P. James: The Skull Beneath The Skin

'Most come by post in the same type of envelope as the paper and with the address typed. My wife didn't think to keep any of the envelopes. A few were delivered by hand either at the theatre or at our London flat. One was pushed under the dressing-room door during the run of Macbeth. The first half-dozen or so were destroyed – best thing to do with them all in my view. These twenty-three are all we now have. I've numbered them in pencil on the back in the order of receipt as far as my wife can remember and with information about when and how each was delivered.'

'Thank you. That should be helpful. Your wife has played a great deal of Shakespeare?'

'She was a member of the Malvern Repertory Company for three years after she left drama school and played a fair amount then. Less in recent years.'

'And the first of these – which she threw away – came when she was playing Lady Macbeth. What happened?'

'The first one was upsetting, but she told no one about it. Thought it was an isolated bit of malice. She says she can't remember what it said, only that it had the drawing of a coffin. Then a second came and a third and fourth. During the third week of the season my wife kept breaking down and had to be continually prompted. On the Saturday she ran off the stage during the Second Act and her understudy had to take over. It's all a matter of confidence. If you think you're going to dry up – drying is the theatrical jargon I believe – then you dry. She was able to return to the part after a week but it was a struggle to get through the six weeks. After that she was due to appear at Brighton in a revival of one of those thirties murder mysteries, the sort where the ingenue is called Bunty, the hero is Clive and all the men wear long tennis flannels and keep dashing in and out of french windows. Curious affair. Not exactly her kind of part, she's a classical actress, but there aren't a lot of opportunities for middle-aged women. Too many good actresses chasing too few parts, so they tell me. Same thing happened. The first quotation appeared on the morning the play opened and they came at regular intervals thereafter. The play came off after four weeks and my wife's performance may have had something to do with it. She thought so. I'm not so sure. It was a stupid plot, couldn't make sense of if myself. Clarissa didn't act again until she accepted a part in Webster's The White Devil, at Nottingham, Victoria something or other.' 'Vittoria Corombona.'

'Was that it? I was in New York for ten days and didn't see it. But the same thing happened. The first note arrived again on the day the play opened. This time my wife went to the police. Not much joy. They took the notes away, thought about them and brought them back. Sympathetic but not very effective. Made it obvious that they didn't take the death threat seriously. Pointed out that if people are serious about killing, they do it, they don't just threaten. Must say, that was rather my view. They did discover one thing, though. The note which arrived while I was in New York was typed on my old Remington.'

Cordelia said:

'You still haven't explained how you think I can help.'

'Coming to that. This weekend my wife is to play the leading role in an amateur production of The Duchess of Malfi. The play is to be given in Victorian dress and will take place on Courcy Island about two miles off the Dorset coast. The owner of the island, Ambrose Gorringe, has restored the small Victorian theatre which was first built by his great grandfather. I understand that the original Gorringe, who rebuilt the ruined medieval castle, used to entertain the Prince of Wales and his mistress, the actress Lillie Langtry, and the guests used to amuse themselves with amateur theatricals. I suppose the present owner is trying to restore past glories. There was an article in one of the Sunday papers about a year ago describing the island, the restoration of the castle and theatre. You may have seen it.'

Cordelia couldn't recall it. She said:

'And you want me to go to the island and be with Lady Ralston?'

'I hoped to be there myself but that won't be possible. I have a meeting in the West Country which I can't miss. I propose to motor down to Speymouth with my wife early Friday morning and take leave of her at the launch. But she needs someone with her. This performance is important to her. There's to be a revival of the play at Chichester in the spring and if she can regain her confidence she might feel that she can do it. But there's more to it than that. She thinks that the threats may come to a head this weekend, that someone will try to kill her on Courcy Island.'

'She must have some reason for thinking that.'

'Nothing that she can explain. Nothing that would impress the police. Not rational, perhaps. But that's what she feels. She asked me to get you.'

And he had come to get her. Did he always procure for his wife whatever she wanted? She asked again:

'What precisely am I being employed to do, Sir George?'

'Protect her from nuisance. Take any telephone calls which come for her. Open any letters. Check the set before the performance if you get the chance. Be on call at night; that's when she's most nervous. And bring a fresh mind to the question of the messages. Find out, if you can in just three days, who is responsible.'

Before Cordelia could respond to these concise instructions there came again that disconcerting pierce of grey from under the discordant brows

'D'you like birds?'

Cordelia was temporarily nonplussed. She supposed that few people, except those afflicted with a phobia, would admit to not liking birds. They are, after all, one of the most graceful of life's fragile diversions. But she supposed that Sir George was covertly inquiring whether she could recognize a marsh-harrier at fifty yards. She said cautiously:

'I'm not very good at identifying the less common species.'

'Pity. The island's one of the most interesting natural bird sanctuaries in Great Britain, probably the most remarkable of those in private hands, almost as interesting as Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour. Very similar, come to think of it. Courcy has as many rare birds; the blue-eared and Swinhold pheasants as well as Canada geese, black godwits and oyster catchers. Pity you're not interested. Any questions – about the case I mean?'

Cordelia said tentatively:

'If I'm to spend three days with your wife, ought she not to interview me before any decision is made? It's important that she feels she can trust me. She doesn't know me. We haven't even met.'

'Yes you have. That's how she knows she can trust you. She was having tea with a Mrs Fortescue last week when you returned the Fortescue cat – Solomon I think the brute's called. Apparently you found him within thirty minutes of beginning the search so your bill was correspondingly small. Mrs Fortescue is devoted to the animal. You could have charged treble. She wouldn't have queried it. That impressed my wife.'

Cordelia said:

'We're rather expensive. We have to be. But we are honest.'

She remembered the drawing-room in Eaton Square, a feminine room if femininity implies softness and luxury; a cluttered, cosy repository of silver-framed photographs, an over-lavish tea on a low table in front of the Adam fireplace, too many flowers conventionally arranged. Mrs Fortescue, incoherent with relief and joy, had introduced her guest to Cordelia as a matter of form but her voice, muffled in Solomon's fur, had been indistinct and Cordelia hadn't caught the name. But the impression had been definite. The visitor had sat very still in her armchair beside the fireplace, one thin leg thrown over the other, heavily ringed hands resting on the arms. Cordelia recalled yellow hair intricately piled and wound above a tall forehead, a small, bee-stung mouth, and immense eyes, deep-set but with heavy, almost swollen, lids. She had seemed to impose on the lush conformity of the room a hieratic and angular grace, a distinction which, despite the plainness of the formal suede suit, hinted at some histrionic or eccentric individuality. She had gravely bent her head and watched her friend's effusions with a half-mocking smile. Despite her stillness there had been no impression of peace. Cordelia said: