The Concealers

by Janet Pywell

  ‘I’m the estate manager, and I’m responsible for Castle Calder. I want to inspect the weapon, please.’

  Herr Schiltz looks as if he might argue, but then he hands the gun to Mac.

  Mac appears to inspect it thoroughly, and when he hands it back, he announces,

  ‘The gun isn’t loaded, but I’d appreciate you leaving it on the table in full sight of everyone until the police arrive.’

  ‘I’ll decide what I’ll do, and if we’re calling the police. Just give me a minute.’ Herr Schiltz places the gun carefully on the table.

  Jim walks in from the terrace. His bulky frame blocks the sunlight from the open doors, but he stands menacingly as if he’s there to stop anyone from running into the garden.

  ‘Return to your seats.’ Herr Schiltz stands at the head of the table, and he indicates Paula to stand with him, with her clipboard.

  She looks terrified.

  Louisa is sitting in her seat, gazing at the floor. Jack sits protectively beside her with his arm on the back of her chair, and Freya looks shocked and makes no attempt to speak.

  Subconsciously I move closer to Hugo. He takes my fingers in his and squeezes them quickly before releasing my hand.

  Herr Schiltz clears his throat.

  ‘This was to have been an extraordinary weekend, not only for Louisa, as it’s her birthday, but for all of us – family and friends together. I have deliberately given a great deal of thought, as I told you yesterday, to our future and my retirement. One that Louisa and I were looking forward to with excitement. But this has changed everything. So, I hope – whoever planted this here, whoever has been keeping this for the past few years – that you are very proud of yourselves.’

  He strokes his moustache before composing himself.

  ‘If you wanted to ruin the weekend, then you have achieved your goal. However, in presenting this, this weapon in such an obvious way – it will no doubt, as you have anticipated, cause a great deal of distress to us both, to us all, including Gunter and Wilhelm our two sons. Now, my first question is, who had this gun?’ He looks slowly around the table, making eye contact with everyone. ‘I know it’s the same model that killed Iris, five years ago, but is it the same gun or a replica?’

  He coughs and appears to control himself before he continues.

  ‘I must hand it to the police, and I shall do that. But, I’d like to give the person a chance to come forward first. You are my family and friends. I give you the courtesy you deserve. I will help and protect you as much as the law will allow me to.’

  He turns to us. His eyes are hard and cold.

  ‘You are all members of staff here at Castle Calder. You have been chosen to work with us this weekend and I will extend the same courtesy to you. If, for whatever reason, you know anything about this, then I suggest you come clean. Tell the truth, and I will help you.’

  Herr Schiltz clears his throat and continues, looking back at his family.

  ‘I’ve had this castle under surveillance the whole time we’ve been here. Jim placed cameras in most of the rooms, and throughout the grounds. I’m confident that once we have looked at them all, the evidence will be clear. I will see who placed the gun inside Louisa’s napkin. So, I’d advise you to be truthful now. Step forward, and we can discuss this in private.’

  No one moves.

  ‘Right.’ He looks over to us, and I feel his eyes burning into me. ‘Take this cold breakfast away. Serve coffee and bring something else for us to eat. This is all ruined.’ He checks his watch. ‘It’s eleven o’clock now, and the minibus leaves at two o’clock. We will continue this brunch as if nothing has happened – but I warn you, I will find you. You will not get away with this.’

  He nods at Jim who nods back.

  ‘Once we have the video and the evidence – it will be solved.’

  Herr Schiltz smiles, reminding me once again of my dead departed father when I was seven. He dug a hole in the garden for my pet rabbit and he grinned and said, ‘Lucky for Fiver, that he’s not ending up in the boiling pot!’

  * * *

  I’m shaking, trying to control my nerves and angry at my body’s reaction. I want to be stronger than this. I need to be tougher. I’m trying to focus on what to serve the guests as Dan and Hugo return with untouched breakfasts.

  Tempers are short.

  ‘Dan,’ shouts Mrs Long. ‘Clean those plates. Julie, sort the drinks, tea, coffee and juices. Find me some more bacon.’

  Dan complains when Julie bumps him, and he spills fresh orange juice on the floor. Then he burns his hand in hot water.

  Mrs Long barks instructions, taking over the kitchen as if it’s what this castle had needed all along while I begin mixing scrambled eggs. I can’t speak, I can’t look up, and my hands are shaking.

  Mrs Long issues instructions to Dan for more toast.

  Outside, I pick fresh chives from the garden, and the scent of the herbs calms me momentarily; mint, rosemary, thyme. Bobby the blackbird watches me then his yellow beak begins pecking at the wooden fence.

  I want to run. I could go back to my room, grab my bag and leave. Get the train to London and disappear.

  ‘Ronda? Are you alright?’

  ‘Hello, Mac, it’s all been a shock, and it’s thrown me, I don’t know what to cook, but your mother, um … Mrs Long is amazing.’

  He grins. ‘She always rallies when there’s a disaster. She’s good in a crisis.’

  ‘I used to be,’ I grumble.

  ‘Don’t worry.’

  ‘What will happen now?’

  ‘Two o’clock can’t come fast enough. I can’t wait for them to go,’ he says.

  I’m afraid to linger outside, and he follows me into the kitchen.

  ‘Mac,’ says Mrs Long. ‘Go inside there and tell them that as estate manager, you want to lock the gun away.’

  ‘There are no bullets in it. Mr Schiltz and I looked at it together. No one is in any danger.’

  ‘What if they’ve got other bullets?’ she asks.

  ‘He’s promised to leave it in full sight of everyone.’

  He turns his back to her, and so I ask him, ‘What do you make of all this?’

  ‘I guess we should call the police, but nothing has happened. We don’t know it’s the actual murder weapon that was used to kill his first wife, and I guess that by the time Jim’s looked at the cameras they’ve hidden in the Grand Hall, they’ll know which one of them put it there.’

  My hands tremble. I can take on one of them, but I couldn’t face the wrath of Herr Schiltz.

  ‘To be honest, Ronda. I don’t care. They can all piss off and leave us be.’ He grins and walks off, leaving me shaking and feeling as though I’m going to be sick outside, all over the herb garden.

  * * *

  We finish making eggs and bacon, Dan and Hugo deliver the plates to the tables, and I don’t venture back inside the hall. They report back that everyone is eating, but Mrs Long goes to double-check.

  ‘What will they all be talking about in there? It’s hardly a celebration weekend now, is it?’ Dan says.

  ‘I wonder who put the gun there,’ Julie says. ‘It seems a strange thing to do, don’t you think?’

  ‘What do you think, Ronda?’ Dan asks.

  I shake my head. ‘I don’t know what to think.’

  ‘You’ve gone very pale.’ Julie grins.

  ‘What if it’s the revolver that was used to kill someone?’ Dan asks.

  ‘We don’t know that.’ Julie folds her arms.

  Mrs Long reappears and sinks dramatically into a seat and leans on the table. ‘My heart can’t take much more. Herr Schiltz is furious and I don’t blame him. He’s gone to all this trouble to make it a lovely weekend for his family and look what they’ve done.’

  ‘Who do you think put it there?’ Dan chirps. ‘I’d hate to get on the wrong side of Jim.’

  ‘My money is on the nerd that caused all the trouble yesterday.’ Dan wipes the counter.

&nbs
p; ‘You think it’s Wilhelm?’ asks Julie. ‘But it was his mum who died. He wouldn’t kill his mother, would he?’

  ‘You wouldn’t know with that lot, ‘Dan replies. ‘I overheard the older brother talking yesterday, Gunter. He doesn’t like Louisa. He blames her for his mother’s death. He said that Louisa and randy Friedrich had been having an affair for years before his wife died—’

  ‘Dan!’ Julie scolds him. ‘That’s not nice.’

  ‘Well, it’s true. Someone killed her, and if that’s the gun that did it, then—’

  A small groan escapes Mrs Long’s lips. She looks pale and worried.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Julie asks her.

  Mrs Long shakes her head. ‘I shouldn’t say.’

  ‘Oh, come on. We’re all in this together.’ Julie rubs her arm. ‘I’ll get you some tea, tell us.’

  ‘I only went out to make sure that Mrs Schiltz, Louisa, was alright. But it’s the way they are all talking. They’re all accusing each other. Presumably, the gun has been missing since the day the first Mrs Schiltz was murdered. The police never found the murder weapon at the scene of the crime.’

  ‘So, the family think this is the real one?’ Dan asks.

  ‘Herr Schiltz seems to think so, but then he’s confused. On the one hand, he keeps saying it’s impossible, then on the other, he’s trying to find out how anyone could have it in their possession – almost as if—’ She stops abruptly.

  ‘Almost as if what?’ Julie prompts her and places strong tea on the table.

  ‘Almost as if he, as if he knew where it was …’

  ‘That’s not possible, is it?’ Dan asks. ‘Unless he killed his own wife.’

  ‘He didn’t kill her,’ Mrs Long says.’ He said something about a river bursting its banks. He’s not making any sense at all.’

  I lean against the kitchen sink with a sick feeling of understanding.

  Inspector Joachin had said that someone shot Iris Schiltz. He also said the murder weapon was missing. I’m trying to remember the details of what he told us in the London pub. The riverbank had broken. It swept away several buildings, including the foundations of a bank where Herr Schiltz had kept many valuable items. On the insurance claim, he’d initially said there were nine items and then changed his mind when only eight were found. What if he had kept the gun that killed his wife in the safety deposit box? What if the weapon had been swept away, along with the bank’s foundations, in the storm?

  Now, it’s turned up on the dining table in Castle Calder, Scotland.

  That would be a shock to him.

  I stare out of the kitchen window. The German police must have found it. Inspector Joachin told me to put it in front of Herr Schiltz but why?

  What was the motive?

  Why not just arrest Herr Schiltz?

  Hugo comes into the kitchen, carrying an empty bottle of champagne.

  ‘Don’t tell me they’re drinking alcohol?’ Mrs Long sounds shocked.

  ‘They’re determined to enjoy Mrs Schiltz’s birthday weekend, but everything is about to get interesting.’ Hugo holds my gaze. ‘Jim is back, and he’s smiling. He must have found someone on the camera.’

  * * *

  ‘Hugo,’ I whisper urgently, once we’re out of earshot of the other staff. ‘I need your help.’

  He smiles at me. ‘Anytime, my fair lady.’

  ‘I want to see what’s going on in the Grand Hall. Didn’t you say there was another secret passage?’

  ‘Not one that spies on the Grand Hall.’

  I shake my head and frown. How else was I going to be forewarned?

  Hugo smiles. ‘But there is a hiding place on the inner corridor where we can watch. Come on.’

  I follow him up the back stairs into the inner corridor leading around the top of the Grand Hall. He puts a finger to his lips, and we tiptoe and hide alongside a hand-carved, oak chest.

  We’re at the side of the Grand Hall, above the terrace doors, peering through the crafted wooden railing on the big table downstairs.

  Jim is leaning over the shoulder of his employer, showing him his phone and camera. Herr Schiltz watches with interest and then tosses his napkin aside.

  The conversation around the table dies as the group wait. Louisa sits up in her chair, watching with interest and Jack looks as though he’d like to kill someone.

  ‘Well, this is interesting,’ Herr Schiltz announces.

  Hugo squeezes my hand, and I press back, reassured that he’s with me. I exhale quietly.

  ‘We know,’ Herr Schiltz announces. ‘We know who did it. We have it on camera.’

  Jim stands proudly at his side.

  I hold my breath. They’re going to come looking for me, and I won’t be there. I’ll ask Hugo to smuggle me out, but then they know about these secret hiding places, and they will find me and they’ll—

  ‘Who put it there?’ demands Gunter.

  Herr Schiltz holds up his hand and addresses the table.

  ‘This is your opportunity. I want you to do the responsible and honourable thing. This is a test,’ he announces. ‘And, your inheritance will be dependent on the outcome today. You have until one o’clock to come forward, or you won’t be getting on the minibus to come with us to the airport. You’ll be going to a Scottish prison to await extradition to go on trial in Germany for the murder of my wife – Iris Schiltz – five years ago.’

  I slump against Hugo.

  They can’t know it’s me. He can’t have seen me put the package under the napkin. Herr Schiltz and Jim must be lying, but why?

  ‘Now, in the meantime, we’re going to have champagne, toast my wife and finish this birthday weekend in style. Would anyone like more birthday cake, from yesterday?’

  ‘Shit!’ I whisper.

  Hugo pushes me ahead of him, and we crouch running down the steps and fall into the pantry, tripping over each other.

  ‘Sorry, Ronda! He’ll be looking for me to serve the champagne.’

  My heart thumping, my head trying is to make sense of what’s happening. He’ll be looking for me too. I’d forgotten about the bloody cake!

  Chapter 15

  ‘Big companies are like marching bands. Even if half the band is playing random notes, it still sounds kind of like music. The concealment of failure is built into them.’

  Douglas Coupland

  After drinking champagne and eating birthday cake, the guests begin to disperse up to their rooms to pack their weekend bags, and some, according to Hugo, go upstairs and take a final look from the battlements.

  I take this opportunity to escape back to my room. If Inspector Joachin managed to get into my room to put the package in there last night, he must be nearby. More importantly, if he got into my room – then so could Jim.

  I must tell him I’m in danger.

  I’m worried that when the family meet up, I will be hauled out in front of them all and held to account for leaving the gun, in the package, on the table.

  I walk quickly, fumble for my key and enter my room. The bed is still unmade, and my dirty whites from yesterday are slung in the corner on the floor.

  I rummage in my bag with shaking hands looking for Inspector Joachin’s phone.

  There’s one message. He sent it at midday – an hour ago.

  Thanks for your help, Ronda. All is going well.

  I type.

  I’m glad you think so! I’m terrified. They have a picture of me leaving the package on the table. If I get caught – what will I do?

  After deleting the message, I sit on the bed waiting, but there’s no answer.

  I brush my teeth, fix my bandana, and in the end, I stow the mobile under my bed.

  As I’m locking the door, a hand from behind me covers my mouth, and someone yanks my right hand up behind my back.

  I react instinctively, twisting and bending forward with all my strength and then I’m spinning, kicking and biting, keeping the momentum and holding his arm as I bend over and haul him over my shoulde
rs. He loosens his grip, and I kick out with my sneakers, missing his balls, but kicking him in the lower stomach. Wilhelm doubles over gasping for breath.

  He groans. I’m furious.

  I step back and rotating my torso I bring my fist upward, striking him on the chin. I hop from foot to foot, getting my fists to my face in a fighting stance waiting for Wilhelm to look up but he doesn’t. Instead, he charges blindly at me in a rugby tackle.

  I shift my weight to my right foot and bring my left knee up to my chest, and I kick out my left foot – straight from the hip – leading with the heel smacking him in the shoulder, and he sprawls at my feet.

  I bring my foot to the middle of his back and push down hard. Then I retain my fighting stance over his body on the ground.

  ‘Do you want more? You snivelling little creep?’

  Wilhelm groans and sits up. He leans his arms on his knees and shakes his head. ‘I wanted to teach you a lesson but—’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘You made me look stupid last night.’

  ‘You didn’t need my help with that.’

  He shakes his head in defeat. His cheek is swollen and bruised. He stands up slowly brushing the dust off his trousers. I don’t help him.

  ‘It’s been a shitty weekend. I’m sorry, Ronda. I guess I took it out on you.’

  I haven’t let down my fighting guard. I’m ready in case he charges me again.

  ‘Friends?’ He holds out his hand.

  ‘Never.’

  He looks surprised. ‘Okay, I can understand that. I haven’t behaved well. But this whole charade this weekend has been awful. Do you have any idea what it’s like watching your father make a fool of himself over that woman? He’s been doing it for years, with no regard for Gunter or me or even for our mother. He was sleeping with Louisa before our mother died.’

  He rubs his head. His eyes are bloodshot, and he looks like he has a stinking hangover.

  ‘They were having an affair, and we all knew it. Including our mother. It’s humiliating and now, having to come here this weekend and pretend that we like her and her two children is beyond my limits.’