. . .

THE DISPATCH INQUIRY
Chapter Ten

Determined not to give Sheldon the satisfaction of thinking she was cowering, Amy took a cool bath and dressed in her turquoise evening gown, trying and failing to forget the memories it carried. If she wanted to prove to him that she did not need his assistance, hiding in her room was not the way to do it.

However, her nerve wavered when she entered the drawing room. Although it didn't feel as thick with tension as it had the night before (Had it really only been one night since Ramona was killed?, Amy thought in wonder), it was still a subdued place. It seemed to her that everyone glanced uncomfortably in her direction when she entered. She took the drink Stuart offered without asking what it was and gulped down a large mouthful only to discover it was white wine.

Amy sat in the middle of an empty sofa and attempted to drink the rest in the proper slow manner whilst giving off an air of general nonchalance. Her false peace, though, was quickly interrupted when Bernadette, wearing another frilly pastel chiffon frock, sat down next to her without asking permission.

"Good evening, Dr. Rostenkowski."

"I am the only female biochemist in my laboratory," Bernadette started without preamble. "I cannot leave it because it is a government job, arranged by my father. I love chemistry as a discipline, but my male colleagues . . ." She made a deep growling sound.

"That sounds familiar."

"I would not compromise the integrity of my work for anything. And, as women, integrity is one of the few things we can hold onto and claim as our own. I should not have questioned yours."

Amy raised her eyebrows but then nodded. "Thank you." She sighed. "I suppose we were a bit loud?"

"I have heard louder. I have been louder."

Just as Amy chuckled in response, Penny slipped onto the other side of the sofa. Her bright orange evening dress had actual fur sleeves. "Amy Farrah Fowler," she said, "I believe you just might be my hero."

"Heroine," Amy corrected her and the three women shared a smile.

If Amy dared to hope a friendship had been forged in solidarity on the sofa the first look from Sheldon at the head of the dinner table dispelled her hopes for an apology from him. Conversation skipped and lagged in general as no one seemed to know exactly what topic to settle upon, but Sheldon ignored them all. Instead, he ate with a thunderous face. Amy tried not to meet his gaze but she could not help imagining his look of rage was directed toward her. Meanwhile, he was stabbing at his vegetables and carving his steak with such force that Leonard finally said, "Um, Sheldon, perhaps you shouldn't be so, um, vigorous, given, well, you know."

Sheldon grunted and pushed his plate away. "It was already on the menu."

"I was referring to the way you were - never mind."

No one seemed to have the appetite for their steak anymore, setting their knives down with haunted looks, and Sheldon barked out, "Oh, just take the plates away!" forcing Stuart and the footman to leap into action.

Only Inspector Kripke, who had returned just before the meal, insisted on keeping his plate and finishing. Already, his presence had cast an awkward pall over the table, only deepening the discomfort of Sheldon's stare, and now conversation halted while everyone sat in silence, trying not to watch him slowly devour his bloody piece of meat. At least he wasn't drinking as much as he had previous nights. Looking away, Amy studied the monogram on the corner of her napkin as though it were the Rosetta Stone, noticing that Sheldon had never had them changed.

Breaking the silence, Sheldon suddenly ordered, "We shall discuss the weather. It is what my mother always told me to do."

"But you hate discussing the weather," Rajesh said. "Almost as much as you hate discussing geo - I mean, you dislike small talk."

"The weather, I said!" He slapped the table with such force that the cutlery rattled.

Nervous looks were exchanged over the table, but, fortunately, the pudding arrived and saved anyone from an immediate response. As everyone picked at their dessert, several dull minutes were spent dwelling on the unpredictability of autumn temperatures.

Half-way through Howard's proclamation about how much he enjoyed autumn for the young jumper-wearing women it brought to his university, Sheldon stood. "I am going to retire early. It has been a long day and I do not wish to engage in further conversation."

Uncertain whether it was merely a proclamation or another order, everyone left their unfinished puddings and followed not far behind.

"Well, Fowler, who should we start with today?" Kripke smelled of cigarette smoke the next morning as he gulped down a cup of coffee.

Amy sat her notebook and pencil on the table and dropped wearily into the chair beside him. It was too early in the morning to deal with the Inspector's caustic personality, never mind that she'd been up before sunrise starting work on a crossword puzzle. Although she'd left a few finished puzzles with Mr. Clayton, she knew she needed to work ahead, especially now that she would be at Medford longer than originally planned.

But it had been frustrating, the lack of graph paper requiring her to first draw dozens of lines and squares on her plain typewriter paper. And then to do it again and again, when she found a puzzle wasn't coming together the way she hoped. It made everything take much longer than necessary.

"Me? You want me to decide?"

"Nah. Just asking for a laugh. I already know. Cooper's our man, I'm sure of it. Did you see his reaction to my steak bit last night? Couldn't hold it together, could he?" Kripke chuckled and Amy was reminded of a hyena. "Let's work from his inner circle out. Hofstadter it is."

Leonard came in wearing a causal outfit very similar to what he wore the day before: a white tee shirt with colored trim under a zippered, nipped-waist cardigan. Amy was starting to have the strangest feeling that everyone here preferred to wear their clothes like a uniform. Even she was back in her homemade cardigan; of course, she'd only brought two sets of daywear.

First, Kripke asked Leonard to give his events of the night of the murder. "After we went to our room, I helped Penny with her dress -"

"Lucky man."

"Inspector!" Amy chastised him.

Leonard coughed. "Um, well, yes, I am. Anyway, we had a nightcap in Penny's room and talked some, and then we went to bed."

"Together?" Kripke asked but then put his palms up. "Just establishing an alibi, Fowler."

"Actually, no; Penny said she was tired after performing, which is often the case, so we slept in our separate rooms. Oh, just before we separated, we heard an argument in the hallway. I think it was Dr. Nowitzki and you, Miss Fowler. Maybe Sheldon?"

"It was," Amy answered.

"Anyway, I fell asleep until I heard the screaming, like everyone else. First I ran to Penny's room - our rooms connect and I thought it was a woman - but it wasn't her so we ran downstairs together."

"You didn't hear anything loud or unusual between the argument in the hallway and the screaming?"

"No," Leonard shook his head. "Oh, well, that stupid record repeating, you mean? Yeah, that was annoying. But I've slept through much more annoyance, believe me. His name was Sheldon."

"It was your, uh, gramophone player, correct?" Amy asked, unsure what to call the device she'd found. "Penny said Dr. Nowitzki borrowed it."

"Yeah. That was fine but I didn't know she'd play it over and over all night."

"Do you know why?" Kripke asked.

Leonard shrugged. "She said hers wasn't working right and she liked one of the songs."

"How well would you say you knew Nowitzki?"

"So-so. I mean, you know. We weren't friends or anything. But, you know, I met her through Sheldon."

"How would you describe their relationship? Cooper and Nowitzki?"

"Is that what it was?" Leonard grinned at his joke. "Well, she revered him, always flattering him and stuff, you know, and Sheldon's an egotist, so, yeah, they got on in a weird way."

"You think they got on well?" Kripke clarified.

"Maybe? It was strange to watch. I never could figure it out, not really. I never thought he saw her for who she was. Like he never realized she was a woman or something. She was always pushing him on, separating him from his friends, telling him how great he was. She was controlling him and he didn't even realize it at first."

"Until your wife pointed it out to him?"

"Yeah."

"I understand Nowitzki accused Penny of being jealous."

Leonard grinned again. "Believe me, she wasn't. But, yes, Dr. Nowitzki had some words for Penny, something like Penny was preventing Sheldon from seeing who was best for him. Penny just laughed, though, because it was so ludicrous. I mean, Penny and Sheldon?"

"Well, she married you," Kripke pointed out.

"Hey! I'm brilliant. And I have my talents."

Amy wrinkled her brow over her notes.

"Did you have words with Nowitzki yourself? How did you two get along?"

"She was so focused on Sheldon that she always ignored me; we hardly spoke and only then about Sheldon and where he was, if he wasn't right there. Again, I thought it was weird. I didn't think anything would ever happen, I mean, it's Sheldon, right? But Penny thought it was concerning; she actually got mad at me for not putting a stop to it sooner, like it was all my fault."

"What about science, though?" Amy asked. "Out in the laboratory? Didn't you talk about science then?"

"Oh, sure. She was a good scientist, that was true. Bossy, but smart. Huh, maybe she and Sheldon could have made a go of it after all. Anyway, yes, we talked about physics and stuff but nothing really controversial there."

"Did you ever discuss politics with her?" Kripke asked. Amy's eyes snapped over, waiting for him to pull out the swastika pin again, but he didn't. Interesting.

"No. Both Sheldon and I aren't really interested in politics. Sheldon, especially, hates to discuss it, doesn't allow it to even be mentioned around him. He blames politics for the war, you know, and killing his brother."

"One more thing. Did you go to the library at any time the day Nowitzki died?"

Perhaps because she knew more than Kripke, Amy thought she saw Leonard shift in his chair. Or was she imagining it?

"Yeah. Sheldon and I went in there before dinner, just to chat." He coughed and his heavy eyebrows descended. He looked like whatever he was about to say would hurt. "Just to let you know, to be honest, well, um, he, um, well he gave me the dagger."

For some reason, Leonard's honesty surprised Amy but not nearly as much as it surprised Kripke, who knocked over his half-empty coffee cup in response. But he ignored the small pool of brown liquid soaking into the white tablecloth to lean forward. "Are you saying you had the letter opener, not Cooper?"

"Well, sort of. But only briefly. I left the library with it, I know I had in my hand. We went back to the drawing room, but remember, there was some trouble with wireless? I must have sat the dagger down somewhere to fix it. I don't remember. I didn't realize it until after dinner, but when I looked around near the wireless I couldn't find it. I tried to search while Penny was singing, but it wasn't there."

Well, that explained his sneaking around the drawing room that evening. Amy pointed out, "So anyone could have picked it up."

"Including Cooper," Kripke said.

Amy didn't bother to agree with him. It had already occurred to her. But - "Statistically, there's an equal chance that anyone in the drawing room, either before or after dinner, could have picked it up."

"'Statistically,'" Kripke quoted back with a grunt. "Bloody hell, you sound just like him sometimes."

"Sheldon didn't have the dagger," Leonard interjected. "I'm sure of it. Why would he give it to me and then take it back? Besides, there's no way he did this."

Kripke asked, "What makes you so sure? Because he's your friend?"

"No. Come on, you know him. Do you really think there's any chance he could manage it? He faints at the first sight of blood, you know."

"I bet he could find a way," Kripke countered. "He's got a one-track mind when he wants to. He could do some of those silly breathing exercises."

"Listen, I know Sheldon can be difficult at times -"

Kripke muttered, "Not exactly the word I'd use."

"- but it's only about how smart he is. He simply isn't capable of hurting a fly, not physically, anyway."

"We shall agree to disagree, then." Kripke's voice deepened and turn dark. "Not that I believe you'd tell me anything of import. Thick as thieves you two are, pals for years, since uni. Goodness knows you'd keep the secret for him."

Leonard stood. "We're done here, Kripke. I didn't kill Dr. Nowitzki and neither did Sheldon."

Amy watched in stunned silence as the physicist turned and walked calmly out of the morning room. She felt like there was an important question, probably several, on the edge of her brain but still hidden anyway in some sort of shadow.

Unsure what to say, she busied herself in making a cup of tea while Kripke rang the bell for Stuart. It was barely lukewarm now, even under the cozy, but it was more about a distraction than a pleasure. She forced herself to ask, "Would you like a cup, Inspector?"

"No. Can't abide tea myself." Stuart entered the room then and Kripke asked him to send Penny in along with a fresh cup of coffee. Stuart promised to do so, but Amy saw his eyes linger unhappily over the stain on the tablecloth.

Tired of sitting, Amy stood to drink her tea. The Inspector got up, too, but he made his way to the mirror above the fireplace and smoothed down his hair before straightening his tie. It was all Amy could do not to roll her eyes.

"What do you hope Penny will tell us that Dr. Hofstadter wouldn't?" Amy asked, to distract him from preening. "As I understand it, Dr. Hofstadter has known Lord Cooper for longer and under more intimate terms."

"Well, it's not like I expected Hofstadter to just hand me the smoking gun. But Penny . . . maybe she's one of those birds you just get talking and out pops the truth, from right between those beautiful lips, like a lollipop. She likes an audience; it's why she became an actress, right?"

Amy took a sip to avoid answering and admitting that he had a point. About the audience, not that a truth lollipop would come popping out of the blonde's red-rimmed mouth. And then she couldn't decide if the visual image of such a thing were vulgar or alluring.

Saving her from that quandary was the billowing light and airiness that always seemed to follow in Penny's wake. The blonde was dressed in full blue trousers and a crisp white blouse, but Amy knew enough about what she could never afford to notice the intricate pleating about the shoulders and the way it was cut and sewn to follow every curve.

"Miss Penny, thank you for coming." Inspector Kripke tipped at the waist, as though he was contemplating a bow, and this time Amy did roll her eyes. "Please, sit. Would you like Fowler to pour you some tea?"

Penny looked amused. "Of course, Inspector. I am here to do my duty. And, no, thank you."

They all took their places at the table, Penny angling the chair and tossing an arm casually over the back.

"First of all," Kripke started, "I just want you to know that my questioning you is a matter of protocol. In no way do I suspect you of any wrongdoing. But the formalities, you see, they must be observed."

Amy thought she was going to have to stick her pencil in her eyeball before this was over with if he kept it up.

"Nonsense, Inspector. I want to do my part. No special treatment for me. Ask me anything."

How long will it take her to regret that?, Amy wondered. They were saved by Stuart bringing in the coffee.

"Oh, Mr. Bloom?" Penny called to him. "Will you make a fresh pot of tea for Miss Fowler, too?" She glanced over as Amy looked up in surprise. "I noticed you grimace. It's gone cold, hasn't it? Shame on you, Inspector, ordering coffee for yourself and not any tea for Miss Fowler. This is England, isn't it?"

"Erm, yes, my apologies." Kripke cleared his throat. "Perhaps we should start at the beginning -"

"What a swell idea!" Penny interjected with a smirk. She winked in Amy's direction, and Amy quickly lowered her eyes back to her tablet, trying to hide a smile.

"Er, yes. When did you first meet Nowitzki?"

"Monday afternoon at the train station. Apparently, she'd traveled up from London on the same train as us, but we didn't know until we were all met by Mr. Bloom -"

"The butler?" Amy clarified.

"Oh, yes. Sheldon doesn't usually have a chauffeur, Mr. Bloom does it all. He just hired one in on Friday to pick everything else up. Anyway, we all traveled together in the car here."

"What was your first impression of her?"

"She was creepy."

"Creepy?" Amy and Kripke asked in unison.

"Yes. Unsettling, I suppose you'd call it. Obnoxious but scary? I don't know the British word."

"Menacing?" Amy supplied.

"Yes, good, that. I mean, she told me was coming to be Sheldon's hostess. At first, I was so shocked I had to make sure we were talking about the same man. Sheldon's never once mentioned wanting or needing a hostess. But, yep, it was Sheldon alright. Talked nonstop about him on the drive, asked Leonard questions a mile a minute about the house and the estate, what Sheldon had been doing lately, even what he looked like now, said it had been years since she'd seen him. Like that man will ever age! What I wouldn't give for his cheekbones."

"We've been informed that you warned Cooper off of her, as it were."

"Absolutely. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Anyone - well, anyone but Sheldon and apparently my husband as it turns out - could see she was wiggling her meathooks right into him. She was determined to be Countess Medford, that much was clear. She even made up the seating arrangement for dinner and argued with him about the guests, like she was already lady of the manor!"

Kripke asked, "And you opposed the idea?"

"I opposed it for Sheldon. He had no idea what was happening. He's a bit naïve when it comes to these things. He really thought she just wanted to help him with his science. She was taking advantage of him. Wanted the money, the estate, and the fame. Kept talking about 'our paper,' 'our research,' things like that. But everyone knows Sheldon is the genius. She was just a hanger-on. I know the signs; they're all over Hollywood."

"How did she react to your warning?"

"I didn't warn her, I just warned Sheldon. But he asked her about it." Penny sighed. "Don't know why it surprised me for a minute, he needs everything directly spelled out for him so of course he went straight to the horse's mouth. But her reaction? First, she accused me of being jealous and then she accused me of harboring a secret from her."

"Where you? Harboring a secret?" Amy asked.

"Fowler!" Kripke said sharply. "If Miss Penny has a secret, I'm sure she has it for a good reason."

"No, no, it's a good question. But, no, no secrets, I'm afraid. Sometimes I get a script I'm supposed to keep quiet until it's announced but that's about it."

"But Dr. Hofstadter, he's your secret," Amy pointed out.

Penny grinned. "Oh! Yes! Of course. Golly, how silly of me. Okay, then, no secrets except my husband."

Kripke picked up his questions again. "How did Cooper act toward Nowitzki after that?"

"Well, it took me a bit to figure out how to explain it to him, but once he got it, he got it. He avoided her like the plague. I think if it had just been the four of us, he might have sent her packing. But everyone else was coming for the conference, so she stayed."

"Did you know any of the other guests before this weekend?"

"Rajesh is here a lot when we come, and we've gone over to his parties once or twice. But, no, no one else. Leonard was excited to meet Mr. Wolowitz and he tried to tell me all about his stories, but I mostly didn't pay attention."

"Were you aware of Nowitzki's political bent?"

"Politics bores me. And, well, Europe is all the way over here we're all the way over there, right? But I heard her say some stuff about Hitler this weekend, like at dinner."

"Sympathetic to him?" Kripke clarified.

"It seemed so. But isn't that sort of a thing here? All those men wearing black shirts or something?" Penny shrugged. "Like I said, it bores me and doesn't really affect us."

Amy sighed deeply. Not in disgust at Penny's isolationism - it was, after all, the view of many Americans - but that she wasn't entirely wrong. Mosley's group was a 'thing,' as Penny called it, in England and too few, in Amy's opinion, saw it for the danger it was.

Kripke reached into his pocket, pulling out a handkerchief, and Amy braced herself for the unveiling of the swastika pin. It was overly-theatrical but she had to agree the shock value of it had the potential to be revealing. But, surprising her, he merely stretched out and sat the cloth on the table in front of Penny. "Now, I understand this might be traumatic for you, Miss Penny, so please stop me at any time if it all becomes too much to relive. But I need to hear your memories of the night of the murder."

Once again, Amy felt perilously close to putting lead through her cornea. Penny picked up the handkerchief with two fingers, as though it was filthy, lifted it so that its folds fell out, and then let it pool back on the table. "Inspector, I grew up on a farm in Nebraska and I won't tell you how many times my brother has been to prison. Nothing shocks me by now."

Kripke was only saved embarrassment by the arrival of the fresh teapot. Amy set about pouring a cup for herself and Penny, over Penny's protests that she could do it, and then settled back down for the actress's story.

"Leonard and I relaxed in my room for a while. We had a drink and gossiped. But I was exhausted from singing, so he went to his room that night and I fell asleep in mine. I was out like a light."

"Didn't the gramophone bother you?"

"No. I heard it before I fell asleep, but I was a chorus girl on a traveling show once. I guess there was even a fight in the hallway and I didn't hear a lick of it. If you can sleep through a bus-full of forty women practicing their songs and bickering, you can sleep through anything. Anyway, I didn't wake up until I heard the screaming. Then Leonard came running into my room so fast he tripped, and then we went out in the hallway with everyone else."

"Did you recognize the murder weapon?" Amy noticed Kripke didn't display it to Penny. He probably thought she was such a delicate flower that she would faint or something. But Amy couldn't imagine Penny fainting at anything.

"No, why?"

"It's the letter opener from Cooper's library."

"Huh. Well, I don't really go in there. I prefer to read issues of The Tatler I buy at the train stations." Then her eyes widened. "Wait! Was it the little sword or whatever that someone stole from Leonard?"

"Yes, I believe it was. Why do you say it was stolen?"

"Leonard was upset about it in our room. I don't really get it - I mean, why buy a miniature sword? - but he and Sheldon bought it together years ago. Every single year we have to cart that dumb thing back and forth across an entire ocean. Leonard says it's because of Sheldon's schedule, but, if you ask me, he's just as obsessed. Anyway, he said he sat it down in the drawing room but then it was gone later and he couldn't find it."

"And there's nothing else from that night that seemed strange or unusual to you?"

Penny shook her head. "No. I think murder is strange enough, don't you?"

"If I may," Amy ventured carefully after the rebuke Kripke had given her, "does your bedroom window face the front of the house?" Penny nodded. "Have you ever noticed anyone outside your bedroom window?" The Inspector gave her a look but didn't comment.

The actress screwed up her face. "Well, that's broad, isn't it? I mean, I've been here several times and there's been gardeners and whatnot. But I assume you mean this weekend?"

"Yes. You see, the portico at the front of the house forms a sort of balcony in front of the bedroom windows. I wonder if you've ever seen anyone transverse it."

"Golly." Penny's eyes formed large circles again. "I never thought anyone could get up there. Huh. But no, I've never seen anything like that."

"And I assure you, Miss Penny," Kripke said, "that as a result of this horrendous event, I have increased my patrols around the house at night in order to ensure your continued safety." It was the first time Amy had ever heard that particular euphemism for having a smoke. "Once again, I apologize for taking up your time, but one more line of questioning."

"Of course."

"What is your impression of Cooper? Do you think he's capable of the rage of the sort -"

"Sheldon?" Penny's eyebrows went up. "Surely you don't think -" She burst out laughing before she could finish the sentence. Under other circumstances, it would have been enchanting, the mirth spilling out of her like the clear peals of bells, her face open, her eyes bouncing and radiating light. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she gathered herself, "it's just too much."

"I know you are friends and frequent guests here, Miss Penny, but surely you must agree Cooper is known for his temper."

"He is, he is, you're right." She took a breath. "Sheldon is . . . odd. The first time I met him I couldn't believe Leonard liked this wackadoodle so much. And, yes, I've seen him angry about the smallest, silliest things. Like last night. But, well, he's really all bark and no bite. He yells a lot and he can make your life miserable if you let him, but you just have to stand up to him. You English are too shy, all please and thank you and let's have some tea. I have no trouble telling Sheldon to shut up and, in my experience, he usually does."

"If only I'd known it was that easy," Kripke muttered but then he stood. "Thank you, Miss Penny, for your cooperation and the expense of your valuable time. You have been most helpful. I won't intrude upon you further."

And then he actually did bow. Amy wished she had already blinded herself so she didn't have to see any more of his sycophantic behavior.

"Sure thing. Any time." Penny bounced up. "Oh, Amy? We still haven't had our interview. Is that still in the works?"

"Yes, it needs to be. I'm sorry, I've been distracted."

"No problem. How about tomorrow after lunch, say about one? We can meet in my room."

Amy nodded. "That should work."

To be continued . . .

Penny's mention of "blackshirts" is a reference to Mosley's British Union of Fascists who favored wearing all black as a uniform.

Isolationism (or non-interventionism) was the de facto national policy in the United States between the two World Wars, until Pearl Harbor was bombed in 1941. The America First Committee, a group that supported nationalism and fought entry into World War II, pushed hard for the this agenda, and it was the belief shared by many Americans of the time. Although not part of their official platform, their speeches were often pro-fascist and anti-Semitic.

The Tatler is a British magazine focused on fashion and celebrity gossip that was first published in 1901. It remains in print.

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