Churchyard and Hawke (13 page)

Lady Hogg rounded on her son immediately, ‘Have you been gambling again, Charles? You promised me you had given it up. I should have known better. I wondered why you were missing for most of the night of the ball. I should have come looking for you . . . or perhaps not. We will discuss this later. For now I believe you wish to tell the superintendent of the money that was stolen from you in the burglary?’

The Honourable Charles had been glaring malevolently at Tom while his mother was talking, but now he turned his attention to Amos. ‘That’s right, I had more than a hundred pounds stolen, together with a wallet I left on the dressing-table in my room last night. It was gone this morning. One of the rogues must have taken it . . . either that or it was stolen by that scheming little housemaid who let the burglars in and ran off with them. She had probably nosed around the house and knew I kept money in my room. I wouldn’t be surprised if she had taken some before, I have missed the odd guinea on more than one occasion, but thought I must have miscalculated the amount I left around. I believe she was recommended to us by one of your policemen . . . ?’

‘We have yet to establish Miss Merryn’s part in the robbery, sir.’ Amos commented easily, ‘. . . if indeed she had anything at all to do with it.’

‘There can be no doubt about that, surely?’ The Honourable Charles queried, scornfully, ‘The girl had been carrying on with that young criminal who worked here under false pretences and now she’s let him in to rob us and run off with him. Any fool can see what has happened . . .’

‘You are being extremely tedious, Charles.’ Lady Hogg said sharply. ‘I have no doubt there are many things you need to be attending to while Superintendent Hawke and I go around making an inventory of exactly what has been stolen.’

When her son had walked off with a final malevolent glare at Tom, Amos spoke to Lady Hogg, ‘I would appreciate your help in making such a list, Your Ladyship, but first I would like to speak to my sergeant. I would also be grateful if we might take advantage of Miss Wicks’s knowledge of the house and servants for a while longer?’

‘You may . . . but I trust you will not keep her from her duties for too long. With this wretched burglary following so closely on the heels of the ball the staff are all at sixes and sevens. You will find me in the pantry, where that poor under-butler was attacked . . . although I fear he brought it upon himself by not locking the door when he went to bed, after all that was the sole reason he was sleeping there in the first place. If I discover he has committed a flagrant breach of his duties he will have to go . . . although trained staff are so hard to come by these days . . .’

While Amos was giving his instructions to Tom, Flora stopped two passing maids and gave them instructions about cleaning the burgled rooms. Amos set off after Lady Hogg and when Flora returned to Tom, he said to her, ‘Superintendent Hawke wants you to show me how you draw the bolts on the kitchen door that was opened on the night of the robbery.’

‘That will not take long.’ Flora retorted, ‘I can’t draw them. The top bolt is too high for me to reach and too stiff even if I could . . .’

Stopping suddenly, her eyes widened as she said, ‘Of course . . .! If I can’t do it then neither could Enid. She is not as tall as I am and so could not have reached it. Superintendent Hawke must have realized that . . . but if Enid did not let them in, then who did . . . and where is Enid now?’

‘I can’t answer either question,’ Tom replied, ‘but yes, he has realized that Enid wasn’t tall enough to reach up and draw the bolt, but thought she might have used something . . . perhaps a walking-stick from the hall?’

Flora shook her head, ‘The bolt is much too stiff for that, it must have been another member of staff . . . probably a man.’

‘That brings me to the next thing Superintendent Hawke would like.’ Tom said, ‘He wants a list of all male members of staff showing how long they have been working at Laneglos and any comments you might like to make about them. In particular, whether there is anyone you consider is perhaps not as trustworthy as he should be.’

Flora began to protest but Tom stopped her immediately. ‘He thought you might object and consider you were being disloyal to your staff but, as he pointed out, someone opened the door for the thieves and your first loyalty has to be to your employer.’

Her indignation ebbing away, Flora said, ‘He is right, of course, and I will try not to allow any personal prejudices to cloud my judgement. Many of the servants have worked at Laneglos for far longer than I . . . indeed, some have been here all their working lives! I doubt whether they are involved in the burglary, but it is a very nasty business and I realize you have a job to do, so we ought to get down to it right away . . .’

That evening Amos, Tom and Talwyn were talking at the dinner table about the burglary and Talwyn was adamant Enid would never have become involved in anything as dishonest as robbing the house of her employers, saying, ‘No, Amos, gullible she most certainly is - and trusting too, even of someone like this young London criminal who was working at the house, but she would not help him do anything remotely dishonest . . . in fact, I am very concerned for her.’

‘Flora . . . Miss Wicks, said very much the same thing when she realized Enid couldn’t have opened the kitchen door to them.’ Tom said, ‘In fact she became quite upset when she realized something might have happened to her.’

‘We are all concerned for Enid.’ Amos agreed, ‘and now we have established she couldn’t have opened the door I believe there is very good reason to be worried. We could end up with something rather more serious on our hands than a burglary. We’ll get a search started tomorrow - but without saying a word to anyone that we don’t believe Enid was involved. We must remember to ask Miss Wicks not to say anything about it for the time being.’

‘I have already suggested she should say nothing and she has agreed,’ Tom said, ‘but won’t it be obvious when we start searching for Enid?’

‘No,’ Amos said, ‘There is no need to mention her. As far as everyone involved is concerned we’ll be searching the countryside around Laneglos for anything unusual that could lead us to the burglars . . . We’ll get Lord Hogg’s gamekeepers involved too, they should be able to notice anything that’s not right in the woods around the house - and I fear that’s where we are going to find the answer to Enid’s disappearance . . .’
‘What possible motive could anyone have for wanting to harm poor Enid?’ A distraught Talwyn asked, ‘I doubt if she has ever deliberately done a bad turn to anyone.’

‘It’s a question that can only be answered when we find her - and perhaps not even then.’ Amos replied, grimly. ‘Unfortunately, we are dealing with men who don’t live by the rules that govern the lives of civilised folk.’

CHAPTER 19

Thirty hours after the discovery of the burglary at Laneglos, Enid’s body was found by one of the estate gamekeepers. It had been hidden beneath branches broken from trees and bushes in a small patch of scrubland at one end of the burial ground beside the church, only a very short distance from the great house.

The body was taken to the mortuary in Bodmin town, where a post mortem would be carried out. However, a preliminary examination was made on behalf of the coroner and from marks found on her neck the surgeon who would be carrying out the post mortem declared there was little doubt that she had been strangled.

The hunt for those responsible for the burglary at Laneglos house had now become a murder investigation.

The surgeon, a Doctor Sullivan, was young and keen and wasted no time in performing the autopsy. He was able to inform Amos that Enid had indeed been strangled - adding the unexpected information that the simple young servant girl had been pregnant at the time of her death.

Amos took on the distressing task of informing Enid’s mother of her daughter’s death and the manner in which it had occurred, but at this juncture he decided to say nothing about Enid’s condition at the time she was killed. He had a nagging suspicion that this and not the burglary might have been the motive for her brutal murder.

Talwyn broke down and cried when Amos returned home and told her of the murder and of Enid’s condition at the time of her death. He held her close until, pulling away and looking up at him she said fiercely, ‘You must catch whoever did this to her, Amos . . . this Jeremy, or Jimmy . . . it’s all so senseless.’

‘We will catch him,’ Amos assured her, ‘and I admit that right now everything points to young Jimmy Banks being responsible for Enid’s murder, but we still have a great many more questions than we do answers.’

‘How many more answers do you need?’ Talwyn demanded. ‘This young man obtained work at Laneglos using a false reference in order to become familiar with the house and all that’s in it so he could burgle it when the time was right. Along the way he seduces an innocent young girl and makes her pregnant. I still don’t believe she would have willingly helped him to rob the house, so it’s probable he persuaded her to come out and meet him - perhaps on the pretext that they would run away together and be married. Instead, he kills her and goes on to rob the house. He is a callous and calculating young criminal who deserves to be hung for what he has done.’

Releasing her, Amos moved to the sideboard where he poured brandies for each of them. Handing her one of the glasses, he said, ‘Your theory - and I am afraid that is all it is - has too many "probables" and even more "improbables". We now know it’s very unlikely that Enid could have unbolted the door herself, so whoever burgled the house would have needed the help of another - possibly a male servant. That immediately gives us another unknown murder suspect who must still be working in the house. Someone who would be aware that Enid was a very simple girl and under questioning could easily give his identity away - deliberately, or otherwise, and so he killed her in order to avoid being arrested.’

Sipping her drink, Talwyn was silent for a long time before asking, ‘What does Flora Wicks think of this latest theory of yours?’

‘It is not so much a theory as a possibility.’ Amos said, ‘and certainly one that could be used by a defending lawyer to put doubt in the minds of a jury should Jimmy Banks stand trial for her murder - and we will only learn what Flora Wicks thinks of it when Tom returns home. He is at Laneglos at this very moment, putting it to her. . .’

‘I have written a list of the Laneglos servants and employees, with all the details I know about their past lives, but I cannot honestly say that any one of them is a likely suspect for either the robbery or the murder of poor Enid.’

Flora and Tom were in the housekeeper’s sitting-room and she spoke as she handed him a few sheets of paper covered with her neat handwriting.

‘Didn’t you tell me that one of the footmen is a known womaniser?’ asked Tom as he took the list from her.

‘Chester Woods was a womaniser.’ Flora agreed, ‘But he married Peggy Kelly, the assistant cook, a year ago and to all intents and purposes has been a changed man since then. He’s had to be. Peggy is a strong no-nonsense Irish girl with a wicked temper. She’d murder him if she felt he was playing her up.’

‘No doubt a strong no-nonsense Irish girl is equally capable of pulling the bolt on a door and killing a girl she suspects of having an affair with her husband.’ Tom pointed out, ‘I’ll need to have words with her.’

‘Of course. Let me know when you wish to speak to her and I will make certain she is available.’

‘Oh yes. . . I’ll also need to know the names of any family and friends of Lord and Lady Hogg who were in the house on the night of the robbery and Enid’s disappearance. . .’

Aware of the housekeeper’s consternation at the thought of involving the family in his enquiries, Tom added, ‘Any one of them might have seen or heard something, albeit so trivial they might not even realize it has any significance to our investigations.’

Accepting his explanation, Flora said, ‘There was only family here with Lord and Lady Hogg. The Honourable Charles Delville, and Lord Hogg’s daughter and her husband, Sir Beville Lander. Lord Hogg’s son, The Honourable Rupert, Lord Hogg’s heir, had intended staying on for a while but I think he left because The Honourable Charles was still in the house, the two of them don’t get on and never have.’

‘Is there any reason why?’

Flora shrugged, ‘They are two very differing personalities. You have met the Honourable Charles and have no doubt formed an opinion of him for yourself. The Honourable Rupert is a very different man. He is quiet and studious and has something to do with the university in Oxford. He will be very upset when he learns what has happened at Laneglos during these last few days - not least because of the effect it could have upon his father.’

Before Tom could ask for further clarification of her statement, Flora explained, ‘Lord Hogg has never been a particularly robust man. The Honourable Rupert would be even more concerned if he saw the way His Lordship is today, he is not at all well. He is aware of the robbery, of course, but Lady Hogg has given instructions that he is not to be told of Enid’s murder, so I am afraid I must ask you to abide by her wishes.’

Tom nodded, ‘I am sorry to hear he is unwell and won’t involve him unless it’s absolutely necessary but I won’t be speaking to anyone today. I intend going through the list of names you have given to me and taking things from there.’

‘Does that mean you will be returning to Laneglos again soon?’

It was an apparently innocent question, but Tom felt - he hoped there was more behind the question. ‘You are likely to see a great deal of me at Laneglos in the next few days.’ he replied, ‘Superintendent Hawke feels that you and I get along so well he’s quite happy to let me carry on with the investigation here at Laneglos.’

Flora coloured up immediately, ‘I am willing to help the police in any way I can.’ she replied then, disconcerted by the look Tom was giving her, she added hurriedly, ‘We were all very fond of poor Enid and want to see whoever killed her brought to justice as swiftly as possible.’

‘He will be.’ Tom replied confidently, ‘Superintendent Hawke has sent a message out to every police station in Cornwall that young Jimmy Banks and his uncle are to be prevented from escaping from the county at all costs.’