somehow madam would find out who did it and she’d be in the clear.
As for Gloria, well she felt sorry for her. It wasn’t going to be easy for her to hear Ian had been killed, even if he had been a rotten husband.
In fact, it amazed Gertie that they were still together. After Gloria had found out he’d gone through a fake wedding and all, Gertie was sure Gloria would have had nothing more to do with him.
They must have patched things up somehow.
But now Ian was dead and Gloria was all alone. They didn’t have no kids, Gertie had learned that much when Ian had tried to take Lillian away. Maybe it was just as well.
Gloria hated her. She’d seen the venom in Gloria’s eyes when she’d come in madam’s office. Not that Gertie could blame her for that. It must have really hurt to find out your husband had secretly married someone else.
Sighing, she put away the bad thoughts. She was close enough now to see Dan’s welcoming smile, and right then that was all that mattered to her. The rest of it could wait until she got back. Right now she was going to enjoy the next hour or two with the man she loved and her kids. Pansy, too. For a little while, life was good again.
Cecily folded her hands in her lap, reluctant to look at the silent woman seated in front of her. For the second time that day she had to tell a woman that the man she’d loved had died.
She’d had no idea that Gloria was still married to Ian-or Robert, if that was his real name. In fact, she was beginning to think she had never known Ian at all. After all that had happened, she could find nothing to equate the hard, bitter man who had just died with the bright young lad who had served her so well in the past.
“You know where he is, don’t you.”
With a start, Cecily looked up as Gloria broke the tense silence.“Yes, I’m afraid I do.” She cleared her throat. “Gloria, I am so very sorry. Ian… your husband was found in the duck pond this morning. I’m afraid he’s dead.”
Gloria’s expression remained stoic, though tears stole out from her eyes and coursed down her cheeks. “I suppose he was drunk?”
Her voice was accusing, as if this were all Cecily’s fault. She flinched, but met Gloria’s hard gaze steadily. “Yes, it appears that he might well have been enjoying a little too much spirits, but that was not the cause of his death. Not directly, anyway.”
Gloria’s eyes held a flicker of uneasiness. “So what did he die of then?”
“He… we think someone attacked him.”
It had sounded brutal, put like that, and Cecily wished she could have found a better way to say it.
Gloria, however, seemed to bear the brunt of it with remarkable fortitude. Although there was a distinct tremor in her voice when she asked, “So, do you know who it was that hit him, then?”
“Not at present, no, but we are endeavoring to find whoever killed your husband and bring him to justice.”
Gloria pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and dabbed at her eyes. After a long, difficult moment of silence, she muttered, “I thought, when he didn’t come home last night, that he might be over here.”
“I’m sorry.” Cecily fidgeted on her chair. There had to be something she could say other than that, but right then, she couldn’t think of a single thing.
After another long pause, Gloria spoke again. “Robert was always talking about the twins, and how he’d like to see more of them. I never thought, when he left to go down the pub last night, that it would be the last time I saw him. I went right to bed after he left, and I thought he’d be there when I woke up, but he wasn’t and I…” A slight sob escaped, and she blew her nose hard.
“I’m so sorry.” Cecily leaned forward. “Can I get you something? A cup of tea, perhaps?”
Gloria shook her head. “I bet it was someone at the pub. Robert was always getting into fights. I didn’t like some of the people he kept company with, neither, but he was always telling me I worry too much.” She dabbed at her eyes again.
At a loss as to how to comfort the grieving woman, Cecily said awkwardly, “Perhaps you’d feel better if you were at home. I’ll have someone drive you-”
“No!”
The woman’s vehemence startled Cecily and she raised her eyebrows.
Before she could speak, however, Gloria spoke, her words tumbling out so fast she stumbled over them. “I can’t go back there now. I really can’t. I’ll never go back to that place. Never!”
Concerned, Cecily quickly tried to reassure her. “It’s quite all right, Mrs…” She hesitated, having forgotten Ian’s real last name.
“Gloria.” The widow looked up at her, and Cecily saw a moment of intense fear flash across her face before she composed herself again. “It’s just that I don’t know what I’m going to do now. We’ve been living in the flat over Abbitson’s, the butcher’s shop in the High Street. It was free all the time Robert was working in the shop. I can’t stay there now that he’s gone.”
“You were living here in Badgers End?”
“Yes, m’m. Robert wanted to move down here to be closer to his children. I didn’t want to leave London but he said he’d come without me if I didn’t go with him.”
Cecily wondered if Gertie had known that Ian was living in Badgers End and how she would have reacted to the news. It seemed they had all escaped what could have been a very difficult situation, though she would have wished a better solution to the problem than Ian’s death. Much as she despised the treacherous thought, it seemed that someone had done Gertie an enormous favor.
She watched the other woman tuck her handkerchief back in her pocket. “Do you have relatives in London? Perhaps someone you can stay with until you can decide what you want to do?”
Gloria shook her head so violently a couple of hairpins flew out of her hair and skidded across the desk. “I can’t go back there. Really I can’t. I don’t have nowhere to go. There was just me and my mum. My dad took off when I was little and my mum died two years ago.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
Gloria squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again. “Robert was all I had left and now he’s gone, too. He didn’t have no one, either. What am I going to do? I have to take care of burying him and everything, and I don’t know what to do about that and…” Again her voice broke into a sob.
Cecily made up her mind. After all, it was Christmas, and she couldn’t bear the thought of this poor woman all alone and helpless. “You must stay here at the Pennyfoot,” she said, rising to her feet. “We will help you see to Ian’s funeral and burial.”
“Oh, I couldn’t.” Gloria jumped up from her chair. “Now that my husband’s gone I couldn’t afford-”
“Free of charge.” Cecily smiled at the other woman’s expression. Surprise, relief, and something else she couldn’t quite read flashed across Gloria’s face. “Just until you get everything settled and find something more suitable for your needs,” she added hurriedly. “No one should have to spend Christmas alone at a time like this.”
Gloria looked as if she would burst into real tears. “I don’t know what to say.” She spread out her hands in a gesture of helplessness. “All I can think of is-thank you.”
“There’s nothing else to say.” Cecily tugged on her bell rope. “I’ll have Samuel take you back to the flat to fetch your belongings, and then when you return one of the maids can show you to your room. I’m afraid it’s rather small, tucked next to the attic on the top floor. We usually keep it free for children, but we have no child guests at present so you are welcome to occupy it for as long as you need it.”
“That is most generous of you, Mrs. Baxter. Thank you.”
“Not at all. I feel we owe you that much, since your husband died on our premises.”
Gloria’s expression changed to one of sadness. “I’ll miss him. He wasn’t much of a husband, but he was mine. I’d like to know who did this to him.”
“We’ll find out in due time.” Cecily looked up when she heard a knock on the door. “Come in!”
Pansy stood in the doorway, her face full of curiosity as she glanced at Gloria. Obviously Gertie had told her the identity of their visitor.
“Pansy, please tell Samuel I need him to take Mrs. Johnson to the High Street to fetch her luggage. When she returns I’ll need someone to show her to room number one.”
Pansy looked surprised, but said nothing as she dipped her knees.
“Thank you again,” Gloria said, a little breathlessly, “I’ll try not to get in anyone’s way.”
