Blood in the Cotswolds
Page 26
‘Oka-ay,’ said Thea slowly.
‘Except Stephen Pritchett. He genuinely had no idea what had been going on. He must have been supplying cash to Giles on and off, and been alarmed when the boy went quiet for the past six months or so. But Giles knew about the murder, as well as the rest of them.’
‘And was so furious with you he tried to shoot you – I remember,’ she said wryly.
‘The thing we’ve been so confused by was the way Holmes wandered so openly around the village, while telling us he was Rupert.’
‘Well, yes. That is confusing.’
‘But you see, he only told people who didn’t know him as Holmes. That’s obvious, of course, but it’s also a clever way of keeping Rupert officially alive. He used his credit cards every now and then, as well. There was never a death certificate, or a body. That’s the most important bit, do you see?’
‘Not really.’
‘They needed him to be alive so that Janey’s parents in Italy could keep on the legal case against him and his biological father. They thought Rupert was still alive, and Holmes probably sent them emails or letters as if from him.’
‘But why?’
‘The trust. I’m only guessing, but I bet you there’s something in it to Janey’s detriment if her brother dies.’
‘Like what? Surely it would be to her benefit to inherit the whole place?’
‘Trusts are funny things. It could well be that if only a sole legatee survives, the whole thing has to be wound up, and she’d have to find the cash for maintenance and all the rest of it out of her own pocket. It seems quite likely to me that the thing was set up in the first place to keep an equal balance between the twins. If one of them dies, there’s no further need for that.’
‘Yes – she said something like that, didn’t she? When she was being so dopey and little-girlish. I assume it can be checked?’
‘Easily. In fact, I think you’ll find Gladwin’s already done it, knowing her.’
‘So what about Soraya?’ Thea had been especially enraged by the girl’s ingratitude on Saturday afternoon.
‘I think she and Holmes were genuinely in love. Janey and he have been separated for four years, and although they’re still on friendly terms, she doesn’t seem to want him back. So there was no need for them to keep it secret, other than from her father. Robin and Rupert were much the same age, probably knew each other all their lives. We know Robin didn’t like him, from what he said when the horses got out. Didn’t he call him a waste of space? So he’d have gone along with the general protection of Holmes, even if he didn’t want his daughter getting entangled with him.’
‘But why would Holmes have taken them hostage like that?’
‘I can only assume Robin found out about him and Soraya and tried to put a stop to it.’
‘And Rupert – I mean Sammy – fought him off with ricin?’ Thea was openly sceptical.
‘I admit I don’t understand the ricin, other than that with it being so much in the news, all kinds of lunatics are going to try making it, and using it for their own ends. As a murder weapon it has some appeal – painless, bloodless, that sort of thing.’
‘But very stupid – he could have breathed it in himself at the same time as using it on them.’
‘Maybe that was the intention. If Robin stopped him having Soraya, maybe he was happy to die along with them. Don’t you think there was a sadness about him, right from when we first met him?’
Thea gave this some thought. ‘Not really,’ she concluded. ‘But he was acting a part then. It’s difficult to separate the actor from the real man.’
‘Do you remember, when he was talking about the baby, he said something about it being his. We thought he was its uncle, when really he was its father. The acting lapsed then, at least.’
She nodded. ‘That’s true.’ After a moment, she added, ‘So where is Graham Bligh?’
Phil shrugged. ‘No idea. He’s not part of this at all, is he? There’s no need to look for him now.’
She paused. ‘Except he’s lost his son. Shouldn’t he be told?’
‘He might never have known he had a son. It’s probably best to leave him in peace.’
‘Hmm,’ she said, and they lapsed into silence for a while.
Finally, Phil stirred himself to round it all off, before they moved onto more intimate matters. ‘So there we have it, more or less. Giles told me that if anyone in the village had found the bones, they’d have quickly covered them up again and said nothing. That’s why I’ve been the object of such fury. They were all desperate for me – and you – to shut up and stop trying to uncover the truth.’
‘But Gladwin would have done it, without us.’
‘Maybe she wouldn’t. Maybe the whole thing would have slipped further and further down the priority list until it was virtually forgotten.’
‘But can she prove it was Holmes who killed Rupert?’
‘Very probably not. He’ll be charged with holding persons against their will and using a dangerous substance – assuming it really was ricin. Unless he confesses, there might never be official closure on the death of Temple-Pritchett.’
Thea shrugged. ‘I’m not sure that would matter too much, would it? The whole village can’t be wrong. Maybe it was a necessary evil, bumping him off.’
‘You might think that, but I couldn’t possibly comment,’ said Phil with a grin.
About the Author
REBECCA TOPE lives on a smallholding in Herefordshire, with a full complement of livestock, but manages to travel the world and enjoy civilisation from time to time as well. Most of her varied experiences and activities find their way into her books, sooner or later. Her own cocker spaniel, Beulah, is the model for Hepzibah, but is unfortunately ageing much more rapidly.
www.rebeccatope.com
By Rebecca Tope
A Cotswold Killing
A Cotswold Ordeal
Death in the Cotswolds
A Cotswold Mystery
Blood in the Cotswolds
Slaughter in the Cotswolds
Fear in the Cotswolds
A Grave in the Cotswolds
Deception in the Cotswolds
Grave Concerns
The Sting of Death
A Market for Murder
Copyright
Allison & Busby Limited
13 Charlotte Mews
London W1T 4EJ
www.allisonandbusby.com
Copyright © 2008 by REBECCA TOPE
First published in hardback by Allison & Busby Ltd in 2008.
Published in paperback by Allison & Busby Ltd in 2009.
This ebook edition first published in 2010.
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
All characters and events in this publication other than those clearly in the public domain are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent buyer.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978–0–7490–0987–8
THE COTSWOLD SERIES
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