An Unsuitable Job for a Woman

Cordelia finds Sophie and Hugo Trilling with Isabelle de Lasterie and Davie Stevens. They are startled when she explains why she is there, and Cordelia immediately becomes suspicious that they are hiding something. Hugo plays off their shock by saying they’re surprised that Sir Ronald would hire a private investigator, as he “took no particular interest in his son when he was alive” (93). Cordelia learns that Mark’s old nanny, Nanny Pilbeam, visited him at school on his 21st birthday, about six weeks ago.

Cordelia asks the friends to describe Mark. They are uncomfortable, and finally Hugo says abruptly, “He was sweet and he is dead. There you have it. […] He was…a very private person. I suggest that you leave him his privacy” (96).

The four friends give Cordelia their alibi for the night of Mark’s death, saying they were all at a play together, and urge Cordelia to leave the case alone. Cordelia tests Isabelle’s knowledge of the play and Isabelle fails, not realizing that Cordelia has asked her opinion of a scene that does not exist in that text. Hugo defends Isabelle by saying she doesn’t speak English well enough to understand the question. As they are leaving, Sophie invites Cordelia to her home, saying she would be glad to talk more about Mark.

Cordelia is certain the group is hiding something from her and wonders where any of them could have killed Mark. She ultimately doubts any of them are capable of having done so.

Cordelia goes to Sophie’s house, where she learns that Sophie and Mark had been lovers for about a year. Sophie also tells Cordelia about Gary Webber, an “uncontrollable, violent” (104) autistic boy whom Mark befriended and came to babysit on occasion. Sophie and Mark had shared philosophical discussions about whether Gary and his family would be better off if Gary was dead. Sophie argued yes; Mark said no. Cordelia takes this moment to ask Sophie why she thinks Mark killed himself. Sophie refuses to discuss the topic then finally bursts out, “I didn’t know him! I thought I did, but I didn’t know the first thing about him!” (105). She also notes that meeting Miss Leaming at dinner one night felt like meeting a “prospective mother-in-law” (106).

The other friends arrive, and Cordelia eavesdrops on them. She overhears Isabelle asking the others if they can just pay her to stop her investigation. Hugo laughs and says, “not everyone can be bought” (106). Isabelle replies, “It is not, I think, a suitable job for a woman,” and Cordelia remembers Bernie once telling her, “You can’t do our job, partner, and be a gentleman” (107).

Cordelia goes punting with Sophie and Davie, getting a glimpse at what her afternoons might have been like if she went to Cambridge. The episode is carefully narrated with great attention to the scenery and the physical experience of the boat trip. Cordelia cannot bring herself to broach the topic of suicide in these circumstances, so she asks Davie about Sir Ronald. She learns that the lab he runs is very expensive and that Sir Ronald “cares a damn sight more” (110) for Chris Lunn than he did for his own son. Davie also reveals that Mark intended to return his inheritance to his father, and Cordelia realizes she must go to London and consult Mark’s grandfather’s will to find out who will benefit financially from Mark’s death.

During the interlude on the boat, Cordelia’s enthusiasm for the case begins to flag but she catches herself and resolves to see it through. The friends invite her to a party at Isabelle’s house that night, and she goes in hopes of meeting Mark’s former tutor, Edward Horsfall. While there, she discovers that Isabelle has a taste for fine art and a very decrepit, alcoholic chaperone.

Cordelia gets Isabelle alone and presses her about what happened when she last saw Mark. When Isabelle realizes Cordelia is referring to the visit she made to him the evening he died, she relaxes and speaks freely about Mark. She reveals that just before he dropped out of school, they took a trip to the seaside and along the way he stopped off to visit a doctor in a house, not an office. Cordelia presses for more information but Hugo interrupts, and Cordelia realizes they are trying to “shame her into giving up the case” (119).

Horsfall finally arrives at the party, and Cordelia asks him about Mark. When she suggests Mark may have been murdered, Horsfall says, “Unlikely, surely. By whom? For what reason? He was a negligible personality. He didn’t even provoke a vague dislike except possibly from his father” (125). Horsfall then explains that Sir Ronald could not have killed Mark because, by coincidence, he and Sir Ronald were at a dinner together the night of Mark’s death. Horsfall sat next to Sir Ronald and overheard him receive a telephone call from his son during the meal, around 8 p.m. Cordelia is surprised by this news, because Mark died between 7 and 9 p.m., so she tracks down the porter who took the call. The porter tells her he thought the caller was Mark, but when he next saw Sir Ronald after Mark’s death, Sir Ronald told him the call had been from Chris Lunn, not Mark. Cordelia interrogates the porter, not believing that he was mistaken, but the porter insists that whoever Sir Ronald said the caller was is who the caller was.

Cordelia discusses the case with Hugo, who urges her to ask Chris Lunn about the call, describing Lunn as “absolutely sinister” (130). Cordelia despairs over her ability to solve the case alone, then realizes that being on her own is “no different from how essentially it had always been. Ironically, the realization brought her comfort and a return of hope” (131).

Cordelia returns to Mark’s cottage and discovers someone took a large pillow and the strap she got from Sergeant Maskell and hung the pillow from the hook where Mark died, as if to resemble a dead body. Cordelia is terrified, as the perpetrator no doubt intended, but she notices that the knot used to hang the pillow is different from the one used on Mark.