The Nine Bright Shiners (24 page)

‘Roger, she's devoted to Miles. He's like a son to her. And – well, certain facts are going to come to light about Sir Reginald, which won't be easy for her, either.'

‘I can't pretend to understand all this. I just go cold. wondering what'd have happened if I hadn't turned up when I did.'

‘I know.' She looked up at him. ‘Surely your mother told you we were staying here? Why did you go to Rylands?'

He shrugged. ‘You might have moved back. I decided to try there first, and luckily the door was on the latch.'

As she'd left it for the children. Jan shuddered, remembering her terror for them. They'd recovered more quickly than she had. Excitement and a sense of importance had quickly banished their fear, and they were at the moment working their way through a large lunch, watched over solicitously by Edith.

Lady Peel was up in her room. Jan had told her as gently as she could about Miles, and the old lady made little comment, ‘I'll stay here quietly for a while,' she said, ‘and give you a chance to talk to your husband. But when the police arrive, I'll come down to see them.'

It wasn't till Jan had left her that she realized Lady Peel was probably aware that they'd separated.

Roger, who'd been watching the expressions on her face, broke into her thoughts. ‘We've the hell of a lot of talking to do.'

Jan closed her eyes wearily. Not now, she thought, please not now. And as if in answer, the doorbell rang through the house. The police had arrived.

In Webb's absence, it was Chief Inspector Horn, accompanied by WDS Lucas, who came to Cajabamba. Jan was glad that at least the woman detective was known to her. The Chief Inspector looked forbidding, with a hooked nose and shaggy dark hair, but he was a kindly man, and gentle with them.

Jan braced herself to repeat Miles's involved story. If he denied what he'd told her, the burden of accusation would rest on her. But to some extent, Horn forestalled her.

‘We were on our way to Mr Cody when the call came through,' he told them. ‘We'd tried to contact him without success all day yesterday.'

As had Jan herself. ‘You mean you knew it was him?'

‘We had a strong suspicion, yes, but the real break came this morning with a phone call from a Mr Plaidy, who's an art historian. He's just back from two weeks in Italy, and only learned of Marriott's death on his return. It was a considerable shock, because it was he who'd asked Marriott to investigate Mr Cody.'

‘Investigate?' Lady Peel said sharply.

‘Only as a journalist, ma'am. It seems he'd recognized some prints which appeared under Mr Cody's name – he'd seen them as a boy, in one of the Stately Homes. But he'd no proof of forgery, so, since he knew Marriott slightly, he asked him to look into it. And thereby sent him to his death.'

Jan drew a deep breath. At least hers wasn't the only testimony.

‘So your colleagues needn't have gone to Peru after all.' Lady Peel was sitting up very straight, and Jan wondered at her composure. But there was still another blow in store for her. Gently, the Chief Inspector, who had read Laurence Cody's letter, prepared her for it.

‘It wasn't a wasted journey, ma'am. Perhaps you're forgetting the sequins and the bandage.'

The old lady stared at him, and her face paled. ‘The third expedition?'

‘Exactly. When the police arrived after Mr Coverdale's call, they found valuable items concealed behind the wardrobe.'

The old eyes found Jan's. ‘The Punchao and necklace?'

She nodded. ‘They didn't steal them,' she said quickly, ‘there's a perfectly good explanation. I'll show you my father's letter. Roger brought it from home.'

‘But I don't understand. How did this concern Mr Marriott?'

‘I'd like to know that myself,' Horn admitted wryly. ‘Perhaps Mrs Coverdale can explain?'

Reluctantly, Jan did so: Miles's visit to the sick-room, his row with Edward and Rowena, the childish vindictiveness of the guy. Finally, his voice still echoing in her ears, she told of the association of ideas which led to his dressing Marriott's body in the discarded dummy's clothes.

There was a long silence when she'd finished. Then Horn said softly, ‘So that's it. No wonder it had us foxed: we'd two separate crimes on our hands, with entirely different motives. All along we'd assumed Marriott's death was directly linked with the bandage, sequins and wallet, whereas they were merely props which happened to be on hand.'

Jan, who'd been anxiously watching Lady Peel, saw the old lady sway and, slipping to the ground beside her, she took hold of her hands.

‘You do understand?' she asked gently. ‘They only did what they had to. It nearly destroyed them.'

The glazed eyes came down to her face. ‘Reggie and the others? Yes, I see that. But Miles – I feel responsible for him. He was put in my charge.'

‘His mother was unbalanced,' Jan said, ‘and Miles was flawed, too. You mustn't blame yourself; there was nothing you could have done.'

It was three weeks later. As the plane rose higher, the tiny figures of Edward and Rowena grew indistinguishable, lost in the vastness of the city spread below.

Jan leaned back and closed her eyes, letting the events of those last weeks drift through her mind. As promised, she had stayed at Cajabamba till Edward and Rowena returned from Peru, when the whole story had to be gone through again. She'd noticed a new gentleness in Rowena's attitude to her mother. Perhaps now Miles was no longer between them, they'd come closer together.

As for the treasure, it would soon be on its way to Peru. Jan hoped Quispe Tupac would have understood, realized that, in the museum, his own people would have a chance to see it.

Nor had the last week with Roger's parents been easy. Though he must have warned them not to question her, their obvious anxiety about her marriage added to her own stress. And now she was on her way home, with the problems she'd run away from still awaiting her.

She sighed, then, seeing Julie's concerned glance, managed a smile. ‘Glad to be going home?'

The child nodded, ‘It's cold in England.' She paused, ‘Is Daddy coming back to live with us?'

Jan glanced at Roger across the aisle, knowing from his tenseness that he'd heard the question. They'd had little time for private discussion, but he'd made it clear his brief affair was over, that he'd known it was a mistake from the moment he left home.

‘You'd better ask him,' she said quietly. The child turned to her father, and over her head, Jan's eyes held his. It would take time to read just to each other, to bury the hurt, but she knew now that she wanted to try. She waited as tensely as her daughter for his reply,

‘If you'll all have me,' he said.