A Bloody Hot Summer

by Trevor D'Silva

  “I’m certain your aunt didn’t approve of the way that you gambled away your money. She knew that once a gambler, always a gambler. Am I right?” said Inspector Enderby.

  “Yes, she did. I just wanted her to give me what I was going to inherit. She finally relented just before the party. I swear that’s what she told me.”

  “All right. You can go back to your cell.” Inspector Enderby motioned to Constable Clarke, standing near the door, to take him away.

  Arthur got up and went with the constable.

  Chapter 21: Lucky Finds

  Dermot walked into the woods behind the stables. Ever since Charles had told him about the horses being anxious the night that Lady Fitzhugh was murdered, he knew he needed to investigate the cause. He had only walked a few metres when he heard a rustling sound. He stopped and slowly turned to his side.

  “Who’s there? Come out with your hands up,” he said, slowly putting his hand on the gun that was hidden inside his coat.

  The rustling got louder and then a grey cat walked slowly out from one of the bushes. Dermot recognised the cat.

  “Hello, puss. You’re Abigail’s cat, aren’t you? What the dickens are you doing out here?”

  The cat meowed and walked ahead of him, then turned back and looked at him with its green eyes, as if beckoning Dermot to follow her. He wasn’t sure what to do, but then felt that the cat wanted to show him something. He followed the cat deeper into the woods and then found himself standing in front of a stone slab half hidden in the undergrowth. If one were not paying attention, they would surely have missed it.

  “Hello there, what’ve we here?”

  The cat looked at him and went towards the slab. It crawled under a small bush and then disappeared. Dermot was stunned. Nobody had mentioned that this stone slab existed in the woods. He bent down, parted the bushes, and found a hole just big enough to allow a cat to pass through. The slab was warm to the touch due to the hot sun, but Dermot slowly lifted it and found that it wasn’t too heavy. The slab looked old, but he could tell that it had been moved recently because some of the bushes around it had a few branches broken. On removing the slab, Dermot saw some steps behind it that led below and into the darkness.

  Dermot never liked smoking cigarettes, but would smoke to keep others company. He kept a matchbox and a few cigarettes with him, just in case. Dermot took out the matchbox and stood on the steps. The sun shone partially through the canopy and lit part of the opening. Dermot could see that when the stairs ended there was a tunnel that led into the darkness. He slowly went down the stairs and then lit a match. The tunnel was leading towards the manor and he began walking along it slowly. Whenever a match burnt out, he lit a new one. He could see the cat in the distance and tried to keep up with it.

  In some areas of the tunnel, the rocky ground was moist and the cat occasionally stopped to lap up some of the water that seeped out of the rock. ‘Must be an underground spring,’ Dermot thought. He treaded carefully and eventually he felt the tunnel start to lead upwards. He walked slowly until he came to a dead end. Dermot lit another match and found himself in front of a wall with a small entryway approximately three foot square. One part of the wall surrounding the entry looked older than the other. The newer portion looked like part of the mansion that was renovated in the early 1800s.

  Dermot looked down and saw a mechanism that had recently been oiled. He tried it and nothing happened. He then realised that the means to open it was on the other side of the wall, probably in one of the rooms in the manor in order to prevent anyone from entering the manor through the tunnel. As he put one foot back, his shoe touched something and he heard a faint clink. He bent down and saw that the object had jagged edges. He picked it up carefully and put it in his coat pocket. Dermot realised that he only had two matches left. He lit another and quickly retraced his steps back to the opening. He put the slab back in its place, keeping a small opening for the cat. Satisfied, he turned and walked towards the meadows.

  — — —

  Dermot and Inspector Enderby stood outside Bertram Kerr’s home in Chelsea. It was a plush flat with his office attached to it. They were let in by Kerr’s secretary, Miss Livingstone, a hefty woman in her forties. The slightly sallow complexion of her face betrayed her grief at the tragic loss of her employer and complemented the spectacles that perched on her nose. They thanked her and asked her to wait outside while they searched the place. They entered the office, which was well furnished and had antiques in some corners and paintings on the wall.

  “Fancy place, eh,” said Inspector Enderby.

  “Certainly is. I can’t see why he would need to blackmail someone for a few diamonds,” said Dermot.

  “I called some of my contacts and one of them told me that Kerr collected antiques, paintings, and precious stones. His precious stones are all in a safety deposit box in the Bank of England and they’re worth quite a fortune.”

  “Good work, Inspector. It seems that his greed got the better of him and he sank very low. We can start by searching his bedroom and then come back to the office.”

  “Good idea.”

  They searched the bedroom until Dermot called Inspector Enderby over to the briefcase that he found in the cupboard. Dermot recognised it as the briefcase that Kerr had with him when they dined together at the Meadowford Inn. They opened it and looked through the contents.

  “These are the wills of Lady Fitzhugh and her father,” Inspector Enderby said as he pulled out two envelopes from the briefcase.

  “Yes, Kerr told me something about Lady Fitzhugh’s will. If I remember correctly, Hector will inherit the estate when he turns twenty-one, Pippa will inherit the estate if anything were to happen to Hector, and if Pippa were deceased then it goes to Arthur and then to the oldest daughter of Flora. I can clearly see that Arthur had a motive to kill Lady Fitzhugh and Hector, and he certainly had the opportunity to kill his aunt. He could’ve put arsenic in the tonic Hector was taking, but he certainly couldn’t have cut the saddle on Hector’s horse because he was with the two elderly sisters in the drawing room. Pippa should have been next on his list, but nothing has happened to her so far.”

  “Maybe whoever cut the saddle strap meant it for Pippa,” said Inspector Enderby.

  “No, everyone knows that Hector rides that particular horse because it was gifted to him on his birthday; we can assume that the killer knew that too.”

  “Is it possible that Arthur may have slipped out of the manor and gone to the stables and cut the strap without being seen?” asked Inspector Enderby.

  “No, both Mrs. Endecott and her sister swore that he was with them all the time until Richard came riding to tell them about the accident. It couldn’t be Arthur. Also, who’s the man who attacked Miss Carter and Abigail? Surely Miss Carter would know if the attacker was Arthur?”

  “It’s all too confusing. None of this makes sense, except Lady Fitzhugh’s murder and the attempted poisoning of Hector.”

  Dermot nodded. “Let me see what Lord Fitzhugh’s will says.” Dermot read the will for a few minutes. “It just tells us what we already know. Doris Fitzhugh would inherit everything, with some legacies bequeathed to his other two daughters and a small legacy to Slattery, his wife, and to the other staff. However, there’s a clause here that doesn’t make sense. It says that if the estate is in danger of being inherited by a non-family member, for any reason, then the next male family member could contest the will and get that inheritance if he wins the contestation. This clause has to be followed for all time to come.”

  The two men looked at each other, perplexed.

  “Lord Fitzhugh disinherited his only son and made Doris Fitzhugh his heir. When this will was made in 1905, the only male member of the family would’ve
been Arthur Endecott because Hector was not yet born,” said Inspector Enderby.

  “Right. Allan Fitzhugh only returned after his father died. Remember, he blamed his father for his mother’s early death. Once Allan and his family were back in the picture, Doris Fitzhugh made her will to favour Allan and Hector because she brought up Allan and felt that they had more right to the inheritance.”

  “This makes it complicated, but doesn’t look good for Arthur Endecott. When was Lady Fitzhugh’s will made?”

  Dermot looked at the date. “On the thirteenth of July, 1917; a year after Allan was killed. It was witnessed by Slattery and the housekeeper, Matilda Slattery.”

  “Arthur must’ve felt betrayed that Hector was going to inherit everything, so he murdered Lady Fitzhugh and then tried to murder Hector,” said Inspector Enderby.

  “He was at the picnic when Kerr came to visit Lady Fitzhugh,” said Dermot. “So his accomplice must’ve stolen the wills and put them back in Kerr’s briefcase after reading them. When his accomplice told him about the contents of the wills, Arthur planned how he would eliminate Lady Fitzhugh and his two cousins who were in the way of his inheritance. He planned to frame Pippa for the murders so that she would be tried and sentenced to death. That way he didn’t have to bump Pippa off, but let the law do it for him. By Arthur’s own admission, we know that her Ladyship was going to make changes to her will the day after the party, and I’m sure he was going to be disinherited. It makes perfect sense.”

  “What about the dagger? Why would he use his own dagger and then hide it?”

  “That’s what’s puzzling me. Why was that particular dagger used? Even though he’s a simpleton, surely he would have enough sense not to use his own dagger. He probably thought he’d make himself a martyr and then realised his folly. So he used the opportunity to enter the bedroom, while everyone else was outside, to take the dagger. He could’ve stolen the earrings and the necklace after killing her. If so, then where is the necklace?”

  “That could be a possibility… Now, maybe Slattery was killed because he was blackmailing Arthur. Perhaps he saw Arthur take the dagger or somehow suspected him.”

  “Could be. We’ll have to prove all this, and connect Kerr’s murder to the other murders. However, the other murders don’t seem to connect with Sister Fleming’s murder. Remember, Allan was killed by two people who he thought were spies. We cannot connect Arthur to them,” said Dermot.

  “You really think they’re all connected, don’t you?”

  Dermot nodded. He glanced into the dustbin and saw some papers. He bent down and went through them.

  “Just torn papers. Nothing of importance but, hello, what do we have here?” Dermot picked up a piece of paper and looked at it. “It looks like we have a stub from a train ticket.”

  Dermot called Miss Livingstone in and asked her if she knew why Kerr had visited Scotland on the fourteenth of June. She pursed her lips and told him that Kerr had never given her any specific reason other than a client had requested him to help find out something of grave importance.

  “Do you know who that client was?”

  “No, he never told me. He said that he would go directly to Meadowford Village for Lady Fitzhugh’s birthday party and would be back two days later.”

  Dermot thanked Miss Livingstone and they left. As they were walking the street, he said to Inspector Enderby, “We have to go to Scotland.”

  “Why?”

  Dermot held up the ticket stub. “On the day of the party, Bertram Kerr travelled from Scotland back to London. He went to Argyle Village. I think that whatever information he found there, he was using to blackmail the person who killed him. That’s the only explanation I have at the moment. I have a hunch that our answer lies with what he discovered at Argyle Village. Mrs. Ainsworth told me that a relative of the De Villiers family lives there.”

  “Where exactly in Argyle Village?”

  “Argyle Castle,” Dermot said. “Time to pack, Inspector.”

  Chapter 22: Highland Bound

  Dermot and Inspector Enderby bought their tickets at London’s King’s Cross Station. They boarded the train and a day later they were in a quaint little Scottish village with a twelfth-century castle. When the two men stepped off the train, the cooler Scottish air greeted them – a relief from the heatwave in Meadowford. As they made their way to the front of the station, Dermot’s eyes were drawn to the imposing castle and the splendid turrets and spires that disappeared into the mist.

  They took a taxi to the inn close to the village square and the clerk at the front desk greeted them with a strong Scottish accent. They took the key from the clerk and deposited their luggage in their room. After a quick lunch, they asked the clerk for directions to Argyle Castle. She gave them the directions and then added that they had heard rumours that Lady Argyle was probably on her last breath. They thanked her and headed to Argyle Castle on foot.

  “I don’t understand why Kerr would want to come to Argyle Castle.”

  “Perhaps Lady Fitzhugh wanted him to investigate something,” said Dermot. “Mrs. Ainsworth told me that she found Lord Fitzhugh’s papers concerning his time in South Africa in Lady Fitzhugh’s room. So she must’ve read the letter that Christiaan sent to her father and she could’ve also told Kerr about the diamonds that Christiaan kept for himself. If I’m right, Christiaan sent the diamonds to Lady Argyle for safe keeping. What I cannot understand is, what did Kerr find out here that he then used to blackmail the person who killed him?”

  “I suppose we’ll find out if Lady Argyle is well enough,” said Inspector Enderby as they approached the castle.

  Dermot knocked on the door; it was opened by a pretty brunette with brown eyes. Something about the woman caused Dermot to pause, but he quickly came back to his senses. “Excuse me, we’ve just arrived from London and would like to speak to Lady Argyle.”

  The young lady’s smile vanished and she looked crestfallen.

  “Who is it, Nancy?” came a voice from behind her.

  “Two men from London. They want tae speak tae her Ladyship.”

  An older woman came to the door, wiping her hands on a dirty apron that was tied around her waist.

  “I’m Mrs. Blair. Why do ye want tae speak tae Lady Argyle?”

  “That’s between her Ladyship and us,” Inspector Enderby said sternly. “Would you please be kind enough to let us in and let Lady Argyle know that we’re here to see her?”

  “All right, but first ye’ll hae tae meet with her grandson, the future Lord Argyle. I’ll fetch him for ye.”

  Mrs. Blair opened the door and let them in. She scurried away while Nancy took them to the living room. Portraits of the former lords and ladies of the castle hung on the walls.

  “People like lookin’ at them,” Nancy said when she noticed the two men admiring the paintings. “On the wall over there is Lord Clyde Argyle who built this castle. He fought alongside William Wallace against the English. The Argyles have always been strong proponents for breaking away from England.”

  The last painting was of a beautiful woman with blonde hair, dressed in Victorian clothing, and wearing a tartan sash across her torso. The name plate at the bottom told them that the woman was Lady Aileen Argyle and was painted in 1880.

  “She was a beautiful woman,” Nancy said, smiling.

  A few minutes later, a man of medium height in his late twenties came into the room. Without a smile, he introduced himself as Gerard Argyle and bluntly enquired why they wanted to talk to his grandmother. Inspector Enderby introduced himself and Dermot, and told him that they were investigating the murder of Bertram Kerr and that they wanted to talk to Lady Argyle about Kerr’s visit to the castle.

 
; “I’m afraid you cannae speak tae her.”

  “Why not?” asked Inspector Enderby.

  “My dear grandmother is on her death bed. She’s asleep and can barely talk. I dinnae want tae disturb her.”

  Inspector Enderby and Dermot looked at each other.

  “This is a murder investigation and we must know what transpired between them,” said Inspector Enderby sternly.

  Gerard Argyle looked at them and shook his head adamantly.

  “Four people have been murdered: Lady Fitzhugh, her butler, her maid, and Bertram Kerr, who was her solicitor. A thirteen-year-old boy was almost murdered twice. We believe that Mr. Kerr was murdered because he found out something about the murderer from Lady Argyle and then attempted to blackmail him.”

  “All right,” Gerard said reluctantly. “But only for a few minutes. Remember she’s weak.”

  “We promise to try not to upset her. We’ll be quick,” said Dermot.

  Gerard told the two men to follow him. They entered the bedroom of Lady Argyle. The curtains were drawn and the room was dark and cold. They could see a person lying in bed and almost fully covered; only her hair on the pillow was visible. Gerard switched on the table lamp and they could see a face clearly; a face that was once beautiful, but was now covered with wrinkles and looked worn out.

  Lady Argyle opened her eyes and looked at the three men. In a weak voice, she asked Gerard who they were. Gerard introduced them and told her why they were there.

  “He… he… told me that a will written by Christiaan surfaced in South Africa and that he wanted to talk to me about it,” said Lady Argyle very quietly. “It was just a ruse.”

  “Did he ask about the diamonds that belonged to the De Villiers family?” asked Dermot.