"Why didn't you contact me when this first started? You may have been in danger," Wallace exclaimed.
Duncan looked sheepish.
"The innkeeper was sure it was a ghost, and I was sure it was the forced air heating system, scattering my papers about, so no one thought to report it," he explained.
Wallace looked disgusted.
"Really, a ghost?" the chief inspector asked, incredulous.
Duncan gave Wallace a look that stated plenty of people believe in ghosts and the chief inspector nodded in resignation, as if he read Duncan's thoughts.
He continued, "I found out this morning that Julia Menzies, Stuart's niece, works part time, at the Blue Bell. She was working last night, and she has access to a master key. In all the time I've stayed there, I never laid eyes on her, which makes me think she's made herself scarce on purpose. I'm sure she's the one who has been ransacking my room, which means she's involved in Stuart's death somehow."
"An accessory before or after the fact, or worse," Wallace murmured, shaking his head.
"Remember her Drunk and Disorderly after the earthquake and shortly before Stuart's death?"
Wallace nodded.
"I think Stuart was planning on murdering his wife for the insurance proceeds with the help of Peter. Stuart was up on that battlement chipping away at the merlon when the quake hit, a glad happenstance for him. He decided to utilize acid to hurry the job along. He may have even concocted the acid from fertilizer used on the estate, hence rendering it untraceable. The earthquake could explain why an ancient stone object would fall from his roof. Except, luring Caroline to an exact spot and dropping a merlon on her head would be playing against the odds. The original merlon was broken up and removed, and a new merlon constructed. He'd lure her to the battlement, push her off and place the new, smaller stone on top of her to make it appear she was the victim of a terrible accident."
Duncan had already forwarded the merlon measurements and calculations to Wallace. Now he produced the photos from his folder, proving the merlon on the castle was not the one on top of Stuart.
"So, someone built a smaller merlon because the original one was too large, impossible to move, unmanageable?" Wallace asked.
"Correct," Duncan answered. He continued, "Stuart would need some help to complete his plans. I believe he recruited his nephew and possibly his niece."
"The flaw in your theory is that Caroline didn't die. Stuart was the one killed," the chief inspector pointed out.
"I know. But remember, Stuart was a louse. He hurt women. I imagine there was no love lost between Peter and Julia and their uncle. So, thinking the estate would be entailed to the nearest relatives, they decided to double cross Stuart, killing two birds with one stone. Peter shoved him off the roof and then moved his body. They used gardening equipment to get the smaller, more manageable stone on top of him, covered their tracks, literally, and left town for their mum's in London. Remnants of the original merlon had already been carted off. You saw the photos showing the evidence on Stuart's body, proving it had been dragged across the ground, right?" he asked.
Wallace nodded and said, "I think we can get it out of them with an interrogation, one sibling at a time. Promise the girl a lesser sentence if she squeals on her brother. Tell her he's already implicated her. Do the same with him in another location."
The chief inspector took a deep breath. This whole business was distasteful.
"I agree. But you haven't heard everything yet," Duncan said, dreading this part.
"There's more?"
"This case was so convoluted, I hired a consultant with a special expertise to help us. Results of my own methods inferred a piece of the puzzle was missing. Our consultant uses a type of math called game theory to predict the behavior of our suspects," he explained.
"I'm familiar with game theory," Wallace stated, growing impatient.
"Well, both our consultant's analysis and my own suggested that someone else had to be involved in the murder, someone in the investigation," Duncan dropped the bomb.
He could see the chief inspector's face tighten with frustration, anger, maybe fear.
"Who do you suspect?" Wallace shot at Duncan, his voice on edge.
"I confirmed with Donald Merriwether some time ago that Constable William Ainsley and Peter Menzies were childhood friends. In fact, they cavorted publicly right up until the time Ainsley went into police training," Duncan said and held his breath for the explosion to follow.
Wallace stared at him for only a moment, then jumped to his feet, knocking his chair over behind him. Duncan braced himself for a fight, but Wallace only ran past him.
"Come on. We've got to get down there now!" he yelled.
He watched, stunned, as Wallace grabbed a weapon from a case and ran out of headquarters, shouting over his shoulder, "You drive!"
It took another second for Duncan to leave his seat. He was confused, but ran after the chief inspector who was already standing next to the Vauxhall.
"Let's go," Wallace roared, waving Duncan to the car.
Duncan jumped in the driver's side and reached over to unlock the door for Wallace, then turned the key in the ignition. After pulling away from the curb, he looked to the chief inspector for an explanation.
"Ainsley is down at Castle Taye right now, checking on Caroline. He knew you were coming in to meet with me. If he's tied up in this, he might be doing some damage down there," Wallace blurted. He glanced from the road to Duncan and back to the road before saying, "Hurry!"
"Why aren't you driving?" Duncan asked, pushing the Vauxhall for as much speed as possible. He felt shaky, terrified something might happen to Caroline.
"I walk to work and Ainsley and Smythe both are out with the cars. I'm calling for backup," he added, as if the idea had just occurred to him.
He pulled out his cellular and first rang Inspector Smythe. Jimmy Smythe did not answer his phone. Wallace left an urgent message with his inspector and then dialed Donald Merriwether.
Duncan concentrated on staying on the road and avoiding oncoming or slow moving vehicles. The last thing they needed was an automobile accident. Buildings, trees, and meadows all flashed by the windows of the Vauxhall. The car raced over an arched bridge, and he felt his stomach drop right before the Vauxhall violently slammed back onto the roadway. The old car had gone airborne. Duncan glanced at the speedometer as its needle passed 145 kilometres per hour. The Vauxhall could not do much faster.
Wallace had difficulty reaching Donald. He was not at the Blue Bell's front desk and an employee went to look for him.
As they careened around a bend in the road, Duncan said, "Make sure he knows not to share any information with his workers," then added as an explanation, "Julia might find out we're coming and warn her brother."
The chief inspector nodded in agreement, clutching his phone in one hand and patting an object under his coat absent mindedly with the other. Finally, Donald came to the phone.
"I need you to meet me at Castle Taye. I've reason to think there's big trouble out there. Don't tell anyone you're going and don't approach the castle unless you see something happening. Wait in the Wood for us to arrive, alright," Wallace ordered, not waiting for a reply, and added, "stay in your car out of sight with your phone in your hand. We should be there in less than ten minutes."
Wallace hung up without further explanation and turned to Duncan.
"With any luck we'll get there about the same time he does. Hate to put the old fellow in this situation, but I've got no choice."
They reached the village of Taye. Duncan trained his eyes on the roadway and only got impressions of gray stone buildings, people, signs and trees blurring past. He took the turn in the bend at the Blue Bell without slowing and was sure the Vauxhall tilted, running on two wheels only. A loud thump followed, convincing Duncan the car had returned to all four tires, before the back wheels drifted at the next turn. They were now out of town, heading for the Wood of Taye. The sun dropped behind the
hills, creating a dark, shadowy gloom on their surroundings.
"There's the Rover!" Duncan almost yelled, coming up on Donald's vehicle fast.
He pumped his breaks, narrowly avoiding a collision.
"Pass him!" Wallace ordered as Duncan swerved to the right to go around the slower moving Range Rover.
They sped through the Wood. Duncan could see Donald's lights in his rear view mirror as the older man tried to keep up without veering off the road. At last, the castle loomed ahead. Duncan took his eyes off the road, his vision drawn to some movement up on the battlement.
"What's that?" he said, pointing as he gave the wheel a hard right turn and slammed on the brakes, stopping the car almost immediately.
Wallace had already jumped from the car before it stopped and had his gun trained on the castle roof.
"Stop!" Wallace screamed.
Through his windshield Duncan saw something pass before him, vertically. It was a dark blur, a flash of a human being plunging to the ground. Horror stricken, he leapt from the Vauxhall and raced to where the body landed, unaware of Wallace or Donald.
A small, grassy berm separated Duncan from the remains. He saw a delicate, white hand resting atop the mound.
"Caroline!" Duncan called, running for the hill.
He stumbled on something just before reaching it and scrambled on all fours over the raised barrier of earth. He forced himself to look down, upon the crumpled mass. There, face twisted away from his, lay Julia. He recognized her dark hair. Relieved and sickened at the same time, Duncan reached for Julia's neck, trying to detect a pulse. He was sure he felt a tiny, irregular beat.
"Hey! She's alive! Call an ambulance, Someone!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.
He held Julia's hand, afraid to move her but wanting to give some kind of encouragement.
He attempted to calm his voice and said repeatedly, "Hang on, you're going to make it, everything's fine."
As he reiterated this mantra, his brain began to playback some of what had gone on after he'd seen Julia fall. He recalled tires squealing behind him and Wallace shouting, "Don't move, don't even twitch!" He risked a turn of his head to see what was going on to his right. Inspector Smythe held a gun, pointed towards the battlement and Donald was there as well. He had a rifle or shotgun trained at the same spot as Smythe's gun. Wallace was nowhere to be seen. The squealing tires must have been Abigail's nephew arriving. Donald and Smythe held the perpetrator in their sights. But, who was it? Duncan's mind raced in circles and he felt nauseated. He thought he might vomit, but he stayed where he was, squeezing Julia's hand and speaking to her. Suddenly, Duncan felt a weight on his shoulder and jumped, catching his breath.
"Sorry, I dinnae mean to scare ye, Lad," Donald said, then added, "an ambulance is coming, I requested a medical evacuation."
Immediately, Duncan heard a siren approaching. Soon thereafter, he heard the blades of a helicopter cutting through the air, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop. Duncan focused on the sound, experiencing some kind of shock.
"Where's Caroline?" he asked, looking around the grounds.
Before Donald could answer, several emergency technicians overran them, pulling Duncan aside and out of the way. The helicopter landed somewhere to his left and the innkeeper grabbed his arm, pulling him from the ground and away from the area. The two men walked around the back of the castle, avoiding the helicopter and medics. They both tottered like old men, Donald honestly, Duncan from the experience he had just endured. Before reaching the kitchen door, they heard the helicopter lift off and watched as it flew away, towards Edinburgh.
Entering the castle by the back door, the first thing he saw was Constable Ainsley, his wrists handcuffed, sitting in a chair. Inspector Smythe's eyes drilled holes in the constable and he kept his hand on his gun. Caroline sat at the table, staring into space. Relief flooded over Duncan, and he ran to her. Lifting her from the chair, he hugged her tight, caressing her hair and kissing her face.
"Are you all right, Darling?" he asked, holding her head in his hands and tilting her face upwards.
At first she did not speak and Duncan assumed she was in shock. He repeated his question.
At a snail's pace, Caroline answered, "I'm fine."
He hugged her again, longer this time. He lost track of time, clinging to Caroline there in the kitchen. Eventually, he heard scuffling and screaming. He looked up to see Chief Inspector Wallace shoving Peter, handcuffed, through the kitchen towards the front door. A stream of vile expletives, directed at Ainsley, vomited from the boy's mouth.
"You didn't have to kill my sister, you…" Peter's voice trailed off around the corner as Wallace moved him outside.
Duncan pulled away from Caroline and shouted, "She's still alive, Peter, she's alive!"
His voice seemed to magnify and echo against the stone floor and walls. He hoped Peter heard him. Donald walked to Duncan and placed his hand on the younger man's shoulder.
"Why don't ye have a seat, Lad," Donald said, pulling out a chair next to Caroline.
Duncan did as he was told and the room fell silent for several minutes. He continued to caress Caroline's hair and face.
"Donald, would you mind taking Caroline into the tea room while I question Ainsley?" Wallace asked.
No one had noticed the chief inspector's return. Duncan looked at Caroline, but she didn't return his gaze.
"I'll go with her," Duncan volunteered.
"No, I think I'd like you to hear this," Wallace replied, gesturing to Donald to go ahead and remove Caroline from the kitchen.
"Come on then," Donald coaxed Caroline. "I've seen that instant machine ye've got in there. I'll make us a nice cup of tea," he added.
Bit by bit, Caroline rose and took Donald's arm. They moved out of the kitchen towards the castle's lunch room. The chief inspector waited until his special constable and Caroline were around the corner before beginning.
"Peter Menzies told me everything and I've got it all recorded right here," Wallace said, circling Ainsley and flashing a smart phone at his young constable.
The young policeman continued staring at the floor, emotionless. Wallace held up his phone and tapped the screen. A video of Peter began running, complete with sound.
"Yeah, I hated the guy. He was a grotty nutter. He wanted my help knocking off his wife. She'd always been good to me. I had nothing against her. Uncle Stuart thought he could control me because he had some things on me, said he could put me in jail forever. He used to knock me around, you know, when I was younger and couldn't do anything about it. He broke her arm too."
It was surreal watching a miniature Peter rapidly spew everything out. For a moment, Duncan tuned his voice out and concentrated on his eyes, dark and hollow.
"So I went to my friend, the cop, Willy. I never killed no one and I didn't want to then. Willy told me to sit tight. That he'd think of something. He's the one came up with the double cross. He pushed Stuart off the ledge. Said we'd make Stuart the victim instead of Caroline. I'd get an inheritance, I'd…"
"By Willy are you referring to Constable William Ainsley?" the chief inspector's voice, cut off Peter mid-sentence.
Duncan watched as Peter's eyes shifted right and left at a high speed. He was sweating. It was the first time during the video that Peter had stopped talking. Duncan took a quick glance at Ainsley, who pretended to ignore the digital sounds and images coming from Wallace's iPhone. Duncan looked back at the small screen and watched Peter turn his head in an odd series of movements, like he was checking for bugs on the floor, ceiling, and walls.
Then, Peter continued, "Yeah, that's Willy, my chum, until he shoved my sister off the wall. She was trying to help me. She didn't trust Willy. He was going to kill me, the same way he killed Stuart!"
Wallace tapped the phone and halted Peter's confession.
"There's more, but I'm sure you don't need to hear it," the chief inspector said, close to Ainsley's face. "Want to tell your side? We've got you on one murder, maybe tw
o, if Julia doesn't make it."
"All you've got is the ravings of a drug addict," Ainsley spat out with contempt.
"And four witnesses that saw you push that girl off the roof. Don't forget us," Smythe chimed triumphantly, pointing at himself, Duncan, his boss, and down the hall towards Donald, presumably.
Ainsley looked back to the floor, mute.
"Get him out of here, Smythe. There's a car out front waiting," Wallace ordered.
Jimmy Smythe grabbed his former coworker by the upper arm and forced him to his feet, then shoved him through the kitchen on the same route Peter took to the front door. Duncan stared at Wallace for a moment.
"I just don't see what he gained by it," he said more to himself than anyone.
He needed an answer for that. He jumped from his chair and ran down the hall towards the front of the castle, turning the corner just in time to see Smythe exit through the yett. Following, Duncan found the wooden door open, but the iron grate closed. He grabbed the bars and peered through the ancient metal gate, about to call to Ainsley when he saw Caroline outside, standing near the police car. Donald stood a small distance away. Duncan clamped his mouth shut and watched as Smythe shoved the disgraced policeman towards the waiting car and Caroline. Ainsley paused and the two exchanged a brief but telling look. No one else seemed to notice and Smythe then pushed his head down and forced him into the police vehicle, slamming the door shut. Abigail's nephew pounded on the roof of the car and it drove away.
Duncan slipped back to the kitchen on weak knees. He felt like he had just received a sucker punch to the gut. He took the chair vacated by Ainsley. The look passed between he and Caroline in the yard told him all he needed to know. Soon, Donald brought her back to the kitchen and both took seats at the table. Wallace broke the silence that hung heavy in the room.
"It looks like you've had a narrow escape, Ms. Menzies. Is there anything you'd like to say at this time?"
Duncan looked at the love of his life for the first time since she had come back to the kitchen. She raised her gaze to Wallace and shook her head No.
"You understand that we'll need a statement from you? I can come back tomorrow or you could come to police headquarters, if you prefer," Wallace stated.
Mystery: The Merlon Murders II: A Duncan Dewar Mystery of Murder and Romantic Suspense (Duncan Dewar Mysteries Book 2) Page 17
