Anthem for Doomed Youth (28 page)

‘Also, you are not officially a member of the force.’

‘I like “officially.”’

‘Daisy!’

‘Don’t worry, I won’t push my luck.’

‘I wish I could believe that. Anyway, obviously Rosworth couldn’t use the same method in killing Harriman as he had with the others. He must have had difficulty finding him in the first place. Harriman moved about a lot and hadn’t been long in Saffron Walden—’

‘He’s only been at the school since last September.’

‘That’s right, whereas Pelham, Halliday and Devine were all settled. They all frequented free houses that served Hertford Brewery’s products, which makes it tempting to
believe the gods were on Rosworth’s side! We’ll probably never know how he tracked Harriman down, but
apparently
the sergeant had been seen more than once walking in Bridge End Garden. Presumably Rosworth followed him there from the school or his house and seized his chance.’

‘You’re absolutely sure Rosworth was the murderer?’

‘Oh yes. The landlords and the brewery confirmed the dates of deliveries to the respective pubs. The width of the wheel tracks in the Forest matches the brewery’s horse-drays. And above all, Rosworth had a suicide note in his wallet that somehow survived being dunked in the River Stour. It must have been written before he set out on his last journey, because he exulted in having killed the three he buried in the Forest, but where Harriman was concerned he fulminated and hoped he’d get a chance at him before he died.’

‘It sounds as if he always intended to do away with himself once he’d completed his mission. He wasn’t driven to it by the police catching up with him.’

‘No, he probably laid his final plans when he read in the papers that we’d identified the bodies. He wrote that the only thing he had left to live for was getting Harriman. You could say he struck it lucky again, at the last possible moment.’

‘What I can’t really understand is why he then drove to Harwich, where he must have realised you’d look for him if you’d worked out who he was.’

‘Oh, everyone says he was a very reliable, conscientious and honest employee. My guess is that he hoped to load the barrels into the ship before doing away with himself. It must have pained him to take the lot into the harbour with him.’

‘Poor man!’ Daisy sighed. ‘I can’t imagine what it would
be like to lose your only child in such a horrible way. Let’s go up and give Oliver and Miranda an extra kiss. I’m glad you got home in time to play with them before bedtime today.’

‘Mrs Gilpin swore they’d never go to sleep after I’d
overexcited
them,’ Alec said with a grin, heaving himself out of his chair. ‘Luckily they dropped off right away. Are they too young to enjoy playing in sand?’

‘No, they love the sandpit in the Jessups’ back garden. Why?’

‘I talked the super into giving me next week off. We’re going somewhere where he can’t find me. I thought we might take the twins to the Isle of Wight.’

‘Marvellous!’

Daisy wasn’t thinking only about a week at the seaside with the babies – and Mrs Gilpin, of course. She thought of Pencote, Tesler and Miss Bascombe. She thought of the comparatively innocent victims: Sammy Rosworth; Halliday, slave to duty; Devine, living for so long with the boy’s death on his conscience. She thought of Sammy’s grieving father, and of the brutal Pelham and Harriman … On the whole, she considered, a kind of justice had been achieved, although, if they knew what she did, neither Alec nor his superintendent would agree.

She sighed. ‘Yes, marvellous idea,’ she said. ‘On an island, with any luck, we should be safe from Mr Crane!’

During the First World War, 306 British and
Commonwealth
troops were executed by firing squad in the field for deserting their posts and for cowardice. Almost all were non-commissioned soldiers. (Officers in the same situation were diagnosed with shell-shock and sent to hospitals.) The youngest was sixteen years old. In 2006, all were granted pardons by the secretary of defence.

Though Mr Tesler is fictional, FSSW did have a
history
teacher, Stanley King Beer, who was imprisoned as a Conscientious Objector during WWI. He was a vegetarian, and as no allowance was made for this, he survived mostly on bread and his health was seriously undermined.

Death at Wentwater Court

The Winter Garden Mystery

Requiem for a Mezzo

Murder on the Flying Scotsman

Damsel in Distress

Dead in the Water

Styx and Stones

Rattle His Bones

To Davy Jones Below

The Case of the Murdered Muckraker

Mistletoe and Murder

Die Laughing*

A Mourning Wedding*

Fall of a Philanderer*

Gunpowder Plot*

The Bloody Tower*

The Black Ship

Sheer Folly

Anthem for Doomed Youth

* coming soon from Constable & Robinson 

Carola Dunn
is the author of several mysteries featuring Daisy Dalrymple, as well as numerous historical novels. Born and raised in England, she lives in Eugene, Oregon.