At one o'clock Robert had sent for Mr Carson to advise him of the imminent arrival of the two police officers. He hadn't said exactly what it was they were investigating or why they wanted to see the staff, he just said that all staff were required to be interviewed.
'Does that include myself and Mrs Hughes Milord?' Mrs Carson had asked.
'Yes Carson; all staff means everyone from the top to the bottom.' Robert had explained. Of course he didn't believe for one second it was the butler and he knew it wasn't Mrs Hughes, but he didn't want to bring the housekeeper under any more scrutiny, so had insisted that she be included in the search to spare her.
After everything that had happened over the last few days Mr Carson was now even more concerned than ever and a little incensed that he and Mrs Hughes were being dragged into something that clearly had nothing to do with them.
He marched straight into Mrs Hughes' living room where she was sat trying to work; only her mind was very much on other things. He was irritated and she could see that, but she prayed that he wouldn't try dragging her into something; for once she just wanted to be left alone.
'Did you know about this?' He fumed.
'Know about what?' She replied with a tired and exasperated tone.
'We have two police officers coming to interview us all, including you and me Mrs Hughes. His Lordship has just told me, but he wouldn't tell me what any of this was about!' He said.
She was in two minds whether to be half honest and tell him she already knew, or play the innocent and act as if it was a complete shock to her too. She decided to go with the latter, not feeling up to the Spanish inquisition she'd get from him if she told him the truth.
'What are the police here for?' She said.
'I just said I didn't know! But they'll be here any time now apparently and they want to see each of us individually!' He explained irritably.
'Well I'm sure it's all just routine.' She suggested, but her exhaustion was really showing and Mr Carson became even more concerned about his friend.
'Mrs Hughes are you quite yourself? Only you look exhausted. You've been rushed off your feet with Lady Aurelia all day, why don't you go lie down for a bit?' He said with a much softer tone.
'No thank you Mr Carson, I'm quite alright. There's plenty of life in the old girl yet!' She said as she forced herself to sound more like herself.
'Well if you're sure Mrs Hughes; we'd better gather the staff together and inform them of this interruption.' Mr Carson said as he left her sitting room for the servants' hall.
Mrs Hughes breathed a long sigh of frustration as she prepared herself to face them all and for the barrage of questions that they were sure to get from the police.
'But why are the police coming here Mr Carson and why do they want to speak with us?' Jimmy asked with concern.
'I'm sure I don't know James; his Lordship didn't share that information with me. However, if anyone here knows why the police are coming to speak with us and wish to get anything of their chest beforehand, then I will be in my pantry.' He said as he then left the room which then filled with nervous chatter.
Mrs Hughes took the opportunity to look around the room at her subordinates and see if she could get any inclination who might be the guilty party. Everyone had their concerns and were chatting furtively to each other about it, speculating as to what could have happened, but the only one not joining in was Lily. She was sat in the corner by herself, not looking at anyone until she happened to glance up and caught Mrs Hughes' eye. She quickly looked away again and scuttled back into the kitchen. Her behaviour, accompanied by her previous attitude, raised Mrs Hughes' suspicions. She still couldn't believe that anyone downstairs would do something like this, but if it was anyone, she thought, it was most likely to be Lily.
The police didn't arrive until nearly three o'clock that afternoon and spent almost an hour with Robert and Cora before they'd even considered talking to the staff. The four girls were not required, so they spent the whole afternoon together; Aurelia was still very upset, of course, but her three sisters sat with her, held her hand, hugged her and even had a cry with her themselves. She was so greatful to have them with her, but she was shocked and surprised to find that the sister she received the most comfort from was Mary. Mary even managed to shock herself with her level of compassion.
So the police now turned their attentions to the staff. They first interviewed Mr Carson and Mrs Hughes, taking samples of their handwriting and fingerprints. At the request of the family, the police detectives were very discreet about the content of the letters and only advised that correspondence of a criminal nature had been received by Lord and Lady Grantham. They asked the butler and housekeeper the same sets of questions about their staff, whether or not anyone may have held a grudge against the family, had anyone been behaving suspiciously etc; Mr Carson couldn't comprehend that any staff member under his command could do such a thing, but Mrs Hughes' niggling feelings about Lily still hadn't left her.
'Mrs Hughes, as these letters also pertain you, is there anyone amongst your staff that may hold a grievance against you personally?' The younger detective asked as stood beside the desk in Mr Carson's pantry.
'Well there's no staff member under this roof who hasn't had a dressing down from either myself or Mr Carson at some time or another; but there is one that I have had particular difficulty with recently. Lily McAlister, she's one of the kitchen maids and started with us just before Christmas but she's on her final warning already.' Mrs Hughes explained.
'For what reasons?' The other officer asked as he sat behind Mr Carson's desk.
'Well her time keeping leaves much to the imagination; I've had to keep a close eye on her where the young footmen are concerned and her attitude towards the authority of myself and Mr Carson has been a real challenge.' She replied.
'Right well thank you Mrs Hughes; that'll be all for now. Perhaps you could send in the next person?' The senior officer said and Mrs Hughes was glad to be excused.
They spent their time with every staff member, only they didn't tell them about the letters. They just took their fingerprints and samples of their handwriting but they deliberately left Lily to the last.
When she was called she walked very timidly into the room and the officers barely said anything to her. They did the same to her and they had done the others, first taking her fingerprints, which the junior officer then analysed in comparison to a sample they had, and whilst he was doing that, the other officer had Lily write out a sample of her handwriting. She prayed that she'd disguised her handwriting enough to go unrecognised.
After a few minutes of deliberation and uncomfortable silence the junior finally looked at his superior and nodded his head. For the most part Lily had altered her handwriting but there were still some tell-tale signs that it was her, not to mention the fact that her fingerprints conclusively matched.
'Lily McAlister I am arresting you on suspicion of extortion and blackmail…' The officer behind the desk said as the junior officer brought Mrs Hughes into the room.
Mrs Hughes was shocked that she was right, although a huge part of her wasn't surprised. Now she just felt anger, the kind of anger that only a mother could feel.
'You! How dare you! Have you ANY idea what pain you have put that poor girl through! You had absolutely no right to do this!' Mrs Hughes said with her voice raised, although she was still very conscious of the fact that the other servants might hear her.
'Mrs Hughes I'm sorry…' Lily tried to say, and it did sound like she genuinely meant it, but Mrs Hughes cut her off.
'Don't you dare say that you are sorry because you're not; you're only sorry that you got caught. Well young lady, by the time you have been charged, sentenced, locked up and released we will still be picking up the pieces of what you have done to that poor girl and to this family; and to what end was it all for? Your own personal greed? Well I hope you think it was all worth it.' Mrs Hughes spat angrily and watched as the young woman was carted away, crying and screaming.
Mr Carson joined her and was in a state of complete shock.
'What has happened Mrs Hughes?' He stammered.
'It seems that young Lily thought that she could win her fortune by blackmailing Lord and Lady Grantham.' She explained to the flustered and astounded butler.
'Blackmail? Blackmailing them with what?' He asked.
For a split second Mrs Hughes thought about telling him the truth, but she just couldn't bring herself to tell the man whom she thought so highly of, of her shame.
'I have no idea Mr Carson, they told me as much as they told you I'm afraid.' She said and she left him standing in the middle of the room looking dismayed.
She walked up the stairs to where Cora and Robert were sat in the library. They were obviously speaking about the investigation, but she wasn't sure if the officers had advised them of the arrest.
'I do beg your pardon Milord, but I wasn't sure if the officers told you, but they've just made an arrest.' Mrs Hughes explained.
'That's quite alright Mrs Hughes; yes they have just left us and they have given us the news. I believe it was one of the kitchen maids.' Robert said.
'That's right Milord, Lily her name is. Please be assured your Lordship that Mr Carson and I had no idea what was going on; if we did, we would have…' Mrs Hughes stammered and tapered off as she tried to get a grip of herself once more, fighting the tears that were trying to fall.
'We know that Mrs Hughes; we don't blame you or Carson. In fact, the only reason why the police were drawn here to her, was because they already had her fingerprints on file. It would seem that she'd done something similar in another house in which she worked previously.' Robert explained.
'But I don't understand Milord; when I hired her she handed me a good reference from her previous employer.'
'Well it would seem that her previous employer didn't want to press charges after she was caught, but I suspect that they wanted as little fuss as possible and gave the reference to keep her quiet.' He added.
Mrs Hughes was astonished and annoyed at herself for having been fooled into taking her on; her guilt about everything that had happened was going to take a long time to get over.
'The key thing now is that we help each other get over this, so that we can move forward but most importantly so that we can support Ella. The next few months aren't going to be easy for any of us.' Robert said as he held his wife's hand and she looked at him with a warm smile. She then did something that none of them had expected, and held out her other hand to the housekeeper and gave her hand a gentle, comforting squeeze.
Mrs Hughes no longer knew what to think or feel. The last few days had been a rollercoaster of emotions; a huge part of her felt guilty about what Aurelia had been put through and what she was still going through; another part of her was hurting as all her hidden feelings had rushed to the surface; but there was another emotion that she hadn't felt about this situation before and that was hope and happiness. She had hope about her relationship with her daughter and what their future held and this led her to feel happy, no, in fact, she felt elated. At the age fifty seven she was becoming a mother for the first time and she had no idea what exciting new future that had in store for her or for her daughter.
Don't worry folks I know that that is the end of the story, I had to end it there otherwise I could have gone on forever; but the good news is, that because I've had such a fantastic response from you all, that I am making this a series so I've already got another story started that follows Aurelia and Mrs Hughes' relationship and who knows, in the next one Mr Carson might even find out the truth. So be sure to stay tuned for that =)