Death Knocks Twice

by Robert Thorogood

  The door opened, and Dwayne entered looking like a cat who’d not only got the cream, but had also got his hands on the cow who supplied the cream.

  Richard went over and had a quick word with him. After a few moments, he returned to the group.

  ‘Lucy?’ he asked. ‘Did you just admit that you wanted to kill your biological father, Freddie Beaumont?’

  Lucy realised what she was being asked. But she couldn’t very well deny what she’d so freely said only moments earlier.

  ‘I suppose so. Why?’

  ‘We recovered two bullet casings from the murder scene this morning. And there was a fingerprint on one of them. A fingerprint that didn’t belong to the victim.’

  ‘So?’ Lucy asked.

  ‘So, Police Office Myers here has been comparing that fingerprint against the exclusion prints we took from all of you this morning, and he’s found a match. So can you tell me why your fingerprint is on the casing to one of the bullets that killed Freddie Beaumont this morning?’

  Comprehension came much more slowly to Lucy than it did to the rest of the family.

  ‘What is this?’ Hugh asked. ‘You must have made a mistake.’

  ‘I haven’t, Mr Beaumont,’ Dwayne said. ‘There were seven points of comparison. The print on the bullet casing comes from your daughter’s right middle finger.’

  ‘Can you tell me why that is?’ Richard asked Lucy.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Lucy said, but everyone could see that she was panicking.

  ‘I think you do,’ Richard said.

  ‘It’s a mistake. Father’s right. You must have made a mistake.’

  ‘Very well,’ Richard said. ‘You can tell us now, or we can take you down to the station, charge you with murder, and you can tell us then.’

  ‘But I’ve got nothing to do with this!’

  ‘Then start telling us the truth,’ Richard said.

  Lucy didn’t say anything. Not for a few seconds. And then she spoke.

  ‘I own a gun,’ she whispered.

  ‘What?’ Rosie asked, looking at Lucy in amazement.

  ‘You own a gun?’ Hugh said, just as stunned.

  ‘And yet I remember standing here only this morning,’ Richard said, ‘and asking if any of you owned a gun, and you all said that you didn’t. Yourself included, Lucy.’

  Lucy nodded, not entirely trusting her voice.

  ‘So why did you lie?’

  ‘Because…’

  ‘Yes?’

  Lucy took a deep breath.

  ‘Because I think it was my gun that was used this morning. I mean, I don’t know for sure, but when we broke into the shower room and I saw that dead body there, I was so shocked. And then when I saw that the gun he was holding looked a lot like mine, I didn’t know what to think. It was like my mind just shut down.’

  ‘But you recognised that it was your gun?’

  ‘No way. I just saw that it looked similar. I thought it could be mine. That’s all.’

  ‘Then can you tell me – just for the record – what type of gun do you own?’

  ‘It’s a Glock 19,’ Lucy said.

  ‘Which is exactly the same make and model of handgun that was used to kill your biological father.’

  ‘But it can’t have been my gun!’ Lucy said, desperately. ‘Even if it was the same make. I mean, there must be loads of those sorts of guns on the island.’

  ‘Of course,’ Richard said, as if he agreed entirely with the point Lucy was making. ‘But it should be easy enough for us to find out one way or another. Now that we know you also own a Glock 19. You just have to take us to it, and when we see that it’s still safely in your possession, we’ll know that it can’t have been the gun that was used to kill your father this morning. Won’t we?’

  Everyone was looking at Lucy, and they could all see the fear in her eyes.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Lucy showed Richard, Camille and Dwayne into her bedroom, where she said she kept her handgun. When they got there, Richard could see that it wasn’t so much a bedroom as a self-contained flat that was crammed into a bedroom. There was a desk with a computer on it next to an old microwave; a bureau with jars of sauces and pasta piled up next to a single electric hob; and clothes strewn everywhere. Richard noticed that even Dwayne thought the place was untidy, and that was saying something.

  But what most caught Richard’s attention was the strong smell of coffee that filled the room. Looking at the foot of Lucy’s bed, he saw an old trunk with a mess of coffee-making equipment on it. There was an old hand-cranked bean-grinding machine, a battered French Press cafetiere, and an ancient tin caddy with ‘Premier Grade Bonifieur Coffee’ written in swirling gold print on the side.

  Lucy was oblivious to the mess as she opened the doors to her wardrobe, revealing clothes jammed onto hangers and shelves, and a large domestic safe sitting on the floor.

  ‘I keep my gun in this safe,’ she said, stepping aside so the Police could see. ‘And you’ll see, it’ll still be there. I haven’t taken it out in years.’

  Richard saw that the lock was controlled by an electronic keypad.

  ‘You keep your gun in here?’

  The dismissive tone in Richard’s voice puzzled Lucy. ‘Yes. Why?’

  ‘Well, it’s hardly secure.’

  ‘What are you talking about? It’s a safe. Safes are totally secure.’

  ‘Ha!’ Richard said dismissively. ‘I reckon that safe would take all of five minutes to crack.’

  Dwayne and Camille looked at their boss, surprised that he was choosing this precise moment to brag about his safe-cracking skills. For Richard’s part, he got onto his hands and knees and started a visual inspection of the keypad.

  ‘Now that’s very interesting,’ he said. ‘Dwayne, go to the Police jeep, would you, and get the Crime Scene Kit. I want you to dust this keypad for fingerprints.’

  ‘Okay, Chief.’

  With a shrug to Camille, Dwayne left the room, and Richard got back to his feet.

  ‘Who else knows that you keep a gun in this safe?’ he asked.

  ‘What’s that?’ Lucy said, and Richard wondered if she was trying to buy herself time.

  He repeated the question more forcefully.

  ‘Well, no-one I suppose,’ Lucy said, and Richard once again got the distinct impression that she wasn’t telling the truth.

  ‘Who else knows about your gun?’ he asked for a third time. ‘And please stop lying to us.’

  ‘Oh, Tom knows,’ Lucy suddenly said as if it had only just occurred to her.

  ‘He does?’ Camille asked.

  ‘I suppose so. You see, it was Tom who helped me get it a few years ago. From one of his contacts on the island. It’s not exactly a legal firearm – if you know what I mean. So yes, Tom knows. But that’s it. It’s not something I’ve advertised to the others.’

  ‘And why exactly did you get it?’

  ‘I’m a young woman. I don’t always feel safe.’

  ‘You take it out of the house with you?’

  ‘I never even take it out of the safe.’

  ‘And you’re saying it’s in there now?’

  ‘Of course. I mean, I’ve not taken it out. Not that I’ve checked. Which was pretty stupid of me, I now realise.’

  ‘It was. Especially for someone who’s already got a Police record.’

  Lucy blanched. ‘You know about that?’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘That was just… I wasn’t very happy at the time. I’d left school and I didn’t know what to do with my life. I fell in with a bad crowd.’

  ‘The first time you were caught shoplifting? Or the second?’ Richard asked.

  ‘Look, that was all in the past. It’s got nothing to do with my life now. I’ve moved on.’

  ‘Have you?’ Richard asked. ‘Because, from our enquiries, we’ve not exactly been able to establish what it is that you currently do.’

  ‘But I do loads,’ Lucy said, now very definitely looking e
mbarrassed. ‘I mean, I help around the house. You know, when Rosie needs it. And I help on the plantation. When I can.’

  ‘So how do you get by financially?’

  ‘Well, I don’t spend much money. As you can see from my room. And father gives me a small allowance. Or handouts when I need them.’

  Richard could see how Lucy was trying to appear bright and fulfilled by her life, but he believed that the squalor in her room belied her words. Lucy was a woman who wasn’t on top of things – who wasn’t happy – and who felt she needed to keep a gun for protection. So why was that?

  ‘Very well,’ Richard said. ‘Can you tell me, when did you last open your safe?’

  ‘It was a few days ago.’

  ‘Exactly how many days ago did you last open your safe?’

  Lucy thought for a moment.

  ‘It was three days ago.’

  ‘And why did you open it?’

  ‘I was putting something into it.’

  ‘Which was?’

  ‘A document from the house’s library. Just an old document Tom had found and asked me to put in there for safekeeping.’

  Richard and Camille shared a glance. This was now the second time that Tom’s name had come up in relation to Lucy’s gun and safe.

  ‘Then tell me,’ Richard continued, ‘did you perhaps see the gun in the safe when you opened it up three days ago?’

  ‘I don’t know. I think so. I wasn’t really looking for it. I was just putting a document in there for safekeeping.’

  ‘I see. Then can I ask about your inheritance?’ he asked.

  ‘What’s that?’

  ‘Only, I can’t help noticing that you’ve just inherited the whole plantation.’

  ‘Don’t we need to open the safe?’

  ‘Not until my officer has returned with the Crime Scene Kit and he’s had a look at that keypad. So can you tell me how you feel now that you’ve inherited everything?’

  ‘I don’t know how I feel,’ Lucy said.

  ‘Then what do you plan to do with your inheritance?’

  ‘How do you mean?’

  ‘Considering the fact that you don’t even currently have a job. What will you do now that all of the profits from the family business will be yours to spend as you like?’

  Lucy laughed.

  ‘What?’ Richard asked.

  ‘You think there are profits?’

  ‘There aren’t?’

  ‘No way. We’ve been running at a loss for decades. As you noticed when you pointed out there were no other workers currently on the plantation.’

  ‘Yes, but you told us that was because it was the wrong time in the growing season.’

  ‘That’s just what we tell people. But it’s not even close to the truth. Even in the “off” season, you still need people to keep weeds out of the fields, clean the machinery and repair the drying racks, that sort of thing.’

  Richard remembered how the machinery he’d seen in the coffee packing area of the plantation had looked battered and rusty.

  ‘But I thought the Beaumonts were one of the richest families on the island?’

  ‘We used to be. But that’s not been the case for decades. So even if I’ve inherited the business, that doesn’t really mean I’ve inherited any money.’

  ‘But surely the land must be worth something?’ Richard asked.

  Richard could see that he’d struck a nerve with this comment.

  ‘How do you mean?’

  ‘Even if the estate isn’t turning a profit, this house must be worth a fair few bob on its own. And you own all of these acres of land. There’s got to be someone out there who’d buy it from you. You could turn a tidy profit if you sold up.’

  ‘Maybe. But we’ve not been able to sell the land while the estate remained a trust. Those were the terms of grandfather William’s will. So we’ve just muddled along, and whenever we really run out of cash, we sell another family heirloom.’

  ‘An heirloom?’

  ‘Well, like the house we used to own in Fulham. Father sold it about ten years ago. And that cash kept us going for ages. But I think the money from that sale ran out quite a few years ago. You’ll have to ask father. I don’t really get involved in the business side of things.’

  Richard remembered the look that he’d seen pass between Hugh and Lucy when they both realised that she was about to inherit the plantation.

  ‘But now that you’ve inherited, the trust is dissolved, and you can sell the plantation, can’t you?’ he asked.

  ‘I suppose so. If that’s what Father’s saying. I’d need to check.’

  ‘And would you?’

  ‘Sell?’

  Dwayne entered with the Crime Scene Kit, went over to the safe to start processing it, and Lucy took advantage of the interruption to go and look out of the window.

  ‘I’ve wanted to sell this place my whole life,’ she said, and Richard could how tense Lucy was. She was like a spring that had been wound up so tightly that it could suddenly snap. Or explode.

  ‘What’s more,’ she continued, ‘I think it’s our duty to sell. My family has been a blight on this island since the first day we arrived here. Our wealth was created using slaves as a work force. It’s shameful. The least we can do is sell the plantation, leave the island, and make sure that all traces of the Beaumont family are finally wiped out from Saint-Marie.’

  ‘You really think that?’ Camille asked.

  Lucy looked squarely at Camille as she answered.

  ‘I do.’

  Camille didn’t quite know what to say to that, but she was spared from answering by Dwayne.

  ‘Okay, Chief, you need to see this safe.’

  ‘I don’t think I do,’ Richard said smugly.

  ‘But I think you do.’

  ‘I don’t, Dwayne, because I imagine you’re about to tell me that you can’t find a single fingerprint on any of the keys on the keypad.’

  Dwayne was amazed. ‘How did you know that?’

  ‘Because it’s like I said. Anyone can break into a keypad safe.’

  ‘But I don’t understand,’ Lucy said. ‘I opened the safe only the other day. My fingerprints should be all over the keypad.’

  ‘Ah, and that’s what makes breaking into one of these safes so very easy,’ Richard said. ‘You see, simple logic says that to get into a keypad safe, all you need to do is wipe the keypad clean of fingerprints when the owner’s not about. You then wait until the owner next opens the safe, and then all you have to do is sneak up to the safe afterwards and use some graphite powder and a brush to reveal the numbers on the keypad that the owner pressed to open it up. Because only four digits will have fingerprints on them. The four digits of the code that were used to open the safe. And in one fell swoop you’ve reduced the number of possible combinations you’d need to break into the safe from ten thousand – which is all of the different ways you can combine ten digits – down to a mere twenty-four, which is the maximum number of ways you can combine four numbers. And I reckon it would take about two or three minutes to try out the twenty-four possible combinations.’

  Dwayne turned to Camille.

  ‘Did you understand any of that?’

  ‘I think so,’ she said, before turning to her boss.

  ‘Are you saying that you think someone’s recently broken into Lucy’s safe?’

  ‘I think that’s exactly what I’m saying.’

  ‘So why aren’t there any fingerprints on it now?’

  ‘Because, after you’ve broken into a safe, it would be only natural to wipe the whole thing clean afterwards. To get rid of the graphite powder that you’d previously used to reveal the owner’s fingerprints on the keypad.’

  ‘I think you could be right, Chief,’ Dwayne said. ‘I think the keypad was wiped clean afterwards with a blue cloth.’

  ‘You do?’ Richard said eagerly, heading over to Dwayne.

  ‘I do. There’s a tiny thread of blue cloth snagged on the safe’s hinge just here, si
r.’

  Dwayne handed a magnifying glass to his boss. Richard bent down to inspect the hinge of the safe, and he was gratified to see that Dwayne was right. There was a thin strand of bright blue thread – only half a centimetre long, and barely observable to the naked eye – caught in the hinge of the safe. It had very possibly got trapped there when the person who’d broken into the safe had tried to clean up afterwards.

  Using a pair of tweezers, Dwayne picked the thread up and deposited it inside a clear cellophane evidence bag.

  ‘Good work, Dwayne. Maybe we’ll be able to identify the cloth that the piece of thread came from.’

  ‘Thanks, Chief,’ Dwayne said, beaming at the compliment.

  ‘Now, Lucy, could you tell us the combination of the safe?’

  Lucy told Richard her four-digit code, and he borrowed the tweezers from Dwayne so he could press the numbers on the keypad without leaving any of his fingerprints behind. An LED light just above the keypad lit up green as the electronic lock inside the safe pulled back. Richard then very carefully opened the door, and he, Dwayne, Camille and Lucy looked inside. There was a hundred or so dollars in cash, Lucy’s passport, and a few other personal documents.

  There was no handgun.

  ‘It’s not there,’ Lucy said in sudden shock. ‘The gun… it’s gone! Someone’s taken my gun!’

  Lucy’s reaction was so melodramatic that all three Police officers separately wondered if maybe she was protesting too much.

  ‘And you’re sure it was in the safe?’

  ‘Of course it was! I’ve had a Glock 19 and a box of bullets in there for years.’ A thought suddenly occurred to Lucy, and she said, ‘Yes, what about the box of bullets? Is that still there?’

  Richard looked through the safe to see if he could find a box of bullets. He couldn’t, but he soon realised that the gun and the bullets weren’t the only things that were missing.

  ‘There aren’t any bullets in here – boxed or otherwise – but I also don’t think I can see the document that Tom asked you to put in here, either.’