Page 85 of Murder at the Dinner Party

I took the stairs to the Campbells’ front door while Harry descended to the basement. Mrs. Turner answered my knock herself. Before she could refuse me entry, I pushed past her.

“Miss Fox, I must protest!”

“There’s a thief and a murderer in your household.”

She covered her mouth and shook her head vigorously. “No. Don’t do this.”

I grasped her shoulders. “It’s not who you think. Fetch Sir Ian and Lady Campbell and I’ll explain.”

I waited in the drawing room while Mrs. Turner returned with her outraged employers. I couldn’t blame them for their irritation at seeing me yet again. I’d not only been something of a pest, but I’d also exposed the secrets of their dear friends, unnecessarily as it turned out.

“Please, just listen to what I have to say. The police will be here shortly.” The small lie was enough to quieten them so I could ask the remaining questions I still needed answers to. “Have any of you noticed valuables going missing lately?”

Sir Ian and Lady Campbell glanced at one another and shook their heads.

“What about things that have moved? Particularly something a thief might think is valuable, but on closer inspection isn’t?”

Lady Campbell sat down on the sofa. Her husband came up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“No,” he said.

“What about the jewelry?” Mrs. Turner asked her mistress. “The diamond necklace and matching earrings were supposed to be toward the back of the top drawer of your dressing table, but we found them near the front. There was that brooch, too, and hair combs. Miss Fox, are you suggesting someone stole them only to return them?”

“I am.”

“But why?”

“Because they’re not real, Mrs. Turner.”

Her mouth formed an O and her gaze slid to Lady Campbell, sitting quietly on the sofa.

“The thief realized they were fake, so left them,” I went on.

Sir Ian clicked his heels together and stretched out his neck. “It was the butler. Must have been.”

“No!” Mrs. Turner blurted out. “He was a good man.”

“It must have been him. How else do you explain the watch in his possession? He must have stolen it from his previous employer.”

“But they wouldn’t have given him references if he had, would they?”

Sir Ian patted his wife’s shoulder but made no further comment.

“They didn’t check the references,” I told the housekeeper. “Mr. Hardy was…inexpensive, so they simply hired without digging further.”

“It’s none of your business,” Sir Ian growled at Mrs. Turner.

She surprised me by jutting her chin at him in defiance. Something had changed in the household, and I wasn’t yet sure what had caused it.

“The tiepin was given to him by Lord Whitchurch on the night he helped Rupert escape,” I said. “The watch he bought himself. The receipt is in his office.”

“How could he afford such a piece on his wages?” Sir Ian snapped.

I checked the clock on the mantel. Harry should have had ample time to apprehend the thief. “Let’s go downstairs. I’ll explain everything there.”

“Why?”

“Just come with me.” I walked out of the drawing room and headed for the service stairs hidden behind one of the wall panels on the landing.