Ripples (The Blake Harte Mystery Book 3)

by Robert Innes

  “That should probably do it,” Blake said, shrugging. He came out from behind the mini bar and put the phone back to his ear. “Are you ready, Harrison?”

  “Yeah, just,” Harrison answered, down the phone, sounding out of breath.

  “Good,” Blake said, pulling the curtain back across. They all stared out of the window. There was Harrison’s silhouette, still waving.

  “What are we supposed to be looking at?” Nathan snapped. “It’s exactly the same view.”

  “You’d think so, wouldn’t you?” Blake replied. “Ok, Harrison,” he said into his phone. “Do your thing.”

  On Blake’s instruction, Harrison could be seen walking towards the lake, but instead of stopping at the water’s edge, just like the hooded figure had that night, Harrison began walking across the surface of the lake.

  “This is really weird,” Harrison said down the phone. “Even though I know what’s happening,”

  “Well?” Gresham exclaimed. “How is he doing that?”

  “If everyone would just like to step outside,” Blake answered, indicating the door. “I think everything should start to become a bit clearer.”

  Leading the way, Blake opened the door and led Gresham, Nathan and Sally outside, leaving the other three still sat in silence at the table. “Notice anything different?” Blake asked, once they were outside.

  Gresham looked around him in confusion and stared at the lake in front of him. “Wait a minute,” he gasped. “We’ve moved. This isn’t where we came in, it’s all different.”

  Blake looked across the lake to where Harrison was still standing on the surface of the water. “It’s interesting to read some of the interviews with magicians. A lot of the best tricks rely on the fact that the way they’re done is so opaque that the audience wouldn’t even consider it as a solution, and it’s exactly the same in this instance. What none of us ever thought to remember when we were staring out at the lake with Duncan’s body floating in it was the fact that the hut is in the centre of two lakes. And what you’re looking at now, is what we saw through the window on the night of the murder. We just didn’t realise that we were looking at a completely different lake to the one we thought we were.

  “I would never have worked it out. Not in a million years. Until I was in standing in Lionel Lomaxes workshop where he had a model railway of what this place used to look like when the steam trains were still in business. You see, Urquhart Manor is where the end of the line would have been. What was it Lionel said to us, Sally?”

  Sally was looking left to right between the two lakes like she was watching a tennis match. “That the steam engines would turn round and take the passengers back up the other way?”

  “Exactly,” Blake said. “Now, if we were talking about electric trains, the sort of thing that can run backwards and forwards all day without any problems, then the whole theory is defunct. But for steam trains, it’s different. It’s not safe for them to go long distances backwards so they need something to make them turn round so that they can go back the other way.” They all stared back at him, clueless. “A turntable,” finished Blake. “And if a turntable is capable of spinning around an entire steam engine on its own, a wooden hut with a few people inside is nothing. And a turntable is exactly what was at the end of the line on Lionel Lomax’s model, so it had to be somewhere. The fact that the Urquharts had left that semaphore signal sticking up out the ground for posterity’s sake meant that maybe there was something else, but this time, hidden from view. Right underneath the hut.”

  He indicated that they should follow him back into the hut. As he walked back inside, he indicated to Harrison that he should join them.

  “But how was it operated?” Sally asked, looking dumbfounded.

  “It’s all under this mini bar,” Blake replied, pushing it aside slightly so that they could all see. Secreted just underneath the minibar was a switch with buttons. “Press one button, and if you look out the window, we’re turning. It’s subtle, it’s smooth, if you didn’t know you were moving, which we didn’t, you’d have no idea whatsoever.”

  They all gazed out the window as the lake slowly came around and into view again. A few moments later, the door opened again and Harrison walked in, trying not to look anybody in the eye, apart from Blake who gave him a small grin to congratulate him on a job well done.

  “But how was he standing on the water?” Nathan asked, still looking as dazed and shell-shocked as he had since Davina’s confession.

  Blake glanced at Sally. “The steel panels from the workshop. I knew there was no feasible way for someone to do that without something to stand on, which is why it was the first thing I looked for that night. Of course, I was looking for my evidence in completely the wrong lake. Stick some poles in and you have a path to the centre of the lake where you’d set up the boat where ‘Duncan’ was sat. It’s still there, because since there’s been police buzzing around all the time since the murder, you haven’t had time to remove it. But why bother? After all, it’s not in the lake where the murder happened. Not hard to get hold of them from your father’s workshop, I’m presuming, Polly? When the rest of the Lomaxes were all out of the way.”

  Blake walked out from behind the mini bar and crossed his arms, watching Polly, Patricia, and Davina with a serious expression on his face. “So, now we know all that – it’s a lot easier to piece together exactly what we saw that night. Patricia, when did you kill Duncan?”

  “A couple of hours beforehand,” Patricia replied airily, staring out of the window, as if she was watching it all happen in front of her again. “I’d followed him into one of the bathrooms upstairs and done it then. Greed, that’s all this is based on, Mr Harte. And my son was full of it. He wanted this entire manor left to him when I died. Ironically, if he hadn’t had forced me to change my will, I probably would have left him most of it. The last thing he saw was his mother standing before him for the first time in years. That look of shock on his face when he realised what was happening – I expect that’ll stay with me. Anyway, the body was dragged down here. Once you were all inside this hut, everything was set.”

  Blake turned to Polly, indicating that it was her time to talk now. At first, she seemed reluctant, but then she seemed to give up fighting and just sighed. “It’s like you said, everything was carefully worked so that the timing was just right. Patricia played the hooded figure and then Davina played the Duncan you thought you were watching defend himself.”

  Davina looked at Nathan, regret and fear in her eyes. “Once I’d ran out of here when I said I’d call the police, I ran to where we’d got Duncan’s body. Polly turned the hut round and I had to push the boat and his body out into the lake. Once everything was in place, I ran ‘round to the other lake and got into position.” She shook her head in disbelief. “It was all so carefully planned. Patricia went through Duncan’s wardrobe after she’d killed him and got out a similar looking suit and cap to the one he was wearing, which was waiting in the second boat. All I had to do was put the suit and cap over what I was already wearing.”

  “And then you and Patricia just acted out the murder for us.” Blake continued. “She was in the hood, pretended to stab you and once you’d fallen in the water, apparently dead, we all tried to get out to help Duncan. But Polly had locked the door. In the time it took you to run across the hut, and unlock the door, with some brilliant fumbled hands acting to buy you some more time, the hut had turned back round again to face the right way and the whole trick was complete. As far as we were concerned, we’d just seen the figure stab Duncan to death, his body was lying in the water and the hooded figure had completely disappeared. And while we were fussing around on this side, Rupert pulling his body out of the lake, me looking in the water for platforms, the truth was just behind us.”

  Stunned silence enveloped the entire hut. After a few moments, Nathan turned to Davina, disgust etched across his face. “How could you? I dropped everything for you. Everything I knew, everything I thou
ght I was.”

  Blake tried to react as little as possible to what he was saying. He did not even feel in the slightest bit smug or pleased – if anything, he felt sorry for the man who had broken his heart. He had seen enough couples be ripped apart because of one or the other’s crimes and it was not something he would wish on anybody.

  “You’ve got to believe me, Nath,” Davina pleaded, attempting to take hold of his hand. “I did it all for us. The money Polly was offering me to help out could have wiped away our debts and left us with some to spare, and to make an actual difference to our lives!”

  Nathan wrenched his hand away from her and stood up, glaring down at her. “We’d have managed. You think we’re the first couple to have money issues? But instead you chose to get yourself involved with this insanity. How did I ever think…?” His voice faded away as he glanced at Blake who could not maintain eye contact with him for more than a few seconds. Without another word, Nathan flung the door to the hut open and stormed out into the night. Blake watched him leave and sighed.

  “Well. Inspector Gresham, Sally, I think you can probably deal with things from here?”

  Gresham cleared his throat. “Yeah, yeah I expect we can, Harte, I fully expect we can. Sergeant Matthews, would you mind calling for some assistance? I think we’ve got a lot to discuss with the three ladies here.”

  Blake looked around the hut. Davina was sobbing silently into her arms, clearly at a loss at how her life had gone so drastically wrong. Polly dropped heavily into the chair recently vacated by Nathan, and Patricia continued watching proceedings with a vague air of interest. It was as if she had fully accepted that this moment would eventually arrive and was just calmly waiting for the next step in proceedings.

  As Gresham began arresting the three of them and Sally spoke into her radio for assistance, Harrison took a step forwards and put his arm on Blake’s shoulder. “You can go after him you know. I understand.”

  “Why would I need to-“

  “Because the reason I fell in love with you in the first place was because you’re the most compassionate man I’ve ever met,” Harrison said firmly. “There’s things you want to say to him and you probably won’t get another chance. Plus I can see you’re upset. Go. It’s fine. I’ll go back to the room and start packing. I’m guessing we’re not going to be staying here another night?”

  Blake glanced around the hut again. “No, probably not.”

  Harrison smiled and, despite the situation, Blake felt a respect and adoration that he had not felt for a long time. “Come on then.”

  As it was, Nathan had not gone far. As Blake and Harrison walked back towards the mansion together, Blake saw him sitting underneath a tree, a little further down the path, with his head in his hands.

  Without a word, Harrison squeezed Blake’s hand and kissed him on the cheek, then set off back to the mansion on his own. Blake smiled at him then took a deep breath before slowly walking up behind his ex-boyfriend.

  Nathan had his back to him and did not even turn round, but as Blake got nearer he murmured, “Do you still smoke?”

  Blake pulled his ecig out of his pocket. “Not really. Now and again. I don’t have any on me though, sorry.”

  For the first time, Nathan turned to look up at him, his eyes red and puffy. It was the first time Blake had ever seen him look anything close to emotional. All the bravado and arrogance seemed to have completely deserted him. “I bet you’re loving this, aren’t you?”

  Blake took a long suck on his ecig and blew the vapour out thoughtfully, as he sat himself down besides Nathan. “No. Maybe I would have done once. There was a time I would have paid to see you anywhere near as heartbroken as you made me, but no. I feel sorry for you.”

  “You pity me, you mean.”

  “No, I feel sorry for you, that’s all. It’s a lot to come to terms with. You thought you knew her. But then again, I thought I knew you, so I guess it shows how much that matters in the long run.”

  Nathan didn’t reply. Blake filled the silence with another long suck on his ecig. “Is your money situation really that bad?”

  Nathan let out a short bitter laugh and nodded. “Yeah. I don’t think it’s anything that can’t be sorted out if I speak to the right people in the banks. There’s a solution to everything, right? That’s what you always used to say.”

  Blake nodded. “Yeah. There’ll be ways. A bit of hard graft and resilience, talk to your mum, she’ll help you out. She always used to. Or, failing that, you’re smart enough to work something out for yourself. That gift of the gab has got to be good for something, right?”

  Nathan pulled Blake’s ecig out of his hand and inhaled on it deeply. As he blew the vapour out, he stared out towards the lake where they had all been fooled, which was just visible through the hedges in front of them. “I take it you and your man are a thing now? I recognise that look in you. I saw it straight away when I first clapped eyes on you in reception the other day.”

  Blake glanced up at the mansion where Harrison was currently packing his bags to return to Harmschapel. “Yeah. Yeah we are.”

  Nathan took another hit on the ecig and passed it back to him. “He seems like a decent fella. A bit wet, but that’s probably just me. I hope you’re happy together.”

  Blake resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “He’s the most decent, kind hearted, genuine guy I’ve ever met.”

  Nathan nodded, a slight undertone of hurt betraying the look of calmness he was clearly trying to convey. “Good. My life has gone down the toilet, so I guess karma really is a thing, right?”

  This time, Blake was unable to prevent his eyes from rolling. “That’s so you. You’re not the worst off in this situation, you do realise that?”

  Nathan gazed at him bemused. “How do you work that out?”

  Blake shook his head in disbelief. “Rupert? He’s currently in custody in a police station for a crime he didn’t commit. And when he gets out, it’ll be to the realisation that his mother and wife are being jailed for murder. His brother is dead and God knows how long he’ll be able to keep hold of this place. There are people worse off than yourself, you know.”

  Nathan shrugged. “It’s not my life though, is it?”

  As Blake looked at the man he had once been head over heels in love with, he was surprised by how little he felt for him. Even when they had come face to face with each other again after so long, a mere two days ago, Blake had been left feeling conflicted and confused by how he felt, but now he knew it could not be clearer. Nathan was right, there was a definite element of pity.

  “I’ve got to ask you this, Nathan. I know the timing is crap, but if I don’t ask you now, I don’t think I’ll ever get the chance again.”

  “Timing never was your strong point, Blakey. It was the one imperfection about you.”

  Blake paused, then finally said, “Why did you do that to me? I thought we were happy. I honestly thought you and me were going to spend the rest of our lives together. Get engaged, marry, maybe even start a family. Then I come home one night and find you in bed with her. Why?”

  Nathan stared out towards the lake again. “I don’t know, Blake. Maybe things weren’t quite as perfect as you thought they were. I can’t explain it, my feelings just changed.”

  “There’s ways of dealing with that, Nathan. But you chose the coward’s way out. Just like Davina did, you chose the way that would cause the most hurt to everyone else, rather than having difficult conversations. You just did it. And that’s what hurt the most. But I guess I should thank you, really.”

  Nathan looked up at him as Blake stood up and put his ecig back in his pocket. “Thank me? Why?”

  “Because you made me run away and have to start all over again,” Blake replied. “And because of that, I met Harrison and the people that I work with now and I’m happier than I’ve ever been before. I just didn’t realise quite how happy I was till this moment. So I guess now there’s only one thing I need to say to you.”

&n
bsp; Again, the bravado in Nathan’s face had disappeared. He looked sad and alone and scared of what was to come in his life, just like Blake had done all those months ago.

  “And that’s goodbye, Nathan.” Blake finished. “Something I never got to say before. Goodbye. I genuinely hope you have a happy life.”

  They looked into each other’s eyes for a few moments, before the hut door opened and Patricia, Polly and Davina were led out by Sally and Gresham. Blake turned to look at his ex again, but Nathan was watching Davina being walked towards the blue flashing lights that had become visible in the distance. Without another word, Blake walked away, leaving Nathan standing silent and alone beneath the tall oak tree.

  An hour later, Blake pulled his case up from the ground and dropped it into the boot of his car. Harrison leant against the car, watching Blake as he slammed the door shut.

  “You alright?” he asked.

  Blake turned to him and smiled, before wrapping his arms around his boyfriend. “Yeah. I’m more than alright. I’m fantastic.”

  He pulled Harrison closer and kissed him, savouring every second.

  “I’d like to think I’m somewhat responsible for this,” came a voice from behind them.

  The two of them separated and Blake laughed. “And in what way would that be, Sally-Ann?”

  Sally cringed at the use of her full name and slapped Blake on the arm. “Because my drunken, messy behaviour that night in the pub meant that the longing you two have for each other got stronger, culminating in this romantic climax?”

  “Yeah, that’s you,” Blake replied, grinning. “All heart.” He pulled Sally in and hugged her tightly. “It’s been so good to see you.”

  “And you,” Sally said. “Let’s do it again soon, more gin and less murder next time though. That being said, it was great working with you again. We make an unstoppable team.”

  “We’ve got one more addition now,” Blake said, pulling Harrison in to join in with the hug. “An unstoppable trio, that’s us.”