Death of a Prosecutor

by Wendy Soliman

  Riley nodded, not believing a word of it. Or, to be more accurate, believing what had been said but suspecting that a great deal more had been left out. Perhaps Parker would have more luck in rooting out the truth. If anyone could…

  ‘Well, thank you for satisfying my curiosity in that regard,’ Riley said, standing to indicate that the interview was at an end. ‘If we need to talk to you again, we know where to find you.’

  ‘I am as anxious to resolve this matter as you are, Inspector. A cloud of suspicion will hang over chambers, discouraging new clients from approaching us, until the culprit is brought to justice.’

  ‘He should consider a career as a fiction writer,’ Salter grumbled as they watched Milton being escorted from the premises.

  ‘My thoughts exactly, Jack. My thoughts exactly.’ They returned to Riley’s office to be told by Peterson that Mrs Barchester would be with them within the hour. Riley thanked Peterson, returned him to his duties and settled himself in the chair behind his desk, ushering Salter to the one in front of it.

  ‘How do we find out who the man was that Maisie Fuller planned to elope with?’ he asked. ‘I haven’t seen any mention of him in Inspector Hardgrave’s notes, probably because Kitty didn’t tell him about the intended elopement and she was the only one that her sister had taken into her confidence. Be that as it may, I would very much like to make his acquaintance. The mere fact that he has not come forward makes me suspicious.’

  ‘You imagine he caught her out with Caldwell, didn’t realise she was quite so free with her favours and allowed his temper to get the better of him?’

  ‘Either that or Fuller found out she intended to do a flit and decided to stop her by whatever means necessary. I would dearly love to know, but we’ll wait and see what Stout turns up first. We have more than enough other lines of enquiry to keep us occupied.’

  ‘It was interesting what Milton said about Price’s dedication to Sir Robert. I mean, he had a good position and loyalty is a commendable trait in a subordinate, as you have good reason to know,’ Salter grinned, ‘but even so…’

  ‘Yes, it was interesting. Price referred to some unpleasantness in his past, implying that it prevented him from gaining employment, so I suppose it stands to reason that he would feel loyal towards the man who gave him an opportunity.’

  Salter nodded. ‘It’s probably nothing more than that. Besides, Sir Robert and Milton are chalk and cheese. In Price’s situation, I know where my loyalties would have rested.’

  ‘Quite.’ Riley paused to reflect, rubbing the side of his forefinger across his lips. ‘I’m going to talk to Mrs Barchester alone when she arrives. She isn’t a suspect and I think I stand a better change of encouraging her to be transparent if she doesn’t feel as though we are pressuring her.’

  ‘You’ll tell her about her inheritance?’

  ‘Probably. Wigdon agreed that I should use my initiative. You go off and talk to Price. See if you can get him to open up about his past. Oh, and drop Barchester’s name into the mix, see if it elicits a response.’

  Salter nodded and disappeared. He had been gone less than ten minutes before Mrs Barchester was shown into Riley’s room. He stood to greet her and thanked her for coming. She wore a gown of such dark blue that it appeared almost black. The closest she could come, Riley supposed, to showing respect for Sir Robert without creating problems for herself with her husband.

  ‘Is there any news regarding my father’s murder?’ she asked, taking the seat that Salter had just vacated.

  ‘Nothing definite, but we are making progress.’

  ‘Then why did you wish to see me?’

  ‘I wanted to ask you more questions about your husband.’

  ‘Edwin?’ She raised a brow. ‘What do you want to know?’

  ‘I hear that he is raising funds for a further expedition. Well two, to be precise.’

  She gave a small, resigned sigh. ‘He is always raising funds for something or other.’

  ‘And expects you to accompany him wherever his expeditions take him?’

  She lifted one elegant shoulder. ‘As you say.’

  ‘He is passionate about his work, requires others to fund his research yet does not stint upon his living arrangements. Your apartment is in a fashionable part of town and, excuse me, it cannot be cheap to run. I should have thought that he would have settled for a great deal less, if only to contribute more to his own campaigns.’

  ‘The apartment is for my benefit rather than his, and to maintain appearances, of course. He believes that if he keeps me in style it will make me content. Besides, a man with trappings of wealth is, he tells me, taken more seriously by those upon whom he wishes to make a good impression.’

  ‘But your living arrangements have also been made in the optimistic hope of keeping you, I imagine.’

  ‘Really, Inspector.’ She appeared affronted. ‘I believe in my marriage vows. For better or for worse.’ She shed her grievance at the intrusive nature of Riley’s question as quickly as it had arrived. ‘Mostly for worse, but that’s the luck of the draw.’

  ‘Your father, I think, wanted to give you other choices.’

  ‘I don’t see how.’ Mrs Barchester sighed. ‘I made a mistake when I married Edwin, I’ll freely admit that much to you, much as my father wheedled the truth out of me. I was young and unhappy. Edwin bombarded me with attention and dazzled me with his interest in Egypt. I had never known such single-minded passion and thought that it might extend to all aspects of his nature…however, I mistook the matter. Edwin is dominant and possessive, but I have made my bed, so to speak.’

  ‘Are you absolutely sure that he knew nothing of your meetings with your father? Excuse me, but I find it hard to believe that such a possessive man would not keep tight control over the activities of an attractive and much younger wife.’

  ‘Thank you for the compliment. I have no way of knowing if Edwin was aware of Robert’s visits or not. All I can tell you is that his attitude towards me did not change and he made no mention of Robert at all. You can be sure that if he had known, he would not have been able to keep that knowledge to himself.’ She unconsciously touched the side of her face, presumably the site of previous chastisements when she had kept things from him. ‘You imagine he did know, confronted Robert and killed him in the ensuing melee?’

  Except there was no melee. ‘You seem unemotional about the possibility.’

  ‘Because I wouldn’t put anything past him. He beat a young Egyptian man half to death on our last expedition, simply because we conversed for longer than Edwin considered appropriate. Teaching him a lesson in manners, he called it. In actual fact he had to be restrained, otherwise I have no doubt that he would have killed him.’

  Riley allowed a momentary pause, then decided to play his ace. ‘Did Sir Robert discuss his will with you?’

  She looked genuinely surprised by the question. ‘Good heavens, no. Why ever would he? It is not as though he knew he was about to die. Besides, his personal circumstances have nothing to do with me.’

  ‘Then what I am about to tell you, with the permission of Sir Robert’s solicitor, will come as a considerable shock.’ Riley paused for emphasis, his gaze fixed firmly on Mrs Barchester’s face, not wanting to miss the smallest nuance in her reaction. ‘He left you a very substantial legacy. The bulk of his fortune, in fact.’

  ‘Me?’ Her eyes widened and she looked totally shocked, vindicating Riley’s decision to enlighten her. He was convinced she’d had no inkling. No one was that good an actress. Besides, her distress at Sir Robert’s loss was entirely genuine. Mrs Barchester was no gold-digger. But the same could not be said of her husband, he was absolutely sure of that without even having met the man. ‘How very thoughtful of him. I wonder why…I mean, if I thought about it at all, I assumed that Norman would inherit everything.’

  ‘Norman gets very little.’

  Mrs Barchester’s mouth fell open when Riley explained t
he full terms of the will and named the amount that she herself would inherit. Tears sprang to her eyes, and she dabbed at them with a lace-edged handkerchief.

  ‘I find it…’ She shook her head, scattering stray tears onto her cheeks. ‘You must excuse me, Inspector, but I am at a loss for words. I just don’t know what to think. Whatever made Robert do something that is bound to tear his family apart?’

  ‘I think Sir Robert understood your dire circumstances and wanted to give you an opportunity to escape them.’ Riley smiled at her. ‘You really will have the means to please yourself once the will is probated. Sir Robert arranged matters so that your inheritance does not become your husband’s property.’

  A tiny smile lit up her features. ‘Yes, I can quite imagine him doing something that considerate.’

  ‘So as long as you don’t mind the ignominy of divorce, or separation, you will be free to live your life on your own terms. You will be painted as the guilty party, of course, and your husband will enjoy the majority of sympathy.’

  ‘From those who do not know him, perhaps. I have few friends of my own left nowadays. We have spent too much time overseas for me to be able to maintain those friendships. Besides, Edwin—’

  ‘Doesn’t like you to have friends of your own.’ Riley nodded sympathetically. He had met men of his ilk before and didn’t much care for their possessive ways. ‘Your husband would view your inheritance as a means of financing his expeditions without sharing the glory with the investors whom he would otherwise have been obliged to include.’

  ‘Undoubtedly. You can be sure that he will not let up on me until I agree to give him control of the funds.’

  ‘Which would go against Sir Robert’s wishes.’ Riley smiled at her. ‘He really has left you on the horns of a dilemma.’

  ‘One that will require a great deal of thought on my part.’ She looked directly at Riley, her gaze resolute. ‘Thank you for the advance warning. If I had not known of this legacy before the will was read, I’m sure that Edwin would have worn me down and most likely got his way before I recovered from the shock.’

  Riley took a moment to phrase his next question carefully. ‘It’s clear to me that you had absolutely no idea that Sir Robert had made you a wealthy woman, but if Edwin had somehow got wind of the particulars of his will, would he have killed your father in order to ensure your immediate inheritance?’

  ‘Very possibly,’ Mrs Barchester replied without hesitation. ‘I can see that my frankness has surprised you, Inspector, and you probably think me very disloyal, but facts must be faced. Edwin is the most single-minded man of my acquaintance. Nothing and no one stands in the way of his ambitions. Violence is a means to an end for him. Think of the poor Egyptian boy he almost beat to death if you doubt me. Anyway, he would find a way to justify his behaviour in his mind so that he could live with his conscience, such as it is.’

  ‘I think Sir Robert was right to grant you financial independence,’ Riley said softly. ‘It is his way of relieving his own conscience for not being part of your life for so long. He was immensely fond of you. I can say that assuredly because although he did not discuss you with me, he spoke about you at length to his solicitor. You were the only one of his four children in whom he took absolute pride.’

  Mrs Barchester dashed at fresh tears with the back of her hand. ‘Thank you for your candour,’ she said quietly. ‘It means more to me than the legacy.’ She paused. ‘Almost.’

  ‘You will be able to see, I am sure, that I must speak to your husband. I will be failing in my duty if I do not. But, at the same time, I don’t want to create difficulties for you.’

  ‘You think I should tell him that Sir Robert was my father?’

  ‘It will come out soon enough. Better that he hears it from you.’ Riley paused and sent a significant look at the cheek she had earlier touched. ‘Preferably in a public place. Pretend you have only just found out and were trying to think of a way to tell him.’

  She wrinkled her brow. ‘He won’t like it, but I can see the necessity.’

  ‘He needn’t know about the inheritance. The rest of Sir Robert’s family will find out about it when the will is read, but that won’t be for a while. You have time to gather your wits and decide what you would like to do about it.’

  Mrs Barchester nodded. ‘Very well. We are dining out with some of Edwin’s investors tonight. He wants me to charm them into loosening their purse strings.’

  ‘If it is an occasion upon which he needs your cooperation, it sounds as though it would be the best opportunity.’

  ‘Very well. I will do it tonight.’ She clutched her stocking purse more tightly on her lap and then stood, offering him a gloved hand to shake. ‘Thank you so very much for your consideration, Inspector. As from tomorrow, Edwin will be aware of my relationship with Sir Robert and you can question him at any time.’

  Riley stood also. ‘Don’t allow him to bully you, is my advice. In my experience, when confronted, bullies invariably back down again.’

  ‘I shall try to remember that.’ She smiled as she walked through the door that Riley held open for her and summoned one of his detectives to conduct her from the premises. ‘Good morning, Inspector Rochester.’

  Chapter Eleven

  Riley spent ten minutes ruminating about the facts they had uncovered, which were precious few. He couldn’t recall a case that had thrown up so few clues and so many suspects, and was obliged to concede that the killer might never be caught. If Sir Robert’s valuables had been stolen, he might have concluded that it had been an opportunistic robbery. Perhaps that had been the killer’s intention—to stage a premeditated and vicious murder to appear like a robbery—but he had been interrupted before he could snatch the barrister’s case and rifle through his pockets.

  ‘Remind me who discovered Sir Robert’s body,’ Riley said when Salter returned from Lincoln’s Inn.

  ‘A watchman flagged down a constable at about seven-thirty.’

  ‘And workers would start appearing at about eight, although not many of them would have reason to be in that courtyard. It leads directly to Sir Robert’s chambers and nowhere else, but it’s visible from the lane outside.’ Riley tapped his fingers against his teeth as he thought the matter through. ‘The murderer took an almighty risk. We know Sir Robert left home at seven, which narrows the time of death down to the half-hour between seven and seventy-thirty.’ He fixed Salter with a look of intense concentration. ‘Which of Sir Robert’s employees arrived first?’

  ‘Carter spoke to them all. From memory, a small crowd had gathered before any of them got there.’

  Riley groaned. ‘Very convenient.’

  ‘But the only one we suspect is Milton, and he was at the Bailey when it opened its doors, making a spectacle of himself. It would be a cool customer who committed such a brutal murder and then calmly carried on as though nothing untoward had happened.’

  Riley flexed a brow. ‘And we have never met individuals of that ilk during the course of our work before now? Besides, Milton was anything but calm.’

  ‘Yes, well…’

  ‘Milton has a great deal to gain from Sir Robert being out of the way. He gets to take over the Caldwell case and Sir Robert’s chambers. He can now also take on more lucrative defence work, which Sir Robert resisted doing. He told me many times that it was not his bag and he wouldn’t be tempted onto that side of the fence—although he never said why.’

  ‘Something must have happened in the past to make him feel so strongly.’

  ‘Very likely. Anyway, returning to Milton, he certainly has motive and opportunity, and he could have got hold of the murder weapon easily enough. He also had ample time to plan and execute the crime. His wife was not at home the night before, so she can’t be called upon to account for his movements. He might not even have been in Wimbledon for all we know. He could have stayed in London. But if he was at home…’ Riley looked up at Salter, a gleam in his eye. ‘His usual tra
in would have been packed with commuters bound for the capital and he would not have stood out, but the earlier ones would have been less crowded. He would have had to catch one if he wanted to be there, lying in wait for Sir Robert, and someone might remember him if he did. Send Carter and Soames down to Wimbledon to question the platform master. See if he can recall seeing Milton that morning and if there was anything different about his routine.’

  ‘If there is, then we have him,’ Salter said with satisfaction.

  ‘I’ll have Sergeant Barton send a few uniformed constables to ask questions at hotels close to Lincoln’s Inn. If Milton spent the night in the capital, the chances are that he did so in a large hotel, not too exclusive, where he would have blended in.’

  ‘A needle in a haystack,’ Salter said, seemingly unimpressed by the suggestion.

  ‘No one said this work was easy, Sergeant, and every possibility has to be explored.’

  Glad to be doing something positive, Riley then related the particulars of his interview with Mrs Barchester to his sergeant.

  ‘Ah, so we can finally have at Barchester tomorrow.’ Salter rubbed his hands together. ‘About time too.’

  ‘For all the good that it will do us,’ Riley replied morosely. ‘Barchester will deny all knowledge of Sir Robert’s relationship to his wife and claim never to have met him. As with all the other suspects in this case, we have no means of refuting that claim, but at least he will be aware that we have him in our sights. That’s something, I suppose.’ Riley let out a slow breath, feeling dull-witted and dissatisfied with his lack of progress. ‘Anyway, how did it go with Price?’