When his host returned with two chipped mugs, he pointed to a small pile of books he had put to one side. ‘Tell me how much I owe you.’
Ashley waved him into a shabby captain’s chair by the side of the desk at the back of the ground floor. ‘Don’t worry. They lack their dustwrappers and the Philip Macdonald is no more than a reading copy.’
‘Reading is what interests me. I’ve never understood why, in your trade, “reading copy” is practically a term of abuse. And as for the idea of putting all one’s books in plastic jackets and never daring to open them...’
‘You’re like me,’ Ashley said. ‘A hoarder rather than a collector.’
‘The one thing that worries me is that I’m running out of space in the flat. I may have to move before the floor gives way under the weight.’
Ashley took a sip of his drink. He’d changed out of his suit into more familiar garb, an old jacket with patches on the elbows and a pair of corduroy trousers. With his prematurely thinning hair and vague manner, he reminded Harry of an Oxford don. Or at least of what he imagined an Oxford don would be like if he ever met one.
‘You’re the same as me in another way, I think. When you come across a puzzle, whether it’s in a book or in everyday life, you want to solve it.’
‘Everyone tells me it’s a character defect.’
Ashley chewed at his lower lip. ‘It’s the reason I asked you round this evening.’
‘I thought you simply wanted to sell me a few books.’
‘They were an excuse.’
‘What’s on your mind?’
Ashley leaned forward in his chair. ‘It’s about Luke. I was very fond of him, you know. I’ve known him all my life. He was an old friend of my mother. We’ve always been close.’
‘I’m sure you miss him badly,’ Harry said. He wondered what was coming.
‘Although he lived a public life, he was a very private man. Difficult to get to know. Although I say it myself, since poor Gwendoline died, no-one knew him better than I did.’
Harry nodded. ‘His death must have come as a terrible blow.’
‘Yes, it did. It hasn’t been easy to think coherently about it. But I’ve tried to understand how he might have arrived at a decision to kill himself.’ Ashley swallowed. ‘And I’ve come to a conclusion.’
‘Which is?’
‘It’s impossible.’ Ashley pointed at the locked room mystery at the top of Harry’s pile. ‘Not in the physical sense. I’m not talking about John Dickson Carr stuff. But psychologically. It’s all wrong, Harry. Luke would never have done it.’
Harry coughed. ‘I do realise it’s difficult to come to terms with. When someone does something so - so shocking and out of character.’
‘You think I’m rationalising my distress? Well, maybe. That’s Melissa’s view. But I wanted to speak to you because I felt you might listen with an open mind.’
‘To what?’
Ashley blinked and said deliberately, ‘To my theory that Luke was murdered.’
Part Two
Chapter 8
‘But the evidence...’ Harry began.
Ashley’s expression showed what he thought about the evidence. ‘I know that, as a lawyer, you’re bound to say that there’s nothing at all to suggest that someone else killed Luke. The police took the same attitude when I spoke to them.’
‘So you’ve already raised this idea officially?’
‘Oh yes. And it got me nowhere. Their minds were made up. It was a simple case, easily ticked off the list of things to deal with. I suppose I can’t blame them. They are overworked and at first sight it does all seem very straightforward. Middle-aged, middle-class man going through his own kind of mid-life crisis. Well-respected, but with an empty private life. One day he flips and books into a hotel. He spends the evening drinking in his room and eventually he plucks up the courage to kill himself. The conclusion is obvious - unless you know the man as I did.’
Harry recalled his conversation with Frances. ‘How well can we know anyone else?’
‘I understand your point,’ Ashley said. ‘But bear with me. In my opinion, Luke wasn’t the suicidal type - in fact, he was the last person in the world who was likely to do something like this. But suppose I’m wrong. I’m certain - absolutely certain - that if he did, he would leave behind a message, an explanation of some kind. Yet there was nothing.’
‘There’s no law that says a suicide has to explain himself to the people he leaves behind.’
‘Yes, but in Luke’s case, I find his supposed behaviour inconceivable. He was the most methodical man I ever met. You’re well aware yourself that he hated loose ends.’
‘He tried to call you in Toronto,’ Harry pointed out.
‘Yes, and he failed. The official assumption, as I understand it from reading between the lines at the inquest, is that he was planning to break the news to me on the telephone. Yet when he didn’t manage to get through to me, he is supposed simply to have clambered through the window and jumped out. Sorry, but I just don’t buy that.’
‘I agree it seems extraordinary,’ Harry said carefully. He did not wish to make the usual lawyer’s mistake of putting words into someone else’s mouth.
‘Yes, I gathered that you were puzzled from your remarks at the inquest and at the church. That’s one of the reasons why I thought I would have a chat with you about it all.’
‘But what about the possibility that it was an accident?’
Ashley pulled a face. ‘I realise the hotel manager has to protect his own back. But I’ve had a look at the hotel. I turned up there yesterday, pretending to be interested in booking rooms for a group of friends. I’ve seen the room in which - it happened.’ He sighed. ‘I take the man’s point. It’s unlikely that Luke died by accident.’
‘Even if he’d had a skinful?’
‘It’s physically possible that it happened that way. But I simply don’t believe it.’
‘You prefer to think that someone else was responsible?’
‘It’s not a matter of preference,’ Ashley said sharply. ‘It’s a question of trying to find out the truth.’
Harry looked at the overburdened shelves all around them. Titles such as And Death Came Too, Murder Included and Ten Minute Alibi spoke for themselves. ‘Don’t take this the wrong way, but isn’t it possible that you’re letting your imagination run away with itself?’
Ashley folded his arms. ‘Melissa thinks so. The police were courteous, but obviously felt the same. They pointed out that there were no signs of a struggle in the hotel room, no evidence to suggest someone else had been present there, let alone that murder was done. I hoped you would have a more open mind.’
‘Because I’m often accused of excessive imagination as well?’
A slow grin eased across Ashley’s face. ‘I suppose so. But the truth is that you’ve been proved right more than once where murder is concerned.’ The grin disappeared. ‘And I thought you’d be interested if I told you that whilst I was at the Hawthorne, I talked to as many members of the staff as I could. Guess what I found out?’
‘Tell me.’
‘There is a porter, a chap called Julio. He wasn’t keen to talk, but I sensed he knew something and eventually I prised it out of him. The evening that Luke died, he passed his room, carrying a late arrival’s luggage. He heard raised voices. Two people were in there, arguing about something.’
‘Luke and who else?’
Ashley grimaced. ‘He couldn’t tell me. He was hurrying past, keen to finish his shift. If the man in the room hadn’t died, he’d never have given the incident a second thought.’
‘Was anyone seen around the place at the relevant time? An unauthorised visitor, someone hurrying away in a panic? Anything like that?’
Ashley shook his head. ‘It’s a
big anonymous place, understaffed at night. The security struck me as rudimentary. As far as I can tell, anyone could have wandered in or out, with little risk of being challenged.’
‘Why wasn’t Julio’s information mentioned at the inquest?’
‘He told me he hadn’t reported it to anyone. I sensed it was bothering him, but not enough for him to want to do anything about it, to call attention to himself. Don Ragovoy was keen to brush Luke’s death under that carpet and that was fine by Julio.’
‘You told the police about this?’
Ashley nodded. ‘They said they would speak to Julio, but they made it clear they weren’t really interested.’
‘Of course, even if Luke met someone at the Hawthorne and had a quarrel with him - or her - it doesn’t prove he was murdered by that someone.’
‘True. But it makes it more likely. And remember that Luke had been drinking. He may have opened the window for a bit of air. Even if there was a struggle, he may not have been able to put up much of a fight. In any case, he may have been taken unawares and hit on the head before being pushed out. I gather - he was pretty smashed up by the fall. No way of tracing a prior head injury.’
‘Plenty of ifs in that theory. But suppose you’re right. What can you do about it?’
‘Listen, Harry. My parents died a long time ago. Apart from Melissa, Luke was the person I was closest to in the world. Even though we didn’t live in each other’s pockets, could go weeks without seeing each other, he was someone I always respected, could always rely upon and turn to if ever there was a need. To think of him dying in the way he did makes me sadder than I can describe. If he didn’t kill himself, I owe it to him to find out what happened. And to see justice done.’
Neither of them spoke for a few moments and then Harry said, ‘Why would anyone want to kill Luke? And how did they manage it?’
‘So,’ Ashley said softly, ‘you are prepared to humour me, to entertain the idea that this might be a case of murder?’
Harry chewed at a ragged fingernail. ‘Tell you something. The thought had already crossed my mind.’
Ashley’s eyes gleamed. ‘Really?’
‘I never mentioned it to anyone. I was sure they’d dismiss it as one of my idler fancies - you know the feeling? But my reasoning was much the same as yours. I could accept, with difficulty, that Luke might have wanted to do away with himself, that he might have concealed from the rest of us his deep unhappiness and dissatisfaction with life. But the absence of a note or message - particularly to yourself - that just didn’t add up.’
Elated, Ashley clapped him on the shoulder. ‘I was sure you were the man to talk to about this. So - what’s the next step?’
Harry indicated the shelves of mysteries which surrounded them. ‘If you and I can’t come up with a few ideas, who can?’
They finished up having a meal together at the Ensenada. Ashley insisted on paying and Harry did not argue too strenuously. What was the point of knowing people with money if you did not help them to spend it?
‘Would you like to talk to me about Luke?’ he said as the soup arrived. ‘It would be helpful for me to understand him better. Bear in mind I only ever saw him in a professional context. I couldn’t claim that we were bosom buddies: it was a formal relationship.’
‘He may have seemed austere, but the truth is that he was very shy. Painfully afraid of doing the wrong thing. Perhaps it was down to his upbringing. He was an only child of elderly parents. Father an actuary, mother a doting housewife. They weren’t short of money. As a boy he suffered a lot of ill health and I think his mother over-protected him. He had a rather solitary adolescence and to the best of my knowledge, my own mother was the first girl he ever courted, at the age of twenty-one.’
‘But they didn’t marry.’
‘No. My guess is that she was keen to settle down and grew tired of waiting for Luke to pop the question. Then she met my father at a dance. He rode a motor cycle, was a glamorous figure in comparison to Luke. She was swept off her feet. By the time they were married, three months later, I was already on the way.’
‘And Luke kept in touch?’
‘He told me more than once that he was heartbroken at losing her. And she did care for him, insisted on asking him to be my godfather. But she never admitted to any regrets about her choice, even when my father crashed on a bend when I was five and broke his neck.’ Ashley sighed. ‘It was a tough time. I’ve been poor and I’ve been rich, Harry and there’s no doubt: rich is a lot better.’
‘I suppose that if Luke hadn’t married by that time...’
‘It’s crossed my mind that he and Mother might still have got together, yes. But who knows? It’s history. In any case, she met my stepfather.’ Ashley grimaced. ‘Another likely lad. A bar owner this time.’
‘Meanwhile, Luke lost his own wife.’
‘It was a tragedy. To understand Luke, you have to bear in mind that Gwendoline’s illness was diagnosed before they first became engaged. He’d met her after the break with my mother. Whether it was on the rebound or not, I have no idea, but no-one could have been more devoted. He proposed to Gwendoline and they were married only weeks after she was told about the cancer. Against all the odds, she recovered.’
‘I didn’t realise.’
‘Oh yes, I’ve been told that it seemed like a miracle. Very romantic, you know, love conquering disaster. And by all accounts they had a happy married life. Until, out of the blue, the illness recurred. They had thought it was gone for ever, but really it was only sleeping. This time there was no happy ending. But Luke nursed her through it all. He took his obligations very seriously.’
Harry nodded. ‘Even his worst enemy would have been forced to admit that.’
Ashley leaned across the little table. ‘And it has crossed my mind that, if there was a motive for his murder, that particular characteristic may have provided it. If he came across something that was not right, he would have considered himself duty-bound to act. Luke was never a man to turn a blind eye to wrongdoing.’
‘Have you any particular wrongdoing in mind?’
Ashley seemed to be on the verge of imparting a confidence, then blinked hard and kept his mouth shut after all. Harry was about to press him when he noticed a familiar couple being ushered to a table in the opposite corner of the restaurant. He couldn’t help chuckling. So Geoffrey Willatt and Vera Blackhurst really had become an item.
As he sat down, Geoffrey caught Harry’s eye. At once his cheeks turned pink, giving him the look of a bishop caught straying into a peep-show. Harry lifted a hand in greeting and then decided to seize the moment. After all, presented with a gift horse, it was a mistake to start looking it in the mouth.
He excused himself to Ashley and strolled over to the corner table. ‘Evening, Geoffrey. Miss Blackhurst, we’ve met before. At Charles Kavanaugh’s funeral.’
Her smile of greeting did not touch her eyes. ‘Mr Devlin, isn’t it? I remember. You act for the Trust, don’t you?’
He had to admire her coolness. Vera Blackhurst was someone it would be a mistake to underestimate. Her hairstyle was pure sixties Myra Hindley, while her dress displayed a pair of breasts whose gravity-defying upward thrust was a miracle of science. ‘That’s right. I suppose we’re on opposite sides of the legal fence at the moment.’
Geoffrey Willatt cleared his throat. ‘I mentioned to Mr Devlin the other evening that I felt sure that our - little local difficulty could be amicably resolved.’
‘I’m sure of it,’ Vera said pleasantly. ‘Charles often told me that he had a soft spot for the Trust. He was an artist himself, as you well know. I’d hate to see his favourite charity suffer.’
‘Nice of you to say so,’ Harry said with a sharp glance at Geoffrey, who was trying hard not to squirm.
‘On the other hand,’ she continued in an accent t
hat Harry identified as broad Cheshire, ‘I’m ever so disappointed by the trustees’ reaction to Charles’s will. I’d have hoped that they would have respected his last wishes. After all, I’m just an ordinary person. The last thing I want is a legal dispute. I’m so fortunate I’ve found an understanding solicitor.’
There was nothing in the least bit ordinary about Vera Blackhurst, Harry was sure of that. He turned to the understanding solicitor, who looked as though he’d suddenly become afflicted by dyspepsia, and said, ‘Combining business with pleasure, then, this evening?’
‘We have one or two things to discuss,’ Geoffrey said stiffly. ‘The office isn’t always the ideal setting for these meetings. Miss Blackhurst has had a very trying time lately. She was very attached to her late employer. I suggested that we chat over a bite to eat.’
‘Better not let Pino hear you talk about his cuisine like that,’ Harry teased. The loquacious proprietor of the Ensenada was fiercely protective of its reputation for fine food. ‘You make it sound like a transport caff.’
‘You know what I mean,’ Geoffrey said through gritted teeth. ‘Now, if you’ll excuse us...’
‘Of course. Good to see you both. I’m sure we’ll be in touch.’ He grinned and returned to his seat.
‘Friends of yours?’ Ashley asked.
‘Not exactly.’ Harry told him the story. ‘But let’s get back to Luke’s death. Have you discussed your views with Frances Silverwood?’
‘No.’ Ashley gave him a searching glance. ‘Any particular reason why I should?’
‘Only that, apart from yourself, she seemed as close to Luke as anyone. And she obviously had a considerable affection for him. Was it reciprocated?’
‘Listen, Luke felt Gwendoline was irreplaceable. He’d become accustomed to living on his own after her death. I don’t think a second marriage was high on his agenda.’
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