Chapter 10
Charlie was sipping a cup of tea with Esme Platt. She said she wanted to ask him a couple of things, and he took the chance to bring Helen to question the little maid, Bree. He was s ure the girl saw something, but she didn't want to talk. First, he had to talk to Esme.
"Well Miss Platt, the tea was exquisite; why don't you tell me what you really like to know?"
"Inspector Swan, I'm in a difficult position. See, every summer Mr. Cullen gave me the chance to bring my niece Jane here, to spend summer vacations with me. She's an orphan, and I'm all the family she has left. But now... Mrs. Cullen told me to not worry, she will welcome Jane like every year."
"So you have permission, I don't see..."
"For now, we still consider her the owner of the house. Miss Alice has made it clear that she want me to go."
"Oh!"
"Yes, it's terribly uncomfortable. Honestly, I can't wait for the reading of the will. It'll give me a sense of certainty. Well, my doubt is if you, as the police force, have any inconvenient with my niece's visit? She's twelve, just a kid. She won't cause any trouble. She's a bit restless, but without malice."
"Miss Platt, I don't see anything wrong with the girl visiting, as long as she stays away from the study. It's closed, but I know how creative kids could be."
xx
At the back of the house, Helen was talking to Bree.
"Come on, I won't tell Miss Platt."
"But she could fire me, then my mother will kill me!" The poor girl looked like a scared rabbit.
"No, I promise to be discreet. We only want to know what did you see. Only my brother and I will know."
"Do you swear it? I don't want to go to the police station, it's embarrassing enough as it is."
"I swear it. We don't want to cause you troubles."
Bree somehow was convinced, because she talked.
"The day of the party."
"Aha"
"I came back early, because the can of coffee we were using was finished and the cook asked me to bring her a new one."
Helen didn't understand what the little maid was saying.
"She asked for it in the morning, after the breakfast, and I forgot. Then we were at the party and Mrs. Jones, their cook, was bragging that someone brought them coffee from Marraquesh. Then I remembered the can and I came back early to retrieve a new can from the den and to get it in the kitchen, before the next day breakfast."
Now Helen was beginning to understand.
"The door of the den was closed, from the inside."
"You don't have the habit of closing it, right?"
"No. Mr. Cullen liked to keep his cigars in the den, on the last shelve, so it was always open."
"Did you get back later to get the can?"
Bree became nervous again.
"Hmm, well, you see, I was sure I would fall asleep if I got to my bed. So I hid behind the counter in the hallway and waited."
"And?"
"A woman came out, she ran to Miss Alice's room."
"Did you follow her?"
"Oh no, I ran for the can of coffee and left. Miss Platt could have seen me out of bed and she would tell my mother."
Helen didn't know if praise Bree or slap her, for her lack of curiosity.
"Did you see her face?"
"Oh no, it was too dark. All I know it wasn't Miss Alice because she's too short."
"How did you know it was woman? It was too dark"
"She wasn't wearing pants."
"How did you know she went to Alice's room?"
"The noise of the door closing, from there you can recognize which door is closing."
Helen dismissed the girl. It wasn't her fault not finding who was this woman. Helen smiled thinking about the way she determined it wasn't a man. And who would have thought Carlisle was going to be murdered?
xx
Later in the afternoon, Helen was taking the tea with Didyme.
"So your brother still thinks Mrs. Cullen is guilty?"
"Oh no, now he's dying to talk to this mystery woman."
"Mine thinks Edward had something to do with it. He's so stubborn. Even when Bella and Rosalie had pointed to him that it's impossible for Edward to be guilty. He'd asked one of his contacts in Rhodesia to check Edward's antecedents."
"Like a wife or a family?"
"Yes, he doesn't want Bella to marry him until the case is solved, and Edward proves his innocence."
Helen shook her head. Men!
"Are they sure it was someone from the house?"
"Aro thinks they're the only ones with a motive."
"Oh, then he didn't knew Carlisle! The man had many enemies. Emmett could probably tell them. Resentful employees, past business partners... The man wasn't a saint."
"He knows. When he was in Scotland Yard, he investigate him. Apparently he had some shady business with not so honorable men. But he never found anything to prosecute Carlisle. He was very clever."
Both women look to each other, they knew what kind of man Carlisle was.
"What did your niece said when Aro asked her to wait?"
"She had that smile, like she wanted to say 'as if you could stop me', but we convinced her to ignore him; which was very difficult that girl is too stubborn for her own good."
"And what about your other niece and Emmett?"
"He asked to talk to Aro after the reading of the will. I think he's tired of dealing with Carlisle's business. There's another one with a motive to get rid of him. I don't know how Carlisle convinced him to had any kind of relationship with Alice."
"I know! We always wonder what Carlisle knew to have Emmett doing whatever he asked."
"Who do you think this mysterious woman was?"
"I don't know, but I don't think it's a foreigner. Someone in town would have seen her and then told me."
"Yes, I think is someone of our own circle, otherwise she would have been noticed rounding the house."
xx
In another side of town, Edward was accompanying his friend Emmett to the reading of Carlisle's will. Emmett was anxious not only because of the people involved, but because he wanted to leave an excellent impression in Aro Volturi, so he will approve him to court Rosalie.
The people in the room were edgy, and it looked like bands were chosen. Alice was surrounded by Kate and Carmen; Renee was supporting Tanya, and Esme was running around the house getting the tea ready. Edward was seated besides Emmett. All of them were waiting for Aro and Charlie to come, they considered it important to the investigation.
Meanwhile both men were walking fast to the Cullen's home. They had a very productive day. Jasper finally told them that Carlisle died from an overdose of Veronal. He analyzed the box with the cachet which Esme provided, they were innocuous. The bottle of absynthe had traces of veronal, but not in the proportion Carlisle ingested, and they supposed he drank something else. Now more than ever they needed to find the glasses. The fingerprints in the french doors handles and the bottle were from Carlisle, so that was a dead-end. The letter opener didn't have any fingerprints. Then, if you added the mystery woman who was in the house the night of the crime... This case was getting more complicated each day.
When they got into the house, Aro greeted everybody with a nod.
Emmett cleared his throat to get everyone's attention.
"Let's begin. I'll try to jump the technical aspects of the document, and if you have any doubt, please wait 'til I finish and we will read it together." Everybody nodded in approval.
"I Carlisle Thomas Cullen, being of sound mind, bequeath all my assets in the next terms: To my cook from many years Adelaide Johnson I left one hundred pounds..."
Edward observed the room. Alice yawned because it wasn't of her interest, while her friends were serious and quiet. Tanya and Renee were smiling, they were happy to see Carlisle remembered the service. Esme was busy, picking the cups and cleaning the table. He had to admit Carlisle was very organized, he detailed everyone in the service, even Demetri, the driver. Edward always thought Carlisle didn't like Demetri, but there he was in the will.
Emmet made a pause and looked to Tanya.
"The rest of my assets, except Cullen Manor, are to be divided between my wife Tanya Alexandra Cullen, my daughter Mary Alice Cullen, and my friend for so many years Esme Platt. The house belongs to Esme and her niece Jane Prudence Platt."
The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Alice asked Emmett "Could you please repeat the last part, I think I didn't hear it well."
"Of course, the rest of the assets are to be divided between Tanya Cullen, Mary Alice Cullen, and Esme Platt. The house belongs to Esme and her niece Jane Prudence Platt."
Edward left his post beside Emmett and ran to catch Esme, because she fainted.