01 - Murder at Ashgrove House (23 page)

‘My lord, do come in,’ said Deacon, as Lane ushered the peer in to the
library. The inspector indicated a chair in front of the desk of which he was
seated the opposite side, and the earl sat down, as beckoned. The inspector was
impressed that, despite everything, the Earl of Belvedere did not sink in to
the seat and slouch dejectedly or broken, but instead sat upright as if to
attention. Deacon suddenly remembered something that his mother had once told
him about good breeding would always out, which he had dismissed at the time as
pure nonsense.

‘Firstly, I should like to express my condolences for your very great
loss. I realise that this must be a very difficult time –.’ Deacon was
interrupted from continuing his prepared spiel by the earl holding up the palm
of one hand to bid him to stop.

‘Enough, Inspector, I appreciate your kind words, but they aren’t
necessary. I know that you have got a job to do and would like to get on and do
it, and I myself, although shocked by this morning’s events, am not devastated
by them.’

‘Indeed?’ The inspector eyed the earl with curiosity. Whatever reaction
he had been expecting from Lord Belvedere, it was not this. To his mind, the
man looked remarkably composed as if they were sitting down to discuss the
weather or a business transaction, certainly not his wife’s untimely death, and
her murder at that.

‘Well, in which case, my lord, I’ll get straight down to business, and if
you would be so good as to give me full answers to my questions, then I do not
think I will have to detain you for too long. Firstly, I should like to ask
whether to your knowledge your wife had any enemies, or anyone who might wish
her harm.’

‘I imagine ... no, I know for a fact, that my wife was disliked by many
people. She had rather an unfortunate manner, Inspector. She tended to rub
people up the wrong way. But actual enemies, people who would want to do her
actual physical harm, I think not.’

‘And yet someone did kill her deliberately.’

‘You are sure, Inspector, it couldn’t have been an unfortunate accident?’

‘There can be no doubt, I’m afraid. It was definitely a premeditated act;
your wife was murdered, my lord. Late last night, or in the early hours of this
morning, someone deliberately broke into Sir William’s gun cabinet by forcing
the lock. His shotgun was then removed, used and returned, the fingerprints
wiped clean.’

‘The fingerprints were wiped from the weapon, you say?’ queried the earl.

‘Yes, they were deliberately wiped from the gun either by the murderer himself,’
said Deacon, slowly, ‘or by someone else not wishing a member of the household
or one of the guests to be incriminated. Whichever scenario, Lord Belvedere,
I’m afraid that the murderer is in this house.’

‘Yes, I see,’ agreed the earl, ‘as you say, there appears no room for
doubt.’  

‘I appreciate this may sound rather intrusive, sir, but would you be so
good as to describe your relationship with your wife. From what you have said,
you were not particularly close?’

‘No, we weren’t, Inspector, but it was hardly surprising or a cause for
distress. A man in my position needs above all to marry a suitable wife and
Marjorie was that. Her family was rather disgustingly wealthy and her aim was
to marry a man of title and estates. What was more, she was prepared to do
whatever was necessary to retain her position. When she was young she was
remarkably beautiful and managed to keep the more unattractive qualities of her
character well hidden.  By the time she had revealed more fully her true
character, we had both become settled in our ways, our own separate little
worlds, I in my library with my books and she with her charitable works. So you
see, Inspector, we managed to rub along quite well.’

‘And, if you don’t mind my asking,’ said the inspector, rather apologetically,
‘now she is gone?’

‘I expect my life will go along very much on the same lines as before. I
doubt whether anything will very much change, Inspector, other than that my
children might come home to Sedgwick more often.’

‘I see. I’d now like to ask you what may seem like a rather strange
question. Are you aware that your son appears to have formed a certain
attachment to Miss Simpson?’ enquired Deacon. ‘Suppose, just hypothetically you
understand, they intended to marry, what would your thoughts be on that?’

‘If you suppose that I’d be shocked or that I’d do everything in my power
to try and put a stop to it, then I’m afraid I must disappoint you, Inspector,’
replied the earl, firmly. ‘Miss Simpson appears, from what little I have seen
of her, a very personable young woman. True, she does not come from the class
of woman I would be expecting the wife of my son to come from, but her head
appears firmly screwed on and I think she is probably likely to make Cedric as
happy as any woman can. And thanks to my wife’s family there is no need for my
son to marry into money as I was obliged to do.’

‘I see, thank you. Just two more questions, if I may. Firstly, as a
formality you’ll understand, we are of course asking for everyone’s movements
this morning. So I would be grateful if you could oblige me by telling me where
you were this morning, between say nine thirty and ten thirty?’

‘That’s easy, Inspector, I was in the library. I breakfasted early as
usual and retired there to have one last go at Sir William’s books before we
left for Sedgwick. And before you ask, there is no-one to my knowledge who can
vouch for me and say that I was there all that time. I am most insistent that I
am never to be disturbed when I’m cataloguing books.  And unfortunately I
did not open the door once so did not see anyone go into the study to return
the gun, and I also had no idea that my wife intended to go for a walk with
Miss Simpson this morning.’

‘Thank you. Now just one last question, if you please. Whose idea was it
to come to Ashgrove this weekend?’

‘My wife’s, Inspector. She’d got wind somehow that Lavinia would be here
and she insisted that we come down and that I accompany her; she wouldn’t take
no for an answer in fact.’

‘He’s a bit of a cold fish,’ said Lane as soon as the earl had departed
and the sergeant had closed the door firmly behind him. ‘He didn’t show any
emotion at all; strange if you ask me, not natural. His wife’s just been bumped
off and he acts as if nothing untoward has happened.’

‘He’s been brought up to keep his emotions bottled up, Lane, stiff upper
lip and all that. And he admitted himself that he and his wife weren’t
particularly close. Although he didn’t say so in as many words, I would hazard
a guess that he didn’t like her very much and that her death comes as a bit of
a relief.’

‘Disliked her enough to kill her, do you think, sir?’

‘I wouldn’t go so far as to say that, Sergeant. I’m minded to believe him
when he says that they muddled along quite happily with each doing their own
thing and seldom the twain meeting, so to speak. Unless he’s got some woman
stashed away, I can’t see what he’d particularly have to gain by getting rid of
his wife.’

‘Pity,’ said the sergeant, looking despondent, ‘nine times out of ten
it’s the spouse that’s done it.’

‘Well, it looks likely that he’ll be the one out of ten that didn’t. But
it’s not all doom and gloom, Lane, at least your Miss Simpson’s in the clear.’

‘How do you make that out, sir?’ asked the sergeant clearly interested.

‘Well, now that we as good as know that Sir William’s shotgun is the
murder weapon, Miss Simpson can’t possibly be the murderer.’ The sergeant still
looked in the dark. ’Think, man. She would have had to bring the gun back to
the house and return it to the study before the maid discovered that the gun
cabinet had been broken into. Unless she had an accomplice who brought the gun
back for her, she couldn’t have done it. She wasn’t carrying a gun with her
when young Sid escorted her back to the house, was she? And anyway, she had no
opportunity to put the gun back in the study because she was never left alone.
First she was attended to by the servants and then Mrs Torrington sat with her.
From what we’ve been told, nobody thought she was in a fit state to be left by
herself.’

‘You’re right, sir,’ said Lane, brightening considerably. ‘She couldn’t
have done it. Well, I thought as much, didn’t I, sir, a nice girl like her.’

‘Appearances can be deceptive, as you well know, Lane,’ cautioned the
inspector. ‘Well, I suppose we’d better get the next one in; Lord Sedgwick, I
think, and then his sister.

‘You’re not inclined to bring in this Mrs Torrington first, sir, given
what Miss Simpson said about her trying to stop her from coming to talk to us?’

‘No, I think we’ll let her stew a bit, don’t you?’

The Earl of Belvedere returned to the dining room looking tired but
composed. Lavinia immediately ran to him and he gave her a brief hug before
moving on to Cedric.

‘Your turn, old man,’ he said. ‘That inspector seems a jolly decent sort,
nothing to worry about. Just answer his questions and you’ll be back here in no
time.’ He turned back to his daughter. ‘And then I expect he’ll want to talk to
you, my dear. As I’ve just said to Cedric, there’s nothing to worry about, he’s
quite the gentleman. I’m sure he’ll treat you gently, he appreciates what a
dreadful shock this has all been for all of us.’

‘Lord Sedgwick, do take a seat. I appreciate that this is an awful time
for you, but I’m afraid that I must still ask you a few questions.’

‘Yes, thank you, Inspector,’ Cedric sank heavily into the chair. He has
no concerns about slouching, thought Deacon, and his mother’s death has clearly
left him very shaken.

‘What you said in the dining room, Inspector. Is it true? Was my mother
really murdered? Uncle William seemed to think it was an awful accident, you
know, a poacher or something.’

‘I’m sorry, my lord, but that’s quite out of the question. Your mother
was quite deliberately murdered. Someone broke into Sir William’s gun cabinet
and used his shotgun to do the deed. It was returned to the cabinet after it
had been used.’ The inspector waited a moment for the significance of his words
to sink in. ‘I understand, my lord, that the majority of you went to Sir
William’s study last night to see a couple of antique duelling pistols that he
had recently acquired?’

‘Yes, but I already knew where my uncle kept his guns, if that’s what
you’re getting at, Inspector. We all did. Well perhaps not Mrs Torrington,
although she has stayed here often enough so she might have been aware of where
they were stored, and of course Miss Simpson wouldn’t have known before she was
shown the pistols. But no-one could possibly think that a girl like her would
–.’

‘What about your sister, my lord?’

‘Lavinia?’ Cedric was clearly shocked at the suggestion. ‘Well she’d have
known where the guns were kept, of course, and she’s a mighty good shot
although you wouldn’t think it to look at her. But absolutely not, Inspector.
She and I may not have got on that well with our mother, in fact we may even
have gone so far as to actively avoid her if at all possible. But my sister
would certainly never dream of doing such a horrendous thing, as indeed I would
not.’

‘I wasn’t suggesting that, sir, I was just trying to ascertain how familiar
she was with the guns Sir William had and where they were stored. Now, I’m
afraid that I need to ask you where you were this morning between half past
nine and half past ten. Just a formality, you understand; we will be asking
everyone the same question.’

‘That’s easy, Inspector, I was with Lord Sneddon. And,’ Cedric took a
deep breath, ‘I might as well tell you before someone else does, that I was
reiterating what I had said to him the night before. I was telling him in no
uncertain terms to pack his bags and go.’

‘I see, sir. I take it that this relates to his propositioning of Miss
Simpson on the staircase last night?’

‘He did more than that, Inspector. He threatened her. He was prepared to
take her by force. If I hadn’t been there, I dread to think what would have
happened. Anyway, I didn’t want someone like that in my aunt and uncle’s house,
I can tell you. He was supposed to be my friend. The sooner he leaves the
better, and I hope never to set eyes on him again.’

‘I’m afraid that won’t be possible, not for the time being anyway. I’ll
be asking you all to stay on here at Ashgrove for a day or two, until we’re
further on with our investigation. Now, tell me, were you with Lord Sneddon all
that time?’

‘Yes, he was being jolly difficult. Refusing to go and all that. He
accused me of trying to scupper his chances with my sister. As if I’d stand
back and watch her marry someone like him. I will do everything in my power to
make sure that she is left in no doubt as to the sort of man he is. She won’t
want to touch him with a bargepole once I’ve finished speaking to her, I can
tell you. And he was being very insulting about Miss Simpson too, Inspector. I
hardly want to tell you but he pretty much said that she was doing all the
running, had led him on, would you believe, was toying with both of us. As if a
girl like Miss Simpson would do that, she’s an absolute angel, Inspector, a
jewel. He went so far as to say that he was saving me from her, showing me what
sort of girl she really was.’

‘What were your mother’s feelings about your fondness for Miss Simpson?’

‘She was not very pleased, Inspector. She wanted me to concentrate on my
studies and then marry someone from the aristocracy. She tried to warn me off
Miss Simpson, said she was only interested in my money and position, but I was
having none of it. Although I suppose she only had my best interests at heart,’
he added rather wistfully, ‘but it didn’t seem like that at the time, I can
tell you.’

‘Indeed?’ Deacon looked at Cedric sharply and Sergeant Lane stopped
writing for a moment.