“Do you go every afternoon to your friend’s house? Is that not somewhat strange? I mean, do you never stay at home? Your friend never comes here, to your house?”
“You know, Inspector, since my parents died and I came to live with my brother and his wife, not only I became a burden on their lives, but also lost all and any freedom and privacy I could have had in my own home. The only thing that I still can do is to visit friends, but I have almost no friends here in the capital since I lived with my parents in Bath and was not a very sociable person. It was never easy for me to make friends, not only because I don’t particularly like the social life, but also because my character is not in line with trivialities and conversations of circumstance. That is why I use the only real friendship that I have to give me the luxury of leaving this house for a small period of time everyday, because, sometimes, I do feel like I don’t belong here.” after a slight pause the young girl concluded “As for Emma not coming here, that is due to personal reasons that only concern her and, obviously, I will refrain from mentioning.”
“Certainly Miss Elaine. Nor anything else was to be expected of a person of your position and education.”
Elaine looked, in a joking way to Stanley before saying to him:
“Is it just mu impression, Inspector, or you are not as a subservient a man as you would like to make us believe? Anyway, you can count on me for any help that I can give you. Now, if you don‘t mind, I will go to my room, try to have some rest, because I really don’t feel very well. In spite of the differences that me and my sister-in-law could have, Helen was my family, and I liked her.”
When Elaine left the room Stanley commented with Hardman:
“Do you know, Hardman, I believe that, not only Miss Elaine is not the sensitive person that her brother wanted to make us believe she was, but also is a person who can be of great use for us in the course of these investigations. Almost everyone with whom we spoke wanted to make us believe that they were trying to help us, but at the same time were looking at us in a very suspicious manner due to our social position… or rather lack of it, because these people do not believe that a policeman has even a place in society. Miss Elaine was the only one that was able to speak of that social difference without any caution. Therefore I believe that she was, of all of them, the most genuine and that if, there is in this house, someone who can help us, it is her. Miss Trevelyan is the kind of person who does not judge others by the family name, the bank account, or the social position.”
“But then, Inspector, why would Mr. Trevelyan say something like that of his sister? Do you believe that she pretends to be someone she is not when she is with him? Or maybe poor Mr. Trevelyan looks at his sister as if she was still a child?”
“I think Mr. Trevelyan knows exactly how his sister is. He only tried to make us believe in something that he knew was not true to try to avoid us to realise the kind of woman that Miss Elaine Trevelyan is.” heading for the door he added “Now it's time to talk to a person, whose version of the facts is essential, but which repulsion of police officers was perfectly dispensable. The illustrious Mr. Gardner.”
“The butler? Illustrious?”
Stanley did not bother to explain the irony of his words to an increasingly confused Hardman, who followed the inspector to the kitchen in search of Gardner. They found him speaking with Kate Reed, the maid of Elaine Trevelyan. Stanley had already seen the girl, a petite girl of nineteen years old, small and plump, maternal-looking, honest, sincere and that always had a prompt response. She had been one of the first to be questioned at her request, because she wanted to be free to attend to her Miss, as she called Elaine. Hardman, who had not seen her yet, became, as it was his habit around young pretty girls, silent and quiet, pressed to the corner of the room, looking at the girl from the corner of his eyes. When Gardner finished what he was doing he promptly went to Stanley:
“I believe you would like to question me?”
“Yes, I would , if you can spare us a little of your time.”
“Ask what you want!” the look was cold and the tone of voice was not too pleasant.