There were photographs taken of the bride and groom. They kept looking at each other as if they could not believe that this was happening. It seemed more poignant somehow than a young couple starting out, Anna thought, and perhaps more stable. She thought of her own wedding and what a day of happiness it had been. Who could have known how short a time they would have together. She was touched by Julius’s concern for her, not wanting this wedding to cause her more pain, and she determined to put that aside now and enjoy today with this happy couple in these beautiful surroundings.
Luke, looking quite different out of his work clothes in a smart suit, his hair newly cut and tidy, came over to her.
‘Wow, you look great,’ he said with an appreciative grin.
‘So do you,’ she laughed.
‘Looks like a good turnout and I don’t think we’ll get any trouble here,’ he said, ‘do you, Nell?’ he asked her as she joined them.
‘Hope not, but let’s wait until there’s been more booze consumed. It’s usually that which sets people off.’
‘Have you had some bad experiences?’ Anna asked, thinking how cheerful and pleased to see each other everyone was, obviously old friends from way back.
‘Not many, some of the security guards are good at keeping a watch on that,’ Nell said.
The speeches were started and after them Lucy’s beautiful cake, which had now been brought into the drawing room, would be cut, as not everyone was staying on for the sit-down dinner.
Anna was determined to see the cake being cut and on Lucy’s instructions she’d promised to try and taste a bit. Lucy always worried if the cake was too dry or not quite cooked in the centre and it was difficult to know how well it had cooked until it was cut. The dinner was to be served at 8 o’clock and after dinner there would be dancing until midnight, so while the speeches were going on Anna wandered back into the gallery, which was almost empty now with just the waiters collecting up the empty glasses and empty bottles of champagne. The door to the dining room was slightly open, so she peered in to have one last look at the beauty of the room before it was filled with people sitting down for dinner. To her astonishment she saw a woman there hastily putting something from the table into her handbag, the lit chandeliers above catching the glint of silver in her hand.
Anna stood transfixed for a moment; the woman was obviously a guest as she was dressed in a maroon silk suit with a pink feathery fascinator on her head.
She turned and saw Anna and said, ‘Just checking my place.’ She picked up a place card in front of her, studying it rather theatrically. ‘I like to see who I am sitting next to.’ Her expression dared Anna to dispute her. She snatched shut her large black handbag and made to leave the room.
Anna glanced at the table which was laid with silver cutlery and saw there was a spoon missing by one of the places where the woman had been standing, and looking further round the table she saw there were other pieces missing too. She’d seen the table when she first arrived, and she couldn’t swear to it, but she was sure the table was fully laid.
She moved in front of the woman and with her heart beating fit to burst, she said, ‘Excuse me, but I think I saw you put a piece of silver into your bag.’
‘Are you accusing me of stealing,’ the woman drew herself up to confront Anna, her mouth in a snarl, her eyes flashing at her. ‘How dare you, I’ll report you to…’
‘I’m sorry, but I’m sure I…’
‘Is something wrong?’ Julius came into the room. He looked from one to another.
‘Are you in charge here?’ the woman barked at him. ‘This woman has accused me of being a thief, I have never been so insulted in my life.’ She began to march towards the door.
Julius looked at Anna, his face stricken. ‘What happened, Anna?’ he asked quietly, moving in front of the woman as she tried to leave the room. ‘Just a minute, let me sort this out, can you tell me what happened, Anna?’
His eyes were on her, and she felt anxious. Had she imagined seeing this woman lifting the silver from the table? She glanced back at the table. There were quite a few spaces where the cutlery had been laid and surely the professional staff here would not have been so lax as to have forgotten or not bothered to lay each place correctly, and surely if they had she’d have noticed it the first time she’d come into the room earlier to photograph the cake?
‘I saw the door was open after Simon had closed it, so I came in, really to see the room again before it’s full of people, and I… saw this… woman and I’m sure I saw her…’ Anna paused. She was facing both the woman and Julius; the woman stared at her menacingly, Julius looking anxious.
‘Go on, Anna,’ he said quietly.
‘I thought I saw her put a piece of silver – a spoon – in her handbag, I saw it glint under the light,’ she said firmly, though inside she was petrified. Had she imagined it and the staff were slapdash at laying the table?
‘What a preposterous idea,’ the woman snapped, opening her bag and holding it out for them to see.
Anna and Julius peered inside; there was a wallet, a handkerchief, some make-up and a set of keys, nothing else.
‘There,’ the woman snapped it shut. ‘I expect this… person to be instantly removed for telling lies and making false accusations about the guests here. I shall be taking legal advice.’ She eyed them dramatically before moving closer towards the door.
Julius looked at Anna, ‘Are you really sure?’
‘Look at the table, there are quite a few bits of cutlery missing and I’m pretty certain there weren’t when I saw it before anyone arrived. I came in to photograph the cake for Lucy,’ Anna said, her heart in overdrive.
The woman was still some way from the door in the long room, but Julius stayed where he was to block her exit. He glanced at the part of the table nearest him, ‘It’s always laid up the evening before so the flowers can be arranged and what I can see seems all right.’ He glanced at the part of the table nearest to them. ‘You are sure, Anna?’ He put his hand gently on her arm, looking into her face, his expression troubled.
‘Yes, I only saw her take one piece, from the other end of the table. I’m sure I did,’ she felt faint now, unsure.
‘I believe you,’ he said, quietly.
The woman had moved away from him and was now at the side of the room, trying to edge to the door.
At that moment one of the security guards passed by, they did the rounds every so often and Julius called to him. ‘Pete, would you mind just a minute, Anna thought she’d seen this woman taking some of the silver off the table, there are some pieces missing at the top, but perhaps it has not been laid properly, though I find that strange as the staff are known for their attention to every detail. I can’t see anything in her bag, so Anna might have been mistaken, but just to be certain.’ He smiled as if it was nothing of great importance.
The woman tried to dart away but Pete stopped her.
‘Let’s just make sure,’ Pete said, managing somehow to get her bag off her. He opened it and carefully looked through the things they’d already seen in it.
‘You see, there is nothing, I have never been so badly insulted in all my life, I shall report you, make sure the company who runs this show is not used again,’ she blustered and put out her hand to take her bag.
Anna felt ill; she must be going mad imagining such things, and yet she was certain she’d seen her taking a piece of silver from the table. Why was this woman the only guest in the room? Did she really want to see where her place card was and if she didn’t like it change it to sit next to someone else? A not unheard-of thing; Anna and her friends had done it sometimes, but when they were much younger.
Pete, still holding on to the bag, said, ‘you haven’t much in it, but it is very heavy. He examined it and tugged at the side of the lining, which was secured by Velcro, and it ripped open. Pete put in his hand and pulled out three silver spoons, a couple of pairs of silver salt and pepper pots, two silver forks and a silver sugar sifter. ‘How did these get in here then?’ he asked quietly.
Julius said to Anna, ‘Please go and fetch Simon and ask him to bring another security guard with him, then go and sit down. You can have a glass of champagne, only one though.’ He smiled at her and she felt a great surge of relief, she was not going mad after all. She ran out of the room and into the gallery, there was another security guard there and she told him to go into the dining room as Julius needed him, then she went into the drawing room and saw Simon, with Cathie hanging round him, and she went up to him. He saw by her face something was up.
‘Julius wants you in the dining room; I caught a woman stealing the silver off the table. Pete is with him and I sent another security guard in.’
‘Bloody hell,’ he swore under his breath. ‘Right, I’ll go at once. Stay with Anna, Cathie,’ he said sharply as she moved to go with him. ‘Get her a drink or something, she looks all in.’
‘So what happened?’ Cathie asked grumpily, watching Simon leave.
‘I’ll tell you in a minute’ Anna said and was relieved when Nell came towards her.
‘All well?’ she said, smiling.
‘Not really, Anna said, and told her what had happened.
‘You caught her, well done,’ Nell said. ‘Sort of Agatha Christie and a hollow handbag, who’d have thought it?’ She looked delighted. ‘Come and sit down quietly, I must tell Tessa,’ she said, taking Anna’s arm and leading her into the gallery. She opened a door into a library. ‘Just sit here in this comfy chair, I’ll get you a drink,’ she waved at one of the waiters, who came over. ‘Give her a glass of champagne, she’s just caught a thief,’ she said and then seeing her sister called her over and told her excitedly.
‘Wow, clever you,’ Tessa said, ‘what happened?’
Anna took a gulp of champagne and repeated her story.
‘The silver cutlery we’re using today is worth quite a bit if you have a whole place setting. We only use this particular silver for small weddings and indeed with older people like today, but you say she had a sugar sifter?’ She half rose as if to investigate. ‘That’s worth a few thousand; it’s Georgian, Scottish silver,’ Tessa exclaimed. ‘Oh what a relief she didn’t manage to steal that.’ She put her hand to her chest as if to calm her heart. ‘Well done, Anna. She must have known her stuff and who knows how much more she’d have taken if you hadn’t caught her red-handed.’ She gave her a hug.
Nell had disappeared, but she was back in a moment. ‘They’ve taken her away, Julius and two security guards. I don’t even know if she was invited, but perhaps she makes a living from joining in parties, weddings or whatever, easily done I suppose if you dress for the part and mill around with the guests.’
Anna, enjoying the champagne, felt better, relieved to be with Tessa and Nell. In a few minutes, the guests would be going into dinner and half the helpers were going to have a break and their sandwiches.
Nell went to check on the place settings in the dining room to see what was missing and get them replaced as the silver the woman had stolen was still with the security guards.
Tessa said, ‘I wonder if they will tell the bride and groom now or later. It will be awful if it is one of their friends.’
‘It will, but as Nell said she might just be a thief who manages to get in and take stuff while the rest of the party is listening to the speeches or dancing or whatever.’
‘Someone should have been in the dining room. Was the door shut?’ Tessa asked.
‘I saw Simon close it after the cake was brought into the drawing room, but when I came out I noticed the door was ajar and I thought the food was being taken in. I wandered in and saw this woman hovering over the table. She said she was checking the name cards, seeing where she was sitting,’ Anna said.
‘Thank goodness you caught her,’ Tessa said grimly. ’The food comes in from the kitchen, there’s a small staircase leading to it behind that ornamental screen.’
Julius joined them with Simon and came to her. ‘For a moment you made my heart stop, Anna, when I thought you’d been mistaken. She was so convincing,’ he said.
‘Me too,’ Anna said. ‘That bag was clever, looked innocent enough.’
‘But she held on to it when I looked inside, so I didn’t feel the weight, but Pete realised at once,’ he said. ‘Well, I feel this calls for one small glass of champagne for all of us in honour of Anna,’ he smiled at her.
Simon poured them out and they lifted their glasses in a toast to her. She felt rather embarrassed and said so.
‘You saved the castle a lot of hassle, the insurance might not have paid up, or put up the premium too much for people to afford to come here. She’d probably have gone on to take more things while people were having dinner,’ Julius said. ‘You’re a heroine, Anna, really you are, Freddie will be very proud of you.’
His praise, the warmth in his smile and the tenderness in his eyes flowed into her like a love song. She scolded herself for her foolishness, Julius was just extremely relieved the thief had been caught and she was drinking champagne on an empty stomach.