The Affair of the Mutilated Mink (29 page)

'Grandma was determined she wasn't going to die without anyone knowing the truth about her and Aylwin, and so when I turned twenty-one she told me the whole story. I guess it didn't really mean a lot to me at first, it was just a bit of a laugh to think I was descended from an English lord. But as the years went by I thought about it more and more.

'Grandma died at the age of eighty-one in 1913, and soon after that I started to make inquiries. I went to Last Straw, but it was a ghost town by then. The Baptist church had collapsed and there was no way of tracing a Reverend Jones after over fifty years. No doubt the marriage had been registered somewhere, but who could say where? Probably in Sacramento, the state capital, but two-thirds of the city was destroyed by fire in 1852, and there were devastating floods in '53 and '61. So there wasn't anything more I could do. All the same, some years later, when I could afford it, I consulted lawyers. They told me that a genuine, duly witnessed marriage licence would be accepted as evidence by any court on earth.

'I checked up on the Burfords and learnt that Aylwin had succeeded to the title in 1854 and died in 1884. That meant that my pa had been the rightful Earl for two years, 1884 till he died, and now I was. I knew, too, that the only way I could ever prove it would be if I could get hold of that licence. I was pretty sure it would still be in the casket, but as it was likely the casket was somewhere in this house there didn't seem any way I could lay my hands on it. I couldn't invite myself here, and I sure wasn't gonna be invited.

'All the same, I couldn't forget about it. I kept tabs on the Burford family, even arranged for a clipping service to send me everything that appeared on them in the English press. I don't know really what I had in mind. I was just always hoping that something might turn up. Then a couple of months ago it did. A clipping landed on my desk about the Earl. He'd become a movie fan and he wanted to meet Rex Ransom, my number one star. As Turner said just now, it was too good an opportunity to miss. I needed a good excuse for coming here, and thought of the movie idea. I had to have a script, though, and I searched through a lot of old screenplays until I found a suitable one. But because, as you said, I'd never had any intention of actually shooting the movie, I didn't bother to check up on the copyright, as I'd normally have done. So Gilbert turning up kind of threw me.' He paused. 'I guess that's about it.

Rex addressed the Earl and Countess: 'Lady Burford, George, I want you to understand I knew nothing about this. I'm as flabbergasted as you are.'

Lord Burford nodded abstractedly. 'All right, old man, understood.'

Gerry was still staring at Haggermeir. She said, 'And all the time you've been supposedly measuring and photographing the house, you've actually been searching for that Chinese casket?'

'Yeah.'

'Including my father's study, Thursday night?'

Haggermeir had the grace to look a little abashed. 'Sorry about that. Never figured on having to tangle with a lady. But I wanted to search the study as soon as I could, in case there wasn't a chance later. Thursday night I'd been working up on the top floor. I went back to my room to drop off my camera and found Laura waiting for me. We talked about the movie for a bit, and as soon as she left I went down to the study. I figured everybody'd be in bed. It was quite a shock when you burst in on me. I assure you I used the least possible force, but naturally I couldn't let you identify me.'

'I cut your face,' Gerry said.

'No, my forearm. I was in my roiled shirtsleeves and I had my arm up. It was quite a nasty cut.'

'I hope you don't expect me to apologise.'

'Not at all.'

Gilbert said indignantly, 'It was you who blacked my eye.'

'Yeah. After getting away from Lady Geraldine, I high-tailed it right up the stairs. Somebody'd turned the lights off and I ran slap into you. Didn't know it was you, of course.'

'And you let me take the rap for searching the study! You're a bounder, sir!'

'Take the rap, baloney! No one was going to clap you in the

'My reputation could have been ruined.'

'Your reputation! A washed-up hack who hasn't written a screenplay in ten years. You're on your beam ends, so desperate to do
The King's Man
and scrounge a weekend's free board that you forced your way in here uninvited.'

Arlington Gilbert leapt to his feet without warning. He stepped up to Haggermeir. Then his fist shot out and caught Haggermeir squarely on the nose.

Haggermeir fell back for a moment, then launched himself at Gilbert, fists flailing. However, Leather grabbed him while Allgood stepped in front of Gilbert.

'That's enough,' Allgood snapped. 'This isn't a barroom.'

Haggermeir took out a handkerchief and clasped it to his nose. With a great air of dignity, Gilbert folded his arms and took his seat again.

Rex looked at Haggermeir. 'For years I've lived in mortal fear of offending you, Cyrus. But that's over. You've used me to try and trick these folks. Well, no one makes a sucker out of me. I've made my last picture for you. I don't work for thieves.'

'Thief nothing,' Haggermeir snarled. 'I want what's rightfully mine. That casket was given to my grandma. Aylwin had no right to bring it to England. I still aim to get it back, and what's inside it. And I don't give up easy.'

'I'm afraid in this instance you're going to have to give up,' Lady Burford said quietly. 'You certainly will get no more chances to search the house. However, if it's any consolation, I have never seen such a casket as you describe. If it was here, you'd be more than welcome to it.'

'Thank you, Countess. I'll bear that in mind. Maybe I can't search myself any more, but there are other means. And I'm determined—'

Allgood interrupted. 'Just
how
determined? Are you determined enough to have killed?'

Haggermeir swung round on him. 'Listen, cop, don't try and pin a murder rap on me.'

'I don't need to pin it on you. This does it well enough.' He took a piece of paper from his pocket. 'This,' he said, 'is a photostat of a fragment of burnt paper I found in the fireplace of your room. It was badly charred around the edges, but what remains is quite incriminating enough.'

He looked round the room. 'You see, Carter wasn't the only person to discover why Haggermeir was really here. Laura Lorenzo also did. And she wrote him a note, telling him so and threatening to expose him.'

'It's a lie!' Haggermeir shouted, 'She didn't find out.'

'Just be quiet while I read this. Then, if you've got an explanation you can give it to us.'

He unfolded the paper. 'We've had the original of this checked against a specimen of Laura Lorenzo's handwriting. She definitely wrote it. This is what it says.' He read aloud:

'That the real reason . . . visit to Alderley is not . . . discuss making a movie . . . to expose a wicked . . . cruelly deceived a whole family . . . death at the age of . . . a young and innocent girl . . . married but he left her . . . having robbed her . . . valuable . . .'

Allgood looked up. 'It's easy enough to reconstruct the gist of the message. It no doubt read roughly like this:

'I know now that the real reason for your present visit to Alderley is not as you claim, to discuss making a movie. I think it my duty to expose a wicked trick, by which you have cruelly deceived a whole family. I know that before her death at the age of eighty-one your grandmother told you that as a young and innocent girl in America she had married but he left her to return to England, having robbed her of a valuable casket.'

Allgood paused. 'Well, I needn't continue with what obviously followed. The implication is plain. After Haggermeir received the note he—'

Haggermeir gave a yell. 'I didn't receive it, I tell you!'

'Yes, you did, and you burnt it. But you were careless, and one bit remained. Laura was a threat. If she exposed you all your hopes of acquiring the title - a thing which has become an obsession with you - would be shattered. You planned to kill her.'

Haggermeir's normally ruddy face was ashen. He whispered, 'No, it's not true.'

'It's no good. You were the only person in this house to have a motive.'

'I didn't kill the dame. I swear it. You gotta believe me.'

Allgood stared at him silently for fully five seconds, Then: 'I believe you,' he said.

A gasp went round the gallery. Haggermeir gazed at Allgood and buried his head in his hands.

Allgood said, 'Oh, everything else I've claimed is true. Haggermeir was the only person here with the motive. But
he
didn't kill her. Somebody else saved him the trouble.'

Lord Burford said bewilderedly. 'But it doesn't make sense. If nobody else had a motive . . .'

'I'll explain. This is one of those rare cases: a motiveless murder. And the explanation of that is simple. Laura Lorenzo was killed in error.'

'You mean the gun went off accidentally?' the Earl said.

'Oh, no. Murder was intended. But Laura was killed
in mistake for someone else
.'

'But in mistake for whom?'

'The only person she could have conceivably been mistaken for: your daughter, Lady Geraldine.'

Gerry's jaw dropped. '
Me
?

'That's right.'

'But - but that's crazy! Who could possibly have mistaken Laura for me?'

'The one person in this room who had never seen either of you before last Friday night.'

Allgood turned and his finger shot out. 'There's the killer of Laura Lorenzo.'

He was pointing straight at Jemima Dove.

Jemima Dove had gone white. For a moment she didn't move. Then she made a sudden grab for a small handbag she had with her and which she'd put down beside her.

Allgood's voice rang out. 'Don't bother to go for your gun. The bullets have been removed from it by my man Chalky.'

Jemima froze. Then she seemed to relax and slumped back in her seat, her face expressionless.

Lady Burford said disbelievingly, 'Miss Dove, is this true?'

'She's not Miss Dove,' Allgood said. 'The real Jemima Dove is at present working in Cambridge. I've confirmed that beyond doubt. She's planning to start work on your library next week, as arranged. This young women is another impostor.'

Gerry said weakly, 'But why did she want to kill me?'

'The story starts about two years ago, when she fell in love, desperately in love. For a time the man she was in love with was quite captivated by her. But gradually he began to notice clear signs of mental instability in her. At the same time he fell truly in love with someone else, and he broke off the romance. The grief and humiliation drove the girl right over the edge into insanity. Love turned to hate, both for the man and for the woman who'd taken him from her. She determined to take revenge on them both.'

Allgood looked at Paul. 'Carter, for a long time I've felt that you were keeping something back. I'm sorry, but I'm afraid you can do so no longer. You were that man, weren't you?'

Paul hesitated. 'Er, no. Well, in a way, I mean yes, but . . .'

'Carter, we've found a number of people who'll testify to the fact that before you met Lady Geraldine you were involved in a romance with another girl.'

'Yes, that's true.' Paul turned to Gerry. 'I'm sorry, darling. It was never really all that serious, and as soon as I met you - well, she was just eclipsed.'

Gerry summoned up a shaky smile. 'That's all right, Paul. You never claimed I was your first love.'

Allgood said, 'And ever since this young woman arrived here, you've been concealing the fact that you knew her and knew she was an impostor. Though, of course, you did not know that she was also a murderess. Aren't I right, Carter?'

Paul's face was a picture of uncertainty and anxiety. Allgood said, 'Very well, I won't press you to answer. I admire your chivalry, and we don't need your evidence at this stage.'

Jemima Dove spoke harshly. 'You admitted yourself that I couldn't have stolen that pistol from the collection room.'

'Correct. And I was held up for some time by a preconceived idea: that the person who shot Laura must also have stolen the gun. What didn't occur to me at first was that two people were involved, working together.'

In a horrified whisper Gerry said, 'Somebody else wanted to kill me as well?'

'Yes, Lady Geraldine. And who hated Carter for exactly the same reason that this young woman hated you. As she had lost Carter to you, so he had lost you to Carter. Isn't that true, Quartus?'

Hugh was standing up, very stiff and very still. He was breathing heavily. He said quietly, 'You're mad.'

'No, Quartus, you're the one who's mad. You and your confederate. I don't know which of you planned it, but I would guess you, and I admit it was very clever: a way of taking revenge on the two people who'd humiliated you beyond endurance. Kill her, and frame him for the crime. It was all carefully worked out. On Friday evening you, Quartus, rang up the safe company and obtained the combination of Lord Burford's safe. Later you got the gun room key from it, took the pistol, loaded it, and left it in some prearranged place up here on this floor. After you'd gone out, your accomplice arrived, passing herself off as Miss Dove. Before the party returned she came upstairs. She picked up the gun and waited. One thing you hadn't told her about, however, was the arrival in the house of Laura Lorenzo. As far as she knew, there was only one
young
lady here. Granted Laura was a few years older than Lady Geraldine, but she was so skilfully made up that that wasn't really obvious.'

Allgood turned back to Jemima. 'You saw this attractive and glamorous young woman coming up the stairs, and you naturally assumed it was Lady Geraldine. You followed her to her room and shot her. You claimed to have been in your bedroom when the second shot, the alarm shot, was fired. But it would have been impossible for you to have heard the shot from there, at the farthest part of the house and with your door closed. Just now I asked you all to go into your rooms and shut the doors. But
you
didn't. My man Chalky was watching from my room opposite and he told me a few moments ago that you left your door ajar and stood just inside it. It was essential you hear this shot, and you knew you wouldn't if you obeyed my instructions. But to revert: after murdering Laura, you just waited for Carter to come along. But he'd been delayed. Meanwhile, you, Quartus, were becoming anxious that Lady Geraldine and Carter hadn't turned up. The plan could be ruined. Naturally, you didn't know your accomplice had already shot the wrong person.'