A Fatal Secret

by Faith Martin

So Emily had been talking.

  And the boy’s hiding place had been found to be empty. Things were getting out of control. Yes. It was time for some rapid action.

  The killer of Eddie Proctor began to plan quickly.

  Chapter 34

  The moment they stepped into the coroner’s office, his secretary pounced.

  ‘Oh, Dr Ryder, I’m so glad you’re back. Inspector Jennings has been on the phone all afternoon. He wants you or, better yet, WPC Loveday to call him back, urgently. He’s been most persistent.’

  ‘Oh no. Does he sound angry?’ Trudy asked, her heart plummeting. Although she couldn’t think what it was she must have done to bring about his ire this time.

  ‘Yes, a bit angry. But more excited, pleased but irritated, I’d have said.’

  Well that didn’t sound much better, Trudy thought gloomily.

  ‘Come on through, you can phone from my desk,’ Clement offered.

  ‘Thank you,’ Trudy said. At least whatever dressing-down she was going to get would be made easier for having to take it over the telephone. At least then she wouldn’t have to withstand his withering and contemptuous eyes!

  Sitting down and taking a deep breath, Trudy lifted the receiver and dialled the station’s telephone number.

  PC Walter Swinburne answered it. The oldest PC was something of a grandfather figure to her. The moment he heard her voice, his own lowered dramatically.

  ‘What the hell have you been up to?’ he all but hissed. ‘Whatever it is, you’ve really gone and done it this time.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ Trudy whispered back. ‘I haven’t done anything!’ she protested.

  ‘You must have done something,’ he insisted. ‘The big boys from London arrived an hour or so ago, and have been closeted with the inspector in his office ever since. There have been some raised voices, I can tell you, and not all of them coming from the inspector! Every now and then he charges out here, demanding to know where you are, and if you’ve reported in yet. You’d better have a good excuse, my girl, I’m telling you,’ he warned.

  ‘I’ve been in Northamptonshire,’ Trudy said. ‘So I could hardly check in, could I?’

  ‘I’d better transfer you over. Take a deep breath, ’cause you’re in for it, I reckon,’ the old constable warned her again.

  Trudy gulped, quickly beckoned Clement over, and indicated he should lean close. She half-lifted the receiver away from her ear and held it out, so that they could both hear what was being said.

  ‘WPC Loveday!’ The booming voice of her irate inspector carried clearly across the wire. ‘Where the Dickens are you?’

  ‘I’m at the coroner’s office, sir,’ Trudy said smartly.

  ‘Are you? Well in that case, I want you and the old vulture to get over here right away. Is that clear?’

  Trudy gulped. She was so tense that she didn’t even wince at the fact that the coroner must have heard the cruel nickname they had for him at the station. ‘Yes, sir. But I’m not sure if Dr Ryder is free…’ She tried to save her friend, at least, from whatever storm it was that was breaking, but Clement was already shaking his head.

  ‘The old vulture is free to come over, Inspector,’ Clement said, raising his voice to be sure that it would carry to the other end. ‘Expect us in five minutes or so.’

  Slightly disconcerted – but also mollified – the inspector muttered something that might have been a half-hearted apology and rang off.

  Trudy hung up. ‘Well, don’t say I didn’t try to spare you,’ she said ruefully. ‘The inspector in a tizzy is not a pretty sight.’

  ‘Nonsense, wouldn’t miss the fun for all the tea in China,’ Clement assured her robustly. And meant it. He enjoyed a good blazing row now and then. And he’d never yet met an argument that he couldn’t win.

  ‘I’m sorry about… you know, the old vulture thing,’ Trudy muttered, but Clement merely laughed. Did she really think he didn’t know what they called him behind his back?

  ‘Any idea what it’s all about?’ Trudy asked glumly, as they went back to where he’d parked his Rover.

  Clement thought he might have a pretty good idea. But he shook his head. ‘Let’s just wait and see, shall we?’ he advised brightly.

  Chapter 35

  DI Jennings was sitting behind his desk when they knocked on the door. Two men, who had also been seated, rose slowly as Trudy and Clement walked in.

  ‘Ah, WPC Loveday, and Dr Clement Ryder,’ Jennings said. ‘This is Inspector Robinson and Inspector Brown.’ He made the introductions with a deadpan voice, but Trudy could tell her superior officer was feeling an excess of emotion.

  From his glittering eyes she suspected amusement, but there was also a certain tension about him that suggested he was not too far off becoming angry. An unusual and intriguing mix that didn’t do much to soothe her already heightened nerves.

  ‘I’m sorry I’ve been out of touch, sir,’ Trudy said smartly. ‘Dr Ryder and I have been interviewing a witness in Northamptonshire.’

  Jennings shrugged slightly. ‘Yes, well, there’ll be no more of that. I’m pulling you off the case,’ he informed them flatly. ‘The Chief Constable concurs with me.’

  Trudy stared at him uncertainly, then turned to look at the two strangers. They appeared to be somewhere in their late thirties or early forties, both were dark and clean-shaven, were neither ugly nor attractive, fat nor thin, or in the least memorable in any way. They were dressed in near identical suits, and both smiled meaninglessly at her. But something about them made her shiver slightly.

  ‘The inspectors are from Special Branch,’ Jennings said, again with that odd mixture of excitement and resentment. ‘It appears that your investigation into the Proctor case has caused a few ripples in places where they don’t like ripples,’ he explained dryly.

  Trudy blinked. She’d never expected to meet anyone from Special Branch! But at least it explained Inspector Jennings’ odd behaviour. On the one hand, he’d be delighted to have an excuse to shoot down Dr Ryder’s pet project, but on the other hand, he wouldn’t have appreciated another division coming onto his patch and usurping his authority.

  Clement slowly pulled up a chair and sat down. ‘Ah, I take it this is to do with Oliver de Lacey’s hush-hush work in atomic energy? Has he been complaining?’ he asked casually.

  ‘Not at all, Dr Ryder,’ Inspector Brown – or was it Robinson? – responded smoothly. ‘But I’m sure you can appreciate that the powers that be don’t see the need for a man in such a sensitive and stress-related profession to be needlessly harassed.’

  ‘I wasn’t aware that he had been harassed,’ Clement said mildly. He looked relaxed, almost indolent in the chair, his hat resting nonchalantly on his knees, but Trudy could tell that he, too, was feeling angry. And it heartened her somewhat. At least she had one ally in the room.

  In truth, though, Clement was feeling angry with himself, rather than with the two strangers, or the anonymous government lackey who must have sent them. Evidently, the feelers he’d put out recently hadn’t been anywhere nearly as discreet as he’d expected or hoped.

  ‘Oh, I’m sure you’ve behaved impeccably, Dr Ryder,’ Inspector Robinson put in smoothly. ‘But it’s time to call it a day now. The boy’s death was an accident, plain and simple. I take it you haven’t got any evidence that says otherwise?’ he added blandly.

  Clement’s lips twisted slightly at the gauntlet that had just been thrown down. ‘Not yet,’ he was forced to admit, careful to keep his voice as bland as before. He certainly wasn’t about to give them – or Jennings – the satisfaction of knowing they’d got under his skin. ‘But the de Laceys are certainly a family with a lot of secrets.’

  He met the level gaze of both men with one of his own.

  Behind his desk, Jennings watched the showdown with a sort of nervous fascination that left him undecided just who he should be rooting for. For whilst there was no doubt that the curmudgeonly coroner could be a right pain in his backside at times
, there was something so oily and superior about the Special Branch men that they got his back up. They wielded so much power, and they knew it. What’s more, they were so used to people backing down whenever they spoke that he was almost hoping the coroner would give them a bit of a shock. Just for the fun of watching the resulting fireworks.

  ‘That may well be, Dr Ryder,’ Robinson – or was it Brown? – said mildly. ‘But no purpose would be served by bringing them into the light.’

  ‘Unless it had something to do with the death of a young boy.’

  ‘Are you saying that it does?’ the slightly taller of the two officers demanded shortly.

  Trudy, who so far hadn’t dared say anything, wished with all her heart that the coroner could claim otherwise, but she knew how few really solid leads they had to go on, and saw him smile slightly in defeat.

  ‘Since it doesn’t look as if we’re going to be allowed any more time to pursue it, the answer to that has to be no,’ Clement said dryly.

  ‘Ah. Well, in that case, we’ll bid you all good afternoon. Inspector Jennings, you’ll be receiving the paperwork shortly. The Edward Proctor case is now officially closed. Is that clear?’

  Jennings, to his credit, flushed slightly in anger at this high-handed dictate, but he nodded stiffly. ‘Of course. WPC Loveday will be reassigned, as of tomorrow.’

  Both men left without another word. After the door was shut behind them, they all waited for a few seconds in an unspoken understanding that they wanted to be sure the visitors were out of earshot before speaking.

  Trudy tensed, expecting to get a tongue-lashing from her superior officer. Instead, though, there was a long, thoughtful silence.

  Finally, Clement lifted his Trilby hat and spun it absently around and around on his forefinger, regarding its convolutions with intense interest. Jennings watched him in silence for a while longer, then shifted in his seat. Finally, he spoke. ‘I take it you know exactly what all that was about?’

  Clement sighed. ‘I have a good idea.’

  ‘Care to share it?’

  Clement cocked an eyebrow at him. ‘Sure you want to know?’ he asked.

  Jennings hesitated, then nodded. Which made Trudy want to applaud, because she rather wanted to know what it was all about too!

  Clement sighed. ‘Very well. When we talked to Dr Oliver de Lacey at his college, I saw an old photograph of him, which reminded me of the fact that he studied at Cambridge, not Oxford. At Trinity College to be exact.’

  For a moment Jennings looked puzzled. Then, slowly, a look of comprehension dawned across his face. ‘Oh,’ he said flatly. Then, ‘But that doesn’t necessarily mean anything, you know.’

  Trudy desperately wanted to ask what they were talking about, and something of her angst must have communicated itself to her friend, for Clement glanced across at her and smiled.

  ‘You were probably only about 10 years old or so in 1951, when Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean defected to the Soviet Union. Do you remember much about it?’

  ‘Oh! Yes, a bit,’ Trudy admitted. ‘I remember there was a really big fuss about it, and how angry everyone was at the traitors. They were at Trinity in Cambridge too, weren’t they? And Dr Oliver de Lacey must have been up around the same time that they were? Is that it?’

  Clement shrugged. ‘The moment I saw he’d gone to Trinity, I did start to wonder,’ he said cagily. ‘But in itself, as Inspector Jennings just pointed out, it probably means nothing,’ he said. Then, turning his attention back to Jennings, he shrugged. ‘After all, thousands of students will have passed through Trinity in the Forties and Fifties, and it’s a bit far-fetched to think they might all be potential traitors. But added to the fact that Oliver de Lacey works in the nuclear industry, you can see why Special Branch would be keeping a close eye on him.’

  Jennings sighed slightly. ‘Just doing their job then?’

  Clement shrugged. ‘I did phone a few friends after I’d made the connection, asking if anything was known about him…’ The older man smiled whimsically. ‘I thought they could be trusted to keep it all on the old q.t., but evidently word must have got around that I’d been poking my nose into sensitive places.’

  Jennings grinned sourly. ‘You have a decided knack for that,’ he acknowledged grimly. ‘No wonder they were sent to shut you down. They can’t like it when any unwanted attention is sent de Lacey’s way. Not only in case it becomes public, but in case it attracts the attention of our Red friends.’

  Trudy shifted a little impatiently on her feet. ‘I don’t quite understand, sir,’ she addressed her inspector, but really she was speaking to Dr Ryder. ‘Are you saying that Dr de Lacey might be a spy for the Russians?’

  Jennings snorted. ‘I think it extremely unlikely, Constable Loveday,’ he said sardonically. ‘Just that the powers that be don’t particularly like it when any kind of spotlight is thrown onto people like him.’

  ‘They tend to be a touch sensitive about it,’ Clement put in with a wolfish grin. ‘Burgess and his pals caused a huge scandal, and caused an awful lot of red faces (pardon the atrocious pun) in Whitehall when the extent of their spying activities was uncovered. The civil service and many important men found themselves to be a laughing stock, especially in America. Heads rolled. And they didn’t like it,’ he finished succinctly.

  ‘So now,’ Jennings took up the running, ‘whenever any chill wind blows any kind of doubt over someone like de Lacey – who was up at Trinity at the right time, and has wormed his way into a high-powered job in government… well, let’s just say, they get the wind up.’

  ‘You can’t really blame them,’ Clement said, a shade reluctantly. ‘The Russians would be delighted to learn anything they can about our nuclear power policy and details of our nuclear reactors and such. And someone like de Lacey would be in an ideal position to tell them.’

  ‘He’d have been watched for years, I expect?’ Jennings mused.

  ‘Almost certainly. Especially given the fact that certain, er, habits of his would leave him especially vulnerable to blackmail, should it become known,’ Clement agreed flatly.

  Jennings lifted an eyebrow questioningly at him.

  Clement shrugged. ‘He has no interest in women, Inspector.’

  ‘Oh. One of them,’ Jennings snorted.

  Clement said nothing. Like most men of his background, he’d gone through the public-school system, and had a much more tolerant attitude towards homosexuals than most. His own personal opinion was that people’s private lives should be just that – private. He also counted several men – and women – as friends of his, whose sexual preferences probably wouldn’t stand much scrutiny by the police. Or Special Branch officers or spies recruiting for the Soviet Union, should it come to that.

  ‘So exactly what are we saying then?’ Trudy said, still feeling all at sea. ‘Is Oliver de Lacey a spy for Russia or not?’

  ‘Probably not,’ Clement said.

  ‘So if that’s the case, why can’t we continue to investigate little Eddie’s death?’ Trudy asked stubbornly, beginning to feel angry. ‘We have to give up, just like that, even though we now know that Eddie had found out about Oliver de Lacey’s secret meetings with his, er… boyfriends?’ She quickly filled her superior officer in on what they’d just learned from Emily. ‘So it’s looking more and more likely that only Oliver de Lacey had a motive for wanting the boy dead,’ she persisted, beginning to get hot under the collar. ‘If Eddie talked about what he’d seen, it would be bound to get all around the village sooner or later. And he must have known that his bosses would find out, and see him as a security risk. He’d be bound to be in hot water then.’

  Jennings shrugged, but not without some sympathy. ‘The investigation is over, Constable,’ he said flatly. ‘And that’s that. Dr Ryder, thank you for your time.’ He rose, and unexpectedly thrust his hand out.

  Clement rose, too, and accepted the handshake with a wry nod. ‘Inspector. I’ll have to contact Mr Martin de Lacey, of course,’ th
e coroner said, holding up a hand in a pacifying gesture as Jennings made to object. ‘Just as a courtesy you understand. He was the one who called for a more in-depth investigation, and I owe him an explanation of our findings. If not, he might get suspicious, and make even more of a rumpus,’ the coroner added cannily. ‘Which will only make our Special Branch friends very unhappy.’

  ‘What will you tell him?’ Jennings demanded, conceding the older man’s reasoning, but remaining highly suspicious of his true motives. Inspector Jennings might be many things, but he wasn’t a complete idiot.

  ‘Just that we’ve concluded our investigation, and that we have found no evidence to say that the verdict at the inquest wasn’t the right one. Which is true enough,’ Clement promised, looking at Trudy warningly. ‘We have no evidence that Oliver de Lacey lured the boy to the well and pushed him in.’

  Trudy clamped her lips together to prevent herself from saying something she might regret later. But she simply couldn’t believe that Clement was just going to give up like this. DI Jennings, yes – he was a serving police officer, and had to follow orders. So she could see why he would throw in the towel.

  But the coroner never let anybody tell him what he could or couldn’t do!

  ‘Perhaps Constable Loveday can come with me, just to make it official,’ Clement requested mildly. ‘Mr de Lacey will want to be reassured that the police have done a thorough job.’

  Jennings waved a hand. ‘Fine, fine, take her along with you. But bright and early tomorrow, Constable, it’s back to normal duties for you,’ he warned her.

  ‘Yes, sir,’ Trudy said, hoping she didn’t sound as mutinous as she felt.

  Jennings watched them go, then gave a grunt of dismissal. At least he could wash his hands of the whole business.

  *

  Outside Trudy trudged despondently after the coroner. Walter Swinburne cast her an anxious glance, but she managed to give him a brief, reassuring smile. She climbed silently into the passenger seat of the coroner’s Rover and stared straight ahead.