Fall of a Philanderer (27 page)

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Authors: Carola Dunn

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“V
erdict: accidental death,” Daisy sighed with satisfaction, sinking into the deck-chair Alec had just set up for her on the beach—Friday had turned out to be a gloriously sunny day, already hot by noon. “Thanks to your brilliant explanation to the coroner, darling.”
“And to his direction to the jury. Thank heaven! If he or they had kicked up a dust and insisted on questioning witnesses …” He disentangled his own chair and set it up beside her. “Well, the thought of producing Sid Coleman in court, even just a coroner's court, boggles the mind.”
“It does rather. I hope he'll decide to go with Mr. Baskin's friend and learn to read and write.”
“He seems quite taken with him.” Alec started to sit, then straightened as a large, shaggy black dog bounded towards them.
“Popsy?” said Daisy a trifle nervously.
Popsy it was, her tail wagging in delight as she recognized her name. She laid her heavy head in Daisy's lap and gazed up at her adoringly.
“Down, Popsy!” Miss Bellamy was not far behind her dog, Andrew Vernon at her heels. “I'm so sorry, Mrs. Fletcher. Popsy, heel!”
Popsy obeyed to the extent of transferring her affections to Alec.
Vernon seized her collar. “You really must teach the brute some manners, Ju.”
“Her manners are perfectly good!” Julia said indignantly. “She
likes
the Fletchers. Mr. Fletcher—or should I call you chief inspector?—the verdict means poor Sid is absolutely exonerated, doesn't it? He didn't do anything wrong?”
“That's right,” Alec assured her.
“Good. We've been talking to him and to the chap from London, Mr. Baskin's friend, you know, the teacher? The trouble is, Sid wants to learn to read and write, but he doesn't want to go to London. So I offered to teach him, but Mummy wouldn't let me if there was any suspicion still attached to him.”
“All the same, Ju, I don't think you ought to go over to his cabin alone.”
“I shan't, silly. He can come to the Vicarage.”
“Do you have any idea how to go about teaching him?” Daisy asked.
“Not much, but that's the best thing—Mummy says I can go up to London and learn how.”
“Baskin's friend's offered to give her some tips, Mrs. Fletcher.” Vernon grinned. “But if you ask me, she just wants an excuse to spend a week in town.”
“Beast!”
“Not that I'm complaining. I have to go back this weekend.”
“I shall be far too busy to see you,” said Julia loftily. “Except perhaps just once or twice. Briefly.”
“That's all right, I'm going to be busy, too. Back to cutting up bodies,” Vernon said with relish. “Oops, sorry, Mrs. Fletcher.”
“I think,” Julia announced, “I shan't be a nurse after all. I think I'll be a teacher. Look, Andy, there's Sid now, with those girls. Let's go and tell him it's all settled and leave Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher in peace. Isn't that your daughter and her friend over there, playing in the sand, Mrs. Fletcher? I used to spend hours building towers and digging tunnels when I was a child.”
“You still are a child, Ju. Come on, if you're coming.” They said their goodbyes and went off down the beach.
Alec sank into his deck-chair at last, with a groan. “Those two do make me feel old.”
“Nonsense, darling, they're juvenile and you're in your prime. Well, that's Sid settled. What about Olive Coleman?”
“Her father will probably get six months or a sizable fine for assaulting a police officer.”
“Neither of which is going to do the farm or the family any good.”
“I'm afraid there's nothing I can do about the family situation, and not much the local chaps can do, unless Mrs. Coleman is willing to bring a charge. They seldom do. No one is going to force the girl to return home, though.”
“I suppose that's something. I'm glad her affair with Enderby didn't have to come out at the inquest.”
“Yes. The jury was so flabbergasted by the rest of the rigmarole, no one questioned just why Enderby was so angry with Sid. Is there anyone else you're worried about, before I give myself up to doing absolutely nothing for the remaining day and a half of my holiday?”
“Of course, darling! There's Mr. Baskin's fiancée. Or rather, Nancy Enderby, but his Elizabeth will be upset too if Georgie Porgie's bigamy becomes public knowledge.”
“No doubt Baskin will let us know what the coroner says.” Alec closed his eyes and turned his face up to the sun.
“Here comes Sid.”
Alec groaned and said softly, “I'm asleep.”
“All right. Hullo, Sid.”
The beachcomber was spruced up in case he'd had to appear in court, shaved and combed, and with a collar and tie in place of his red neckerchief. His shy smile had been replaced with a broad grin and there was a reminder of Popsy's bounce in his walk as he dragged his cart across the sand. He looked at Alec, whose eyes remained determinedly shut, and put his finger to his lips, turning to Daisy.
Then he joined his hands like an open book and wagged his head back and forth as if he was reading. One hand became a sheet of paper, the other held an invisible pencil which wrote busily on his palm. He pointed at his chest: Me! and produced a strange sound that Daisy interpreted as a laugh of delight.
“You're going to learn to read and write,” she congratulated him. “That's marvellous.”
Sid nodded, beaming. He took out his mouth-organ, looked at Alec, and put it away again in favour of playing an invisible instrument while he danced his clumsy little dance.
Daisy clapped silently. With a bow and a wave, Sid went on his way, the cart trundling behind him.
Gazing after him, Daisy wiped away an unexpected tear.
Alec's eyes were still closed. She suspected he might have actually fallen asleep, so she picked up her book. As she opened it, she glanced towards Belinda and Deva. Julia Bellamy was kneeling beside the girls, enthusiastically digging in the sand. Young Vernon stood hands on hips looking down at her, his stance eloquently expressive of scorn and disgust. But just at that moment, with a resigned shrug, he took off his shoes, rolled up his flannels, and joined the construction party.
Daisy laughed. Alec opened his eyes. “Wha … ?”
“Never mind, darling. Go back to your forty winks or you'll only fit in thirty before lunch.”
She had read only a few pages when Alec was jerked awake again by a hail from behind them. Donald Baskin came striding down from the house, his knapsack on his back.
“I've come to say goodbye,” he announced. “The coroner's given me a letter for Dr. Wedderburn, giving permission for him to issue a second death certificate, so I'm off to Abbotsford. I'll be going straight back to Wiltshire to give Bethie the good news.”
“I'm so glad,” said Daisy, “for you and both Mrs. Enderbys.”
“That could have been better phrased,” Alec grunted, “but I second your sentiments. Glad I didn't have to arrest you, Baskin.”
“Not half as glad as I am, believe me! Well, so long. Perhaps we'll meet again some day. It's been a delight knowing your girls—I must go and say goodbye to them.”
“I'll walk over with you.” Alec heaved himself out of his deck-chair with another grunt. “I suppose it's my paternal duty to admire their works. I haven't had time so far on this singularly exhausting holiday.”
The two men went off together and Daisy returned to her book. When she looked up a few minutes later, Alec was on his knees in the sand, building a castle.
Also by Carola Dunn
 
The Daisy Dalrymple Mysteries
 
 
Death at Wentwater Court
The Winter Garden Mystery
Requiem for a Mezzo
Murder on the Flying Scotsman
Damsel in Distress
Dead in the Water
Styx and Stones
Rattle His Bones
To Davy Jones Below
The Case of the Murdered Muckraker
Mistletoe and Murder
Die Laughing
A Mourning Wedding
FALL OF A PHILANDERER. Copyright © 2005 by Carola Dunn.
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America.
 
 
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, address
St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
 
 
eISBN 9781429951906
First eBook Edition : April 2011
 
 
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Dunn, Carola.
Fall of a philanderer: a Daisy Dalrymple mystery / Carola Dunn. p. cm.
ISBN 0-312-33589-X
EAN 978-0-312-33589-2
1. Dalrymple, Daisy (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 2. Hotelkeepers—Crimes against—Fiction. 3. Women journalists—Fiction. 4. Seaside resorts—Fiction. 5. Police spouses—Fiction. 6. England—Fiction. I. Title.
PR6054.U537F35 2005 823'.914—dc22
2005046563
First Edition: September 2005

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