Rough Justice In Academia (The Ralph Chalmers Mysteries Book 2)

by P. J. Thurbin

  “Maybe he got one of his pals to do it,” Katie said. “Although come to think of it, Berick’s pals might be the rough and ready sort, but they would hardly volunteer to get involved in murder. The judge would lock them up so fast it’d make your head spin and probably throw the keys in the moat to boot. No. It has to be the son. Ted. That guy must be pretty burned up with the way things turned out for his family. I’m almost starting to feel sorry for the bloke,” she laughed, a sarcastic note in her voice.

  “You’re right. Ted could easily have been blackmailing George Rainton. He may have read in the paper that Rainton was going to be at the Conference. Seeing that it was at Gypsy Hill must have given him a shock. He knew the place from their days as students and probably knew that the students were away for the spring break. He may have left a note for Rainton at the Hotel that gave a false message to put Rainton’s minder out of the way. Maybe he and Rainton argued over the money and got into a struggle and Ted punched him and then ran off when he saw that Rainton was seriously injured.”

  “But then why would he bother to come back to get Sir William?” Katie interjected.

  “I think he’s eaten up with a determination to exact vengeance for what happened to him and his family. Now he’s got Sir William, it just leaves Granger and his vendetta will be complete,” said Ralph.

  “You didn’t say he was Italian,” Katie quipped.

  “Stop messing about.”

  “Sorry. But seriously. That Linham’s a good bloke, but I think he’s taken his eye off the ball with all that Mafia and terrorist nonsense. If I wanted to get that lot, a bomb in the launch and the paddle steamer would have done the trick. Would have been fun to see the orchestra swimming ashore with Peter waving his baton in annoyance,” she added.

  Ralph tried to ignore her attempts to lighten things up. Perhaps surviving in prison involved refusing to take things too seriously.

  “One thing doesn’t fit. Everyone at the banquet was given a card showing them how to get around. It’s a rabbit warren of a place even in daylight and badly lit at night. I had Janice produce a map showing the locations of the cloakrooms, the fire escape routes, the Great Hall and those sorts of things. It also showed where the coffee was to be served, in what they call Queen Anne’s dressing chamber. It was clearly marked and all the rooms have signs for tourists. So everyone including the staff, the police, the students, the people doing the catering and the guests knew the layout. So why was Sir William the only one who was led to the designated room? And did whoever took him there hand Sir William the poisoned cup of coffee? And why did whoever was escorting the rest of the guests take them to the wrong room?” Ralph realised that he was speaking quickly and getting to a crucial point in his deductions. Katie was smart enough to recognize the need to focus.

  “You said that Granger and that catering bloke, Bullen, had been leading the way. Who told you that?”

  “I’m not sure. I think it was Sergeant. Wilson. Or it might have been Linham. I know it wasn’t Granger or Bulllen. I’ve never spoken to them about it.”

  “Then you said that one of them realised there was no coffee and went to look for it. Surely someone would have had the wit to look at the map or card thing? It’s the first thing I would have done, Ralph.”

  “Well I think that Granger went to look for the room and Bulllen went to get some coffee. Being a caterer, his first instinct would have been that someone had screwed up on where to serve it and go to kick some backsides to put things right. Knowing Granger he would have delighted in finding he had discovered the error and led the way, strutting his way ahead of the guests.”

  “So could Joe Bullen be in Arthur Berick’s pay?” Katie asked.“Or is our elusive Ted still wandering around congratulating himself on getting away with it and plotting how to bump off old Granger as we speak. What a terrible thought. I mean it. Poor Rupert may be a lot of things, but mostly he tries to do his best,” she added, a sincere and almost compassionate note in her voice. They had almost exhausted the allotted visiting time When Katie suddenly remembered something.

  “Oh, by the way, I sent you some magazines that Arthur Berick gave me. You know I was his tutor on that Open University on - line course he was doing. I’m not allowed to give stuff to visitors but they do let us mail things. Well some of them have got photos of when Arthur was running that boxing club of his in Kingston. They’re pretty old and well-thumbed but there are some pictures of his boys. There’s one or two of young Ted Berick. It seems as though he was pretty good in his day. I think he was amateur champion at his weight or something like that. In one of the articles he appears to have got into trouble with the referee for fouling by punching his opponent in the kidneys. I got the feeling it was his trade mark. And you know what they say about leopards and spots. He’s probably never changed his style. You might want to give the magazines to Linham if he is still bothering to look at alternatives now that he has the world of terrorism on his mind. It’s just a thought.”

  “I wish you’d mentioned this before,” Ralph replied. As soon as I get back I’ll ask Janice if she’s got the package yet. Boxing prowess does seem to be figuring a lot in these incidents. Both Lance Bains and Joe Bullen are always talking about their having boxed in the past.”

  “Well I sent it last week, although perhaps I didn’t bribe the warders enough and they put it at the back of the list. By the way, remember that I mentioned my early release date hearing is coming up in a few weeks, so keep your fingers crossed for me.”

  “I’ll do more than that, Katie. Get word to me when your actual release time is set and I’ll be here to collect you and get you settled back in your home in Chelsea. I still have the key to your place that you left with me for safekeeping as well as the phone number for that Mrs. Calhoun that you used to come in and clean. I’ll give her a call and see if she is free to go in and air the place out and tidy up a bit so you won’t have that to deal with right away.

  “You’re a sport, Ralph. I wasn’t looking forward to having to open up the place and get out the feather duster right away, although even dusty it will be like a palace compared to my suite here at the Holloway Hilton.”

  As soon as I know the date I’ll also get an early booking in for a week off and take you down to the coast for a spin. Some sea air will do you wonders.”

  “I’m not that easy,” Katie joked. “I’ll be looking for a lot more than that if you expect to sweep me off my feet, Professor Chalmers,” she laughed.

  For the first time he felt that she was starting to act like the old Katie he had enjoyed exchanging banter with before the awful events that resulted in her being at Holloway in the first place.

  Ralph promised to let Katie know if the parcel of magazines had arrived and that he would be back the following week. It was now too late to go back to campus so he decided to stop for dinner in Richmond. Eating alone in his apartment was fine most days, but after his visit with Katie his mind was buzzing with thoughts and he needed some way of slowing it down. A steak with a green salad and some red wine at the Richmond Hill Hotel would hit the spot. He was already imagining a table by the window with views of the river and a piano tinkling in the background.

  The restaurant was not overcrowded and as the sun sank he could see couples walking along the riverside. It was an idyllic scene but his thoughts kept turning back to the recent tragic events. He wondered what Ted Berick was up to. Could he really have turned up after all this time to seek revenge for what he perceived as past misdeeds against himself and his family, and was he at this very minute stalking Rupert Granger? Or perhaps Special Branch and the police had it right. Maybe Royston’s murder was unconnected to the attack on Rainton or to Sir William’s murder. It was a lot to think about. But for now it was time to drive home and prepare for tomorrow’s lectures.

  ***

  Ralph had overslept again. He dressed hurriedly and shot off to work. When he arrived at Kenry House he swept into his allocated car space, one of the few
perks that he had managed to squeeze out of the system. Janice had developed the ritual of waiting until he had settled in his office before she brought in any mail. Having greeted him she would then ask if there was any dictation. He found the routine all very comforting.

  “Thanks Janice. I was expecting this.” He said as he reached for the parcel. He wondered why he had hesitated to say that it was from Katie and was just going to mention it when Janice interrupted his thoughts.

  “It took quite a while to get here,” Janice observed. “It’s postmarked over a week ago from Holloway. Gosh knows what the post is coming to these days,” she added.

  Ralph realised that it was Janice’s way of letting him know that he had no secrets, at least not from her. Once she had left he opened the package and glanced at the magazines.

  Although he had looked up Ted Berick’s University file, the photo in it had not been particularly enlightening. It was of the usual mug shot variety the students typically had on their student ID cards and had been smudged somehow right across the face. He was eager to see if the magazine photos were any better. He froze when he saw Ted’s photo. Ted was Joe Bullen’s double. No. He was Joe Bullen, or at least who Joe Bullen would have been in his youth. Just then Janice looked in through the half open door.

  “Oh yes, I nearly forgot to tell you. I had a visit from Joe Bullen yesterday. He asked me to type a letter from him to his employers. It’s a letter of termination as it seems he has accepted an offer from another firm to work overseas. I can’t say I’ll be unhappy to see him go.”

  Ralph hardly heard her. His mind was racing. Ted Berick was back after all. The firm he worked for had got the contract with the University and that put him close to Granger and provided access to Sir William. Seeing George Rainton on the Conference list must have been a welcome bonus. If he had a foul plan for revenge the conference had certainly accommodated it. He noticed that Janice was still standing in the doorway.

  “I heard that Professor Granger planned to present him with an award for his work at the Conference and at the Banquet. Let’s hope he can keep a civil tongue in his head in front of everyone.”

  He began to focus.

  “What award, Janice?” Suddenly Ralph was on high alert. The same sixth sense that had often alerted him to dangers when skippering a craft in a stormy sea was warning him of dangers closer to home.

  “Well I don’t really know. All I heard was that Professor Granger would present the award in the staff lounge or bar area today. It was initially going to be in the board room upstairs, but Bullen had insisted that it was easier to serve everyone coffee downstairs. He was quite rude about it, as usual. I assumed you knew. After all it was your show,” she added with a touch of pique in her tone.

  Ralph ran past Janice. He had to get to Granger fast.

  “Get the police here and tell Inspector Linham we have Ted Berick,” he shouted to Janice.

  As he ran down the corridor he saw Granger’s secretary Margaret walking towards him, blocking his way.

  Professor Chalmers, We’ve been looking for you. Rupert’s waiting for you in the staff lounge. Everyone’s waiting to start the speeches for Joe Bullen’s award.”

  Ralph had never moved so fast in his life. He pushed Margaret out of the way and burst in among his startled colleagues as they milled around chatting. Reaching Granger’s side, he knocked the coffee cup from his hand. As Granger staggered back, Bullen leapt forward, and snatching a knife from the table, held it at Granger’s throat. Everyone fell back. It had all happened in a flash.

  “Drop the knife, Ted,” Ralph said quietly. “It’s all over. We know who you are and this will only make things worse. Let Professor Granger go. We can talk about this. There’s no need for anyone else to get hurt.”

  He could hear every word as though it were someone else’s voice speaking. He just hoped that a strong approach would stop Berick from harming Granger. He noticed that Lance was closest to Bullen. He just hoped that the New Zealander would not try to become a hero. Best to try to calm things down.

  “No one move or Granger gets it,” Berick snarled.

  Ralph could see that Granger was holding up well considering that someone who had been harbouring a grudge for twenty-five years had a carving knife at his throat.

  Ralph decided to appeal to Ted’s feelings for his family.

  “Look Ted, your mother Alice wouldn’t want this, and it won’t help your Dad any if he has a son who is facing a murder charge as well.”

  It just came out without too much thought. Ted had probably already killed Sir William and must have realized that he had seriously injured Rainton. What was one more? But Ralph just wanted to play for time, hoping that Ted might relax enough for Granger to escape. It was all a bit of a gamble.

  “I never meant to harm George. He’d promised me money and I just saw it as a chance to get a lawyer for Dad. The silly bugger got stroppy and so I pushed him and he fell and hit his head, but I never meant to harm him; we were mates. When he fell his bag dropped on the ground and so I took it. Thought it might have money in it, but it turned out to be even better. But that Tiverton deserved everything he got. The way he treated Mum, like she was some nobody. It broke her when he refused to listen to her. The sod just thought he could kick her out like just so much trash. Then when Dad tried to get Granger and finished up killing Jack, who was just like his own son. You bastard,” he snarled into his prisoners ear.”

  Ralph felt that so long as Ted was talking, it might buy a bit more time for keeping Granger alive.

  “Dad kept on telling me what you lot had done to ruin our lives. I weren’t too worried about it at first, but Dad kept on at me. Once I’d done that bullion job with him I had to get out of the country, but Dad kept writing to me, and when I heard that he had killed poor old Jack, I had to come back. It was Granger he was after but he made a mistake. Now it’s my job to finish what he started.”

  “You don’t have to do this, Ted,” Ralph reasoned. “Enough harm’s been done already. You’ve been under a lot of pressure. Just put the knife down and we can sort things out. I promise.”

  Ralph had little confidence that his pleading would work, but he had to give it a try. There was no other way.

  Just then he heard the sirens from the police cars as they sped into the driveway. As Berick turned to see what was happening, Lance threw a punch at his head as Granger used his free hand to wrestle the knife from his grasp. Berick went down as though he had been pole-axed. Linham and Wilson walked in on a scene of pandemonium as the staff, unfrozen at last, scrambled for cover. Wilson and the other officers soon had Ted Berick handcuffed and matters under control.

  “Well Professor Granger, it appears as though you’ve come through this one unscathed. I hope no one else was seriously injured. But at least it seems that we have our man at last, and he certainly has a lot of questions to answer.”

  Granger was quick to recover his dignity.

  “Thank you, Inspector. A bit of a to do for so early in the morning,” I must say. I won’t offer you a coffee as I expect that you will want that as evidence,” he smiled wryly at Linham. Turning to his staff he reverted to his normal authoritarian role.

  “All right everyone. The fun seems to be over. I know that you have all got classes to go to and students to counsel. So I think it best if we got back to doing what we all do best.”

  The staff dispersed to their various classes and offices, apart from Ralph and Lance who remained behind to answer a few questions for the Inspector and to make sure that Granger was truly alright. The police confirmed the events that had just ensued and marched Berick out to the waiting police car.

  Once everyone else had gone Granger led Ralph and Lance back to his office. Closing the door he invited them to sit down.

  “I want to thank you two for saving my life. If I had touched that coffee and Berick ---- well you know what I am saying. What Sir William and I did back all those years ago was probably not one of our bette
r decisions. And to this day I regret what we did to Jack Royston, but it had to be done. The University had to come first and Jack fully supported that decision even though I now realize how difficult it must have been for him and his family as a result. I would do the same, and I hope you both would as well if it came to it. Well, enough said. I’ve got a busy day ahead and I expect you have too. I know I don’t need to remind you to keep this as much under wraps as possible, although with the number of people who already know about it, no doubt the news has already leaked. The press will probably make another field day out of this one, but let’s hope you two are smart enough not to help them,” he said with a grim smile. “By the way, Lance, I guess we can call it evens. And Ralph, just one question. How did you know that the man we thought was Joe Bullen was really Ted Berick? I certainly wouldn’t have recognized him after all these years.”

  Ralph explained about the magazine articles Katie had sent him that showed photos of Berick boxing, and how he was struck by the resemblance to Bullen, and how he had thought all along that all of the incidents were somehow tied to the long ago incident. “I just put two and two together,” he said modestly.

  “Well, I reckon we are all just about square,” said Granger. “So we had better just press on as usual, chaps.” Granger stood up to signal that the chat was over. Back to business as usual.

  Ralph and Lance left the office. They both felt slightly embarrassed by Granger’s comments, but as always, Ralph was struck by Granger’s ability to bounce back. It was time to seek some sanity in what had recently been a crazy world.

  Chapter 16

  Another semester had started. The new students were finding their way around campus. Staff were panicking as they grappled with the burden created by the administration and the sheer numbers of students. For Ralph and his colleagues life was getting back to normal.