A Shadowed Livery

by Charlie Garratt

  Spencer had brought me here after our little chat. He possibly still didn’t trust me but it seemed he was the junior man and it was Mitchell’s decision which mattered. As we’d walked from the canteen past several rows of huts, Spencer explained that Haleson had been pulled in that morning following several weeks’ observation. He had to stop his story numerous times when groups of soldiers walked past. He displayed a fascinating knack of being able to switch almost imperceptibly from disclosing state secrets to discussing the latest radio shows, and back again, when the men had passed out of hearing.

  MI5 had been alerted by the Foreign Secretary’s office when it appeared as if the German team had prior knowledge of what was being brought to the negotiating table. Several civil servants had been investigated and Haleson emerged as the most likely suspect when he was seen with a known Russian go-between. What Haleson didn’t know was that his contact dutifully passed material down the line but somewhere in that line it was being diverted to the Abwehr, the German intelligence service. It took a little more listening in to Haleson’s telephone conversations and interception of his mail before they could tighten the noose. They were tailing Haleson throughout this time and recorded my meetings with him. It was pretty obvious why they concluded I could be implicated.

  Haleson had apparently confessed everything, though Spencer didn’t say if it was before or after the young man had been beaten. He was misguided enough to believe the Soviets could prevent the outbreak of war and this had taken him down the path of betraying his country. He had the best of intentions but made the worst of decisions.

  I pulled a chair close in to Haleson and asked if he wanted a glass of water, which he refused. For a minute or two he didn’t seem to know who I was. Whether they’d also drugged him to get at the truth I couldn’t tell but he was evidently not fully in possession of his faculties. I had to speak to him several times before my voice sank in.

  ‘Inspector Given, what are you doing here? Can you get me out of this? Please.’

  He sounded pitiful and I decided to play on his need for an ally.

  ‘I’m sorry, Mr Haleson, but there’s nothing I can do. In fact, because of my association with you I was arrested myself. They only released me when it was confirmed I’d only been with you because of Tom Barleigh’s murder. That’s why I’m here. Is there any more you want to tell me now you’re in this mess? Get it off your chest?’

  This seemed to shock him out of his disorientation. He sat bolt upright in his chair and, for the first time, looked me straight in the eye.

  ‘What are you saying, Inspector? That you suspect me of killing Tom, his mother and Jenny? How could you think I’d do such a thing? Haven’t I been open with you in our discussions?’

  ‘I have to admit that I did think you had been truthful, Alan, but now I’m faced with new information. I wouldn’t for a moment have suspected you of being a traitor either, though now it seems you are. If you look at it from my point of view you must know I have little choice but to put you in the frame again, don’t I?’

  ‘What possible reason could I have for taking Tom’s life? He was my best friend!’

  ‘You know, Alan, I’ve been asking myself the same question — what would be your motive? And it’s why you were discounted at the beginning. But now? Well, you’re proven to be a liar, with no scruples about providing classified information to another country. I have to conclude that you could murder several people and tell me with a straight face that you’re innocent.’

  ‘But you have no evidence! I am innocent — I am!’

  My disgust got the better of me.

  ‘Maybe you didn’t kill the Barleighs and Jenny Bamford but you’re far from innocent. Your actions have put thousands, if not millions, of lives at risk and you know it. What difference would three more deaths make to you? You’re right. I have no evidence but I do have a theory and the evidence will emerge if it’s an accurate one. You’ve already said you and Tom were close and I believe you confided your treachery to him. You wouldn’t have called it that, of course. You’d have told him you were acting in the best interests of England, that those around you were fools and couldn’t see Communism was the best way forward. Even though you were Tom’s oldest friend you’d never have guessed how horrified he’d have been at what you were admitting. Seeing his reaction, you’d have to silence him so you waited for your moment, stole the shotgun from the gardener’s shed and shot him. Lady Isabelle came on the scene and you had to kill her as well. As for Jenny, you suspected Tom might have told her your secret and you needed to silence her as well, an easy decision once you’d killed twice.’

  Haleson continued to whimper and shake his head.

  ‘None of this is true, none of it. I didn’t kill Tom, you have to believe me.’

  ‘I don’t have to believe you, Haleson, and I will get to the bottom of this. For the time being I’m going to leave you to our mutual friends and see what they can get out of you.’

  Eleven

  Despite being half dead from my previous night’s activity I had Spencer drop me off at Grovestock House when we’d done. Mrs Veasey was surprised to see me at her kitchen door so early but soon had a decent breakfast on the table, which revived me no end. I asked Jervis to find Elizabeth for me and send her to the morning room when I’d finished. She seemed as unsure about how to approach the interview as I was myself when I invited her to sit opposite me in the window seats.

  ‘You were going to tell me something last night, Elizabeth?’

  ‘There were actually two things, James. One is relevant to your investigations and I hope you’ll believe me when I say the second one isn’t, at least, not directly.’

  ‘I suspect you’d best tell them in that order then.’

  ‘The first is about Marion Clark. She came to see me yesterday because she was worried about something. I can’t tell you what it was because she asked me not to, but in all conscience I can’t really keep it a secret. I told her she should come and see you, but I think you should have another word with her anyway, if she doesn’t. I feel terrible at letting her down.’

  ‘Don’t worry, Elizabeth. I already had an inkling she was hiding something from me, she’s been jumpy as a kitten every time I’ve bumped into her over the last few days. I’d planned to speak to her next week anyway.’

  I asked what the second thing was she wanted to talk to me about and suddenly the view out across the park seemed of great interest to her. I imagine she’d been rehearsing her words all night but they still gushed like a plug had been pulled.

  ‘On that first day in the garden I told you I’d spent the time after the shootings in my room but it wasn’t true. I’d gone up at first then went into the village.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘To warn my brother.’

  ‘Your brother?’ Even though she was admitting she’d lied to the police in a murder investigation, one part of me felt nothing but relief that the man she’d been seen with hadn’t been some kind of romantic liaison. ‘Three people dead in the house and you leave to spend time with your brother?’

  ‘It wasn’t like that. It was serious.’

  ‘How serious could it have been in those circumstances?’

  She closed her eyes briefly and took a deep breath. ‘Michael has recently been released from prison. He’d fallen into debt and stolen some money to pay his bills. He’d been stupid enough to leave a clue to his identity so his victim found him. Michael’s not a violent man but a fight broke out when he was confronted and the other man ended up in hospital.’ She paused. ‘I was frightened he might be dragged into what had just happened at the house.’

  ‘So you already thought something was suspicious about the deaths?’

  ‘No, not at all, but, you know … people put two and two together and make five. I couldn’t afford any kind of scandal. If Michael had been questioned as a suspect and it had come out he was related to me I’m sure I’d have been asked to leave. Like last time.’
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br />   ‘Last time?’

  She laughed a brittle little laugh.

  ‘You don’t understand, do you, James? When Michael was arrested before, I spoke to Reverend Gardner, hoping he’d sympathize and give me some time off to help Michael. Instead, he just gave me my marching orders, said I couldn’t be bringing any shame onto his position in the parish. That’s why I left so quickly. Why I wasn’t there when you came looking for me.’

  I slumped back in my chair. Deep down I’d always known it would come to this, the professional versus the personal. Now I knew why she’d left me and I was half-ready to forgive her. In the circumstances who wouldn’t have acted the way she had? But I couldn’t allow that to interfere with my case.

  ‘And you thought it better to hide this, in order to protect your brother and your job, rather than throw some light on three suspicious deaths? How did you know you weren’t aiding a murderer to escape?’

  ‘Michael, a murderer? How could you think such a thing?’

  ‘Quite easily. I know you lied to me about meeting him. I’ve known for a couple of days. But I don’t know anything about him except what you’ve told me. That he’s violent and been in prison.’

  ‘But he wouldn’t kill anyone!’

  ‘How do you know, Elizabeth, how do you know? All you have to go on is your faith in him as your brother. You should have told me about him straight away.’

  She glared at me with anger and frustration.

  ‘What? And risk you doing what you’ve done? Assuming he’s guilty because of mistakes he made in the past.’

  ‘I’m not assuming he’s guilty! But I do need to speak to him to make sure he’s not. You know I have to, don’t you?’

  Elizabeth stared out of the window again and I sensed a battle going on inside her head about whether to come clean. She remained silent for what seemed like an age until I felt the need to prompt her as gently as I could.

  ‘Now come on, Elizabeth, where can I find him? I assume you know?’

  In that moment I could see, as her eyes flashed, she’d come to a decision.

  ‘I’m not going to tell you that, James, and you’ll never find him.’ She stood up, straightening her skirt as she did so. ‘Now, I have work to do, at least while I still have a job, so I think we’re through, don’t you? And, by the way, I’d appreciate it if you’d keep your distance from now on.’

  Sir Arthur had been limping past the door when Elizabeth flung it open to make her exit, with me trailing in her wake, still trying to work out how to retrieve the situation. I let her go on and asked him if he could spare me a few minutes.

  ‘How can I help, Inspector?’

  I told him I needed to ask him some questions about his friend, Jack Sumner.

  ‘Sumner? What on earth on you want to know about him?’

  ‘There’s a couple of issues that have come up, sir, and I just hoped you might be able to throw some light on them. It seems he telephoned my Superintendent trying to get him to pull me out of the case. Have you any idea why he might want to do that?’

  He thought for a moment, pursing his lips.

  ‘I haven’t a clue. He’s a very good friend so perhaps he thought he was doing me a favour. He never said anything to me about it.’

  ‘The other thing I wanted to talk to you about was an argument Mr Sumner apparently had with Tom shortly before he was killed. Any idea why they’d have been arguing?’

  ‘Tom and Jack? I can’t see any reason why they’d have a row, but I can’t see why they wouldn’t have one either. Jack is my friend but Tom knew him well enough and was getting help from him on the wedding arrangements. One strand of Jack’s little empire is a food and drink wholesaler’s so he was looking to save us a few pounds.’ Sir Arthur chuckled. ‘Perhaps they’d disagreed about the wine list.’

  Marion was shaking when I beckoned her into the morning room and I could see she’d been crying. Thankfully, she’d given this up before she came through.

  ‘Come in, Marion. Sit down over there.’ I pointed to the seat in the bay window where the light was sure to emphasise anything in her face which would indicate she might be lying. ‘You’re not going to start crying again, are you?’

  ‘No, sir; at least, I’ll try.’

  She immediately looked like she was going to go back on this promise.

  ‘I think we need a little chat then, don’t you?’ I fixed her with my sternest look, at least the sternest I could muster for a pretty young woman who was falling apart in front of me.

  ‘I do, sir. I’ve hardly slept a wink since you were hurt. I didn’t know what I should do. I had a word with Miss Parry — she’s very nice, you know — and she said I should tell you the truth. I was going to come and see you when you were next in the house.’

  ‘That was very wise of you, Marion, and Miss Parry gave you good advice. Did you know she and I have spoken about you?’

  At this the maid clasped her hands over her mouth and shook her head violently.

  ‘But she promised she’d not tell on me! Why should she do that?’

  ‘Calm yourself, girl. She didn’t tell tales, she just confirmed what I already knew — and she did it without saying very much at all. Indeed, if you hadn’t asked to see me I’d have sent for you myself before the day was out.’

  This seemed to satisfy Clark and she regained her composure.

  ‘So come along then, Marion, what have you to give to me?’

  ‘It’s this, sir.’ From her apron pocket she pulled a large, manila envelope. ‘But how did you know I had it?’

  Indeed, it hadn’t been too difficult to guess something was wrong with the girl. She’d been pleasant and chatty before the episode in Tom’s bedroom but soon afterwards seemed scared out of her wits every time she bumped into me. Whenever I tried to engage her in conversation she’d make some excuse about needing to get on with her work and scurry out of the room.

  ‘I guessed it might have been something to do with the envelope I’d found then lost. You, like all the staff, knew I was looking for it — but before we get into that, I want you to clear something else up for me.’

  I pulled out my notebook and flipped through to find my record of her earlier statement to me. I didn’t hurry and was happy to allow the silence to keep the pressure on the maid. I made great play of carefully reading, and re-reading, my notes before eventually closing the book again and looking up at her.

  ‘When I interviewed you on the day I arrived here, do you remember what you said, Marion?’

  ‘I think so, sir.’

  ‘You told me you’d looked out of the window and saw Mr Barleigh in his wheelchair and Lady Isabelle coming towards him from the front of the house. Is that how it was?’

  Marion thought for a moment or two, her face set firm in concentration.

  ‘It can’t have been quite like that, Mr Given. Now you come to mention it, there’s a big bush hides part of the view. I’ve always thought it a shame it was there but you don’t seem to notice it if you look out of the window every day like I do.’

  ‘So you must have looked one way to see Mr Barleigh, then looked the other way to see his mother approaching, mustn’t you?’

  She nodded and bit her bottom lip.

  ‘Don’t worry about it, Marion; it’s only a small detail but one which might be important.’

  The young woman cast her eyes to the ground and I felt sorry for her, though we hadn’t yet got to the hard part of her revelations. I lifted the envelope from the desk and gave a quick look inside. I’d avoided giving it too much attention when she first handed it over as I wanted her to believe my powers of deduction were greater than they are. All the time we’d been talking I was itching to get at the contents, to tip them out on the table and to examine their secrets. I laid it down again.

  ‘Thank you, Marion. Now let’s get back to the reason you’ve come to see me. This envelope, where did you get it from?’

  ‘A couple of hours after your accident, sir �
�’

  ‘Accident? You and I both know it was no accident. You mean just after someone bashed me on the head.’

  ‘If you say so, sir. Well, it was then. I was cleaning out the room Mr Haleson had been staying in and I’d knocked over a flower vase. Thankfully it hadn’t broken but the water had gone everywhere so I went out to get a cloth from the kitchen. As I was passing Mr Jervis’s upstairs cupboard I remembered he kept cloths in there and, though I’m not supposed to go in, it seemed easier than going all the way downstairs.’

  I interrupted and asked her where the butler’s cupboard was located.

  ‘It’s by the top of the stairs that lead down to the kitchen. He keeps all sorts of things in there. His main pantry is downstairs, off the kitchen, but it’s full of the stuff he’d use for working in the dining room or in here. He finds it easier to have some items up there to save traipsing up and down stairs all the while.’

  ‘And the envelope was just inside the cupboard?’

  ‘Oh no, Inspector. The cloths are in a box at the back of the middle shelf. I had to lift it out to find one and the envelope was underneath it. It seemed very strange and, because I remembered you were looking for one like it, I had a quick peek inside. I could see straight away it was like the stuff Mr Barleigh had all over his desk, so I thought it must have been the one from his room.’

  ‘So why didn’t you bring it to me immediately? Were you protecting someone?’

  With this, the floods finally came. Great, gulping sobs, following a pitiful wail.

  ‘I shouldn’t have kept it. I knew Mr Jervis couldn’t have had anything to do with what happened but … oh heavens, I didn’t know what to think. There was you having been knocked out and three people dead in the house, and this hidden away amongst Mr Jervis’ things. I panicked and put it under my bed until I worked out what to do.’