‘Perhaps she can,’ said Everett, shuffling some papers again. ‘As to your request, Inspector, you didn’t really give me a great deal of time to gather the relevant data.’
‘I apologise for that, sir.’
‘Nevertheless, I was able to rustle something up at short notice.’
‘That sounds promising.’
‘It helps that the prison is right here in Northallerton. I sent one of my clerks over there. He came back with the names of three people who’ve been released in the past couple of months.’
‘Were they all sentenced by the colonel?’
‘They were indeed,’ said Everett, glancing at a sheet of paper before him. ‘The first man was Douglas McCaw but you can rule him out of your calculations. He’s already back in prison for another offence altogether.’
‘Who were the others?’
‘One was Harry Keedy. He served a short sentence for poaching. He’s an old man now and suffered a mild stroke while in prison. I don’t think he’d pose much of a threat to anyone. That leaves us,’ he went on, tapping the paper with a chubby finger, ‘with a much more interesting individual – Michael Bruntcliffe.’
‘That name sounds familiar.’
‘It should do. If you came here by train, you’ll have passed Bruntcliffe’s Flour Mills. It’s a moneyed family so Michael wants for nothing. Yet he’s been a thorn in his father’s side for years. Fraud, petty theft, drunkenness, criminal damage – he has quite a long record. When he was last hauled up before the magistrates,’ said Everett, ‘the colonel gave him the maximum sentence for defacing some of the signs at the railway station with paint. It was only horseplay but Bruntcliffe paid dearly for it.’
‘So he had good reason to resent the colonel.’
‘No question about it. He was bound to feel that he was the victim of personal prejudice, Inspector.’
‘Why should he feel that?’
‘Years ago,’ said the lawyer, ‘Bruntcliffe used to be friendly with Adam Tarleton. When they were together, their high spirits often got the better of them and there was trouble. The colonel always believed that it was Bruntcliffe who led Adam astray – though, in my opinion, it might well have been the other way round.’
‘In other words,’ deduced Colbeck, ‘there might have been an element of revenge in the sentence.’
‘That’s how it would have been perceived by Michael Bruntcliffe, anyway. He’d feel he was being punished for past indiscretions with the colonel’s stepson. That sort of thing rankles,’ Everett went on. ‘While he was in prison, I daresay Bruntcliffe had very little else to think about.’
‘Where are you going?’ asked Eve Doel. ‘I need you here with me.’
‘I’m bored simply doing nothing,’ said her brother.
‘We’re in mourning, Adam. You can’t just go gallivanting around the countryside. It’s improper.’
‘I can do what I wish.’
‘You’re not even dressed properly.’
‘I can’t ride a horse in mourning attire, Eve. I’d look absurd.’
‘I want you to stay here. I need company.’
‘You’ve got Mrs Withers to provide that. It’s about time she did something useful. I feel cooped up in the house. It’s like a morgue in there. I want a breath of fresh air.’
They were standing outside the stables which were detached from the house. The horse had been saddled and Adam Tarleton was about to mount it. Distressed at being left alone, his sister had followed him out there to tug at his sleeve.
‘Please don’t go.’
‘It will only be for an hour or two.’
‘We have so much to discuss,’ she said, plaintively.
‘I don’t think so. Let’s be honest,’ he said, airily. ‘It’s only a question of dividing the spoils. The real decision is what to do with the house. You don’t need it and it’s far too big for me on my own. Besides,’ he went on, ‘I’m not cut out for the life of a country squire. Having to be on my best behaviour all the time would drive me to distraction. I need the freedom to enjoy myself in my own way.’
She was wounded. ‘How can you say such things at a time like this?’ she pleaded. ‘Our parents both died in the most indescribable ways and all you can talk about is enjoyment. Don’t you care, Adam?’
‘Of course I do.’
‘Weren’t you upset when you viewed Mother’s body?’
‘Yes.’
‘You didn’t seem anguished when you got back here.’
‘Well, I was,’ he said, feigning solemnity, ‘I was shocked. When I identified the body, I could hardly bear to look.’
‘Then how can you go off cheerfully for a ride? It’s not just the inheritance we have to discuss. That, quite frankly,’ she said, ‘can wait. I find it rather tasteless even to raise the subject when we have more immediate problems to confront.’
‘Such as?’
‘There’s the inquest into Mother’s death, for a start.’
‘That should be quite straightforward, Eve.’
‘I’ll be in agony from start to finish.’
‘Then you don’t need to attend. I’ll go on your behalf.’
‘I have to be there,’ she said. ‘Don’t you understand? However upsetting the details, I have to know them. And once the inquest is out of the way, there’s the problem of the funeral arrangements.’
‘They’ll both be buried at St Andrew’s.’
‘That’s not what the rector says.’
‘I don’t give two hoots for his opinion.’
‘He seemed so determined, Adam. He won’t entertain the notion of letting someone who committed suicide lie in the churchyard.’
‘He has no choice. When I was in Northallerton, I called in on Mr Everett and asked him where we stood on the matter. He told me that the law is quite clear. It’s in our favour.’
‘That will mean nothing to the rector.’
‘Then it’s high time someone knocked some sense into that thick skull of his,’ said Tarleton, putting his foot in the stirrup. ‘I’ll ride over there this afternoon.’ He hauled himself up into the saddle. ‘I don’t care if he is our godfather,’ he continued, ‘we’ll make the funeral arrangements that we choose and nobody will be allowed to obstruct us. The rector can go hang!’
Digging in his heels, he rode off at a canter. Eve quailed.
Victor Leeming got to the house to learn that Agnes Reader was not there. Since she was expected back soon, however, he was invited in and asked to wait in the drawing room. It gave him time to take a detailed inventory of the place and to realise that bank managers were paid a lot more than detective sergeants. The room was sizeable. In fact, the whole ground floor of his house would have fitted into it and still left additional space. The furniture and fittings were of high quality, the carpet exquisite and the paintings indicative of excellent taste. Leeming was mesmerised by the contents of a china cabinet, marvelling at the intricate porcelain and realising how impractical it would be for use by his own family. With two lively children to accommodate, he made sure that all the crockery was solid and durable. The idea of putting it on show behind glass was a concept wholly foreign to him. The only thing on display in the Leeming household was the cup he’d helped to win as part of a police tug-of-war team and that would soon be relinquished to another member of the team so that he could have his allotted time with it.
Working as a detective was an education. It allowed him to have access to social circles that he’d never otherwise enter. Whenever he’d had to visit one of the grander houses in London, he was used to calling at the servants’ entrance. It was Colbeck who’d taught him to knock on the front door and be more authoritative. Leeming’s confidence had increased but he still lacked the inspector’s ability to be at ease in any social situation. Low taverns and hazardous rookeries were the sergeant’s natural habitat. Even in a home like the present one, the whiff of middle-class luxury unsettled him.
‘I’m sorry to keep you waiting,’ sai
d Agnes Reader when she eventually arrived. ‘Have you been here long?’
‘Not really,’ he told her, glancing towards the fireplace. ‘I was admiring your ornaments. You obviously don’t have children if you can put so many fragile objects on your mantelpiece.’
‘No, we don’t have children, Sergeant.’
‘Yet this would make a wonderful family house.’
Her voice was subdued. ‘I daresay that it would but…it was not to be. Have you been offered refreshment?’
‘Yes, Mrs Reader,’ he said, ‘but I wanted nothing.’
‘Do sit down,’ she said, waving him to a seat and taking an armchair opposite him. ‘Is it too much to ask that you’ve brought some good news?’
‘You’ve already had that. Inspector Colbeck is in charge of the investigation. That’s the best news possible.’
‘He seems to be a very astute man.’
‘He has a sixth sense when it comes to solving crimes.’
‘I was at the house with Mrs Doel when he called yesterday.’
‘So I hear,’ said Leeming. ‘The inspector felt that you were more helpful than Mrs Doel because she hasn’t recovered from the shock of what happened yet.’
‘I’m not sure that I have either,’ she admitted. ‘But, if there’s anything else I can tell you, I’ll be pleased to do so.’
‘Did the colonel ever talk about cases that came before him when he sat on the bench?’
‘Yes, he often did that. It was rather unnerving.’
‘Why was that?’
‘Well, I’d always thought of Northallerton as a very safe place so I was alarmed to hear that it had its share of thieves, drunkards and other undesirables. In the countryside, one feels very secure but the town is definitely not a place to be late at night.’
‘It’s the same wherever you go, Mrs Reader. Crime is universal.’
‘Colonel Tarleton taught us that. Some of the people who came before him were dreadful thugs. They made the most blood-curdling threats against him but he just shrugged them off. After all those years of facing real danger in battle, he always told us, he wasn’t going to be scared by local villains.’
‘Can you recall any of the names of those villains?’
‘I’m afraid not, Sergeant.’
‘Did anyone try to carry out the threats?’
‘Not to my knowledge.’
‘Let me ask you something else,’ he said, changing his tack. ‘Were you aware that the colonel was in the habit of going to Doncaster at one time?’
‘No,’ she said. ‘I knew that he spent occasional days away but Miriam – Mrs Tarleton – never told me that he went to Doncaster. What could have taken him there, I wonder?’
‘That’s what we’re trying to find out.’
‘Then you’ll have to look elsewhere.’
‘What about Mrs Tarleton – did she do much travelling?’
‘She visited a cousin in Edinburgh now and then. As a rule, she stayed the night there. I’m told that it’s a beautiful city.’
‘I wouldn’t know,’ said Leeming. ‘I’m a Londoner, born and bred. I’m only happy when I’m there. If I go too far north, I start to get giddy. One last question,’ he added, noting the sadness in her face and not wishing to prolong his stay. ‘It seems as if the colonel and his wife had some financial problems. They had to make economies.’
‘That’s true. Apart from reducing the number of servants, they even had to sell off some land.’
‘Do you happen to know why, Mrs Reader?’
‘I don’t,’ she said, crisply.
‘Presumably, your husband would know.’
‘My husband is the soul of discretion, Sergeant. That’s what makes him such a reliable banker. He never discloses details of any client’s accounts to me or to anyone else.’
‘I know. He refused to go into details for us. I just thought that Mrs Tarleton might have given you a hint.’
‘All that she told me was that they had to make a few changes.’
‘They were quite big changes, by the sound of it.’
‘They happened so gradually, one hardly noticed.’
Behind her politeness, Leeming could sense a deep sorrow. To lose two close friends in such a short period of time had rocked her. It made him feel like an interloper, barging in when she really wanted to be left alone. As he rose to his feet and made to leave, something popped into his mind.
‘Did the colonel and Mrs Tarleton ever go on holiday?’
‘Only infrequently,’ she replied.
‘Was there any reason for that, Mrs Reader?’
‘They were contented where they were. What they did do was to visit Eve and the grandchildren in Sussex. At other times, Eve and her family would visit them.’
‘What about young Mr Tarleton?’
‘Oh, they saw very little of him,’ said Agnes with a slight edge. ‘He more or less cut himself off from them. His mother told me that she didn’t even know where he was living.’
‘His sister must have known.’
‘I don’t think so, Sergeant.’
‘Then how did he become aware that his mother was missing?’
‘I’m not sure that he did at first. He certainly didn’t turn up to assist in the search. Eve and her husband came but not Adam. I assumed that he had no idea what was going on.’
‘Yet he came when the colonel committed suicide.’
‘That caused more of a stir,’ she explained. ‘When someone goes astray here, it will be reported in the local newspapers. But when a man of the colonel’s standing takes his own life in the most ghastly manner, even the London press will take notice. That’s how Adam must have picked up the news. He made contact with his sister and they came together.’ She got up from her chair. ‘It’s the only possible way that it could have happened. Don’t you agree?’
‘No, Mrs Reader,’ said Leeming, pensively. ‘I don’t.’
Adam Tarleton liked to make heads turn. As he galloped through the village, his horse’s hooves clacked on the hard surface and people stared in annoyance at his recklessness in riding so fast along the narrow street. When he reached the rectory, he reined the animal in and dismounted. After tethering it to a post, he rang the bell. It tinkled somewhere deep inside the house. A pretty maidservant eventually opened the door. A recent addition to the domestic staff, she didn’t recognise him.
‘Can I help you, sir?’ she asked.
‘Yes,’ he said, brushing her uncaringly aside. ‘You can get out of my way so that I can see the rector.’
‘You can’t disturb him, sir,’ she wailed. ‘He’s in his study.’
‘Then that’s where I’ll talk to him.’
Striding down the passageway, he came to a door and banged on it before flinging it open. Frederick Skelton was horrified at the interruption. He jumped up from the chair behind his desk.
‘What’s the meaning of this?’ he demanded.
‘I have something to discuss with you.’
‘You can’t just charge in here like this, Adam.’
‘I’m sorry, sir,’ said the maidservant, appearing at the door and anticipating a rebuke. ‘I couldn’t stop him.’
‘That’s all right, Ruth. This is my godson, Mr Tarleton.’
‘Oh, I see.’
‘You can leave us alone.’
‘Very well, sir,’ she said, bobbing once before leaving.
‘I’ve come to talk about the funerals,’ said Tarleton.
‘This is not a convenient moment.’
‘It’s convenient enough for me.’
‘You should have made an appointment like anyone else,’ said Skelton, peevishly. ‘I’m busy writing to the Dean of York Minster.’
‘I don’t care if you’re writing to the Archangel Gabriel.’
Skelton flushed. ‘That’s a blasphemous remark!’
Tarleton was resolute. ‘I’m not moving from here until we’ve had this out,’ he warned, standing in the open doorway, arms akim
bo. ‘As our godfather, you’re supposed to offer spiritual guidance. Instead of that, you’ve reduced my sister to despair by your intransigence and you’ve lost all respect from me.’
‘I never knew that you were capable of respect,’ said Skelton, acidly. ‘As for Eve, I merely wanted to acquaint her with my decision.’
‘And where did you choose to do it? Of all places, it was at the inquest. Her nerves were frayed enough without you upsetting her even more. Have you no tact at all?’
‘I have both tact and sensitivity – two laudable qualities, I feel I must point out, entirely lacking in you. I could add several others to the list, Adam.’
‘You can insult me all you like. I expect it of sanctimonious old fools like you.’ Skelton was outraged. ‘What I will not let you do is to insult our stepfather in this way. He will be buried at the church where he worshipped for so many years.’
‘Not as long as I have breath in my body,’ said Skelton, adopting the posture of an avenging angel. ‘As for insulting the colonel, I bow to your superior skill in doing that. You insulted and disobeyed him for years. You were a disgrace to his name.’
‘This is one way of making amends for that.’
Skelton was sardonic. ‘Oh, you’ve discovered the concept of redemption at last, have you? I suppose that we should be grateful for that unlooked-for sign of hope.’
‘Sneer all you wish. We’ll have our stepfather buried here.’
‘Suicide is a subversive act,’ said Skelton. ‘It breaks the law of the land and the divine law of the Ten Commandments. Murder of any kind is abhorrent but at least we can have the satisfaction of hanging the perpetrator. An eye for an eye is a comforting doctrine. No such comfort exists in the case of suicide,’ he said, tossing back his hair. ‘And in this particular instance, there is something else to consider. The colonel took his life in a manner designed to shock and disgust. It was a deliberate attempt to make us suffer. So don’t you try to browbeat me on this issue,’ he continued, as if admonishing his flock from a pulpit. ‘Such a man should never lie in consecrated ground.’
Tarleton pretended to yawn. ‘Your sermons always did make me go to sleep.’
‘Get out of here, Adam.’
‘You never liked my stepfather and this is your means of taking a spiteful revenge against him. It would be deplorable in any man. In an ordained priest, it’s nothing short of malevolence.’
Railway to the Grave Page 14
