The Dead of Winter (22 page)

‘I suppose she might well be. Anything else?'

‘Yes, but it gets a bit what you might call tenuous. The other named shareholder is a Miss Grace Wright.'

‘Who is not here.'

‘That depends on your interpretation. Grace Wright is the name of the ghost the seance was trying to contact.'

‘A ghost?' Chandler was amused. ‘Mrs Martin—'

‘No, I'm not about to start reading the tea leaves. Grace Wright was a supposedly invented character. The point of the seance was to reconstruct a series of events that happened here in 1872. Edwin was attempting to re-enact events, and I believe he knew more about those original events than he let on, but that's aside from the point, possibly. I'm not yet sure. I told you it got tenuous.'

He was regarding her with the air of one who is not sure how to react because he feared a wrong reaction might cause hysterics or worse. Rina wondered just how traumatic a time he'd had with Gail.

‘Look,' she said. ‘I don't know what's going on either, but something is, and I can't help but feel that whatever modern scam is being enacted here has its roots way back then. The motives for the killings are somehow tied up with that night.'

He leaned back in his chair and steepled long crooked fingers. ‘Mrs Martin,' he said. ‘I think you're way off on most of this, but we can agree on one thing. This house was never intended to be the business it's advertised as being.'

Rina nodded, finally satisfied that this man might actually be worthy of his job title. ‘Anything else, Inspector?' she asked.

Chandler smiled. ‘Not at the moment, Mrs Martin, but, as they say in the movies, don't leave town.'

Rina looked out of the window at the blizzard conditions beyond. ‘Somehow, Inspector, I don't think any of us will be doing that tonight, do you?'

TWENTY-FOUR

C
handler had asked Rina to send Mac down to see him, and Mac found him wandering restlessly in the entrance hall, glaring out at the blizzard.

‘Bad winter,' Chandler said by way of greeting. ‘Makes you wonder about this global warming lark when it gets like this.'

‘It's going to make it hard to move the bodies,' Mac agreed.

‘Oh, I heard from the team down on the road; they just made it out before it all started again. I'm afraid poor old Edwin Holmes is going to be with us for a bit longer though. That Melissa woman is organizing accommodation for us if we get stuck here overnight – which, I'm afraid, is looking far more likely.'

‘So,' Mac said. ‘What can I do for you? Unofficially.'

‘Unofficially, you can come into my office – Melissa's office, actually – and tell me what you think of this lot.'

Mac followed him across the tiled floor. ‘I don't really know them,' he said. ‘Rina, of course, and Tim and Joy, but the rest were strangers until yesterday.'

‘Which gives you a full day's advantage over me. That Mrs Martin, she's a tough old bird, isn't she?'

‘I'm not sure she'd like the description.'

‘You don't think I'd be daft enough to say that to her face, do you?' Chandler laughed. ‘Actually, I think she's shrewd. Now, what about the others? You say you know Tim Brandon and Joy Duggan? Sit yourself down,' he said as they arrived at the office, ‘and I'll make a brew. You're not a coffee man, are you?'

Mac said that he was not. He hoped Chandler would accept him vouching for his friends and that the enquiries would not become too personal. Joy's father had been a well-known hard man, a career criminal. Mac had actually been inclined to like him, but, well, you would have to understand the circumstances to understand that, and he really didn't feel like explaining. As Rina had pointed out, something wasn't right here, and he didn't want this man leaping to false conclusions just because of Joy's dead father.

‘I've known them all for about a year,' he glossed. ‘Since I moved to Frantham.'

‘Odd move, that.' Chandler cocked his head and observed Mac carefully.

‘I'm sure you've read all about me,' Mac said. ‘So can we just get a few things out of the way? Yes, I'd been on the sick for a long time. Yes, I'm fine now. And yes, Frantham is meant to be one of those places they put people out to grass, but I happen to like the place and it's been far from slow since I got there.'

Unexpectedly, Chandler laughed, and Mac decided that he would probably let things rest. For now.

‘As I understand it, only Tim Brandon from your lot has any connection to the other guests, anyway,' Chandler said.

‘To Toby Thwaite, yes. They were at university together.'

‘And Mr Brandon, Miss Duggan and Mrs Martin all arrived here on Friday afternoon.'

‘Yes.'

‘So, presumably, are out of the running for killing Professor Meehan. Right, so who does that leave us with? He was last seen on New Year's Day at about three in the afternoon. That's if you discount the sighting of him leaving about an hour after that.'

‘Melissa saw someone she assumed was Meehan crossing the lawn and going to get his car. Safe to assume, I suppose, that it wasn't him.'

‘And this man your Mrs Martin has spotted?'

‘Rina didn't think it was one of the guests.'

‘And that this outsider might have killed Meehan?'

Mac thought about it. ‘Possible,' he said. ‘But the coincidence of Simeon Meehan and then Edwin Holmes both being killed is a little bit of a – well, we should be looking inside the house first. That's what I feel, anyway.'

‘Given the weather, I think you're right. For the moment at least. Soon as this lot clears we get people out to the estate cottages, see if there's any evidence of this mysterious stranger.'

‘You know the estate well?'

‘I've lived this way all my life. Constable Brown knows it better, though. His mum and dad used to work here. He grew up not a mile across the fields. When this place changed hands about five years ago, everyone got their notices to quit. The cottages were tied to the job, you see. You don't get that happening in many places now, but some of the big farms and old estates still haven't made it into the past century, never mind this one.'

‘Five years ago? I thought the present owners bought it more recently. Oh,' he said, recalling something Rina had told him, ‘it was a country house hotel or something, wasn't it?'

‘Run by morons,' was Chandler's opinion.

‘But didn't they need staff? What was it before, then?'

‘Believe it or not it was a horticultural training college. The gardens were bloody fantastic.'

‘So, what happened?'

‘They leased the place. The company that owned the lease refused to renew. The place stood empty for a year, and then the hotel lot moved in, started ripping the place apart, lost money, moved out, this lot arrived with full fanfare, promising to employ local people and turn this into some kind of five-star wedding venue.' Chandler laughed derisively.

‘From what I've seen, it could work.'

‘Could, but where's the investment? Where's the staff? Where's the local jobs? Anyway, before the gardeners it was a private school. Constable Brown's parents worked for them too. Before that, long before, it was leased by a family who used it mainly for summers, Christmases and entertaining their friends. Brown's grandparents worked for them.'

‘It must have been a wrench to leave,' Mac commented.

Chandler nodded. ‘But the odd thing is, no one has actually owned this place since old Albert Southam's time. It's been a lease, managed by some trust or other. Then, suddenly, they up and sell. More than a century and a half after old Albert died, and suddenly the place is for sale.'

‘Could there have been some legal reason? Some codicil of the will?'

‘Who knows? Anyway, this lot take over, all big plans, and open up Albert's room, and suddenly we've got bodies all over the place.'

Mac was laughing. ‘I'd never have taken you for a superstitious man.'

‘And I'm not. I just don't like that kind of coincidence. It's got to mean something, that's what I think.'

‘Hang on,' Mac said. ‘
Albert's
room? Why do you call the seance room that?'

‘Everyone who knows Aikensthorpe calls it Albert's room. There were silly rumours that he died there. Locked himself in and shot himself, according to some of the stories. He was poisoned by a servant, according to another. Died of grief after his wife left him or he heard his daughter had died, according to others. Actually, he died in his bed. Nothing more dramatic than pneumonia, I understand.'

‘Just a minute,' Mac interrupted. ‘Daughter?'

‘Rumour is Elizabeth was pregnant when she took off for Italy.' Chandler shrugged. ‘Who knows? The fact is, this house is not a settled place. It's a sad old pile – and now this.'

‘You sound as though you think some places attract tragedy,' Mac observed.

Chandler just shrugged again. ‘So,' he said. ‘Who do we have in a position to kill Simeon Meehan on January first?'

‘Well, as I understand it, Gail Perry and David Franklin. Melissa, of course. Edwin Holmes, I suppose, though from what you've told me the blow took considerable force.'

‘And Edwin was killed shortly after,' Chandler said.

‘But different MO. His killer asphyxiated him.'

‘Obvious method, maybe, seeing as the old boy was asleep. He'd have been an easy target. Plus, if it hadn't been for your sharp eyed girl, it might well have been passed off as natural causes. He was under the doctor, had a heart condition.'

‘True. There was also Rav Pinner here over New Year. That's it, I think,' Mac said.

‘That's where you're wrong. It seems Toby Thwaite and the kid, Robin Hill, were here too. They'd called in to do some of the set-up and get a first look at the room.'

‘I didn't know that.' Mac was thoughtful. ‘I don't think Tim or Rina knew that either. So, who admits to seeing Simeon last? Melissa's sighting apart, of course.'

‘Well, Melissa also says she went up to speak to him before he left. She was worried, she says, because he'd had rather a lot to drink at lunch and she wasn't sure he should be driving. He apparently told her he was fine and that it was none of her business. Rav Pinner says he passed Simeon's room on his way down; Melissa was just leaving, and he spoke to Simeon briefly. Then he went for a walk.'

‘And the others?'

‘Well, they're keen on tramping about the countryside, this lot. David Franklin also reckons he went out. Gail Perry was in her room – meditating, apparently.' Chandler rolled his eyes. ‘Boy, but she's a funny one.'

Mac smiled, but said nothing.

‘Melissa then retreated to the kitchen; Edwin sat in the library and read.'

‘The library? So he might have seen Simeon leaving. Or rather, whoever was posing as Simeon.'

Chandler steepled his fingers and tapped the tips together slowly. He had very bony, crooked fingers, Mac thought. ‘He might indeed, and if he did, he might have seen the face or noticed something Melissa couldn't see from the back.'

‘And Toby and Robin?'

‘Might have been in the back room, Albert's room, talking about camera angles, or they might have been in the kitchen with Melissa, or they might have been exploring the house.'

Mac raised an eyebrow.

‘Quite,' Chandler said. ‘Toby not being here, we have only Robin's recollection of events, and he is, shall we say, somewhat vague. The only thing they can all agree on is they had tea at four and that Rav was late getting to it.'

‘And Simeon, or someone dressed as Simeon, was seen leaving at three. The car was driven away. How far is it back across the field?'

‘Too far and too uphill. The timing is too tight. Me or the lad, Constable Brown, we could probably do it. But we know the lie of the land and where you can cut across. A stranger—'

‘We're
assuming
everyone here is a stranger.'

‘True. We're also assuming Melissa got the time right. Half an hour earlier, gloomy weather, half dark outside—'

‘And that would give someone time?'

‘Well, they might be a bit late back for high tea, but I'd say so. Yes.'

TWENTY-FIVE

W
hen Mac wandered back upstairs a while later it was to find that his bedroom had been invaded. Joy and Miriam knelt on the bed, spreading documents and newspaper cuttings, while Rina and Tim had taken some of them over to the dressing table and seemed to be trying to collate them.

He reported back what Chandler and he had discussed.

‘Toby and Robin were here? I didn't realize that. Do you think it's relevant?' Tim said.

Tim looked hopeful that Mac would say no, but Mac didn't think he could. ‘Possibly. It's worth having a word with Viv and Robin together, see if they can add anything not in the statement. I've noticed that Viv is good at helping Robin get his thoughts in order.'

‘Toby and Viv had a real set-to the night of the seance,' Joy said. ‘She really doesn't like him.'

‘I'll bear that in mind. What are you doing, anyway?'

‘Trying to put all of this in some kind of order. Did you know Elizabeth had a baby?' Miriam said.

‘As of about fifteen minutes ago. Yes. Chandler says she died?'

‘Nothing about that here. She was born seven months after Elizabeth left. There's a letter here to Albert, telling him he has a daughter, but it isn't from Elizabeth. But here's the thing, Mac, she called the baby Grace.'