Quest for a Killer

by Alanna Knight

  His tone was mocking to Danny but a swift glance in my direction said plainly, ‘No woman present.’

  While I was putting supper together the two men retreated. When they returned half an hour later I thought I detected a false heartiness in Danny, and Vince seemed more than a little preoccupied.

  I looked at them both. ‘Arm all right?’

  ‘Of course, you were a great nurse,’ Danny said smoothly. ‘Wasn’t she, Vince?’

  Vince nodded, a quick smile intended for reassurance, as he flicked open his pocket watch. I guessed he was now more concerned about the train waiting in Waverley station than his new patient.

  All too soon we heard the approach of a carriage. The two men embraced and I went out alone with Vince.

  ‘Tell me the truth,’ I said. ‘I want to know what’s wrong.’

  Vince stopped with his hand on the carriage door. ‘It is not good news, Rose. Those headaches, affected vision, Danny knows the score. All that circus work must have been the final straw.’ He shook his head. ‘Well, you’ve asked for truth and you must prepare yourself.’

  That deep sigh was from the heart. ‘Danny is going to die.’

  ‘Oh, dear God, no. When?’

  ‘It could be tomorrow, or next week or next month.’

  I think I already knew that. I was speechless, just wanted to cry.

  Vince took my arm and said, ‘I could take him back with me, put him in the cottage hospital at Ballater, but it won’t prolong his life. He wants to stay here with you. I must go.’

  He leant out of the carriage window. ‘He asked me not to tell you but this is too grave a secret to keep from you. He will never leave Edinburgh, Rose. You’re strong, you’ve coped with and survived many disasters together and I suggest you get rid of one of your complications by telling Jack the truth. I don’t know how he’ll respond, but I have faith in Jack. He’s a good man, hardly likely to take Danny off to jail or have him shipped back for trial in America.’

  We kissed goodbye and, standing by the gate, miserable and stunned, I watched the carriage disappear. I needed breathing space before I faced Danny.

  He called my name and came to the door. ‘Everything all right?’

  ‘We always remember last-minute things. We don’t see each other very often,’ I added lamely as we went inside.

  ‘Great seeing Vince again after all these years,’ said Danny. ‘Gee whiz, how prosperous he looks. Life has been kind to him…’

  And on and on he went, while I sat there watching him, aware of that dazed fixed smile on my face, knowing how little time we had, our future sealed by Vince’s verdict.

  We got through the rest of the day somehow.

  I wished now that Jack would return so that I could share my misery with someone. Any caring friend would do.

  I almost got my wish when, next day, the Rice carriage rolled up the hill. Danny fled as Elma emerged.

  She hugged me, full of apologies for not coming earlier, but of course I understood why.

  She gave me a reproachful look, however, and added, ‘You’re not looking well, Rose. Have you been ill – is that why you didn’t come?’

  I knew she was referring to the funeral so I muttered something about a head cold – a lie, of course.

  As we sat down at the table for the inevitable cup of tea, she sighed.

  ‘This is so nice. Seems ages since I saw you. How’s your nice lodger?’ she added with an impish smile.

  ‘Away to his parents in Peebles for a couple of days.’

  ‘You will miss him,’ she said archly and sighed. ‘Peter and I have missed you. Anything exciting to report about our investigations?’

  I could hardly say, Yes, as a matter of fact Sam Wild, also known as Joey the Clown, our prime suspect, is hiding upstairs at this moment. Instead I said, ‘Well, I have solved one of our intriguing little mysteries.’

  Her eyes widened. ‘You have?’

  ‘Yes, that threatening note, warning me, remember?’

  She frowned as if remembering was an effort, hardly surprising when so much had happened since, and I continued, ‘As a matter of fact, I’ve discovered where it was written.’

  ‘You have?’ She looked amazed.

  ‘Yes. Jack, my lodger, has been practising on the typewriting machine…’ And I explained about the faulty letter ‘U’ and how it matched up with the same letter on the warning note.

  Puzzled now, she shook her head. ‘And so…’

  ‘Well, don’t you see what this means?’

  ‘See what?’ she said dully.

  I laughed. ‘So much for your powers of detection, Elma. Don’t you see that it proves one thing for certain.’ I paused and when she made no comment, just staring at me, quite expressionless, I added patiently, ‘It proves that the warning note was written on the typewriting machine in the great hall.’

  ‘But that’s impossible!’ she said shrilly. ‘How could anyone—?’

  I interrupted, ‘It means that it could only have been written here in this Tower – unless there are hundreds of machines across Edinburgh with the same faulty letter. Which is extremely doubtful.’

  Again I waited for some response, but there was none. She was painfully slow on the uptake. ‘Don’t you see? Someone came into the Tower when I was out and printed the warning note.’

  ‘But it was posted in Edinburgh.’ She remembered that. ‘Surely the person who you say printed the note would have just left it here for you to find.’

  I smiled indulgently. ‘There’s a very good reason for that, Elma. The writer, our chief suspect, the killer, was very crafty: by carrying it away and posting it in Edinburgh, he hoped that it could not be traced back to him.’

  She was looking at me considering. ‘Have you still got the note, Rose? I’d like to see it and so would Peter.’

  And even as she said the words some piece of the puzzle clicked into place at the back of my mind.

  ‘I haven’t got it any longer. I showed it to Jack and he took it away with him.’

  ‘To the police station, you mean?’

  ‘Yes, he thought it might be important evidence.’

  She was silent for a moment. ‘You realise what this means, Rose. I’m sure it has occurred to you that you are in even more danger than you thought. That somehow this man Sam Wild, who we believe was responsible for poor Felix’s death, was always near at hand – at the circus as Joey the Clown, of course.’ She sounded quite excited now, as she added, ‘That’s it. He’d been lurking about nearby, watching your movements, waiting for just such an opportunity.’

  I tried not to laugh at her solemn and completely irrational explanation when she went on triumphantly, ‘And this, dear Rose, ties up with the other reason I came to see you. If your investigation hasn’t progressed, then Peter and I have some very exciting clues to add. You’ll never guess who was at the funeral,’ she added triumphantly.

  I shook my head. I hadn’t the least idea.

  Leaning forward she whispered, ‘Sam Wild was there.’

  ‘Sam Wild?’

  ‘Yes! We both saw him, beside one of the trees near the graveside.’

  ‘Were you sure about that?’

  ‘Absolutely certain. He was near enough for us to see his scarred face.’

  ‘Why didn’t you do something about it?’

  ‘How could we…make a fuss at such a time?’ She sounded wounded, irritated by my response, which was not what she had hoped for.

  ‘Inspector Macmerry, my lodger Jack, was there and some of his colleagues, on the lookout for just such an incident – that the killer might put in an appearance,’ I said.

  ‘Well, we didn’t see them,’ she said shortly.

  ‘A pity indeed. But at least you can tell the police what you saw and that Felix’s murderer is still lurking about somewhere.’

  She stood up to leave. I wanted her to go. I had a lot of thinking to do, for unless there was another man with a scarred face, an innocent spectator at
Felix’s funeral, then she and Peter were wildly mistaken.

  And since Sam Wild or Danny had never left the Tower, the story was either a remarkable feat of imagination or a complete invention.

  And the question I now asked myself was…why?

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  I felt rather ill after the revelations of Elma’s visit and decided to tell Danny. After all, he had been a detective.

  He listened carefully and at the end he said, ‘I realise you are reluctant to face the truth but there is only one answer to that note. And that is, Elma and Peter were the only ones who came into the Tower, apart from Jack and yourself. I think we can discount the possibility of a stranger entering; although you left the kitchen door unlocked, Thane would have seen any stranger off.’

  Pausing, he looked at Thane. ‘He is your clue, Rose. He would never admit anyone, unless he knew they were friends of yours, namely Elma and Peter.’

  ‘I’m sure it wasn’t Elma. She wouldn’t have known how to use a typewriting machine.’

  ‘Probably not, but Peter most likely did.’

  And once I had started, there were other things lined up against Peter. I told Danny how I had met Peter rushing out of the hospital and afterwards had heard that Felix had been murdered.

  ‘Jack tells me that Peter went into the station and described the scene. His awful shock at finding his brother-in-law dead…’

  ‘A means of diverting suspicion from himself,’ said Danny.

  ‘There was more. The man with the scarred face he saw disappearing down the hospital corridor was the same one who appeared at the funeral.’

  I looked at Danny. ‘The elusive Sam Wild again.’

  ‘Not only elusive but capable of being in two places at the same time.’

  Danny sat back in his chair. ‘It seems that Peter or, I regret to say, Elma too—’

  I shook my head. ‘No. I agree about Peter. But Elma, I can’t imagine: she has always been such a friend.’

  Danny was silent, considering. ‘How did you meet in the first place?’

  So I told him about her spraining her ankle on the hill and how Thane led me to her. How she was grateful for her rescue and took me to the circus.

  ‘That sounds normal enough.’

  ‘Frankly I was rather surprised that she suddenly wanted very much to be my friend, especially as I felt she must have many friends in her own social circle.’

  Danny sighed. ‘And so – I put it to you as gently as possible – flattered as you were, you did not consider there was a purpose behind this sudden friendship. What happened next?’

  ‘She took me to the theatre.’ And then I remembered. ‘Danny, there was a man who met her outside while I was in the carriage. True, there were only street lamps, but when we met in Edinburgh I was sure it was Peter. She insisted that the man at the theatre exit was just an acquaintance of long ago and that it could not possibly have been Peter who was in London at that time. I must confess, I was never convinced about that either.’

  ‘If you were right, then Peter Lambsworth was in Edinburgh at the time of her husband’s attack.’

  And that led me to Hodge, Miles Rice’s devoted valet, and my meeting with him.

  ‘The one who walked into the loch at Duddingston?’ said Danny.

  ‘The same. Except that I was sure that he had been killed first.’

  ‘And you thought that he was protecting someone. That someone could have been the mysterious visitor.’

  Danny stopped and we both looked at each other, the same thought in both our minds. Who else but Peter?

  ‘Where was Elma when her husband was attacked?’

  I was relieved to say that it couldn’t have been Elma. ‘We were having tea together in Jenners.’

  ‘And where was Peter?’ Danny demanded sharply.

  ‘Still in London, according to Elma. He arrived back in Edinburgh a few days later.’

  ‘That’s when you met. But if he was the man at the theatre and already somewhere in Edinburgh, then it could have all been arranged, with you providing an alibi for Elma while he killed Felix.’

  I then said what I was reluctant even to think. ‘You believe they were both in it together.’

  ‘I’m afraid so, or Elma is very much under her brother’s thumb. So let’s take it a step further. What was the reason Felix had to die? That’s an easy one.’ Pausing, he added grimly, ‘Money! The same reason wives have been getting rid of wealthy husbands through the ages. And the lovely Widow Miles Rice will do very nicely.’

  Danny thought for a moment. ‘Consider the police guard at his bedside. They were suspicious and wanted to be there if he recovered, so that he could tell them who had attacked him.’

  And if that person was Peter, then that was the reason for murdering him. Danny was right about him, but Elma? No, I couldn’t accept Elma’s part in it, our friendship a sham, a ruse for an alibi.

  ‘She was so anxious about him. Peter and she went in every day, so angry that the police would never allow them to be alone with him.’

  ‘And a very good reason for that,’ Danny said grimly.

  I shook my head. ‘She was so unhappy, she just adored him.’

  But even as I said the words I remembered Vince implying that adoration on either side was not the general impression at Balmoral.

  Danny said slowly, ‘I think we have our villain. Brother Peter.’

  ‘And that story about Elma’s missing earring,’ I said reluctantly, ‘something they had dreamt up when Peter met me as he was rushing out of the hospital. No wonder he was so scared, knowing that I might mention it when I learnt that Felix had just died – had been murdered.’

  ‘All carefully planned,’ said Danny. ‘And a lot of money for them to enjoy together once they got rid of Felix.’

  ‘I’m not absolutely convinced about that. Jack has hinted that Miles Rice might be on the brink of bankruptcy.’

  ‘If that’s the case,’ said Danny, ‘then there has to be some other reason. If Felix recovered, then he might name his attacker.’

  ‘The reason for the police guard and for the valet’s so-called suicide.’

  But we were getting nowhere. If only Jack were back from Peebles, I was sure he could fill in some of the gaps in the puzzle that Danny and I were so tortuously trying to solve, without all the missing pieces.

  The sound of a shot outside, quite close on the hill.

  We looked at each other. ‘Someone out shooting rabbits,’ I decided. ‘We’re getting quite overrun.’

  ‘Bit near the house, Thane will be pleased. A free meal.’

  We jumped at the sound of a loud banging on the kitchen door. I hoped it was Jack home early, but as a precaution Danny once more retreated.

  I opened the door. Peter, the last person I wanted to see.

  He didn’t wait, as politeness usually demanded, to be invited in.

  ‘Why on earth was the door locked?’

  He pushed past me into the kitchen. I smelt gunpowder. Surely he hadn’t been shooting rabbits on the hill? He looked around as if to make sure that we were alone.

  ‘I decided to keep it locked, after that warning note, remember?’

  He gave me a mocking glance. He knew what I was talking about and for the first time I was scared. I felt as if the air was still full of our recent speculations about him.

  ‘The warning note, yes, of course.’ He smiled.

  My patience was wearing thin. ‘What do you want, Peter?’

  ‘Oh, just to clear up one or two small matters.’

  ‘Where is Elma?’

  ‘Let’s not worry about Elma at the moment. We have other matters to attend to.’ And so saying he put his hand in his jacket pocket, withdrew a revolver and placed it on the kitchen table.

  I stared at it. ‘What on earth is that for? You need a rifle for rabbits.’

  ‘Rabbits!’ He laughed. ‘As a matter of fact, I have just shot your dog.’

  I gasped, unable to take
that in. A bad joke. Then… that shot…

  Oh no, dear God, not Thane.

  ‘You monster!’ I screamed. I lunged forward for the gun. I would kill him for that. But I wasn’t quick enough.

  He seized my hand in a cruel grip. ‘Had to kill him. He went for me out there. Never cared much for him, anyway, and Rufus didn’t like him either.’

  I tried to wrestle my hand away. He held tighter. I was helpless.

  The gun now pointed at me.

  ‘Afraid you will have to leave this lovely Tower, Rose. You have another destination – heaven or hell, I don’t care either way.’

  ‘Where is Elma?’

  I heard the rumble of a carriage outside. Jack, I prayed, let it be Jack.

  ‘Oh, that’s Elma now.’ Light footsteps going past the window. He called her name and she came in, stood at the door, taking in the scene, looking at me.

  This was Elma, the friend I had trusted. ‘You, too,’ I whispered. ‘And your twin?’

  Peter shook his head. ‘No, Rose you are mistaken. I’d like you to meet my wife.’

  Your wife. And the last fragment of the puzzle fell into place. The reason why Felix had to die. Elma, a bigamist, could never inherit any money. She could go to jail.

  He raised the gun, pointed it at my heart.

  ‘Peter,’ she said, ‘must you? I don’t want her hurt.’

  ‘Shut up, she won’t feel a thing. Just bang, bang – and it will be over.’ As he spoke, his eyes never left me. The eyes of a killer. ‘She has to go, she knows far too much, our dear lady investigator.’

  I said nothing. All I wanted was to get that gun. And kill him – for Thane.

  He laughed. ‘Well, let’s tell her some more, shall we? She isn’t going to tell anyone now – ever.’ He smiled, he was enjoying this.

  ‘That warning note, well, it was my idea. But the missing diamond earring, a piece of ingenuity. My wife’s an excellent actress, you know, and she has a great imagination.’