Mrs. Mannering gave her a look of utter dislike. “Your grandmother. The wonderful Lady Knott. When I found that they planned to send me to that home for unmarried mothers to have my baby, I went to her. I had always seen her as a kind person. I told her I’d work in any capacity for her if she let me stay and keep my child. And she told me that girls with my low morals got exactly what they deserved. And she had me shown to the door. And then I saw her granddaughter that night. Flirting with a married man. And Mr. Summers went to her bedroom. He came out soon after but I knew he’d be back, and she’d welcome him back.”

“That’s not true,” Belinda said. “I turned him away.”

“Women always give in. Such weak creatures.” She gave a snort of contempt. “So you gave me the perfect alibi, Miss Warburton-Stoke.”

“We know exactly how you did it,” I said. “You took Jonquil’s little cart.”

She gave me a cold stare, making me feel so uncomfortable that I wanted to look away. It was like the gaze of a snake. “I already knew it could carry several small children. I thought it would hold up and the rubber wheels made no sound. I hid it in the linen closet outside Mr. Summers’s bathroom. Then I looked through his keyhole until he was lying back in the bath, eyes closed. I came in silently. He opened his eyes just at the moment I grabbed his ankles and yanked upward. Too late. His head went underwater. He thrashed for a bit but it was no use, of course, as long as his feet were in the air, his head could not rise above the surface. When he was unconscious, I put towels all over the floor to mop up the water, dragged him out onto a towel and pulled him down the hall on the wagon. Then I put him on her bed and I stabbed him in the chest.”

“Where did you get the dagger?” I asked, remembering that we couldn’t find where that particular one had come from.

“I keep one by my bed, for self-defense,” she said. “I selected such a pretty one.” She looked at the inspector. “Now, if you will give me a moment I will pack myself a small suitcase, like the one I prepared for Mrs. Summers, then I shall be ready to come with you.”

“Go with her, Smith,” the inspector said.

She gave him a hostile look. “It is not seemly that a man should watch a woman selecting her undergarments. I shall return right away.” She stalked into the house. The young policeman went after her, standing at a respectful distance at the bottom of the stairs.

“I’ll go and keep an eye on her,” Rose said, stepping forward. “It’s my house. She is my employee.”