Page 87 of Murder at the Debutante Ballby

Mercy swallowed.

I invited her to sit, but she refused. “You’re not in trouble,” I assured her. “We’re investigating Mr. McDonald’s death, and if you don’t fully co-operate, we’ll be inclined to believe you had something to do with his demise.”

“I never! His death ain’t on my conscience.”

“Then you won’t have any problems answering our questions.”

She folded her arms over her chest and pursed her lips.

“Why did you run when you saw me this morning?” Harry asked.

She sniffed and lifted a shoulder in a shrug.

“Miss Prentice,” he said with a tone that was somehow both gentle and insistent. “I know why you were dismissed from the Mayfair. This isn’t about that.”

“I never stole. You know that, don’t you, sir? I never took nothing from the Mayfair and I take nothing from the Palmerston. I ain’t a thief.”

“I believe you.”

She looked relieved. “I thought that’s why you were at the Searcys office. I thought you wanted to blame me for something that went missing from back then at the Mayfair. But if something did go missing, it weren’t me who took it. I swear to you.”

“It’s all right, Miss Prentice. As I said, I no longer work for the hotel. This has nothing to do with your time there. This is about Ambrose McDonald. We need your help to understand what happened to him on the night of his murder.”

She let out a measured breath. “I don’t know nothing about his death. I don’t know who done him in. I thought someone has been arrested.”

“The case isn’t closed,” I said. “Tell us, why did he give you money on the night of the Bunburys’ ball?”

“How do you know ‘bout that?”

“I was there. I saw you.”

She looked at me anew, her assessing gaze taking in my well-made dress, my hair and bag. “You’re a friend of Lady Bunbury’s?”

“No. I don’t like her.” She smiled wryly at that. “Tell us how you came to know Ambrose McDonald.”

She lowered her arms and finally sat beside me on the sofa. “I met him a few months ago at the Palmerston Hotel. He was a guest there while his flat got repainted. He caught me…taking an interest in his things when I was supposed to be tidying up.” She cleared her throat and didn’t meet our gazes. “He threatened to tell the housekeeper unless I did something for him. I couldn’t afford to lose my position. It took an age to find work again after I left the Mayfair. It ain’t easy with no reference, you see. So I agreed to do what he wanted.”

“And what did he want?” I asked gently.

“He wanted me to tell him anything I learned about the other guests that he might find useful.”

“Useful?” Harry prompted.

“Something they wanted to keep a secret. He’d tell them he knew their secret and they’d pay him to keep quiet. It might be a conversation I overheard, or private letters, or that they’re keeping a mistress at the hotel. I’d pass on the information to him and he’d pay me thirty percent of what they paid him.”

“Is that why you took the work at Searcys?” I asked. “So you could pass on the information to him without anyone being suspicious?”

She shook her head. “I got the extra work for the money. It doesn’t interfere with my work at the Palmerston, and it pays well.”

“Did you pre-arrange to exchange information that night or was meeting him at the Bunburys’ purely coincidental?”

“It was a coincidence, but I didn’t have any information to give him. Not at the start of the night, anyway.”

Harry sat forward. “You learned something that night that you thought might interest him?”

She nodded. “I recognized someone from the Palmerston. She looked different, but that’s because she was wearing a wig when she stayed at the hotel. She also checked in under a different name. I asked around among the staff at the ball and learned she has a flat here in London. She didn’t need to stay at the hotel. I thought Mr. McDonald could use that information to get money from her. I reckoned she wouldn’t want anyone to know she was at the Palmerston, otherwise why wear a wig and give a fake name? It seemed real suspicious to me, so I told him. He was real interested and got all excited. It was like I told him he’d inherited a mansion. He paid me right away instead of waiting to get money from her. He said the information was worth it.”

“Who was it?” I asked on a rush of breath.