Murder at the Dolphin Hotel

by Helena Dixon

  Kitty hunted through her shoes and found an older pair with a slightly lower heel in case she needed to make a quick getaway. She selected the hat she’d been wearing earlier and her sturdy umbrella as both protection from the rain and any possible assailant. Much as she hated the thought, one had to be practical.

  For her final precautions, she sat at her grandmother’s bureau and wrote a couple of notes, sealing them into envelopes and writing times and names on the front. One was to Matt and one was to Inspector Greville.

  When the time approached for her to meet her father, Kitty dressed carefully in her chosen outfit and went to the front desk to hand over her notes. ‘Please ensure these notes are delivered at exactly the times written on the front of the envelopes. No earlier and no later.’ Her voice was stern as she instructed Alice, who was looking after the lobby.

  ‘Yes, Miss Underhay.’ The young girl’s eyes were round at the unexpected and unusual instruction.

  Kitty glanced quickly around the lobby to ensure both the night porter and Mickey, the maintenance man, were temporarily absent, and slipped out of the front door. She was glad of the protection of her umbrella as she made her way back through the town, past the boat float and to the foot of the small hill leading to St Saviours. The sound of the bells had been pealing all around her as she walked where the ringers were practicing their rounds.

  Now though, the sound of the bells had ceased, and she waited in the shadows of the stone wall of the church as the ringers came out, calling good night to each other as they left. She expected the verger would be along to lock up soon so she wouldn’t have much time with her father.

  When she was satisfied that the last of the bell ringers had gone, Kitty hurried up the slope and into the entrance of the church. St Saviours was one of the oldest buildings in Dartmouth. It dated back to the early middle-ages. The great oak-planked door was at least seven hundred years old; the ornate brass decorative work adorning it had been added a few centuries later, along with the carvings of animals. She had always thought it was beautiful, but now her emotions were too fraught to admire it as she usually did. The porch light was on but inside, the church was dark with only a few candles burning on a black wrought-iron sconce at one side. The air inside the church was damp and cool, smelling of flowers and lavender and beeswax polish.

  The faint light from the candles cast shadows across the flagstone floor and the painted and carved wooden panels and pillars of the church. She held her breath when she noticed the figure of a man, his head bowed as if in prayer, sitting in the shadows at the far end of the back pew.

  ‘Father?’ Even as a whisper, her voice seemed to magnify and echo around the empty space.

  The man raised his head and Kitty strained to see his face in the shadow cast by the brim of his hat. ‘My darling girl, you came.’ His voice was softer than she remembered from their last meeting.

  Her knees trembled as she slid onto the wooden pew next to him. She recognised him immediately as the man who had called himself Mr Kelly when he’d met her in the town and at the launch of Miss Delaware’s engagement at the Dolphin.

  ‘We don’t have long, my dear. The verger will be by soon.’ Her father took her hand in his. ‘My darling, I’m so sorry to have brought all this trouble upon you. I know that I owe you an explanation. I was shocked when you told me about your mother. I had no idea that something had happened.’ He sighed. ‘When the war came, I had to decide whether to stay and fight or return to America. Your grandmother has no doubt told you her opinion of my choice and I cannot defend it. I returned to America as I had prospects of money and business there and no desire to risk my life on the front line. I fully intended to send for you and Elowed as soon as I had sorted out some problems and obtained a house for us. The war was supposed to be over by Christmas, but time went on and it wasn’t possible for me to return.’

  ‘So, what happened? There was nothing in my mother’s things. No letters, no photographs, no trace of you. All I had was a copy of my mother’s marriage certificate and my birth certificate.’ Kitty’s voice shook. The whole of her body trembled as she was finally able to ask the questions she’d always wanted to ask.

  ‘The war didn’t end by Christmas. My business affairs became more complicated. In truth, Kitty, I was in a lot of trouble with some people who it wasn’t wise to cross.’

  ‘Was that when you took the ruby?’ She saw the corners of his mouth lift in a small humourless twist.

  ‘No, your mother already had the ruby with her when she came back to London before I returned to America. I had been holding it as collateral for a gentleman, in settlement of gaming debts. He unfortunately met with an accident with several bullets and I felt it prudent to lie low and to keep you and your mother out of danger.’

  ‘You didn’t know where she had hidden it?’ Kitty asked.

  He shook his head. ‘She assured me it was safe. She wanted nothing to do with it but was afraid for my safety, and for you. We both thought it might give us some kind of financial security for the future. It was an uncertain time.’

  Kitty thought about his answers. ‘Why didn’t you write?’

  ‘I wrote a few times, then I didn’t get any replies. I feared your mother had decided that being married to me was no longer what she wanted. I was moving around America and Canada. There was reports of bombings on London and other parts of England.’

  ‘Vivien said you went to prison at one point,’ Kitty said.

  He sighed once more. ‘Yes, I did for a short time. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time in the wrong company. That must have been when your mother disappeared. I used to get some news from England from my sister, your aunt Hortense, but she and I are not on good terms. She disapproves of me.’

  ‘I have an aunt?’ This was news to Kitty; she had always thought her grandmother and her aunt Livvy were her only family. Her mother and grandmother had never mentioned anyone else.

  ‘Yes, my dear. Your aunt is Lady Medford, she has a daughter, Lucy, a year or two younger than you. They have an estate near Exeter. My sister has, sad to say, virtually disowned me. Her husband, Lord Medford, threatened to set the hounds on me the last time I called.’ He gave a small chortle at her dumbfounded expression. ‘It is a lot to take in, I know, my dear.’

  ‘Do they know about me?’ Kitty asked.

  ‘They do now. I sent a telegram to my sister today. I knew she would probably burn a letter, but she would never ignore a telegram.’

  ‘What do you plan to do now?’ Kitty asked, her mind still reeling with the news that she had an aunt and a cousin only a few miles away in the same county.

  ‘I have plans to leave the country for a time. I have some friends to assist me and I shall return to America. I would like to stay in touch with you, if you would allow me. And I would very much like to try and find out what happened to Elowed. You are very like her, you know.’ He touched her cheek tenderly with a finger.

  ‘I would like that,’ Kitty breathed, tears starting to well up in her eyes unbidden.

  Conscious that their time was almost up, they rose, ready to leave the church.

  ‘Father, before we say goodbye. I have something for your journey.’ Kitty paused, ready to feel for the ruby hidden in the lining of her coat.

  The sound of footsteps on the floor of the porch sent them both darting into the shadows next to the ornately carved oak staircase that led to the upper balcony and bell tower.

  ‘You may as well both come out. The game is up.’ Walter Cribbs’s reedy voice piped around the church as the outer door slammed shut and the electric lights came on overhead.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Kitty blinked in the sudden brightness of the electric light. Beside her, Edgar gave her hand a quick comforting squeeze.

  ‘Walter?’ She could see Walter standing just inside the porch entrance with another figure just behind him. To her horror, on the floor, inside the locked wooden door of the church lay the prone figure of t
he verger.

  ‘Walter now, am I, Kitty my love?’ he mocked her as he moved nearer. Kitty shrank back, closer to her father. ‘If I’d realised a little scare might enhance your affections then I would have tried something earlier, rather than Colin’s feeble attempt to scare you with a little traffic accident.’

  ‘What do you want?’ Edgar asked.

  Walter tutted. ‘Why, the ruby of course. You don’t think I’ve gone through all of this for nothing, do you?’

  ‘Gone through all what?’ Kitty asked. She dreaded the answer to her question, even as all the pieces of the puzzle began to tumble into place.

  ‘My dearest Kitty, didn’t I tell you my prospects were on the up? Ever since Colin here told me about the ruby, I’ve been making plans.’ As he spoke, Colin Wakes moved into the light. She felt her father stiffen. ‘You! You double-crossing blackguard!’

  ‘What have you done to the verger?’ Kitty hoped and prayed the man was merely unconscious and that nothing worse had befallen him.

  Colin stirred the man’s body with his foot. ‘He’s just having a little nap.’

  The verger emitted a low groan and Kitty’s knees sagged a little with relief.

  ‘You know we don’t have the ruby, don’t you?’ She turned her attention back to Walter.

  His eyes gleamed behind his glasses and Kitty realised she was looking into the gaze of a mad man. ‘I think you know where that stone is, my darling fiancée.’

  ‘I am not your fiancée. I never will be. If you were the last man in Dartmouth, I would not marry you.’

  At her words, Walter lunged forward as if to grab her, but her father placed himself between Kitty and Walter. ‘Keep your hands away from my daughter.’

  ‘Get him, Colin!’ Walter ordered and Kitty watched, horrified, as Colin darted forward and began to grapple with her father as Walter looked on. Colin, being younger and fitter than Edgar, despite his rough living over the last week, soon had the upper hand and her father dropped to his knees.

  Incensed, Kitty grasped her umbrella firmly in her fist and almost without thinking, brought it down hard on the back of Colin’s head. There was a loud crack as the umbrella broke in two with the force of her blow.

  Colin paused mid-punch and Kitty’s heart leapt into her mouth when she thought she had not hit him hard enough to make him desist. He turned a surprised face towards her before crashing to the floor. She let out a little scream as he fell across her feet.

  Her father managed to stagger to his feet, a cut near his eye streaming blood as he went towards the door of the church, only to see that the large iron key was gone from the lock.

  ‘Now that was very foolish.’ Walter tutted.

  Kitty swung her attention back towards him and with a cold wave of realisation, saw that not only did Walter have the key in one hand, in his other he held a gun. He waved the key at them before dropping it back into his coat pocket.

  ‘I do hope you haven’t hurt Colin too much; he has proved most useful so far.’ He gave his unconscious colleague a kick.

  ‘How useful? Did he murder his mother and kill Hubert Farjeon and Mr Blaas?’ Kitty’s voice wobbled.

  Walter waved the gun at her father, indicating he should rejoin Kitty. ‘Cora knew too much, she wanted Colin to stop. She had to go once her usefulness at providing information and creating diversions was at an end. I cannot allow Colin the credit of killing her however, he was foolishly attached to the old woman. It was far better that I dealt with the matter and convinced him that you, my dear Mr Underhay, had done the deed. Mr Blaas was surplus to requirements.’ Walter smirked as if pleased with himself, and bile rose in Kitty’s throat.

  ‘And Mrs Craven? Who attacked her?’

  Walter sighed. ‘I had to search her house after Colin’s mother informed us that there was a chance that the ruby might be there. I sent your dear grandmother notes urging her to hand over the stone. Her friend’s injuries were her fault really; she should have done as I asked. It would have been better if Mrs Craven hadn’t survived. Witnesses can be such a bore.’ His eyes gleamed again, and Kitty suddenly realised that he was counting herself and her father as witnesses, and now that he was confessing, he had no intention of leaving them alive. She couldn’t believe he’d been the hand behind the anonymous letters.

  ‘And Hubert Farjeon?’ Her father placed his arm around her waist, and she drew strength from his presence.

  The maniacal smile on Walter’s face grew larger. ‘Very satisfying. So much blood from such a small, withered-up old man. He had the temerity to blackmail me. Me! As if I would allow that to happen. He had seen me from his booth, I let him believe I was going to pay up and cut him in on a share of the money from the ruby. He was so unsuspecting when he opened his booth. It was so easy.’

  ‘Where do Vivien Delaware and Bobby fit into all this?’ she asked. She just had to keep him talking for long enough to find a way to get the gun, or for Matt and Inspector Greville to get the notes she had left for them. She felt almost clear-headed now that she had a purpose to concentrate on.

  A sneer twisted the corners of Walter’s mouth. ‘Bobby is an idiot. Mr Blaas gave us some very interesting information as we dispatched him – I really didn’t want him encroaching on my territory, not when I had already hired Mr DeVries for that job. He informed us that Bobby was on his way, a representative of some American crook he is in the pay of, the same gang that had hired Mr Blaas. It seems Vivien saw you, Edgar, at that nightclub in London where you met with Colin and she and Bobby put two and two together. They are after the ruby too.’

  Kitty’s father seemed to sag next to her. ‘It’s all my fault,’ he whispered.

  But Kitty wouldn’t allow herself to despair, she had to keep Walter talking. ‘Why was Bobby giving you money, though? He was giving you money, wasn’t he?’ She wondered what the time was. The notes she’d left saying where she’d gone should be with Inspector Greville and Matt by now.

  The barrel of the gun gleamed as Walter waved it around. ‘Oh yes, he proved a very satisfactory source of income. It’s always dangerous when you work for the wrong people, especially if those people think you might be double-crossing them. He wouldn’t want any whispers getting back to his taskmasters. I reminded him of that.’ Walter giggled.

  ‘And was he double-crossing them?’ She could see that Walter was revelling in what he saw as his cleverness and relishing the opportunity to boast about his crimes.

  ‘Of course. Bobby and Vivien wanted the ruby for themselves. They caught up with him though, didn’t they?’

  ‘There is no honour amongst thieves,’ Edgar said sadly.

  The verger groaned and began to stir. Walter stepped over a pace and aimed a kick at the man’s head. The toe of his shoe making a sickening crunch as it met the verger’s skull. Kitty winced, closed her eyes and huddled into her father’s arms.

  ‘Now, enough of this. Where, my darling Kitty, is the ruby?’

  Impelled into action as Walter turned his malicious attention to Kitty, Edgar moved forward slightly, partly shielding her with his body. ‘My daughter has told you she doesn’t have it.’

  ‘Stay where you are!’ Walter ordered and waved the gun once more. ‘You must know then. Where is it, old man?’

  Edgar sighed. ‘My wife had the ruby in her possession for safekeeping when she came back to Dartmouth. I never knew where she’d hidden it. That’s the truth.’

  Walter’s eyes glittered. ‘I don’t believe you. You came back to retrieve that stone so you must have had an idea of where it was.’

  ‘Did my mother’s disappearance have anything to do with the ruby?’ Kitty asked. Walter would have been a child at the time of course, but she had clearly underestimated his skills for uncovering secrets.

  Her question appeared to take Walter by surprise. ‘How would I know anything about your mother vanishing when she did?’

  ‘You work for the Herald, you must have looked back in the newspaper files for some clue?’
Kitty persisted. She thought she had heard the faint sound of footsteps on the gravel outside the front door of the church.

  The expression on his face altered and she could see he had been searching the records. ‘Obviously I looked for clues. After all, the woman could have taken the ruby with her, sold it and made a new life for herself somewhere.’

  ‘And?’ She coughed as loudly as she dared, hoping that if someone was outside, they would stop and listen and not try the door to the church.

  ‘Nothing. Nothing to indicate why she might have run off, and nothing about the stone.’ He waved the gun once more at Edgar. ‘Now, where is that ruby?’

  Kitty swallowed, she was hoping against hope that there was someone outside the church, and they could hear something of what was happening.

  ‘I don’t have it. Elowed vanished before she could tell me where it was. My letters went unanswered and until I came back here, I didn’t know what had happened to her. Your henchman there,’ he nodded towards Colin, ‘had kept that news from me. He led me to believe she was alive, well and still here at the Dolphin with Kitty and her grandmother. It wasn’t until I arrived in Dartmouth that I realised I had been deceived.’

  A smirk crept over Walter’s face. ‘Yes, Colin did his job well. How fortunate that you happened to run into him when you did and decided he would be useful to you.’

  Kitty was certain now that she’d heard a small sound from within the church itself and her spirits lifted a little. She had to keep Walter engaged and feeling pleased with himself for just a little longer. ‘You planned it all, didn’t you? My father didn’t meet Colin by accident. You had him meet him, prepared with some story to get him to tell you where the ruby was. But how did you know my father was in England, and make all the connections?’