The Christmas Rose Read online

  ‘In that case I think you’re right, Cora and Flossie should come here every day and take over the cleaning. Your grandmother could pay them for their services.’

  ‘What would Grandmama say if she knew?’ Maria said, giggling. ‘She was always so fond of telling me what a wicked woman my mother was, and that I was a disgrace. She had no time for what she called “fallen women”.’

  ‘I think you’re very good to look after her, considering how horrible she was to you when you were a defenceless child.’

  Maria shrugged and sighed. ‘She’s the one who is helpless now. Anyway, my mother should be here tomorrow and I hope she’ll take over from me.’

  ‘I’m looking forward to seeing her again. I remember your wedding, Maria. I sat in the pew behind your mother and Freddie, but I haven’t seen them since that day.’ Reluctantly Rose raised herself from the comfortable seat by the fire. ‘I’m afraid I have to go out again.’

  ‘It’s cold and dark. Can’t you leave it until the morning?’

  ‘I promised Cora that I’d return tonight and take them to safety. I’ll need the keys to your house, if you don’t mind.’

  Maria reached for the bell. ‘I can do better than that. I’ll send Jessie and Edna there now. They can get the fires going and make the place welcoming for those poor women.’

  ‘I hope Jessie won’t start preaching at them the moment they walk through the door.’

  ‘I’ll make sure she doesn’t. It was a mistake to bring them here in the first place.’ She tugged on the bell pull. ‘Don’t forget to ask your ladies to come here first thing in the morning. I want the house ready for Mama and Freddie.’

  ‘Don’t worry, Maria. I’m sure it will all work out.’ Rose spoke with more conviction than she was feeling.

  Minutes later, wrapped up as warmly as possible, Rose left the house and made her way towards the High Street where she hoped to find a cab, but the pavements were slippery and a frosting of snow covered the iron-hard ground. The gaslight at the end of the terrace cast a golden glow on the chilly scene, but a movement beneath the trees caught Rose’s attention and she turned her head to peer into the darkness. She could only make out the stark tree trunks and bare branches, and she told herself it was just her imagination. Even so, she could have sworn that someone was watching her and she quickened her pace.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Jessie opened the door and stood aside, glaring at Cora and Flossie as they scurried in with Rose following on their heels. Edna stood back, studying the newcomers from a distance and Rose could feel the tension surrounding them as the four women eyed each other up and down.

  ‘What’s your name?’ Jessie fixed her gaze on Flossie.

  ‘Flossie Boxer, what’s yours?’

  Jessie’s frown deepened. ‘Boxer. Are you related to Bertie Boxer from Poplar?’

  ‘He’s my uncle. How d’you know him?’

  ‘Well, I never did! He’s our uncle, too.’

  ‘By marriage,’ Edna added, grinning.

  ‘Over the broomstick, more like,’ Jessie said, frowning. ‘How is the old goat?’

  ‘Same as ever. You know Bertie.’

  ‘I’m Cora Smith.’ Cora stepped in between them. ‘And I ain’t related to the Boxers in any shape or form.

  Jessie looked her up and down, her eyes narrowing. ‘I know your story, Cora. I expect you and Flossie to behave proper while you’re living here. We got rules and we got standards.’

  ‘Give over, girl,’ Flossie said, chuckling. ‘We might have had to earn our bread the hard way, but that don’t make us sinners.’

  Cora dumped her luggage on the floor. ‘I could do with a cup of tea. Has anybody put the kettle on?’

  ‘It should be boiling by now,’ Edna said shyly. ‘If you’re hungry we’ve got some bread and dripping.’

  ‘I’m blooming starving.’ Flossie patted her belly. ‘Got any chocolate, love? I got a craving for a bar of Fry’s Chocolate Cream.’

  ‘You’ll have to make do with bread and dripping,’ Jessie said firmly. ‘But you can give me all the family gossip. They don’t have nothing to do with me these days, even though I’m a changed woman. Mud sticks,’ she added tersely.

  ‘I know, dear. It’s the same for us, ain’t it, Cora?’

  Rose backed towards the doorway. She had told the cabby to wait and this was costing money. ‘I can see you’re all going to get along splendidly, so I’ll say good night and I’ll see you two at the Pier House in the morning. Jessie will tell you how to get there.’ She left them chatting amicably. All was well – at least for the present – but she could imagine that four strong and opinionated women might clash at some point. She opened the front door and stepped outside into a mist of softly falling snow.

  Next morning, slightly later than expected, Cora and Flossie turned up for work at the Colville residence. They had toned down their flamboyant attire with varying degrees of success. Cora had wrapped a gaudy red and black shawl around her shoulders in an attempt to cover her décolletage, and she had scrubbed her face clean of powder and rouge, leaving her skin reddened and patchy. Her bleached hair was trying desperately to escape the confines of a greasy mobcap, and she moved in a cloud of cheap cologne. Flossie reeked of tobacco with a hint of gin, and her hair was concealed beneath an odd-looking turban that came down over her eyebrows. Her faded print gown was at least two sizes too small with the buttons on the bodice straining each time she moved.

  ‘What are they wearing?’ Maria asked in a whisper as she sent them down to the kitchen to collect dusters and mops. ‘It looks like fancy dress.’

  Rose shook her head. ‘The poor things aren’t used to being in service, Maria. Did your grandmother provide uniforms for her servants?’

  ‘I don’t know, but I’d better have a look in the linen cupboard. Would you mind sitting with her while I sort things out below stairs? Grandmama is very restless this morning and keeps calling for Gilroy, but I’ve only given her a very small dose of laudanum. She’s getting so hard to handle – I’ll be glad when my mother arrives. Maybe she can do better.’

  ‘I’ll do my best.’ Rose went straight to the drawing room, but as she opened the double doors she felt a gust of cold air. It took her a couple of seconds to realise that it came from one of the tall windows that opened out onto the garden, and a quick glance at the bed revealed tumbled sheets and coverlet, but there was no sign of Mrs Colville. Fearing the worst, Rose rushed out onto the snow-covered terrace and her breath caught in her throat as she saw a slight figure teetering on the wall above the dock entrance. Her arms were outstretched, as if she were a bird about to fly the nest.

  ‘Mrs Colville.’ Rose walked slowly towards her, trying to keep calm, but the old woman was dangerously close to a drop of twenty feet or more into the turbulent water. ‘Mrs Colville, please come away from there.’

  Clarissa Colville turned to give Rose a vague smile and stepped forward – into nothing but thin air.

  The scream that escaped Rose’s lips was lost in the hoot of a whistle from a passing steamer, and for a moment she was frozen to the spot. It was a nightmare come true and it was hard to believe that such a terrible thing could have happened, but as the mist cleared from her brain she realised that this was not simply a terrifying dream. She moved forward, oblivious to the cold. The noise from the docks and the sounds of the river traffic merged with the greedy sucking of the water below as the tide turned and the river flowed down towards the sea. It took all her courage to peer over the edge and a wave of nausea almost overcame her as she caught sight of a white shape, spread-eagled on the surface of the dark, oily water as Mrs Colville floated effortlessly away on the ebb tide. Finding her voice at last, Rose screamed for help but the cries of the gulls carried more force and her words were borne away by the east wind.

  ‘Rose. What are you doing out here? Where is my grandmother?’

  She turned slowly to face Maria. ‘I couldn’t stop her. I’m so sorry.’
/>   Maria’s hands flew to cover her mouth and muffle the cry of despair. ‘No. She wouldn’t …’

  ‘She just stepped over the edge, Maria. I wasn’t near enough to do anything.’

  Maria stared at her aghast. ‘I only left her for a short while.’

  Rose hurried to her side and slipped her arm around her shoulders. ‘I saw a boat nearby,’ she said gently. ‘They’ll bring her to shore.’

  Unresisting, Maria allowed Rose to take her indoors. ‘She couldn’t have known what she was doing.’

  Rose guided her to a chair. ‘Maybe she’d taken too much laudanum. Did you leave the bottle with her?’

  ‘No, of course not. I always measure a dose and then I take the medicine back to my room.’

  ‘Is this the one?’ Rose went to a small table at the bedside and picked up an empty bottle. ‘It says Laudanum on the label.’

  ‘No, I have the bottle here.’ Maria pulled it from her pocket. ‘This is the one I’ve been using, but I hadn’t had time to put it away. How did that one come to be in her possession? I didn’t give it to her.’

  ‘And who opened the window?’ Rose stepped outside and retraced her steps, and as she leaned over the wall she saw a limp body being hauled unceremoniously into a small boat. Any vague hope that the old lady had survived was immediately dashed, but it was the footprints leading away from the scene that caught Rose’s eye. Despite the bitter wind, laced with sharp particles of ice, Rose followed the trail around the side of the house where they were lost in the trodden snow and then something shiny caught her eye. She swooped on the empty bottle and hurried back to the drawing room with it clutched in her hand.

  ‘Did you see her, Rose?’ Maria’s voice broke on a sob. ‘Grandmama was a hard woman and she treated me badly, but she didn’t deserve this.’

  ‘Don’t distress yourself,’ Rose said gently. ‘This is a case for the police. I think someone else was involved because there are footprints in the snow. They’re too small to be those of a man, and I can think of only one person who might have done something so wicked.’

  ‘Gilroy?’ Maria whispered. ‘Why would she want to harm Grandmama?’

  ‘Revenge maybe, or to cover the fact that she stole from your grandmother. She might not have pushed the old lady, but she must have left the window open, and I found this.’ Rose held up a small medicine bottle. ‘Chloral,’ she said simply. ‘That, together with laudanum, might explain Mrs Colville’s confusion and irrational behaviour.’

  Maria stared at her in horror. ‘Why would Gilroy return? I can’t believe that it was simply to give Grandmama a fatal dose of these drugs, unless …’ her eyes sparkled with unshed tears. ‘Rose, I can’t do it – will you look in that cupboard? There should be a jewellery box on the top shelf. It’s where Grandmama kept her valuables.’

  Rose did as she asked, but the lid of the ornate brass-bound box was open and it was obvious that the lock had been forced. She placed it on the table at Maria’s side. ‘It’s empty. I’m so sorry, it seems you were right.’

  Tears spilled from Maria’s eyes and she buried her face in her hands. ‘I’m certain it was Gilroy. She was the only one who knew where we kept Grandmama’s precious things. Some of the jewels were very valuable.’

  Rose turned her head at the sound of running footsteps and Cora burst into the room. ‘There’s a copper on the doorstep, missis. Says he wants to see you. I thought he’d come after Flossie and me for a moment, but he just give me a funny look and asked for you.’

  ‘I’m not sure I feel up to speaking to the police,’ Maria said faintly. ‘This has all come as such a shock.’

  ‘Would you like me to see him first, to give you time to compose yourself?’ Rose asked anxiously.

  ‘Yes, please do. I’ll be all right in a minute or so.’

  Rose shooed Cora out of the room. ‘You didn’t find any plainer gowns, then?’

  ‘I ain’t dressing like a dowd just to please her ladyship.’

  ‘Think of it as acting a part, Cora. You’re pretending to be a maidservant.’

  ‘I can do that,’ Cora said defiantly. ‘I’m as good-looking as that new actress they all rave about. Lillie Langtry, they calls her, and I’ve heard that she’s no better than she should be.’ Cora shot a wary glance at Rose. ‘That’s what they say, and she has a royal patron.’

  ‘Never mind that now, Cora. Mrs Colville has had a fatal accident and I want you to go downstairs and break it gently to Mrs Leary. Leave me to deal with the police.’

  Cora’s eyes almost popped out of her head. ‘Really? Was she done in?’

  ‘It was an accident, as I said. The poor lady fell in the river and was drowned. Mrs Barnaby is naturally very upset.’

  Cora tossed her head. ‘From what I’ve heard the old woman was a spiteful old b—’

  ‘Gossiping again, Cora.’ Rose tut-tutted and walked away, heading for the entrance hall where she found the police constable studying the portraits of the Colville family.

  He jumped to attention as Rose approached.

  ‘Good morning, Constable. If you’ve come to tell us about Mrs Colville’s tragic accident, we know already.’

  ‘What accident was that, miss?’

  ‘They’ve just taken her body from the river, Constable.’

  ‘Then it’s a case for the River Police, miss.’ He stared at her, frowning. ‘I’m sorry for your loss, but that’s not why I’m here. I’m Constable Palmer, might I ask your name before I go any further?’

  ‘I’m Rose Munday and I’m a friend of the family.’

  ‘Mrs Colville made a complaint against a former servant, by the name of Maggie Gilroy.’

  ‘I don’t know how she could have reported the crimes, Constable Palmer. Mrs Colville was an invalid.’

  ‘She sent a servant to report that things had gone missing from the house.’ The constable took a notebook from his pocket and flipped through the pages. ‘A certain Ada Leary, who is employed as a cook by Mrs Colville.’

  ‘I knew about the thefts, but I didn’t know that Mrs Leary had been asked to report them.’

  ‘I need to speak to Mrs Leary regarding a certain article in this morning’s edition of the London Leader. You wouldn’t happen to have a copy, would you?’

  Rose shook her head. ‘Why do you ask, and what has it to do with Cook?’

  ‘My sergeant drew my attention to it, miss. No names are mentioned, but it concerns a maidservant who steals from her employer, and that said servant is friendly with a man who’s repeatedly escaped capture. It seems to match what your cook told us.’

  ‘That could be any household in London,’ Rose said warily.

  ‘It goes on to name a well-known fence and the man who runs the sort of establishment that a young lady like yourself would know nothing about, and he’s the one we’re after.’

  ‘What has that got to do with us?’

  ‘Cora Smith is well known to the force, Miss Munday. If you’ll excuse me saying so, she ain’t the sort of person you’d want in the servants’ hall.’

  Rose thought quickly. The young policeman was no fool, and he had recognised Cora, which in turn would link them to Regan. ‘I think you’d better come into the blue parlour, Constable Palmer.’

  ‘I’ll need to speak to everyone in the household.’

  ‘Yes, of course.’ Rose led the way to the blue parlour, where Flossie had laid a fire earlier. Judging by the lingering smell of tobacco smoke she had stopped to enjoy a cigarette before returning to the kitchen. Mrs Leary would most certainly disapprove of such behaviour and there would be trouble below stairs if either Flossie or Cora were caught smoking indoors.

  Rose was about to invite the policeman to sit down when the door opened and Sparrow rushed into the room.

  ‘Is it true, Rose? Has the old lady thrown herself in the river?’ Sparrow came to a halt as she spotted the policeman. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t know you was busy. I’ll go.’

  ‘No, wait a minute. I’ve
seen you before, young lady.’ Constable Palmer advanced on Sparrow, giving her a searching look. ‘You wasn’t so well dressed when we last met, was you, Sparrow?’

  ‘I dunno what you’re talking about.’ Sparrow backed towards the door. ‘I never seen you afore in all me born days.’

  ‘You’re Piggin’s nipper. I seen you with him and his woman on several occasions. I apprehended you once or twice, too. D’you remember me now?’

  Sparrow sent a pleading glance to Rose. ‘No, guv. It’s slipped me mind.’

  ‘What had you done?’ Rose moved to her side and placed a protective arm around Sparrow’s shoulders. ‘What was she accused of, Constable?’

  ‘Pick-pocketing, miss. Piggin trains street arabs to do his dirty work, and I caught this one in the act of pinching a gent’s wallet, but I let her off with a caution. It was Piggin I wanted to nab, not a nine-year-old girl.’ Palmer bent down so that his face was on a level with Sparrow’s. ‘We had a deal, nipper. You was going to keep an eye on Piggin and let me know when he received a big haul.’

  ‘I ain’t soft in the head, mister. Piggin would kill me and if he didn’t, then she would. I ain’t got to my age by being stupid.’

  Rose gave Sparrow a hug. ‘I think you should leave Sparrow out of this and concentrate on Gilroy. I saw her with Regan, and that’s why I brought Cora and Flossie here. They used to work in Regan’s establishment, but they’ve turned over a new leaf, and they want to get away from their old life and start afresh.’

  ‘That’s right,’ Sparrow added fervently. ‘Me, too. Rose took me in and give me new duds and everything. I ain’t going back there, not ever.’

  ‘Of course not.’ Rose hugged her again. ‘You’re with me now, Sparrow. I won’t let anyone hurt you. Now you can help the constable by asking Mrs Leary, Cora and Flossie to come here one at a time. The constable has some question he wants to ask everyone.’

  Sparrow puffed out her chest. ‘I’ll do that and I’ll make sure they do what you say.’ She shot a triumphant glance at the constable as she left the room.