A loud thud opened her eyes. Samuel stood in front of the closed door, rubbing his shoulder. “Looks like it’s stronger than we thought.”
Once more Sid yelled. “I’m warning you!”
Samuel frowned. “That twerp is beginning to get on my nerves.” Lifting his foot, he drove his boot into the door, then threw his full weight against it. With an ear-shattering, splintering crash the door flew open and Samuel disappeared.
Before Cecily could draw breath she heard a thud and a grunt from inside the room, and then Gloria screamed. Cecily tore into the room and pulled up short to avoid tripping over Samuel’s crumpled body on the floor. Sid stood over him, a heavy frying pan held in his hand, while Gloria cowered in a corner.
With a cry of dismay, Cecily dropped to her knees. Samuel’s eyes were closed, and he lay motionless, except for the slight rise and fall of his chest. Thank the Lord he was still breathing.
She looked up at Sid, who still held the frying pan aloft as if he would strike again. Anger gave her courage and she glared at him. “Is that how you killed Ian Rossiter?”
His mouth curled into a sneer, though she could see the fear in his eyes. “I don’t let anyone get in the way of what I want. Rossiter made a bad mistake when he stole from me.”
“I can see that.” Carefully, Cecily got to her feet and took a step toward Gloria.
Sid raised the frying pan. “Don’t move! I’d hate to have to hit a lady.”
Glancing over at the shivering woman in the corner, Cecily murmured, “You don’t seem to have any trouble abusing Mrs. Johnson.”
“She knows where her husband hid the jewels.” Sid’s fierce scowl distorted his face. “It’s her own fault if she won’t tell me where they are.”
Gloria switched her terrified gaze to Cecily. “I keep telling him. I don’t know nothing about any jewels. I never saw them. Ian never said anything to me about them. I swear on the Bible.”
“Perhaps he didn’t steal them from you after all,” Cecily said, keeping an eye on Sid as she shifted one foot closer to Gloria.
Sid was staring at Gloria and didn’t notice her transfer her weight and shift again. “She’s a bloody liar. She knows where they are, she just won’t tell me.” He raised the pan higher. “Don’t think you can keep them all for yourself, you rotten bitch.”
Hearing a slight sound, Cecily glanced down at Samuel. He hadn’t moved, but she thought she saw his eyelids flicker. Then she heard the sound again, and quickly coughed to cover it.
“Is it really worth inflicting all this pain for just a few jewels?” She edged over a little farther, so that Sid turned to face her, his back to the door. “I mean, how much can they be worth?”
Sid’s grin was evil. “Wouldn’t you like to know. They’re worth a fortune, that’s what. There’s forty carats of diamonds in the set, all perfectly matched. The biggest haul we ever pulled off. Ian was my fence. He’d done a good job for me before, so I trusted the bugger to get rid of the diamonds for me. The bloody sod took off with them.”
Cecily faked a look of sympathy. “That must have been upsetting. How did you know where to find him?”
A shadow moved outside in the hallway. Gloria whimpered and Cecily shot her a warning look. Sid was reliving his fury now and too angry to pay attention to her.
“He told me he used to work at the Pennyfoot and married the chief housemaid there. When I found out he’d left town I guessed he’d go running back to her.” He glanced at Gloria. “He never told me about that one. If he had I would’ve had the jewels back by now.”
Cecily shifted backward an inch or two. “So you applied for the job at the club to wait for Ian to make an appearance?”
“Yeah. I knew it wouldn’t be long and sure enough, he showed up that night. I was going to follow him home, but when he went inside the club on his own, I met him in the lobby.” He glared at Cecily. “What difference does it make, anyway? I’m not going to stand around here talking all day. Tell her to give me back the jewels. Then I’ll get out of here and leave you all alone.”
“I told you, I don’t know nothing about them.” Gloria burst into loud sobbing, and Sid rolled his eyes.
Raising the pan again, he took a step toward Cecily. “Tell me where they are or she gets it.”
Gloria cried harder.
“You’ve already killed one man,” Cecily said, backing away. “Isn’t that enough for a few diamonds?”
“I didn’t mean to kill him. I hit him too hard, that’s all.” Sid’s expression grew desperate. “I was angry. I trusted that bugger and he betrayed me. Nobody does that to Sid Barrett. Nobody.”
A movement in the doorway snatched Cecily’s attention. She saw Archie Parker take a step forward and Sid begin to turn. Before either one of them could react, a whirlwind of fury in the shape of her chief housemaid hurtled past the detective, straight at Sid.
Gertie’s hand was raised above her head and clutched in her fingers was a candlestick. With a howl of rage she brought it down on Sid’s head. His look of shock was almost comical, then his eyes rolled up in his head and he crumpled to the floor.
“That,” Gertie said, her voice high-pitched and shrill, “is for killing Ian, you rotten sod.”
“Good God, woman.” Archie bent over the fallen jewel thief. “You could have killed him.”
Gertie wasn’t listening. She’d caught sight of Samuel lying on the floor, his eyes open and a dazed look on his face. “Crikey, Samuel.” She dropped to the floor beside him. “What the bloody hell are you doing down there?”
“Resting.” Samuel gave her a weak grin. “You’ve got a wicked right arm, there, Gertie. Ever thought of joining a cricket team?”
“Go on with you.” She took hold of his hand and pulled him up to a sitting position. “I see you brought your whip with you. Why didn’t you use it?”
“Didn’t have time.”
“Well, he gave you a pretty good crack on the head. You’ve got a bloody bump the size of an egg.”
Samuel explored his head with his fingers and winced. “I didn’t see that coming.”
Archie picked up the cast iron frying pan from the floor. “This did almost as much damage as the candlestick.”
Gertie looked at Sid, who had started to groan. “Well, at least I didn’t kill him with it. More’s the pity.”
Cecily, who had moved over to Gloria the minute Sid hit the floor, had an arm around the trembling woman. “Did he hurt you?” she asked, her voice just a little shaky.
Gloria rubbed her arm. “A few bruises here and there but I’ll be all right. Not like poor old Ian.” She glared at Sid, who still lay on his back. “I can’t believe that bugger killed him.”
“And tried to put the blame on me,” Gertie added, looking as if she’d hit him again at the slightest provocation.
“I hope that isn’t the same candlestick that he used on Rossiter,” Archie said, pulling a pair of handcuffs from his pocket. He bent over and snapped one end on Sid’s wrist, then snapped the other end on his own arm.
“Nah. I grabbed this one off the hallstand on the way out.” Gertie helped Samuel to his feet. He looked a little pale and not too steady on his feet, but he managed a wobbly smile. “Think of everything, don’t you, luv.”
“I do me best.” Gertie looked anxiously at Cecily. “Mr. Parker insisted I come along with him, m’m. He didn’t know where the shop was and I had to tell him everything that was going on. I know Mrs. Chubb is going to be after me for leaving like that, but I didn’t have time to explain and-”
“It’s all right, Gertie.” Cecily dug in her pocket for her handkerchief and handed it to Gloria, who was still sniffling. “I’ll explain to Mrs. Chubb.”
“Thank you, m’m.” Gertie tilted her head at Archie. “Did you know this bloke is a detective, like Sherlock Holmes?”
“Yes, I did actually.” Cecily smiled at him. “Thank you for getting here so fast.”
“My pleasure, m’m.” He hauled Sid, who looked as if he would rather still be lying on the floor, to his feet. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’ll take this scoundrel into Wellercombe for charging. All right if I take the trap? The rest of you can go back in the carriage, right?”
“Oh, please.” Cecily waved her arm at the door. “I don’t want to see that man’s face again if I can help it.”
“Yes, well, you might have to say your piece at the trial.” Archie shoved the sullen-faced Sid toward the door. “I wouldn’t want him to slip through our fingers now that we got him for murder.”
