“Doesn’t he, though.” Mrs. Chubb shook her head. “I don’t like the sound of this at all, Gertie. I never did like that Sid. Always hanging around the women he is, and now he’s making a real nuisance of himself. I think we should tell madam about it. I’ll run up and have a word with her just as soon as I finish rolling out the pastry for Michel.”
“Which,” Michel said from the doorway, “I hope will be in the next moment or two, so I still have the time to bake the pasties for supper.”
Gertie jumped, and Mrs. Chubb looked guilty. “I’ll be right there,” she said, and gave Gertie a warning glance before hurrying out of the pantry.
Gertie didn’t need the warning. The golden rule in the Pennyfoot was to keep one’s mouth shut. She knew better than to spread gossip about someone on the staff, or worse, a guest. It was one thing madam was stern about. But something still worried her about the incident. Something she hadn’t told Mrs. Chubb. She shouldn’t have told Sid about Gloria, because now he was probably going to pester her, too.
Gertie rubbed her forehead. Maybe she should warn Gloria, since it was her fault Sid found out about her.
Thinking about her run-in with Sid reminded her of how Clive had looked when he’d dragged Sid back by his throat.
She hadn’t mentioned that to Mrs. Chubb, either. It frightened her to think of Clive being capable of murder. She’d always thought of him as a gentle giant. Her and the twins’ protector. Yet that glimpse of him that afternoon had revealed another side of him.
It wasn’t the first time. She’d seen him wrestle with Ian once before, when Ian had tried to kidnap Lillian. For a few minutes Clive had turned into someone she didn’t know. Could he have fought with Ian again, and killed him this time? If so, he had done so to protect her. She was sure of that.
On the other hand, that would mean that he was the one that put the candlestick under her bed to make it look like she did it. No, she couldn’t believe that. She
Returning to her task, she put her problems out of her mind for the time being. She had too much to think about, what with fretting about Dan, getting supper out for the guests, and seeing to her twins. She’d worry about Gloria later.
The next hour or so passed in a rush as Gertie and the rest of the maids scrambled to serve supper to the hungry guests. It was the night before Christmas Eve, and everyone was in a merry mood. The dining room rang with laughter and noisy chatter, and there was more than one guest who enjoyed one too many glasses of sherry and had to be guided out the door.
By the time all the dishes were collected and sent back to the kitchen, and the tablecloths changed and the floors swept, Gertie felt a hundred years old. All she wanted to do was go back to her room and rest her aching feet.
She went back to the kitchen for the last time to help put the clean dishes away. She was surprised to see Mrs. Chubb sitting at the table. Usually the housekeeper retired for the night once supper was served.
“I waited for you,” she said, when Gertie walked up to her. “I’ve got something to tell you.”
Gertie glanced at the maids giggling at the sink. “In the pantry?”
“All right.” Mrs. Chubb got up and led the way. Once inside the tiny, cold room she closed the door until just a sliver of light shone through. “I had a word with madam,” she said. “It looks as if we have a jewel thief in the Pennyfoot. Madam told me that one of the guests had some jewelry stolen from her room.”
Gertie gasped. “Does she know who took it?”
“No, she doesn’t. But whoever it was could have taken my ring as well.”
“Wait a minute.” Gertie clutched her throat as an idea came to her. “What guest was it who was robbed?”
Mrs. Chubb hesitated. “I’m not supposed to say, but madam did say it was room eleven, and that’s Lady Roslyn’s room.”
“Oh, blimey.”
“What’s the matter?”
Gertie sighed. “Well, I don’t know if this has anything to do with it, but I saw Mabel coming out of there this morning. I couldn’t think what she was doing up there, but she said you sent her up there to change the pillows in Lady Roslyn’s room so I didn’t think no more of it.”
Mrs. Chubb sounded grim when she answered. “I didn’t send her up there. She was lying about that. I think we need to talk to that young lady. It’s too late now, she’s already gone home, but first thing in the morning I will find out what’s going on with her.”
“I don’t want to get her into trouble or anything.”
“If she didn’t take the jewels then she’s got nothing to worry about.” Mrs. Chubb reached for the door handle. “I was going to ask Clive to take off the pipe underneath the sink to see if he could find my ring, but now I think I’ll wait until I talk to Mabel.”
Gertie gulped. “You think she took it?”
“I don’t know what to think. This is all very upsetting, coming so soon after all the upset over Ian. I suppose we’ll find out more in the morning.” The housekeeper pushed the door open. “It’s Christmas Eve tomorrow. I hate the thought of all this trouble right on Christmas.”
“We could be mistaken,” Gertie said hopefully. “Mabel could have had a really good reason to be up there, and just didn’t want to tell me.”
Mrs. Chubb tightened her lips. “Perhaps, but whatever she was doing up there, I’m going to find out about it.”
Gertie followed her out into the kitchen, feeling sorry for the young maid. She hadn’t really liked Mabel all that much, but the girl walked around as if she carried the troubles of the world on her shoulders, and Gertie felt sort of responsible for her. She just hoped that it was all a mistake and she wouldn’t have to worry what happened to the poor thing over Christmas.
It took another hour for her to put all the dishes away and get the kitchen cleaned up. Mrs. Chubb had sent the maids home, so she was all alone when she finally hung the tea towels over the stove to dry.
A quick glance at the clock told her it was time to go back to her room and relieve Daisy. The twins would hopefully be asleep, so she could just go to bed and drift off herself. Though somehow she knew that with Dan on her mind, as well as all the trouble with thieves and worrying about Clive being a murderer, it would take a long time for her to go to sleep.
Perhaps tomorrow, she thought, as she trudged down the hallway. Perhaps tomorrow they’d find out that Ian was the thief and not Mabel, that someone else and not Clive killed Ian, and that Dan would come to the carol singing like he’d promised and they could make up. That was what she hoped for most of all.
CHAPTER 20
“I told you that Mabel was up to no good.” Gertie pointed to the clock on the kitchen mantelpiece. “I had a feeling when I got up this morning that something was going to go wrong. It’s seven o’clock and she’s still not here.”
Mrs. Chubb sighed. “That’s all we need. The busiest days of the Christmas season and we’re short a maid. Well, you and Pansy will just have to work a bit harder, that’s all.” She wiped her hands on her apron. “I’ll go and tell madam that Mabel’s not here.”
“Well, now you can’t ask her what she was doing in Lady Roslyn’s room.” Gertie slapped a handful of polished forks onto the tray in front of her. “So we still don’t know for sure if she took the jewels or not.”
“You just can’t trust anyone these days, and that’s a fact. You’d better get upstairs and help Pansy with the serving.” Still grumbling to herself, Mrs. Chubb swung open the door and left.
Standing with Pansy at the dumbwaiter a few minutes later, Gertie waited for the load of dishes to arrive, her mind more on the coming evening than on the food waiting to be served. The day stretched before her like an endless ocean, hours to go before she had any hope of seeing Dan. He’d promised to come to the carol singing, and after that, she was supposed to help him distribute the toys to the orphanage.
She had no way of knowing if he would turn up, or if he would want her to help him with the toys. In fact, she
