The Evil That Men Do.(Inspector Faro Mystery No.11)

by Knight, Alanna

  ‘And so, again, I agreed. Cedric wanted to go to a grander place, but Theo wisely dissuaded him. So we went to the same hotel, a quiet unassuming place where we were unlikely to be recognised, or even remembered, especially when the chambermaid came in and saw us in bed together.’

  And Faro remembered Peter’s piece of gossip and had not the heart to tell her that indeed no one is safe anywhere from the hand of coincidence.

  She had closed her eyes tightly, seemed to have difficulty finding words. ‘It was as awful as before, perhaps even more so. And it must have been terrible for Theo and Maud too, although none of us has ever spoken of it. As for me, I told myself, it would never happen again. I had already decided that I would rather kill Cedric - or myself - first.

  ‘But I was safe from Cedric. Three weeks later he was dead.’ She looked at Faro. ‘You will already have deduced that I had an excellent motive, the very best, for poisoning my poor infatuated brother-in-law. But I didn’t, I swear it, although I might have been driven to it, had he not taken his own life.’

  ‘Or was poisoned,’ he reminded her.

  ‘Poisoned?’ Barbara’s laughter declared such an idea incredible, absurd. ‘Who on earth would want to poison Cedric? Except me. I was the only one who, God forgive me, hated him that much towards the end.’

  She shook her head. ‘But I didn’t do it. That I do swear. Although I expect they will blame me, since I did poison my dearest Theo, and all because of some silly family scandal that Cedric was holding over him.

  She was silent and Faro asked gently: ‘What kind of scandal could have been that important?’

  ‘What indeed? I don’t know the details. Only that Theo said: “If you don’t do as Cedric asks, he has promised to leave with old Moulton something that will destroy me. That will finish this family for good.” Those were his very words.’

  ‘You have no idea what this was?’

  She shrugged. ‘I got the impression it was some kind of document relating to Priorsfield. But when I asked him to tell me, he just shook his head. “It’s better you never know, my dear. This house was built on blood and now it’s taking its revenge on us all. Cedric is dying. He has nothing to lose. But I have everything - everything.” ’

  She looked at Faro. ‘I haven’t anything more to tell you, Inspector. Are you going to arrest me? Am I to come with you now - right away? If so, may I gather some of my things—’ And sadly, ‘I don’t suppose I will ever be coming back here, will I?’

  As she stood up to leave, Faro took her arm. ‘One moment. Tell me first, why? Why did you poison Theo? And most of all, why did you also attempt to poison Adrian, Adrian who has never harmed you?’

  She laughed, shook her head. ‘You still don’t understand, do you? It was an accident. The poison wasn’t intended for either of them.’

  Pausing a moment, she added: ‘Cedric left that bottle of liqueur with Theo the week before he died. “For Barbara on her birthday.” Theo told me it was from a special batch but would need to be brought to room temperature if it was to be drinkable at the party.

  ‘I opened the card in the sealed envelope. It said: “This is for you, my darling, in case I cannot be with you tonight. This will bring us together for always.” Theo said it was a typical sentimental gesture by Cedric. But he seemed quite put out. We both were. It brought back memories we wanted to forget, blot out for ever.’

  ‘Have you the note?’

  ‘No. I burnt it.’

  ‘Did anyone else see it?’

  ‘Maud I think - I can’t remember.’

  ‘But you remembered the words.’

  ‘I feel that I shall never forget them to my dying day. I see now what Cedric intended. On that last terrible night we shared together, he said: “If only I could take you with me when I go. I swear I will never rest in my grave until you lie at my side.” ’

  At Faro’s horrified expression she nodded slowly. ‘Yes, Inspector. The poisoned bottle was meant for me.’

  Chapter Fifteen

  ‘Are we not taking her in?’ asked McQuinn as Faro came downstairs alone.

  Faro shook his head. ‘I think not. The evidence is incomplete at present. Points to accidental poisoning.’

  McQuinn whistled. ‘You mean, she wasn’t sleeping with her brother-in-law?’

  ‘What makes you say that?’ Faro demanded sharply.

  McQuinn grinned. ‘Plain as the nose on your face, Inspector. Surprised you weren’t on to that straight away. Perfect reason for poisoning a persistent lover. When the murder enquiry looks like revealing all, she has to get rid of jealous husband who threatens to cut her out of the will. So he goes too.’

  ‘You make it sound very simple.’

  ‘You know and I know, sir, that most murders are.’

  ‘What about Moulton, then?’ Faro asked as McQuinn followed him out of the library and into the hall. ‘Was that an accident?’

  ‘We have no real evidence of murder.’ As McQuinn spoke the front door opened and Theodore’s two Labradors rushed in, closely followed by Barbara’s maid. Calling them to heel, she hurried upstairs, leaving a trail of muddy footprints across the polished floor.

  Faro watched her go.

  ‘What is it, sir?’

  Faro shrugged. ‘Perhaps you’re right, McQuinn.’ He pointed to the trail of muddy footprints across the floor.

  ‘On the night of Moulton’s death, we were very preoccupied by the seeming evidence that someone went out and that someone could have tampered with the wheelpin. Of course, someone was outside - probably Theodore himself - and let the dogs out in the rain. As he did every night before retiring, an event so normal that he never considered it worth mentioning - if he even remembered it.’

  As they walked down the front steps, McQuinn looked up at the windows. ‘Are you sure we shouldn’t be leaving a constable to keep an eye on things?’

  ‘Very well. One of the lads in the carriage. Get him to stay.’ As McQuinn opened the door for him, ‘No, you take it. I’m walking back to Newington. Have some papers to collect from the house.’

  ‘Sure, sir?’

  ‘Yes. I need some fresh air.’

  Considering that it was raining steadily, McQuinn’s amazement was understandable.

  In Sheridan Place, Faro went to his study, sat at his desk and stared at the Langweil papers. He wished the outcome had surprised him instead of merely confirming his worst fears.

  There were still a few gaps but perhaps his meeting with Maud Langweil might throw some sense into his lost logic.

  ‘Maud will confirm what I have told you,’ had been Barbara’s last words to him. Their painful interview over, he remembered how Maud had emerged from the adjoining room and had taken Barbara into her arms.

  Looking across at Faro, she said quietly: ‘We must talk. If you would care to call on me this evening...’ Her frowning glance, a finger to her lips, indicated that Barbara was not to be further distressed.

  Perhaps he was a fool, as his sergeant obviously thought, leaving a self-confessed murderess at large. Not only a fool, but a besotted one, putting all his faith into Maud Langweil’s revelations, hoping they might bring about the miracle that would free her sister-in-law from guilt.

  Faro presented himself at Charlotte Square at six o’clock, in time to see Stephen Aynsley and Grace leaving the house. Stephen still wore that dazed expression of bemused love. As for Grace, she looked even more scared and bewildered than ever. It seemed that without Stephen’s strong arm about her she might have collapsed. With a whisper of comfort, he helped her into the carriage, tucking the rug about her.

  ‘I presume you are not needing us, sir,’ he said to Faro.

  ‘Not on this occasion,’ said Faro with a hard look in Grace’s direction.

  She smiled at him wistfully. ‘Tell Vince we expect him later this evening.’

  Thoughtfully Faro watched the carriage depart. Of course, Grace loved Vince, his worries were nonsense. Possibly this was a situation she w
as used to dealing with, a bonny young lass who must attract many suitors.

  And at that moment he had more pressing concerns.

  Maud received him in the drawing room, her brisk manner indicating she was not to waste time on any preliminaries.

  ‘You have my word that Barbara is innocent of Theo’s - death. I read my late husband’s note before she burnt it. What she told you is the honest truth. Do I surprise you, Mr Faro, that knowing about my husband and Barbara, I did not hate her? Nor him?’

  She sighed. ‘Barbara knew how much I loved him. And love him still.’

  ‘You may find that hard to understand. That a wife can remain in love with a husband who betrays her. You see, I realised that Barbara was only an obsession with him. I could forgive him that. As some men want power, Cedric worshipped beauty. He wanted Barbara for that alone. Not as a wife, not as a life partner. He wanted a goddess. Perhaps you understand that as a man.’

  And Faro, who had taken a hearty dislike to Cedric Langweil since Barbara’s revelations, was now guiltily aware that they had much in common.

  Maud spread her hands wide. ‘Compare the two of us. Any man who wanted to possess beauty would have chosen my sister-in-law.’

  About to protest sternly that there were more important facets of womanhood than mere beauty, Faro saw himself in the role of hypocrite. Offered a straight choice between the women he would have been less than Cedric, for he would not have given Maud a second glance.

  ‘Cedric thought he loved Barbara,’ Maud continued, ‘and she destroyed him. Oh, she did not administer the fatal dose, if that is what you are thinking. She was innocent of that. It is as we in the family who knew have always told you, Mr Faro: Cedric died by his own hand, the victim of his lust for her.’

  ‘Have you proof of this?’

  ‘Oh indeed, I have,’ she said sadly.

  From her reticule, she took a small packet and handed it to Faro. It contained white powder.

  ‘This was Cedric’s so-called indigestion powder. Take it, have it analysed. I have already done so. Adrian will tell you it is arsenic.’

  ‘Surely you are mistaken. Adrian gave Cedric a prescription for indigestion.’

  ‘Which he did not need and did not take.’ She smiled and shook her head. ‘An elaborate farce, Mr Faro, to create the illusion in case any of us had suspicions. But allow me to take you back to the beginning. Last summer there were hints that Barbara and Theo were at last going to be parents. We were all jubilant, all except Cedric. I shall never forget his reactions. He was like a madman, mad with rage. If Barbara had been his wife who had betrayed him with another man, he could not have been angrier.

  ‘I knew then that his feelings for Barbara, which we had all accepted and teased him about all those years, were no longer innocent adoration and admiration of a young and lovely sister-in-law.

  ‘Alas for all, the baby came to naught. We were all devastated. Except Cedric. He was jubilant, he almost crowed with delight. When I said to him reproachfully that having once conceived, it was possible another time - he gave me the oddest look: “Don’t set your hopes on it. It won’t happen again. I shall see to that.”

  ‘ “What can you do about it?” I said. “After all, Barbara is your brother’s wife.” And I am afraid I lost my temper and added for good measure some reproachful words about it being time he put aside this silly infatuation that had gone on long enough.

  ‘ “Infatuation is it?” he said. “Perhaps you are right. Yes, it has gone on long enough. I see that.”

  ‘I was pleased, for it seemed that the first time I had been brave enough to speak up and show my anger had made him see sense. I wished now I had done so earlier, but I was always afraid that by doing so I might lose him.’

  She sighed. ‘I was never in any doubt about why he had married me. The Langweils needed my fortune at that time. But I loved him. He was all I had. And I told myself after Grace was born and the years passed happily enough, without too many enquiries on my part, that he did love me a little.’

  She smiled and added sadly, ‘In the same way as he loved his pet dog or the cat. After my outburst, I was congratulating myself that our visits to Priorsfield were less frequent and when we were there he seemed less obsessed with Barbara. He treated her in an altogether more casual manner - oh, there were many small incidents that made me certain he had got over Barbara.

  ‘And then he began suffering from stomach pains. He said it was indigestion at first. He was so ill that I panicked, called Adrian, who was very consoling, and said it must have been something he had eaten for lunch at the club.

  A little while afterwards he began to complain of increasing attacks of indigestion, and one night, when we were in bed, I saw him get up and remove something from the top shelf of the wardrobe.

  ‘ “What is that you are taking, dear?” I said. He looked round at me, so startled: “I thought you were asleep. This? For my indigestion, Adrian gave it to me. I am supposed to take a pinch every night in a glass of warm milk.”

  ‘I said, why didn’t he keep it in a more accessible place, such as his dressing room. He got quite upset and said it was to stay up there out of reach of Grace, or me.

  ‘I was amused by all these precautions and said we could always reach it by standing on a stool. He got frantic then and sat on the bed, said I was to promise, my solemn word, that neither of us would take any of Adrian’s powder unless we spoke to him first. When I asked why, what was in it, he said it had been specially prepared for his condition and might do us harm, might make us very ill. .

  ‘As neither Grace nor I suffered from indigestion, I thought that very unlikely. I dismissed the whole incident from my mind for I soon had more important things to worry about.’

  She sighed. ‘It was about that time - one evening at Priorsfield - he told us that he had been attending a consultant and had learned that he was dying of a brain tumour.’

  She paused, her eyes suddenly tear-filled. ‘You know the rest, Mr Faro, for it is as Barbara told you.’ Then in sudden embarrassment, ‘You know, the weekends when he was allowed access to her.’

  ‘What about the powder?’

  ‘After Cedric died, I found it locked in a desk drawer in his study.’

  ‘Wait a minute, Mrs Langweil, are you telling me that all the while he was supposed to be ill, he was in fact slowly poisoning himself?’ asked Faro.

  ‘That is correct. It wasn’t until after he died that we - the family - guessed the dreadful truth. That he was never ill, never went to see a doctor. And we realised that he had been taking just enough arsenic to simulate grave illness. He knew about such things, for Adrian once told us it was rumoured that Napoleon took a pinch of arsenic every day to avoid being poisoned. And heaven knows, there is always a plentiful supply in Priorsfield to keep the rats under control.

  ‘Unfortunately, what my poor husband did not realise is that it was possible to take an overdose, for arsenic apparently accumulates in the system.’

  And Faro, who thought he knew all about poisons from Vince, realised that had he not been led astray by this bizarre motive he too would have guessed the probable cause of Cedric’s death.

  ‘I had not the least idea what really happened. Like the rest of the family, I accepted his story that the side effects of his illness were these stomach upsets, which might worsen but could be held in check by Adrian’s prescription.’

  Again she paused. ‘There was one incident that I see clearly now, but at the time I made nothing of its significance. One night he had been drinking rather heavily at dinner and had fallen asleep without finishing his glass of milk. I had toothache and as it was very late and I did not want to disturb the maids - they are up at six each morning - I went down to the kitchen to make myself a cup of tea and find some tincture of cloves. I’m a tidy person so I took Cedric’s glass of milk downstairs and left it in the kitchen sink.

  ‘Next day, Grace came to me in floods of tears. The maids had found her new kitten
dead in its basket. I went downstairs to see what it was all about.

  ‘ “Something it ate,” said Mrs Bates. “You know what cats are like. It gets nothing but good food here,” she told me, “and milk too. When I came down this morning I gave it that half glass Mr Cedric had left. I don’t like wasting food.”

  ‘I didn’t want to distress Grace further by telling her that I had inadvertently poisoned her pet. And I had an uneasy feeling then there must be something very strong in Adrian’s indigestion mixture to kill the poor creature, but when I asked him, he laughed. “Pure bicarbonate of soda, mostly.” So I told myself that the kitten’s death had been coincidence, something it had picked up in the garden.’

  Faro felt he had to tell someone, and called in at Vince’s surgery in the hope that he might still be there. He found him newly returned from a confinement and about to return home.

  As they walked towards Sheridan Place, Faro related the new developments: Barbara’s story and Maud’s evidence.

  ‘Cedric wanted Barbara so desperately, he pretended to be dying as a last resort to sleep with her. He simulated illness by taking small doses of arsenic—’

  ‘And he overdid it, of course,’ Vince interrupted. ‘He wasn’t to know that it accumulates in one’s system.’

  ‘He killed himself and tried to take Barbara with him by poisoning the liqueur. And when his plan misfired, he almost succeeded in killing off his entire family. The Borgias couldn’t have done better,’ Faro added grimly.

  Vince nodded. ‘We should have believed them when they insisted that Cedric took his own life. They knew so much more about it than we did. He must have been quite mad, you know. Poor Grace,’ he continued with a sigh. ‘I don’t know how she will take this.’

  ‘I imagine the family will let her continue to accept that he believed he was dying.’

  ‘That would be the best way. Certainly it will be my secret. She shall never hear the truth from me.’