Sure enough, the sound of the launch’s engine was unmistakable.
Henry said, “I’m sorry, Bob, but it was the best thing. We’ll get them in the end, don’t worry.”
“And what about my boat?”
Henry made a tiny gesture toward Dr. Vanduren and Janet. He said quietly, “What about his daughter?”
Bob looked, dropped his eyes, and said, “My God. I’m sorry.”
Like a Pietà in reverse, Lionel Vanduren was holding Janet on his knees, cradling her in his arms. He said, “It’s all right, Jan. You did right. Everything is all right.”
Barely audibly, she said, “I really have killed somebody now, haven’t I, Dad?”
“You mean—you didn’t, before?”
“The old lady.” Janet’s voice was very weak. “I was supposed to kill her. I didn’t. I couldn’t. I took her ashore and to the airport and changed her reservation and put her in the hotel. I told Ed I’d killed her, but I didn’t.”
Very gently, her father said, “That was a very good, brave thing to do, Jan. What about Cheryl Ross?”
Janet shook her head feebly. “I…I had nothing to do with… I knew her, you see…it was the Montgomerys… ”
“And Ed?”
Suddenly Janet began struggling, terrified. “Is he dead? Is he dead?”
“Yes, my darling. He’s dead.”
“It was Ed…he’s one of them…he fooled us all…only got engaged to me…you a doctor…Florida connection…got me hooked on… ” She clutched at her father’s protective arms. “Don’t leave me, Dad. He’ll find me…he’ll kill me…don’t leave me… ”
Vanduren bent his head. “Never,” he said firmly. “Never again, Jan.” Then he looked up and said to the others, “But she’s left me. Poor Jan. She’s dead.” He buried his head in his daughter’s long hair and wept.
It was Henry and Bob Harrison who went into the fo’c’sle to release Katherine and Lewis Carstairs, who lay there trussed like chickens and waiting for butchery. It was Bob who navigated Ocean Rover and Henry and Emmy who brought Katie-Lou around to Mango Bay shortly before noon, to be met by the police launch from St. Mark’s, with Inspector Ingham and Customs Officer Cranstone aboard. Henry was not at all surprised to see that Pearletta Terry was piloting the launch. She did not pilot it back to St. Mark’s. Inspector Ingham had her under arrest, and Cranstone was at the controls.
Meanwhile, a radio report had ensured the arrest of Anderson, the Harbour Master—in whose delivery of stores was found the small amount of marijuana which had been put aboard the Katie-Lou. In an effort at plea bargaining, Anderson led the police to a large cache of drugs and a sizable arms dump in the hills of St. Mark’s.
Mark One was found abandoned but in good condition about twenty miles north of the Seawards. A description of the Montgomerys and a warrant for their arrest were circulated throughout the area, but at the time of writing they have not been located. However, it is unlikely that they will operate actively again.
The Seawards incident was over.
EPILOGUE
THE TIBBETTS WERE due to leave the next morning. At the Anchorage Inn, a happy evening was in progress—a private dinner cooked by John Colville and his wife, served to a group of guests made up of Sir Alfred and Lady Pendleton, Inspector and Mrs. Ingham, Mr. and Mrs. Bob Harrison, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Tibbett, and Ebenezer Prout, otherwise known as Shark Tooth.
Dinner was over, and John had just proposed a toast to Miss Betsy Sprague, when the telephone rang. Margaret went to answer it.
“Yes…wait a minute while I get a pencil…yes…yes…I have that… ”
The party at the table waited expectantly. At last, Margaret came back with a notepad in her hand. She said, “That was a telegram from London for Henry Tibbett. It reads: ‘YOUR RESIGNATION ACCEPTED WITH GREAT REGRET STOP WILL NOT GAZETTE UNTIL CONFIRMED IN WRITING STOP HOPE YOU MAY RECONSIDER SIGNED ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER.’”
There was a moment of absolute silence. Then Henry said, “What in God’s name—?”
Emmy was giggling hopelessly. “I forgot to tell you, darling. You don’t remember now, but you sent a telegram resigning from Scotland Yard. You set up a company called the Henry Tibbett Investigation Bureau in St. Mark’s, and you were going to live here and be a private eye… ”
Henry said, “I see. So the recent case was not in the hands of Scotland Yard, but of the Tibbett Investigation Bureau, was it? Well, I think the sooner the bureau goes out of business, the better. After all, consider. It investigated the murder of a woman who was alive and well in her own home. It tracked down four criminals, two of whom escaped and two of whom killed each other. It—”
Sir Alfred Pendleton said, “It also just happened to save the Seaward Islands.”
“For the moment,” said Henry. “I wonder for how long.”
For more “Inspector Tibbett” and other “Vintage” titles from Felony & Mayhem Press, including the “Inspector Alleyn” series by Ngaio Marsh, please visit our website: FelonyAndMayhem.com
All the characters and events portrayed in this work are fictitious.
ANGEL DEATH
A Felony & Mayhem “Vintage” mystery
PUBLISHING HISTORY
First UK edition print edition (Collins): 1980 First US edition print edition (Holt, Rinehart and Winston): 1981 Felony & Mayhem print and digital editions: 2019
Copyright © 1980 by The Estate of Patricia Moyes
All rights reserved
E-book ISBN: 978-1-63194-217-4
Angel Death Page 28
