They enjoyed their coffee for a few moments before Lily replied carefully to Lady Dedham’s earlier suggestion. ‘I don’t think you’re mad. In fact I think you’ve come to an accurate conclusion about the shooting. And I’ll tell you something else — the commander is of the same opinion. I’ve seen the notes. He had underlined your account of the third shot and put a question mark in the margin. It would, indeed, seem to have been the work of an organized gang. But no one needs to speculate … The moment Dr Spilsbury has made his report, we’ll know for certain. They can take a bullet to the police laboratory and identify the very gun it came from — should they be lucky enough to get their hands on it — by the pattern of striations along the casing. It’s the equivalent of a fingerprint for guns.’
‘Good Lord! Can they really do that? How clever! And how … reassuring. The police grow in my estimation every day. How wonderful for you to be involved with such a fine body as the Metropolitan Police. And it must be such fun working with Joe …’
She left a space into which Lily was expected to slide an answer. ‘Stimulating is the best I can say, Lady Dedham,’ she murmured with honesty. Sensing that her reply was failing to satisfy the commander’s admirer, she added: ‘He did save me from being stabbed in the bottom by a pimp on Paddington station the other day.’
This was what the lady wanted to hear. Her eyes grew round and a smile lit up her face for a moment as Lily told the story. ‘Oh, that’s the stuff! I draw the line at a punctured bottom but I should have so enjoyed such stimulation myself when I was young. I should have liked to do something truly useful had there been opportunities in that still-Victorian world. As it was, I only took part in two women’s suffrage marches before I became engaged to Oliver. And, of course, pillar of male society that he was hoping to become at that time, he had to call a halt to such activities on the part of his fiancée. Straight from schoolroom to debutante to future admiral’s wife. I had my first child before I was twenty. Not much time for living, you’d say, Lily?’
‘I see consolations all around me.’ Lily waved a hand at the surrounding opulence and dared to add: ‘And you’re still young and — forgive me for saying such a thing at this time — full of energy and hope.’ This was not an acceptable comment from a stranger on the first day of bereavement and Lily tensed as the widow took her up on it at once.
‘Hope? What hope? Oliver and I were looking forward to the next stage in our lives. He was retiring from the Navy, you know. In the autumn. Coming home to us at last, like his hero Ulysses.’ Her smile was forgiving. ‘Like Penelope, I’d served my twenty years of loneliness. But, unlike Ulysses’ deserted spouse, I shall never have my man back from the sea. Hope gone, you see, Lily.’
‘Never!’ Lily said defiantly. ‘This isn’t the time or the place and I’m not the person to sound the trumpet so I’ll let the admiral’s hero do it himself: How dull it is to pause, to make an end, To rust unburnish’d, not to shine in use! Didn’t Ulysses say that?’
‘Lily! My dear! How could you know …?’ Cassandra began to breathe unsteadily, her composure shattered by the words. ‘That was Oliver’s favourite poem! And now I hear you giving his sentiments back to me. I hear him saying it: “Never grow rusty … shine in use …” And I don’t doubt he would have concluded: Tho’ much is taken, much abides.’ Cassandra seemed to draw comfort from the memory and the verse. She smiled bravely over the rim of her cup and changed the subject. ‘Does he terrify you?’ she asked.
‘He? Me?’ Lily stammered.
‘Yes. Your commander. You. He can be a bit of a steamroller. He terrifies me! So young. So competent. So demanding. One must not be taken in by the handsome exterior, the easy smile, you know. He tried to teach me to shoot. When all this was gathering … Oliver was unconcerned, of course. Thought he was indestructible … Well, the might of the Kaiser’s navy had failed to sink him, after all! Joe offered me a tiny gun — he could see I was worried — to hide in my bag and he showed me how to use it. Ididn’t catch on very fast, I’m afraid. Hopeless, in fact. After an hour’s practice, he shrugged and grumped at me: “Well, the noise might scare someone off, I suppose.”’ She rolled her eyes and pulled a rueful face. ‘I felt I’d failed him.’