An Unsuitable Job for a Woman

Cordelia continues her investigation, now tracking down the florist who provided the wreath at Mark’s funeral so she can learn the identity of the woman she believes is Mark’s old nanny. At the florist’s, Cordelia learns that “another lady came to enquire from Sir Ronald Callender” (138) and gets a name and address for Mrs. Goddard.

Cordelia and Mrs. Goddard have a conversation in the graveyard where Mrs. Goddard has been tending her husband’s grave. Mrs. Goddard tells Cordelia that she had been nanny to Mark’s mother, Evelyn Bottley. She recounts the family history, explaining that Evelyn’s mother died when Evelyn was born, and that Evelyn’s father never loved or respected her. Cordelia is sympathetic, seeing the parallels to her own parents. Mrs. Goddard explains that Evelyn met and married “Ronny Callender the Gardner’s son” (144). Cordelia is surprised to learn that Sir Ronald grew up poor and realizes that Mark taking a job as a gardener must have been a special slight for Sir Ronald, reminding him of the poverty he worked so hard to escape.

Mrs. Goddard was sent away during Evelyn’s pregnancy, and she barely saw Evelyn after Mark was born because Sir Ronald “couldn’t bear anyone to be near her” (146), which Mrs. Goddard sees as a sign of his devotion. But when she was briefly alone with Evelyn, Evelyn gave Mrs. Goddard a prayer book and asked her to promise to bring it to Mark on his 21st birthday. Evelyn then said, “If you do [forget], or if you die before then, or if he doesn’t understand, it won’t really matter. It will mean that God wants it that way” (146).

Mrs. Goddard brought the book to Mark and told no one else about it, not even Miss Leaming, who came to thank her for the wreath. Mrs. Goddard mentions that Mark asked her for the name of the doctor who treated his mother when she was dying. She also reveals that Miss Leaming had been an English teacher.

Cordelia believes the prayer book must contain a clue and races back to the cottage but cannot find any message in it. She continues to follow the trail of the investigation, tracking down the doctor who treated Evelyn. On the way to his house, she thinks someone in a van might be tailing her, possibly Chris Lunn, but manages to escape him. Once at the doctor’s house she realizes he must be the same doctor Mark had stopped off to see on his way to the seaside with Isabelle. The doctor is extremely old and senile, but Cordelia gets confirmation that Mark had visited, as well as “a gentleman” who behaved pompously and spoke to the doctor “as if talking to a servant” (154). Mark, on the other hand, showed compassion for the elderly man, even offering to come visit him to give his wife a respite.

Cordelia returns to the prayer book, this time searching the page for St. Mark’s Day. There she finds a “small pattern of hieroglyphics so faint that the mark on the paper was little more than a smudge” (156). Cordelia interprets the marks to be Evelyn’s initials and the date she wrote the note, and that “AA” must stand for Evelyn’s blood type. She remembers seeing Mark’s blood donor card in his wallet and that he was group B.

Following this new clue, Cordelia devises a plan to discover Sir Ronald’s blood type. She goes to Sophie’s house to borrow the phone and eventually finds out that Sir Ronald is group A, and that “his son had to ring a month or so ago with the same enquiry” (158). Cordelia goes to the library to confirm her suspicion: “A man and wife both of whose bloods were A could not produce a B group child” (159).

Cordelia goes back to the cottage and catches Hugo and Isabelle sneaking in. They are there to reclaim the painting Isabelle had lent to Mark. Cordelia confronts them, saying, “There’s something that both of you know and it would be better if you told me now” (164), otherwise she will involve Sir Ronald and possibly the police.

Hugo finally tells Cordelia the truth about the night of Mark’s death, that Isabelle had not been at the play with them but had returned to the cottage to speak to Mark. Isabelle admits she “knew he was dead,” adding, “it was horrible! He was dressed like a woman in a black bra and black lace panties […] he had painted his lips, all over his lips” (167). She describes seeing the pornographic images on the table, but when Cordelia asks her where the lipstick was, Isabelle can’t remember seeing any lipstick. Cordelia realizes that if “she hadn’t seen the lipstick, then it was because the lipstick hadn’t been there to see” (169).

Hugo explains that Isabelle came to find him, and he and the rest decided to fake a suicide by cleaning Mark’s body and dressing him in his own clothes. They “hadn’t it in mind to fake a suicide note; that was a refinement somewhat outside our powers” (169). But when they returned to the cottage someone had been there before them and already cleaned and redressed the body. Hugo and Isabelle deny hanging the pillow in the cottage to try to scare her. Cordelia believes they are telling the truth and is more convinced than ever that Mark was murdered.

After Hugo and Isabelle leave, Cordelia decides to go to London to examine Mark’s grandfather’s will and see who would benefit financially from Mark’s death. She then goes outside and finishes the digging Mark had abandoned. In preparation for her trip to London, she impulsively puts on Mark’s belt: “The strength and heaviness of the leather so close to her skin was even obscurely comforting and reassuring, as if the belt were a talisman” (174).