Murder at Locke Abbey (21 page)

The medical students had told her to talk to the dead as if they were alive, it helped to do away with nerves and to show respect for them, the cadavers had been real people after all, with families who loved them.

“From what I know of your son, he’s a fine young man, which I’m sure he learned from you.”

She pulled Cole Senior’s hand onto her lap, rubbing the back of it with her other hand. She looked over to Cole, who’s eyes were swimming with tears and feeling her own eyes well up, looked down at the hand she clasped.

“Oh, I’m such a fool.” She murmured softly. “Cole.” Her voice was filled with dread.

“Thea?”

She looked up at him. “
Your…” The pain in his eyes made it hard for her to say what she had to, for it would only increase his misery, not ease it. “Your father, he… He did not…” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“What is it?”

“Oh, Cole, there’s no easy way to say this so… your father was poisoned.”

Cole
froze for a few long moments, then asked. “I’m sorry?”

She took a deep breath. “I think that your father was poisoned.”

He stared at her, uncomprehending. “You… Why… What would make you say that?”

“
His nails, do you see the milk spots?”

“What of them?”

“They can be a sign of arsenic poisoning. When Dr Kerridge listed the symptoms, it didn’t occur to me to think of poisons. I’m so sorry, if I had thought of it, perhaps… perhaps we might have saved him.”

“Arsenic?”

“Yes.”

“But I’ve had these spots myself and I can assure you, they weren’t caused by poison.”

“No, but did you have them on every nail, running in stripes perpendicular to the nail bed?”

“But
…” He picked his father’s other hand up and examined every fingernail.

“I’m sorry.” Thea felt awful for not having recognised the symptoms, and for having told him the truth. Perhaps a lie would have been kinder.

Cole got up from the bed and began to pace the length of the room, back and forth. Watching him made Thea feel guilty so she looked back to Cole Sr.

“I’m sorry, Sir. I should have paid more attention the day we met, then perhaps… well, we might not have been able to reverse the damage but perhaps I could have saved you. I’m so sorry.”

“How long?” Cole asked, his voice harsh enough to make her flinch.

“Uh
, it’s hard to say with certainty, nail growth slows with age and during ill health. It takes roughly four to six months to grow out a finger nail completely, given the part of the nail bed we can't see, and how far up the striations are, perhaps two to three months, possibly less. The earlier stripes are more faint though, so he was probably being given a lower dose at the beginning.”

“He became unwell about two months ago.” He continued to pace back and forth. “I can't believe this!”

Thea had never seen Cole angry before and she wasn’t enjoying it now.

“Is there any way to be sure?”

“Yes actually, there is a test we can do. It hasn’t been tested in a court case but the results are conclusive. It can even tell us how much arsenic the victim- I mean
,
how much arsenic
your father
ingested.”

“What do you need?”

“Need?”

“For this test.”

“Acid, zinc, sodium hypochlorite, a glass vessel, tubing, a candle...”

“I’ll get you what you need.”

“I’m sure Dr Kerridge will have anything that I don’t.”

“
He’ll be here soon.” Without warning, Cole turned towards the door and with a roar of anger, slammed his fist into it.

“Cole!” Thea jumped up from the bed, frightened and worried.

She approached him with caution; his fist was still on the door and his face screwed up with pain.

“Cole?”

Suddenly his anger fled and he fell to the floor, cradling his injured hand to his chest. Thea knelt beside him, wondering what she could do to help him. When he lunged for her, she recoiled, afraid of his rage but instead of harming her, he pulled her to him and began to sob.

“I’m so sorry
,” she told him, her own tears falling in sympathy as she stroked his hair and back. “So sorry, my darling.”

When
his tears abated enough to let him speak, he pulled away slightly. “Don’t apologise,” he said as he wiped at his eyes. “You have nothing to apologise for.”

“I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“No, you should have told me, I’m glad you did; this way, his murderer can face justice.”

“I should have realised sooner though.”

“How could you? Neither I nor the doctor said anything about his nails.”

“But the symptoms still fit, I should have suggested it.”

“You are not infallible, Thea, and none of this is your fault. I’m sorry if I frightened you.” He reached up with his left hand and wiped her tears away with his thumb.

“Can I see your hand?” she asked.

Reluctantly he took his right hand away from his chest and she cradled it in her hands, gently feeling the knuckles.

“You haven’t broken the skin but this will bruise terribly.” As she gently palpitated the fingers, she became aware of being under close scrutiny. “You may also have cracked a knuckle, so it could hurt for weeks.”

“The prognosis?” his voice was warm again, with no trace of his earlier fury.

“As long as you’re easy on the joints and don’t pick any further fights with doors, you’ll be fine.
Applying ice will help keep the swelling down and I have some powders that will help to dull the pain a little.”

She raised his hand to her lips and pressed a kiss to his knuckle
s. It was a silly gesture, one you would make to a child, but he seemed touched by it nonetheless.

“We should probably get up off the floor before we’re discovered,” he said.

“We should,” she agreed, although held in his arms as she was, she had no desire to ever move again.

His brief improvement in temperament suddenly seemed to deflate.

“She did it,” he said.

“Who did what?”

“Selena. She’s the only person who has anything to gain from my father’s demise.”

“You’ll inherit the estate,” she said without thinking. She
blundered on as soon as she realised how her words must have sounded. “Not that I think you did this, you didn’t, you couldn’t, well, you probably could, you had the opportunity certainly but what I’m trying, very badly, to say, is that I don’t think for a moment that you did this, so I shouldn’t have said anything.”

The ghost of a smile graced his lips
.

“You are adorable when you’re flustered,” he told her.

“Good, because it’s something I’m prone to, especially around you.”

“So guileless,” he said. “
And you’re correct, Selena isn’t the only possibility. Or rather, I must consider all possibilities. What is it that you say? Assumptions lead to incorrect conclusions?”

“Yes.”

“Then we will consider every possibility.” With surprising grace, he jumped to his feet, then offered her his uninjured hand to help her up. “So, let’s approach this logically. His (much younger) wife will gain her freedom, she can marry again, or live out her days here; my sister already told me that Selena has put ideas into her head of leveraging her children for a better lifestyle. Equally, if a better marriage did present itself, I’m sure she would have no qualms leaving the girls in my care.”

“What about an inheritance?”

“I have no doubt father made provision for her, but I don’t know the details. He may have left her a sum of money, and he will certainly have left a trust for the girls, but he may just have given instructions that Selena is to be taken care of.”

“He never discussed his W
ill with you?”

“Never.”

“Do you know where he keeps it?”

“His lawyer will have a copy but he probably keeps his own
copy in his study.”

“The contents will tell us who has a financia
l motive but there are other possible motives.”

“Such as?”

“Jealousy, vengeance or revenge, possibly to cover up a scandal.”

“What kind of scandal could my father be involved in.”

“He needn’t have been involved, he could have been killed to silence him and his confusion of late would help to discredit him if he should tell anyone.”

“There are too many possibilities.”

“I agree. We would be better to look at each person who has been here within the past two months. Has your father been given, or does he regularly purchase a treat?”

“I don’t understand.”

“Is there anything he eats, regularly, that no one else does, boiled sweets perhaps, a liquor or other food stuff?”

“He’s partial to sugared almonds on occasion, but it’s not a regular indulgence.”

“We must ask the servants. If there is nothing, then we know the poisoner has been here with relative frequency over the past two months.”

“You don’t think the
poison was constantly administered?”

“No, if that was the case, he wouldn’t have appeared to recover
, then relapse. When he wasn’t being given the arsenic, he began to heal the damage it did.”

“Do you think that was planned?”
Cole asked.

“Hard to say.
It could be planned, drawn out to look like old age and a gradual decline, or it could have been that the culprit didn’t have the opportunity to regularly dose your father.”

“There are a lot of unknown
s,” he agreed. “Where do we begin?”

“We begin by keeping this between us. No one in the house can know
that we suspect foul play yet. I’ll tell the doctor and we will take the necessary samples to perform the test. We’ll have to go to his practice to perform it; even if I wanted, I don’t have all the equipment I need here. While I’m there, I suggest you and my father begin searching rooms, starting with the most likely, Mrs Cole, then moving onto the next most likley.”

“You think Selena is the most likely culprit?”

“I think she had the means, the motive and the opportunity. Did she not say that she brought your father hot chocolate each day when he was well enough?”

“She did,” he agreed. “You think
she poisoned it?”

“I think it’s
very possible.”

“
Our next best suspect is Mr Garwood. I gather there was no love lost between he and his wife, and three unrelated murders in the same home is so coincidental, as to be unbelievable. Surely his wife’s murder has to be related.”

“I’m inclined to agree, but why?” She asked.

“Mr Garwood is still a young man, as is my step-mother. Mr Garwood had the respected name, while his wife’s family had the wealth. It was a marriage of convenience and their lack of children would support that.”

“So you think they’re…”

“I think it possible. Both have lost a spouse.”

“But they show no interest in each other,” she argued.

“Which in itself could be suspicious. They avoid one another so well, that I could conclude they have something to hide.”

“That’s why you should discuss this with my father, he’s good at those kinds of insights and has noticed their indifference to each other before.”

“Even assuming we find the poison however, that doesn’t explain how Mrs Garwood was murdered, nor why Mary Potter was attacked.”

“I know, but the more pieces of the puzzle we put into place, the easier it becomes to complete.”

“We need
a eureka moment,” Cole sighed.

“A what?”

“A eureka moment. It’s something from my childhood, that moment when you suddenly understand something, such as an algebraic equation, and the instinct is to cry ‘eureka!’.”

“I like that.
”
She smiled. “I think I should send my father to keep you company while I get ready. I’ll ride into town on my own, so no one equates my visit with the doctor, and wait for him at his home.”

“
What if you are attacked?”

“
It’s unlikely in daylight but you needn’t worry, I’m an excellent shot,” she assured him. “Father insisted on it, as I have always had a tendency to wander off.”

“You carry a gun?”

“Not around the house but when travelling, I keep a four barrel pepper-pot revolver in my reticule. When riding alone, I keep it in my pocket.”

“I would feel better if you could take a steward with you.”

“The more people who know where I’m going, the greater the likelihood someone will realise my intentions and panic.”

“You think they might destroy evidence?”

“I do. As of this moment, your step-mother is unaware of your father’s death, so she will not get rid of the poison until she is sure she no longer has need of it.”

“Very good point. I’ll ask Black to instruct the staff not to say anything to her when she awakes, that I would prefer to tell her myself. While I speak with her, your father can search her possessions.”

“Good idea. Why don’t you come back to my room with me now and I’ll prepare a dose of the powders for your hand.”

“You don’t want to leave me alone,” he surmised.

“I don’t want you to hurt yourself again.”

“I won’t. I can't claim that my anger has faded, but it is under control, especially now that we have a plan.”

“Still, let me prepare some willow and cinchona bark for you, it will help with the pain?”

“Then I’ll make you a deal. If you take a groom with you, I’ll go back to your room with you.”

She frowned, knowing she’d been beaten. “Fine, but you had better pick someone you trust to keep his mouth closed.”