No response from the housekeeper, but no denial either.
“Your son is in serious trouble, Annie, maybe more than you know. I just came from Brightlingsea.”
“He never meant to hurt the lass. I have nothing more to say. He’s my son and he’s all I have left.”
“I’m sorry, Annie, truly I am, but he’s broken numerous laws and I doubt he’ll ever leave prison again.”
Annie continued to look at him blankly, but her knotty hands shook and she placed them below the table.
“I fail to understand how you could assist your son in his intention to murder an old man and how you could condone his kidnapping of a schoolgirl and holding her prisoner. Her parents have been going out of their minds these past weeks. Did you not once give them a thought?”
“Danny took good care of the girl. He never meant her any harm.”
Rex grit his teeth. “So you keep saying. You betrayed Mrs. Wells’ trust, helped precipitate the judge’s death, and aided and abetted in the false imprisonment of a minor. I believe you also warned your son that I would be visiting Richard Pruitt at his flat, and that’s how he came to be there. You had seen correspondence from Pruitt to Judge Murgatroyd. Pruitt’s is a name your son would know very well, since he was charged in Dan’s stead for April Showers’ murder. Your son attempted to kill him to keep him quiet. Were you aware of that? And he attacked me and my friend Alistair!”
Rex stopped himself before he lost control of his temper. He pushed his tea away. “Ann McBride, I’m placing you under citizen’s arrest.”
Her expression remained impassive and she did not move a muscle in her chair. Rex made sure the door to the back garden was locked and he put the key in his pocket. He further ensured that the elderly woman could not escape by any other exit.
“Unlikely you’ll be spending another night under this roof,” he told her as he was leaving the kitchen to go back upstairs. “I suggest you pack up your things promptly.”
How long she had known her son was guilty of April Showers’ murder was something the police could ascertain. Thanks to Lindsay’s testimony, however, Dan Sutter could now be legitimately linked to that case.
“You’ll have to manage without Annie from now on,” he announced to Phoebe upon entering the living room.
“Did you get a confession?” Alistair asked from where he sat in an armchair, a tumbler of whisky in hand.
“She admitted to watching her son break into the house. I suggest we give young Constable Bryant’s career a boost. Phoebe, can you see if he’s on duty and have him come over? He can take Annie in as an accomplice in the housebreaking and in Lindsay’s imprisonment.”
While Phoebe telephoned the station, Rex helped himself to two thimblefuls of Glenlivet.
“PC Bryant is on his way,” she reported minutes later, sitting back down and folding her hands in her lap in an attitude of anticipation. “What else did Annie say?”
Rex stepped into the hall and listened out for any sounds from the basement. Satisfied Annie had not stirred from her quarters he returned to the living room.
“Not only did she stand guard by the gate, but she had taken care to unlock your father’s window before leaving for her night off. She says her son did not actually murder him. Seeing Dan Sutter by his bedside might have been enough to cause a heart attack.”
“Is that all she told you?”
“Aye, but we know she was with Lindsay Poulson while her son was in Edinburgh, and that he took your father’s watch and album, which Lindsay described. The stamp collection held nothing of real value, as originally supposed. It was just lying on your father’s desk, and he presumably took it as a memento, perhaps hoping it might fetch something.”
“Annie took an active part.” Phoebe sank back into the sofa cushions and shook her head in disbelief. Then she scowled. “That woman knew everything and played me along from the start!”
“From the moment she applied for the position of housekeeper, it seems, and inserted herself unobtrusively into your household. It can’t be a coincidence she ended up here. She and Sutter must have plotted revenge while he was still in prison.”
“But I go by Mrs. Wells. How would she have known I was Gordon Murgatroyd’s daughter or that he was living with me? Oh, wait a minute.” Phoebe made a grimace. “I said in the advertisement that the position would entail helping take care of a retired judge. I thought it would reassure applicants that they would be working in a respectable household.”
“Perhaps she saw the word ‘judge’ and made some enquiries.”
“She was at my father’s funeral! The hypocrisy of the woman!”
“She denies her son’s direct culpability in your father’s death, of course, but it’s highly probable he’s responsible for mugging your elderly neighbour in a case of mistaken identity.” Rex paced methodically between Phoebe and Alistair as he spoke.
“Annie told her son of my impending visit to Richard Pruitt’s flat. Remember our discussing that while she was serving us dinner, Phoebe? Sutter cut his throat before he could voice his suspicions to me regarding Sutter’s involvement in the April Showers murder. Then, after Annie heard from our telephone conversation that Richard was still alive, she planted a few red herrings in your father’s room to make it look like a woman had broken in.”
Phoebe’s face remained stony. “To think she was spying on me the whole time!”
“And frustrating your attempts to get to the bottom of your father’s death,” Alistair added.
“Indeed. What about Dad’s wig?” Phoebe asked Rex.
“We found one similar in Richard’s attic. Now that we know Sutter stole the stamp album and watch from here, it’s apparent he took the wig as well, and left it in the spot where Richard kept a shoebox containing information on him as a warning not to meddle. I’m just not sure when he put it there, since the police have not got back to me yet regarding what was on the CCTV tapes. Alistair said Sutter wasn’t carrying a box when he left the flat after his attack on Richard.”
“That’s right,” Alistair confirmed. “Possibly he came back to continue his search when Richard was in hospital and left the wig for you before taking off. A ‘pursue this investigation and you’ll be dead, too’ sort of thing.”
“Can we prove he was instrumental in my father’s death?”
“Perhaps a second opinion can be sought as to whether your father died of a heart attack or else was asphyxiated,” Rex said. “If such can be proved.” Though he sincerely hoped Phoebe would not have the judge’s grave disturbed.
“Scared to death or smothered by a pillow; either way, Sutter is responsible,” Phoebe declared. “At least now we can prove he was here.”
“Just think,” Alistair addressed Phoebe. “If you hadn’t opened up the investigation, Lindsay Poulson may never have been found. So your father’s death was by no means in vain.”
Phoebe looked thoughtful for a moment. “That’s very true,” she acknowledged.
Dan Sutter had a lot to answer for, Rex reflected with anger. The Showers had lost their own daughter forever. Adding to their misery, Stu had caught his hand in a machine at work while still reeling from his grief, and as a result had lost his job. The benefits he received were poor compensation for limited use of a hand. Rex hoped he would derive some peace in knowing the truth at last.
“After a good deal of thought, I’ve decided to put the house on the market,” Phoebe announced, interrupting his thoughts. “It’s not the same without Doug or Dad, and it’s time to downsize. I want to move back to Edinburgh and reconnect with old friends. And both of you, of course,” she said with a smile.
“I’ll host a welcome home party for you,” Alistair offered, raising his tumbler.
The doorbell rang at that moment.
“That’ll be Constable Bryant,” Phoebe said, getting up from the sofa.
“I cleared it with Smiley while you were downstairs talking to the felonious housekeeper,” Alistair informed him. “We don’t have to get back to the grindstone until Tuesday.”
“So Smiley’s not going to lecture us aboot taking the law into our own hands?”
“Well, he might have to smooth some ruffled feathers on our behalf, but he’s still giving us the day off.”
In that case, Rex thought happily, they could stop over in Derby on the way back to Edinburgh the following day and see Helen. He had something important to tell her.
Thirty-Nine
“The conquering heroes have returned!” Helen exclaimed, welcoming Rex and Alistair back into her home. “It’s all over the news. Lindsay Poulson safe and sound and reunited with her family! Tears of joy! And on the TV they showed footage of the helicopter flying low over Brightlingsea, searchlights blazing, and Sutter from the air evading arrest. It was riveting!”
She stopped when she saw the men’s blasé expressions. “Celebrity not to your liking?” she asked as she took their coats.
“Not so much,” Rex replied. “It seems reporters are turning up at our homes and besieging our place of work. They didn’t waste much time. Mother tells me Miss Bird is shooing them off the doorstep with her broom.”
“Your mother must be so proud of you, as am I. I suppose you could go about incognito but you’re a hard person to disguise.”
Alistair laughed. “Only Richard Pruitt is enjoying the attention now that Sutter’s been caught and is no longer a threat. He’s been vindicated.”
“Judge Murgatroyd saw that Richard might be innocent,” Rex said. “It’s almost as though he were still presiding.” All threads led back to the judge, Rex remembered from his dream. “Justice has ultimately been served.”
“Good old Judge M,” Alistair cheered. “The contrary old so-and-so!”
“But what about the poor girl?” Helen asked, leading them into the sitting room where a tea tray awaited. “She must have been in a terrible state when you found her.”
“She’d been well enough cared for, I think.” Rex sat beside his fiancée on the sofa. “She was frightened and tearful, but I don’t think it had all sunk in yet. I’m sure the floodgates fully opened when she was back in her family’s arms.”
“She’s a remarkable young girl,” Alistair added. “I’m convinced she had a lot to do with the fact she’s still alive. She instinctively knew not to antagonize her captor and to play along with his sister fantasy.”
“I don’t think he would ever have stopped acting out that fantasy for as long as he was a free man,” Helen opined.
While Alistair went off to make a phone call, Rex pulled her closer and took her hands in his.
“I’ve been meaning to say this for a while,” he began. “I want to spend more time with you.” Helen opened her mouth to speak, but he continued to say what had been in his heart and on his mind. “I’ve been considering chucking in my day job and working on private cases full time. It would entail a certain amount of travelling, and I’d still have to take care of Mother, but I could move here, if that’s what you want.”
Helen stared at him in surprise. “Rex, no. Absolutely not! I’ve been giving us some thought too. I’m ready to make the move. Things are changing at the school. It’s become more political and, well, perfectly petty! Especially compared to what you and Alistair have been through.”
“Are you sure? I know it’s asking a lot.”
“It’s what I want,” Helen assured him.
“To marry me and move to Edinburgh?” Rex asked, just to be sure.
“Yes, silly.”
Rex let out an elated breath. “We can take over the whole of my floor at the Morningside house and spend more time at Gleneagle Lodge. How does that sound?”
Helen smiled at him tenderly. “It sounds perfect.” She leaned in and placed her lips on his, sealing her words with a kiss.
About the Author
Born in Bloomington, Indiana, and now living in Southwest Florida, C. S. Challinor was raised and educated in Scotland and England, and holds a joint honors degree from the University of Kent, Canterbury, England, as well as a diploma in Russian from the Pushkin Institute in Moscow. She is a member of the Authors Guild, New York. Her author website is www.rexgraves.com.
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