Dead Before Morning (Rafferty & Llewellyn humorous crime series #1 in series)

by Geraldine Evans

  Rafferty could imagine how Anthony Melville-Briggs would take such an affront to his dignity. No wonder he had been so sure the door-man would remember them. The good doctor in a rage would certainly be a pretty spectacular sight. Swallowing the appreciative chuckle, he glanced over at Llewellyn. The Welshman's dark head was bent over his notebook as though its contents engrossed him and he wondered if it was possible that his sergeant shared his amusement.

  Although the day outside had turned bleak, and the old house groaned from the buffeting of the wind blowing straight off the North Sea, the winter parlour was warm, the panelled walls reflected the glowing red and gold flames from the heaped logs burning steadily in the hearth and Rafferty felt lethargy steal over him. Curious to discover more than his quick perusal of the guide-book had revealed, he asked, 'Has Elmhurst Hall always belonged to your family, Ma'am?'

  'No, only since the late fifteenth century,' replied Lady Evelyn. 'My great, great, great, etc, grandfather, a landless knight, backed Henry Tudor at the Battle of Bosworth and as you probably know, the Tudor won the day.'

  'And your family were rewarded with the Hall?'

  'In a roundabout way. Henry Tudor was reluctant to give rewards out of his own pocket, being a mean man by nature, but Edward Melville was given something even better - a rich heiress in marriage - Lady Cecily Aimering. It was through her that we acquired the Hall, amongst other things. At that time, of course...' She broke off and he looked enquiringly at her.

  'I'm sorry.' She gave an apologetic smile. 'I didn't mean to give you a history lesson.' Rafferty glanced slyly at Llewellyn to see if this sensitivity had penetrated. Llewellyn met his eyes with the inscrutable expression of a Merlin as Lady Evelyn continued. 'My husband tells me I bore people to death talking about the house.'

  'You're not boring me,' Rafferty assured her. He managed to get a little dig in for Llewellyn's benefit. 'Give me someone who knows their stuff and can tell it without talking down to people and I'm happy..Besides, I'm a bit of a history buff myself. Houses are a hobby of mine,' he explained, 'and it tends to go with the territory.' But there was work to be done, he reminded himself, signalling to Llewellyn as he got to his feet. 'We'd best be off. Thank you for your hospitality, ma'am. If you could possibly pop into the station some time and sign the statement?'

  'Of course. Tomorrow morning? About ten?'

  He nodded. 'That'll be fine.' Rather sheepishly, he pulled the little library book about the Hall from his pocket as they headed for the door. 'I understand you occasionally open your home to the public, ma'am? I wouldn't mind seeing it myself when this case is over.'

  'Why don't you give me a ring when you're able to make it and we'll arrange a time?'

  Rafferty was happy to agree and finally they left, but he couldn't help wondering if Lady Evelyn would still be willing to show him round her home if the case ended with her husband being arrested for murder? He rather doubted it. In spite of his air of confidence, Melville-Briggs's alibi wasn't nearly as sound as he'd led them to believe. If his own wife couldn't vouch for him for the whole evening, was it likely that anyone else could?

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Llewellyn looked up from his study of the Hospital Yearbook, which Mrs.Galvin had so obligingly lent them, as Rafferty entered their temporary office the next morning and flung himself into a chair. 'Still no sign of the murder weapon?' he questioned Llewellyn.

  Llewellyn shook his head. 'They should finish searching the hospital and its grounds today. Has Dr. Dally been able to give you any idea what the weapon might be?'

  'Hasn't a clue.' Rafferty pulled a face. 'Won't admit it, of course. I don't suppose any blood-soaked clothes have shown up, either?'

  Llewellyn shook his head again. 'Neither have the victim's fingerprints been traced yet. They're still working on it. Fraser said he'll ring back if they come up with anything.'

  Rafferty nodded. 'Perhaps I should ask my old ma to light a few candles for us? We'll need all the help we can get to solve this crime if we can't even discover who the victim was. You'd think someone would have missed her by now.'

  Llewellyn tapped lean fingers on the book lying open on the desk in front of him. 'The Holbrook Clinic, that Dr. Melville-Briggs mentioned, Sir, it's only about three miles away.'

  Rafferty grunted. 'I know. I asked Gilbert. But never mind that for now. Whittaker isn't going anywhere. If he intended to, he'd have gone by now and he hasn't. I checked.' He got up restlessly. 'Get onto the station. I want more men up here. I don't care how many officers you have to drag off leave. I want those clothes and the weapon found.'

  After Llewellyn had organised the extra manpower, he studied Rafferty with probing dark eyes. 'Do you really think there's anything in this professional jealousy theory of Dr. Melville-Briggs's, Sir?'

  Llewellyn's voice sounded doubtful and, sensing an unspoken criticism, Rafferty frowned. Aware that he was being over-sensitive, but unable to stop himself, he took a high moral tone. 'An experienced policeman keeps an open mind, Sergeant,' he replied loftily. 'There certainly seems to be a lot of bad feeling between the two men. According to Gilbert, they nearly came to blows a month ago, apart from their disagreement on the night of the dinner. Seems Whittaker accused Melville-Briggs of spreading malicious rumours about him. Gilbert swears Whittaker hadn't obtained a key to the side-gate from him, but he did drop a heavy hint that Miss Gwendoline Parry, the Administrator here, is rather sweet on Whittaker and she has a key. She's on leave till Tuesday. She'll keep. We've plenty to occupy us in till then.'

  The phone rang just then and Rafferty snatched it up, hoping there might be some good news at last. A delighted grin split his face as he scribbled a few quick notes on the scrap pad in front of him. 'Yes, yes, I've got that. Thanks. Thanks very much.' He replaced the receiver slowly, as though savouring the moment, and gave Llewellyn an elliptical glance.

  'Good news, Taff.' The use of the nickname was quite deliberate. As he had guessed, the Welshman didn't take kindly to it - well, he didn't take kindly to being thought of as an ignorant Mick. Maybe Llewellyn would take the hint and stop acting so damn superior. Tilting his chair back at a dangerous angle, he challenged, 'I bet you a pound to a pinch of shit that this'll bring a smile to that mournful Welsh mug of yours.'

  Llewellyn merely murmured, 'Oh?' before issuing a cautious warning, 'I wouldn't tip your seat back like that, Sir. These old hospital chairs aren't up to such rough treatment.'

  Rafferty waved the caution aside. 'That was Fingers Fraser on the phone. He's matched the prints, so ma won't have to light those candles after all. The victim's identity will point us to the man who killed her. It's bound to.'

  Llewellyn's expression didn't alter, but his laconic reply succeeded in wiping the smile off Rafferty's face. 'I wouldn't be so sure. Identifying a victim does not a murder solve.'

  Rafferty scowled and brought all four legs of his chair back to earth with a crash. The crack of splintered wood proved Llewellyn's forebodings correct and he landed in an undignified heap on the floor as what was left of the chair collapsed under him. A faint smile took fleeting possession of Llewellyn's features and he murmured softly, 'Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a f....'

  'Oh shut up!' Rafferty retorted childishly. Bloody sanctimonious know-all, he silently cursed his sergeant. He got up gingerly. The legs of the chair had parted company with the seat - permanently by the look of it. He pushed the evidence of his vandalism into the adjoining lumber-room and shut the door on it. Not that Dr. Melville-Briggs was likely to show his face down here, but you never knew. It would be just like him to send in a bill for the damage. Thrusting his hands in his pockets, he demanded belligerently, 'Don't you ever look on the bright side?'

  Llewellyn gave a tiny shrug. 'I don't believe in courting disappointment. There is one thing I don't understand though.'

  'Only one? You surprise me. And what might that be?'

  'Why you assume the murderer was male.'

&nb
sp; Rafferty hadn't assumed any such thing, the use of the male pronoun had just seemed the most obvious in the circumstances, but now he felt stung to defend his choice. 'Elementary, my dear Llewellyn,' he replied, determined to regain the advantage which he had so abysmally lost. 'The victim, Linda Wilks, was on file for prostitution.'

  Just then, he heard a faint shuffling noise outside the door. Putting his fingers to his lips, he crept to the door and quickly hauled it open. Gilbert was standing there with a tea-tray. Startled, he nearly dropped the lot.

  'What do you want to go and do that for?' he complained. 'Gave me the fright of me life.'

  Rafferty's eyes narrowed. 'Have you been listening?' He wouldn't put it past him. Perhaps that was why Dr. Melville-Briggs hadn't sacked him yet. Men like Gilbert had their uses.

  Gilbert got on his high horse. 'I've got better things to do with me time. Mrs. Galvin thought you'd want tea, and asked me if I'd be good enough to oblige.' He sniffed. 'But I shan't bother again.'

  Rafferty took the tea-tray. 'Thank you, Gilbert.' He stood pointedly in the doorway, waiting for the porter to go. 'Was there anything else?' he asked. Grumbling to himself, Gilbert took the hint.

  'We ought to get a key to that outside door, Sir,' Llewellyn suggested quietly. 'We don't want him snooping around.'

  'I'm aware of that, Sergeant,' Rafferty replied tartly. 'Unlike you, I'm also aware that Gilbert's likely to have duplicates to all the keys in the place. It's a bolt we need.' There was one on the inside door, he noticed. He'd better bring a drill and screwdriver in with him tomorrow and move the bolt to the outside door if they didn't want the entire staff to be privy to their discoveries. Slamming the door, he set the tray down on the table. 'You can be mother. Now,' hooking his foot beneath the front rung of another chair, he dragged it towards him and sat down. 'Where was I?' he asked.

  'You were explaining why you think the murderer is a man, Sir,' replied Llewellyn expressionlessly as he handed him his tea.

  'So I was.' Rafferty laced his fingers behind his head and assumed his most nonchalant pose, wishing he hadn't started this conversation as Llewellyn could be relied upon to pinpoint any flaws in his hastily-constructed theory. 'How likely is it that a London prossie would come all the way out to deepest Elmhurst to see a woman?'

  Llewellyn replied coolly, 'More likely, I would have thought, than coming all the way out here for just one customer.'

  'Unless he could pay well enough to make it worth her while,' Rafferty countered swiftly. Which ability, in his book, put Melville-Briggs back as odds-on favourite.

  He was savouring this thought along with the hot, sweet tea, when Llewellyn, true to form, spoiled the flavour of both. 'High-class then, was she, Sir?'

  'Not exactly, no,' replied Rafferty flatly, regretting his desire to put his sergeant in the wrong. He might have known that Llewellyn would immediately put his finger on the weak points in his argument. It was probably his university education, thought Rafferty resentfully, as he was forced to concede that his hasty theory might have a few holes in it. Linda Wilks had been far from high class if the police at Streatham were to be believed.

  Although he accepted that it was a bit early to jump to conclusions, Llewellyn's criticisms made him reluctant to wave goodbye to his conjectures entirely. Particularly if there was a chance of involving his favourite medical man in a juicy murder trial. The starring role in such a case would take the satin finish from Melville-Briggs's smoothly-emulsioned mug with all the efficiency of a blow-torch. It would even be worth suffering Llewellyn's scepticism to see that. Aware that his own personal feelings ought not to come into it, yet determined not to let his sergeant get the better of him entirely, Rafferty added, 'Let's just say she was an obliging sort of girl - went in for the kind of parlour games that stimulate jaded sexual appetites - whips, chains, that sort of thing. Saucy outfits too, apparently. When Streatham nick picked her up last time, she claimed she was an ctress.' He snorted. 'A likely story. The only acting she did was when she she played Madam Whiplash for a paying customer. Fancy a guess as to who the customer might be?' Llewellyn didn't take him up on his offer. 'Who do we know who's got a nice cosy flat, right on site? Whose sexual appetites - according to friend Gilbert - have had a surfeit of sweeties? Who's high-powered enough to enjoy the titillation of a little role reversal? The great, the greedy, the goose-egg gatherer himself, that saviour of womankind, Dr. Anthony Melville-Briggs, that's who. No wonder he tried to dump our suspicions elsewhere. It's well known that the rich are a weird lot where sex is concerned. Their goings-on swamp the pages of the Sunday tabloids every week. Even you must have read about Madam Cyn from Streatham, the luncheon vouchers bordello queen.'

  Llewellyn looked down his long nose at the suggestion. 'I make a point of avoiding such sordid sensationalism.'

  You would, thought Rafferty, as he murmured, 'That's rather a pity. I've always thought a policeman should keep up with the scandal sheets. All in the line of duty, of course,' he added dryly. 'Call it a getting to know our future customers exercise, if you like. Anyway, Madam Cyn's main business came from the intellectual type's fancy for "correction".' Rafferty eyed Llewellyn mischievously as he got the dig in. 'Same sort of line as Linda Wilks.' He grinned. 'Perhaps the good doctor likes to be tied up by a bit of rough trade occasionally and smacked on his plump, pink behind?'

  'Aren't you being a trifle melodramatic, Sir?' Llewellyn questioned deflatingly. 'We've only just discovered the victim's identity. It might be advisable to find out first if there was any connection between them before jumping to hasty conclusions based on suppositions and hearsay. Besides, we've still got the rest of the skeleton staff to interview yet. We can't begin to settle on a suspect until we've got an overall picture.'

  Rafferty sighed. Trust Llewellyn to want to go by the book. Rafferty had always found it made a case much more interesting if he ignored the book. There was nothing wrong with a bit of good, dirty speculation, he told himself. As far as he was concerned, he'd be delighted if old smarmy-pants proved to be a mass of nasty perversions and a murderer to boot, friend of the Chief Constable or not. If he was their man, Rafferty wouldn't allow such a consideration to prevent him making the arrest. Besides, the CC would be pretty quick to distance himself from the doctor if he was the culprit and Rafferty's job should be safe enough. He couldn't resist teasing Llewellyn a little more. 'Perhaps she decided to up her rates and he wasn't keen. I like it,' he added decisively as the grin stretched even further.

  Of course, Llewellyn wiped the grin off his face with his usual efficiency. 'I doubt the Chief Constable would - not without some proof and so far there isn't any.'

  'Not yet,' Rafferty agreed stubbornly. 'But as you so rightly pointed out, we haven't finished interviewing yet. Lady Evelyn didn't give her husband the foolproof alibi he probably hoped for. Perhaps the others at that convention won't either.'

  Like the voice of conscience, Llewellyn immediately piped up. 'Sam Dally was there. And he didn't remark on any obvious absences on the part of Dr. Melville-Briggs. He was the chairman, don't forget. He'd be sure to be missed.'

  Rafferty scowled. He'd forgotten that Sam Dally had mentioned that his prime suspect was chairman of the committee and probably responsible for making sure that everyone, especially himself, had the whale of a time. No wonder Melville-Briggs had been so unlovable yesterday morning. He'd probably been nursing a hangover as formidable as Rafferty's own. He could almost like the man for that, almost, but not quite. 'It's not far to drive from The George,' he pointed out. 'He could still have nipped out during the evening, driven back here, killed the girl and nipped back. I imagine there was a large crowd. Nothing could be easier than to disappear for half an hour or so, especially once the dinner was over and he started to mingle.'

  But apparently, Llewellyn had pumped Sam Dally a little more and now he wasted no more time in giving Rafferty the rest of the good news. Apparently, the role of chairman called for a lot of speechifying and prize-giving; Dr
. Melville-Briggs had been centre-stage during the greater part of the evening, no doubt holding forth on his favourite topic - himself, thought Rafferty sourly. And as Llewellyn had said, even Sam hadn't been able to recall any great gaps in his presence. With regret, Rafferty put his suspicions of Melville-Briggs temporarily aside. He couldn't even console himself with his madman theory. It seemed the pyjama-clad denouncer of women had several strange habits, one of which consisted of covering his hands with blood, any blood, he wasn't particular. Yesterday morning, before the nurse could stop him, he had dashed out of the day room and entered the kitchen where he had smeared his hands with blood from a large joint of beef which was just about to go in the oven.

  'Did you check with Charge Nurse Allward about the possibility of the rest of the patients being able to get out?'