Suspicious Death

by Dorothy Simpson

  Thanet made no comment. There had been, he noted, no further word of a complaint to the Chief Constable. Perhaps it had been made and dismissed?

  ‘Could you give us some idea of his movements since he arrived?’

  She put up a hand to brush back an invisible strand of hair. ‘I’ll do my best, though we didn’t spend that much time together. I still had the hotel to run and Leo seemed quite content to wander around by himself, renewing old acquaintances, no doubt, and revisiting his old haunts.’

  ‘If you could just give us some idea …’

  She glanced at her husband. ‘Well, let me see … He arrived unexpectedly, early on Monday evening, shortly before dinner.’ She grimaced. ‘Shortly before we had dinner, I mean. We always dine at a ridiculously early hour so that I am free to be around while our guests have drinks and their dinner later on.’

  ‘By “we” you mean …?’

  A glance at Hamilton. ‘My husband and I.’

  ‘There are no other members of the family living here at present?’

  ‘There’s Tessa, our daughter, and our son Adam is here at the moment, too. But he didn’t arrive until last night. He’s away at boarding school but it’s his half-term and he spent the first few days of it with a friend. And Tessa was out as usual, she’d been up to town for the day and didn’t get back till late.’

  ‘By “town” you mean London?’

  ‘Of course. Look, is all this relevant? I can’t see why it matters what we did the night before last, it’s last night that matters, surely.’

  ‘I’m just trying to get the picture, so bear with me, please. Mr Martindale gave you no warning of his arrival, you say?’

  She shook her head. ‘No. Just turned up out of the blue.’

  ‘It must have been a shock for you, if you had been so certain he was dead.’

  ‘It certainly was … A nice one, of course.’

  ‘Of course,’ echoed Thanet, hoping the sarcasm was not noticeable in his tone. ‘Anyway, I imagine Mr Martindale would have been shown up to his room, when he arrived.’

  ‘Briefly, yes. All the rooms are always kept in a state of readiness, so there was no problem there.’

  ‘And then you had dinner. That would have been at …?’

  ‘Six-thirty, as usual. It was something of a celebration, of course, we opened a bottle of champagne. Return of the prodigal and all that.’

  Thanet couldn’t imagine that Leo had really been welcomed with open arms, but they had presumably gone through the motions. ‘And afterwards?’

  ‘We always have drinks with any of the guests who choose to join us in the drawing-room at seven-thirty. They like that, it fosters the private house image we try to cultivate.’

  ‘Did your brother join you that evening?’

  ‘Yes, he did. The idea seemed to amuse him.’

  ‘And afterwards?’

  She shrugged. ‘It was business as usual.’ She glanced at Hamilton. ‘I believe you did some paperwork in your office, didn’t you, darling, and I stayed around, generally keeping an eye on things. Leo went off to the pub in the village. He got back about nine, then disappeared to his room.’

  ‘And yesterday?’

  Delia Hamilton put a hand up to her head and said irritably, ‘I saw him around from time to time, but I didn’t exactly keep a diary of his movements, why should I? And I did have work to do, you know, this place doesn’t exactly run itself.’ Mention of her domestic duties made her glance at her watch. ‘Look, can’t we hurry things up a bit, we’ll be here all day at this rate.’

  Hamilton stirred. ‘And I have things to attend to, as well. Do you really need me here any longer? I can’t see that there’s much I can contribute. I’m out on the estate most of the day.’

  ‘I appreciate that, sir, but I’d be grateful if you could stay just a little longer. You might be able to clarify or corroborate what happened last night.’

  Hamilton settled back in his chair, frowning. ‘Very well, but let’s get a move on, shall we?’

  Thanet had no intention of being hurried. ‘If we could go back to yesterday morning, then …’

  Delia Hamilton frowned and sighed. ‘If we must. I’m sure our housekeeper could help you more than I.’

  ‘That would be …?’

  ‘Mona Byfleet. She’s married to our handyman-cum-chauffeur.’

  ‘You saw him outside, if you remember, Inspector,’ said Hamilton.

  ‘Ah, yes. Perhaps I could talk to Mrs Byfleet later. But meanwhile …’

  Delia Hamilton sat up straighter, as if to flex the muscles of her memory, then said rapidly, ‘Leo had a lie-in, I believe, and breakfast in bed. I saw him mid-morning and he said he was going to wander about, revisit his old haunts, as I said. At lunch he told me he’d been for a long walk on the estate. He said he was going down to the village in the afternoon and I assume he did. Then in the evening we had dinner together …’

  Some memory was making her uncomfortable, Thanet could tell, by the whitening of her knuckles as her clasped hands tightened, the way she adjusted her position in her chair.

  ‘You, your husband and your brother?’

  ‘That’s right,’ she said impatiently. ‘Really, Inspector, you do like to dot your i’s, don’t you?’

  ‘You said your daughter was here?’

  ‘She’d gone off to visit friends again.’

  ‘In London?’

  ‘No, locally.’

  ‘What did you talk about at dinner, Mrs Hamilton?’

  She met his gaze squarely but Thanet saw the toe of her shoe tilt as her toes bunched up in tension. Feet, he found, were always an excellent indicator of state of mind. ‘This and that.’ Her chin lifted and her tone was cool. The message was plain. I don’t see that it’s any of your business.

  Thanet ignored it. ‘Such as?’

  She shrugged. ‘Just general chat about what we’d been doing while he was away, what he’d been doing. We had a lot of catching up to do.’

  Thanet decided not to probe any further for the moment. Later, if necessary, he promised himself. At the moment he just wanted to get the general picture. ‘I see. And later, after dinner?’

  ‘I didn’t see him again after dinner.’

  ‘And you, Mr Hamilton. Did you?’

  ‘See him again?’ Hamilton shook his head. ‘No, I didn’t.’

  ‘Didn’t you think that strange?’

  This time they both shook their heads, spoke together.

  ‘Not at all, no …’

  ‘Not in the least. Why should we?’ This was Delia Hamilton. ‘This isn’t a council house, Inspector, we’re not exactly tripping over each other all the time. And there are a number of ways in and out, you could go all day without seeing someone else who is living in the house if your activities didn’t happen to coincide.’

  ‘Did he say what he intended to do, after dinner?’

  More headshakes.

  ‘And you, what did you do?’

  The Hamiltons looked at each other. ‘You drove to the station, to fetch Adam, didn’t you, darling?’ said Hamilton.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘What time would that have been, Mrs Hamilton?’ Thanet sensed the heightening of Lineham’s attention, quite rightly. Any mention of either of the Hamiltons driving anywhere the previous evening could be highly relevant.

  ‘I must have left about twenty-five past seven. Adam’s train was getting in at seven-thirty and it takes about five minutes to get to the station.’

  Thanet remembered what Doc Mallard had said. Say between six o’clock and four a.m., then, to be on the safe side.

  ‘So you would have arrived back about twenty to eight?’

  ‘Something like that, yes.’

  ‘And you didn’t pass your brother on the way, either going or coming back?’

  Delia Hamilton’s eyes snapped. ‘Don’t you think I would have said so, if I had? I told you, I didn’t see him at all after dinner.’

  ‘What abo
ut you, Mr Hamilton?’

  ‘I was working in the office. I usually do, in the evenings.’ Hamilton’s eyes narrowed. ‘Look, why all the questions about what we were doing?’ His voice grew a little more strident. ‘For that matter, now I think about it, why all the questions about what Leo was doing during the day yesterday? What possible relevance can it have? I appreciate that you need to find out about his movements last night in order to discover how the accident happened, but surely it should be enough for us to say that the last time we saw him was at dinner?’

  ‘I’m afraid it’s not quite as simple as that.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘Yes, why not?’ said Delia Hamilton.

  They both stared at him, waiting for a reply.

  Thanet hesitated. How much should he say, at this stage?

  ‘Well?’ said Delia Hamilton impatiently.

  Thanet shrugged. ‘A man has died, Mrs Hamilton, and it’s our job to find out how and why. I can’t tell at this stage what information might be relevant.’

  ‘But it was a simple hit and run, surely,’ said Hamilton. ‘Unless you’re suggesting …?’

  ‘It’s a little difficult,’ said Thanet carefully, ‘to see how Mr Martindale could have landed in that ditch in the position in which he was lying without, shall we say, a little help.’

  ‘“A little help” …’ said Hamilton. ‘My God, Inspector, you’re surely not suggesting that someone put him there?’

  Thanet shrugged. ‘I’m afraid I can’t say any more at present.’

  ‘But –’

  ‘Look here –’

  Again, they spoke together. Delia Hamilton deferred to her husband with a glance.

  ‘Are you saying,’ he said incredulously, ‘that Leo was murdered?’

  Thanet was saved from a reply. The door, which must have been unlatched, was pushed open and a head appeared.

  ‘Sorry, couldn’t help hearing. Why the surprise, Dad? You always did say Uncle Leo would have come to a bad end.’

  It was a boy of fourteen or fifteen, though you would never have guessed it from the way he was dressed. Hair slicked down with brilliantine, he was wearing a navy-blue pinstriped suit, white shirt and narrow knitted tie. A white silk scarf hung loosely around his neck and he was carrying a trilby hat tucked under one arm and a silver-topped walking stick. Coming further into the room he posed with one hand on the stick, the other shoved into his trouser pocket.

  There were further shocks to come. ‘Sounds interesting,’ said a female voice, and a girl of seventeen followed him into the room. She, too, was apparently making a statement of some kind by her appearance, though Thanet couldn’t quite make out what it was. Rebellion against her upper-crust background, perhaps? She sported hair in stiff porcupine spikes, skull-like make-up with hollowed cheekbones and shadowed eye-sockets and an all-black outfit of high heels, tights, sweater and mini-skirt so short that it was more of a frill than a garment.

  Thanet sent up a silent prayer of thankfulness that so far Bridget’s adolescent revolt had gone no further than a mild flirtation with heavy eye make-up.

  With a glance at Thanet Hamilton stood up. ‘Were you two listening at the door?’ he said angrily.

  ‘Oh come on, Dad,’ said Adam. ‘Eavesdropping will get you everywhere, you know that.’ He gave Thanet an amused look. ‘As in this case. You’re the fuzz, I suppose?’

  ‘As you say,’ said Thanet drily, casting a warning glance at Lineham. The sergeant, ever-sensitive to insults to his superior, had stiffened. PC Yeoman’s expression, he noticed with amusement, was suitably wooden.

  ‘Out!’ said Hamilton, advancing menacingly on his offspring. But they stood their ground.

  ‘Stop coming over the heavy father, Dad,’ said Tessa languidly. ‘We’ve merely come to offer our assistance, like good citizens. I should’ve thought you would approve. You’re always trying to get us to conform.’

  ‘That’s enough,’ said their mother sharply. ‘You heard what your father said. Off you go. Now!’

  Reluctantly they began to turn away. ‘Just when the conversation was getting interesting,’ muttered Adam.

  Thanet looked at the Hamiltons. ‘I’m sorry, but would you mind very much if I did have a word with them? They might be able to help.’

  ‘Great!’ said Adam, dropping his pose and displaying a child-like eagerness to be in on the action.

  The Hamiltons exchanged glances.

  ‘How can they possibly help?’ said Delia.

  ‘Oh Mum!’ Tessa was scornful. ‘How can he tell unless he tries to find out?’

  And without waiting for further permission they crossed to a settee at right angles to the one on which their parents were sitting and sat down, looking at Thanet expectantly.

  Hamilton stood up. ‘I’m going!’ he said in disgust. ‘If you don’t mind,’ he added sarcastically.

  Thanet waved a hand. ‘Fine.’

  ‘But I’ve got to go too!’ said his wife. ‘There are masses of things to be done.’

  But her objection was too late. Hamilton had already left.

  ‘I don’t think there’s anything else I want to ask you at the moment, Mrs Hamilton,’ said Thanet. ‘So if you’d prefer to leave …’

  She shot her children a furious glance, clearly torn between her need to attend to her duties and a reluctance to leave the young people alone with the policemen, for fear of what they would say. ‘No, I’ll stay a little longer.’

  ‘He won’t eat us, Mum, you go,’ urged Tessa.

  Delia pressed her lips together, shook her head and settled back into her chair. Her children exchanged glances, rolled their eyes and sighed.

  ‘Oh, Mum,’ said Adam.

  ‘Well now,’ said Thanet, and introduced himself and Lineham. ‘PC Yeoman you already know, no doubt.’

  They glanced at Yeoman and nodded.

  ‘Actually,’ said Thanet, ‘I’m not sure whether you can help us much, Adam.’

  The boy’s face fell. ‘Why not?’

  ‘Well, I gather you didn’t get home until twenty to eight last night, so unless you saw your uncle after that … Did you?’

  Adam shook his head reluctantly. ‘No. I did go and knock on his door some time during the evening, but there was no reply.’

  ‘What time was that?’

  He frowned. ‘Let me think. I had something to eat, then I went up to my room and unpacked … It must have been between half-past eight and nine.’

  ‘Was the door locked?’

  ‘Yes.’ A defensive glance at his mother. ‘I tried the handle because I thought he might have been in the bathroom, and not heard me.’

  And he might have been, thought Thanet, and locked his door against just this type of eventuality. So they were no further forward.

  ‘And now, of course, I’ll never know what he was like.’

  It sounded like genuine regret. To a boy of Adam’s age the mysterious wicked uncle who disappeared into the blue never to be seen or heard of again was no doubt an intriguing figure.

  He turned on his sister. ‘And you can stop looking so smug! Just because you happened to be here –’

  ‘Adam!’ said his mother sharply.

  ‘What about you, Tessa?’ said Thanet.

  But before she could reply there was a knock on the door.

  ‘Come in,’ said Delia, with evident relief.

  A maid entered. ‘Sorry to interrupt, ma’am, but a lot more policemen have arrived.’ A glance at Thanet. ‘They’re asking for the Inspector.’

  ‘Thank you,’ said Thanet. ‘Tell them I’ll be out in just a few minutes.’ He turned back to Tessa and raised an expectant eyebrow. ‘Did you see your uncle last night?’

  ‘Not last night, no. But I did have a natter with him earlier.’

  ‘Oh, when was that?’ said her mother sharply.

  ‘I ran into him on my way downstairs yesterday morning, so naturally I introduced myself and he suggested coffee in the conservatory.’ She roll
ed her eyes. ‘He was real dishy.’

  ‘Tessa!’

  ‘Well, he was! So smooth and … well, he was interesting. I mean, he’d travelled all over the place, seen everything, done everything …’

  ‘And everyone!’ murmured Adam, sotto voce.

  ‘What was that?’ snapped his mother. ‘What did you say?’

  Adam and his sister flicked amused glances at each other. ‘Nothing, Ma, no need for convolutions of the undergarments.’

  ‘Adam!’

  Lady Bracknell couldn’t have put more disapprobation into those two syllables, thought Thanet.

  ‘I would remind you,’ she said furiously, ‘that this is an official interview.’ She cast a disgusted look at Lineham’s notebook. ‘So just watch what you are saying, if you don’t mind.’

  ‘Don’t worry, Mrs Hamilton, I have teenaged children of my own,’ said Thanet. He could imagine Ben’s comments if he saw these two. ‘Couple of posers!’ Ben would say.

  He turned back to Tessa. ‘Did he give you any details of his activities over the last few years?’

  She shook her head and the black spikes quivered. ‘Not really, no. Just that he’d been living in the South of France.’

  ‘Did he say what he’d been doing for a living?’

  Tessa gave a shout of laughter. ‘Work, you mean? You must be joking. Dear Uncle Leo was what Grandmother’s generation would have called a lounge lizard.’

  ‘Tessa!’ Her mother again.

  ‘Oh, come off it, Ma. What’s the point of pretending? I’d guess he lived off women, rich widows mostly, I should think.’

  Delia Hamilton stood up, propelled by the force of her indignation. ‘That’s enough, Tessa! I won’t hear your uncle slandered in this way. The interview is over, Inspector. Come on you two, out. And this time I really mean it.’

  ‘But Ma,’ Tessa protested, ‘that wasn’t slander. Slander is false report and that was –’

  ‘ENOUGH!’ said Delia. ‘Just go, will you?’

  And this time, they went.

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