one on the stand, and put the really expensive one from the window on her head. Then she'd quickly covered it with her large hat. She was so pleased with herself.

She'd written the note beforehand;  altering her writing slightly. Her plan was to frame Penelope, so she'd tried to copy her handwriting. Who could substitute a hat so easily…but Penelope?

The stolen hat was returned and took pride of place in the window display. It wasn't there long before it was purchased by Cordelia. She and her older sister Portia started visiting his shop regularly after that. But her stern looking fiance, Peter, was nowhere to be seen.

When Bainton enquired after him, Cordelia explained that Peter was no longer her fiance. She'd found him too possessive and jealous.

Bainton told her he knew exactly how that felt! 

The End.

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