Churchyard and Hawke (17 page)

Detecting a hint of satisfaction in Flora’s explanation, Amos made no comment, instead, he asked, ‘Did Lord Hogg make it obvious when he was alive that he disliked his stepson?’

‘No, he wasn’t the sort of man to do that and wouldn’t have wanted to upset Lady Hogg. In fact he was very tolerant and had paid off the Honourable Charles’s debts on more than one occasion - as well as making arrangements for his illegitimate children, but he warned him some time ago that he would pay for no more. He had no illusions about his stepson and his will ensures he will be unable to bleed his mother dry.’

‘What will happen at Laneglos now? Will you stay on as housekeeper . . . at least, until the old housekeeper returns?’

The question came from Tom and Amos was aware the question was personal and not prompted by professional interest, but Flora had proved very helpful to them in the past and he awaited her reply with some interest.

‘The late Lord Hogg left Mrs Hooper, the housekeeper, a very generous sum of money in his will, enough to enable her to live quite comfortably for the rest of her life. As she is still not very well I think she will retire. The new Lord Hogg is expected to marry next year and with a new mistress in the houses Mrs Hooper would need to learn new ways. She is a little too old for that. I have met the future mistress of Laneglos and quite like her, although she has a strong personality which she will no doubt impose upon the household, but Lord Hogg has already asked me if I will stay on if Mrs Hooper does retire and I have said I would be very happy to do so . . . but you haven’t come here to gossip with me. I believe you wish to speak with Chester and Peggy Woods?’

‘Not immediately.’ Amos replied. ‘Before I do, Tom and I would like to chat with some of the other servants who work with the Woods. Perhaps you would tell us those who are particularly friendly with them - and those who are not.’

When it seemed Flora might protest, Amos said quickly, ‘I am not asking you to repeat any gossip about them, Flora. It’s just that I want to know who might be biased against them, or who is not likely to say anything to incriminate them, so your knowledge is important to us - and to them too.’

CHAPTER 24

The interviews took place in the study of the great house, put at Amos and Tom’s disposal by the new Lord Hogg, who also arranged for them to take a midday meal in the housekeeper’s dining room.

The 7th Viscount was a very pleasant and easy-going man and he seemed genuinely interested in what they were doing. After thanking Amos for recovering the property stolen from the house by the two Banks men he asked to be kept informed of the progress they were making into both the burglary and the murder of Enid Merryn.

By mid-afternoon, Amos and Tom had spoken with all the Laneglos servants except Chester and Peggy Woods. They had tried to be as discreet as was possible in their questioning, but in such a closely knit community it was inevitable that word should spread among the servants that the two policemen were particularly interested in the activities of the assistant cook and her footman husband.

As a result - and as Amos had anticipated - the few friends the pair possessed tended to give vague replies to any questions that might incriminate them. However, the majority of the servants seemed only too happy to mix gossip and fact in order to discredit the married couple - and Peggy in particular.

Thanks to his briefing by Flora and despite the disparity in the statements made about the two servants, Amos was able to make a fairly accurate assessment of the characters of the two people he suspected of involvement in either the burglary, Enid Merryn’s murder - or possibly both.

Nevertheless, the married couple were still able to come up with enough surprises to cast serious doubts upon their involvement in any criminal activities.

Peggy was the first of the couple to come to the study and she had lost none of the arrogant self-confidence she had shown during her previous interview with Tom Churchyard. When Amos asked her to tell him what she had been doing on the night of the Laneglos burglary, she inclined her head in Tom’s direction and said, ‘I’ve already told him.’

‘I am aware of that.’ Amos retorted sharply, ‘but we’ve been given some new information since then, so I want you to tell me what you and your husband were doing - and this time I want the truth.’

Leaning forward in her chair, jaw thrust out aggressively, Peggy Woods said, ‘Is it a liar you’re saying I am now?’

‘Yes!’ Adopting the same pose across the desk from her, Amos returned her angry scowl,’. . . that’s exactly what I’m saying and if you don’t start telling me the truth then I’ll know you’re involved in the burglary and perhaps the murder of Enid Merryn too. You’ll be taken to Bodmin police station and kept there in a cell until you do tell me what you were doing on the night of the robbery.’

For a few moments Peggy Woods maintained her pose, as though hoping to stare him down, but Amos’s glare never wavered and suddenly the assistant Laneglos cook’s shoulders sagged and she unexpectedly capitulated.

‘Alright, so I didn’t tell the truth before - and I wish to the Good Lord I didn’t have to tell you now - but better to lose me husband and me work here than be blamed for something I had no part in and that might have me sent to gaol for the rest of me life.’

‘If you’ve done nothing criminal you have nothing to worry about, but are you saying you had no part in the robbery or murder. . . ? That it was your husband? ‘

Startled, Peggy exclaimed, ‘Chester? Why, he no more had a part in the robbery than I did - and he hasn’t got it in him to murder anyone. Besides, he was sleeping like a babe when I left our room and was still snoring when I came back. The only thing Chester did wrong that night was to pour too much drink down his throat, same as he does all too often.

Remembering to whom she was talking, Peggy added hurriedly, ‘Mind you, he’s never been the worse for drink while he’s working, so I’ll thank you not to repeat anything I say to that Miss Wicks. She’s a nice enough young woman, to be sure, but she’s less understanding of the weaknesses of ordinary folk than Mrs Hooper ever was . . . despite the eyes she has for your sergeant here.’

Hiding a momentary urge to smile at Tom’s evident embarrassment, Amos said, ‘Anything you say to either me or Sergeant Churchyard will be in strict confidence, Peggy, but let’s forget your husband for a few minutes. What were you doing up and about on the night of the robbery. I would have thought you’d have been even more tired than your husband after all the cooking you’d been doing for the ball.’

For a long time Peggy Woods hesitated, as though trying to make up her mind about whether or not to reply and Amos prompted her, ‘I have already told you that unless there’s something criminal involved anything you will say to me will go no farther, Peggy, but I am investigating a murder and a very serious robbery which has now resulted in someone else dying, so I want the truth from you. You’ve admitted that you lied to Sergeant Churchyard when he first interviewed you and that immediately throws suspicion upon you. Unless you can satisfy me you weren’t involved then I have no alternative but to arrest you. If I need to do that I doubt very much whether you will ever come back to Laneglos again, innocent or not.’

Making up her mind, Peggy was no longer the tough aggressive Irishwoman feared by her fellow servants, ‘Alright, I’ll tell you . . . but I’m trusting you and your sergeant to keep your word and not repeat what I say to anyone else.’

Her glance went to Tom who nodded in uncertain agreement. Satisfied, Peggy began. ‘When I first came to Laneglos I was a young, raw Irish girl who knew no one here and found it difficult to make friends because of how I speak and because I didn’t know the ways of the people I was working with. I was very lonely, grateful to anyone who was at all kind to me. One of the gamekeepers, Harry Clemo, was kinder to me than anyone and, being a simple Irish girl, I suppose I let him become more familiar with me than I should have done, for all I knew he was married. Eventually people began to talk but I put a stop to it by marrying Chester . . . and I’ve made him a good wife, he’ll tell you that himself, yet I haven’t been able to wean him off the drink and sometimes I need someone to talk to . . . can you understand that? Well, Harry has always been there for me, so sometimes I slip away to meet him . . . and it helps.’

‘You go out late at night . . . or even in the morning, leaving a drunken husband in bed, just to talk to another man?’ Amos asked, sceptically.

‘I didn’t expect you to either understand, or believe me.’ Peggy replied with a hint of her earlier spirit, ‘That’s why I never told your sergeant the truth in the first place.’

‘Oh, I think I understand well enough.’ Amos said, ‘but, tell me, what does Mrs Clemo feel about her husband’s role as a comforter of unhappy women?’

‘You’ll not be telling her?’ Peggy said, showing concern once more.

‘Not unless I have to,’ Amos replied, ‘My business is catching criminals, not breaking up marriages. Where did you and gamekeeper Clemo meet and at what time?’

‘It must have been soon after eleven. Everyone in the house went to bed early that night, and we met in the hay barn behind the stables.’

‘How did he know where and when to meet you?’

Aware that her reply gave the lie to her story that she only turned to the Laneglos gamekeeper in moments of unhappiness Peggy said, ‘We made the arrangement when Harry delivered half-a-dozen rabbits to the kitchen earlier in the day.’

‘I presume you used the kitchen door when you left the house to meet with him?’

When the assistant cook nodded in response to his question, Amos said, ‘So it was you who drew the bolts on the door?’

‘No, they were already drawn.’

It was an unexpected reply and Amos said sharply, ‘The kitchen door wasn’t bolted . . . even though everyone was in bed? The butler has already made a statement saying he personally bolted the door just after ten o’clock.’

‘So he might have done,’ Peggy retorted, ‘but it wasn’t bolted when I went out . . . and it’s the truth I’m telling you.’

Unsure whether or not to believe her, Amos asked ‘Didn’t you think it unusual to find the door unbolted when everyone in the house was in bed?’

‘Not really. The kitchen door has always been used by house servants with sweethearts among the out-of-house staff, or from the nearby villages. It’s probably been used for as long as the house has been here without causing anyone any trouble before this. The servant who unbolts it always makes sure they bolt it again when they return. For that very reason I didn’t stay out of the house for very long, just in case whoever unlocked it came back before I did and locked me out. It’s happened once or twice to the maids and they’ve had to shiver outside until the scullery maid came out with ashes from the kitchen fire, first thing in the morning.’

‘Are you telling us the butler and Miss Wicks were aware of what went on, but said nothing to us about it?’ The question came from Tom.

‘I’d say the butler didn’t want to know. As far as he was concerned he’d done his duty by bolting the door last thing at night.’

‘. . . And Miss Wicks?’ Tom persisted.

‘I doubt she would have known.’ Peggy replied, ‘Had it come to her notice she would have done something about it, so the servants keep it very much to ourselves. There’s little enough freedom for us to enjoy as it is.’

‘But your husband would have known about it too?’ Amos suggested, ‘I believe he once had something of a reputation as a ladies’ man. How well did he know Enid Merryn?’

Tight-lipped, Peggy replied, ‘Chester was no better, nor no worse than any of the other servants at Laneglos. He knew Enid, of course he did, you can’t be living beneath the same roof for months on end without getting to know everyone else who’s living here, but I’d swear on me mother’s life there was never anything going on between the two of ‘em . . . and he certainly had nothing to do with the killing of her. Except for the drinking he’s behaved himself as well as any husband should since we’ve been married and I don’t let whatever he did before then trouble me. Besides, as I’ve told you, he was fast asleep in bed when I left him - and he was still there when I got back, no more than fifteen or twenty minutes later.’

‘And you saw no one else when you left the house - or when you returned?’

Peggy Woods shook her head emphatically, ‘No one.’

When she had been allowed to leave the study, Tom made a gesture of despair, saying to Amos, ‘That widens our list of suspects and could even mean that no one in the house deliberately opened the kitchen door to Alfie and Jimmy Banks. Jimmy would have learned of the use made of the kitchen door and he and Alfie could have slipped in when whoever it was went out.’

‘Perhaps.’ Amos was non-committal, ‘but it still doesn’t explain what Chester Woods was doing outside the house when Jimmy Banks saw him. It’s not only Peggy Woods who has been lying to us. Let’s have Chester in and see what he has to say to us now.’

Amos found it difficult to equate Chester Woods with the man Flora Wicks had described as being a womaniser until his marriage to the ebullient assistant cook. A small, thin man with a tired expression and an ingratiating manner, the word ‘weasely’ immediately sprang to mind.

When Amos explained to him that, in common with the other Laneglos servants, he had been called to the study in order that the two policemen might go over his statement once again, the footman said, ‘Of course, sir, I am as eager as any of the other servants to have those who robbed Laneglos and murdered poor, dear Enid brought to justice, but I really can’t think of anything I can add to what I have already told Mr Churchyard.’

‘Really?’ Amos raised an eyebrow quizzically, ‘Sergeant Churchyard and I believe there is a great deal more you are able to tell us. Matters that you not only failed to disclose when you were last interviewed . . . but which you actually lied about.’

Startled out of his urbane manner, Chester Woods protested, ‘What do you mean. . . ? I never lied.’

‘Don’t get deeper into trouble than you already are, Woods. A witness saw you outside the house when you claim to have been sleeping . . . and we have just spoken to your wife who has changed her statement and told us she was not in bed with you for the whole of the night. I think you had better give us a true account of what you were doing out and about, otherwise I will arrest both you and your wife and keep you in custody until we have it.’