Free The Corpse of St James's by Jeanne M. Dams Page B

and went to the palace. She was determined to move in with her mother. Obviously that wasn’t possible, but Jemima begged a bit of time off and took Melissa on a tour of the palace, since it was one of the days the State Rooms were open to the public. I suppose Jemima hoped Melissa would begin to understand why her mother loved working and living there, even though it meant separation from Melissa. It didn’t work. They had a furious row, which was overheard and noted with displeasure, and then Melissa did the unforgivable – slipped away when there were a lot of other tourists gawking at the art, and went roaming about on her own.’
    â€˜She didn’t! But that isn’t allowed, surely?’
    â€˜Not exactly,’ said Letty drily. ‘I’m not sure, in fact, how she managed to get away, but she was gone for some little time.’
    â€˜You’re not saying . . . she didn’t try to steal anything, did she?’
    â€˜No, apparently she was simply storming away from her mother, with no thought but to get away. That isn’t easy to do, however, in that maze of palace rooms. So she was found eventually. She was dressed down pretty severely and summarily ejected, and told never to come back. Jemima very nearly lost her job over the incident, and was told that in future she would have to see her daughter somewhere else, well away from the palace.’
    â€˜And did she?’
    â€˜Oh, yes. Jemima came home on her days off whenever she could. She was frightfully worried about Melissa, and asked if I thought she should chuck her job and find one nearer Bramber, where she could have Melissa with her. But Melissa was having none of it. She wanted to live in London. She was sullen with her mother, and often with me. It was all very difficult.’
    â€˜I expect she was at that age where girls hate their mothers,’ I said. ‘I never had any children myself, but I remember the turmoil of my own emotions when I was an adolescent. I’ve often said I wondered why Faust wanted his lost youth back. I wouldn’t have it as a gift.’
    â€˜You said that was the first time she ran away,’ said Alan patiently. ‘And the other occasions?’
    â€˜Two more, before this one. At least, two more that I know of. It’s possible there were others. She spent a good deal of time away from home, with her friends, she said. But unless she was away on a school day, when the school would report it, I wouldn’t necessarily know she’d been somewhere she didn’t want to tell me about.’ Letty sighed. ‘I thought I was right in allowing her a good deal of freedom, but . . .’ She raised a hand in a hopeless gesture and then let it drop.
    â€˜And the other episodes you knew about?’ Alan persisted.
    â€˜She came home voluntarily the one time, just when I was thinking about calling in the police. No explanation, no apologies, just walked in the house the next afternoon, as if she was coming home from school. Said she’d spent the night with friends, and I must have misplaced the note she’d left. But she wouldn’t tell me what friends. I wouldn’t have approved if I’d known she was planning an overnight. I don’t care for most of her friends. But I didn’t believe her, anyway.’
    â€˜And when was this incident, Mrs . . . Letty?’
    â€˜Let’s see.’ She looked at Jonathan.
    â€˜Last August,’ he said promptly. ‘I remember it perfectly, because it was only two days before . . . well, all this.’ He gestured to his legs and the cane by his chair.
    â€˜Yes, August. And then the next time she admitted going to London. That was in February, and a nastier, sloppier time of year to run off on holiday one couldn’t have imagined. She said she needed new clothes, and certainly she came home with some, but she flatly refused to tell me where the money came from. It wasn’t from me,