Maisie Dobbs

The narrative opens one month later, with Billy continuing to offer support and advice to Maisie about how to set up her office. Maisie writes up a previous case and is reminded of her mentor, Maurice Blanche, and his lessons in methodology.

Maisie is surprised when her office doorbell rings. She admits a wealthy businessman, Christopher Davenham, who assumes he is there to see a “Mr. Dobbs” and is disconcerted to discover Maisie is the owner. He decides to stay and ultimately explains that he believes his wife, Celia, is having an affair. He explains that she leaves the house for several hours twice a week and is clearly not telling the truth about her whereabouts. He asks Maisie to follow his wife to learn her true purpose. Maisie, for her part, disconcerts Davenham by insisting her responsibilities lie not only to him but also to her beliefs about what he will do with what she uncovers. The two agree to work together.

Maisie crosses the Thames, taking in the city that has always been her family’s home as part of its working classes. She prepares to track Celia and follows her to the family home.

Watching Celia before following her via taxi, Maisie takes in her expensive clothing. Celia’s destination turns out to be the Charing Cross railway station. Maisie is surprised when Celia asks for a ticket to a small town outside London, Nether Green. Maisie purchases a ticket for herself in a lower-cost berth to remain hidden.

Maisie follows Celia out of the station, remaining close when the other woman stops to buy flowers. Making conversation with the flower seller, Maisie learns that Celia is a regular presence and that the stand does a brisk business due to the presence of a cemetery nearby. Celia walks there, and as Maisie imitates the other woman’s posture, she senses deep grief.

Maisie chooses a plot near the one Celia visits, realizing that her client’s wife is spending time in front of a specific headstone. Maisie takes in the grave in front of her. It belonged to a young man, Donald Holden, who died in 1919. She leaves her flowers there. Celia kisses a gravestone marked simply as “VINCENT. Just Vincent. No other name, no date of birth. Then the words, TAKEN FROM ALL WHO LOVE YOU DEARLY” (23). Maisie goes back to the station, reflecting that “the man Christopher Davenham thought was cuckolding him was dead” (24).

Before dawn the next morning, Maisie takes out her case notes in her office. She then meditates as her mentor taught her, in a pose reminiscent of yoga or mindfulness practice. She realizes Vincent’s grave is recent, suggesting he did not die in combat.

After following Celia a second time, Maisie weeds Donald’s plot and decides Celia’s grief is the true barrier in the Davenham marriage. The two women make eye contact, which assures Maisie the other woman will remember her.

Maisie stays at Donald’s grave, lost in her memories of war, especially of those survivors who were so deeply traumatized that their homecoming brought no real relief. The cemetery groundskeeper notices her and comments that it is upsetting that so few remember those who sacrificed for Britain. Maisie poses as a distant relative visiting Donald’s grave. She asks the man if all the graves in the area are those of former servicemen. The groundskeeper explains that many are and that the cemetery is a common location because it is near trains, and as families depart, “they can say another goodbye that way” (29).

The groundskeeper explains that Vincent died two years ago and had been living at a nearby farm that offered refuge to veterans with severe facial injuries who struggled to reintegrate into wider society. Vincent, whose surname was Weathershaw, was brutally injured at Passchendaele, one of World War I’s more notorious engagements.

Before Maisie leaves, the man, who introduces himself as Tom Smith, reflects on the uneasy coincidence that Vincent is not the farm’s only resident buried there. All those men, like Vincent, lived in isolation at the farm and cut ties with their former lives. Prompted by her intuition, Maisie asks Tom where his son is buried. Tom points to a plot, explaining that his son came home from the war severely depressed and died by suicide.

Maisie, like Tom, is struck by the pattern of young men dying mysteriously after surviving their time in combat. She takes down all the details of the case and resolves to continue investigating.