Murder at Downton (The Ralph Chalmers Mysteries Book 6)

by P. J. Thurbin

  “Look, I know it’s a bit late, but I have the photos of the two amulets up in my room. If you’d like a night-cap, I’ll go and fetch them.”

  “Sorry, Ralph, I’d really like to see them, but I’ve some packing to do and I wanted to get an early night. Any chance you could show them to me at breakfast? I’m afraid I just can’t take these late nights like I used to,” he laughed. Ralph agreed that it was a bit late and they agreed to meet up at breakfast.

  Ralph awoke to the feeling that he was not alone. He lay still in the dark and tried to work out if there really was an intruder or if it was only a dream. If someone was in the room he wanted to know exactly where before he let on that he was awake. Ralph recognized the sound of a drawer opening and decided to take his chance. He sprang up and collided with someone whose eyes had obviously adjusted to the dark better than his. The last thing he remembered was a blow to his face that felt a lot harder than a fist.

  The next time he woke up the morning light streamed through a gap in the curtains. He was lying on the carpeted floor. He smelled the aroma of coffee and heard the clunk of closing doors as other guests made their way down to breakfast. Propping himself up on one elbow, he saw that his brief case was lying open on the floor a few feet away and the contents, including the photos, were gone.

  Ralph called reception and told them that his room had been burgled and to call the police. Within seconds the hotel manager was at the door full of apologies and with assurances that the police were on their way. The police arrived as Ralph emerged from the bathroom. He had cleaned himself up and put a plaster where he knew a few stiches would probably be needed. But for now he just wanted some coffee. The police constable they sent was polite, but he had obviously had little experience of this sort of incident. Having ascertained that Ralph was not badly injured and that he had not been involved in a fight with a roommate or partner, the constable advised Ralph that he wanted to check the room over. He carried out a cursory inspection, scribbled a few notes and left.

  Ralph thought back over the attack. The only unusual thing he could remember was the smell of incense. No, not incense, he corrected himself. It was more like sandalwood. He recalled that Omar Naser used an aftershave or some other toiletry with that same smell. He recalled that when he had mentioned it to Katie and she had joked that Omar might not last too long in an Aussie bar smelling like that.

  Ralph stopped by the desk and asked the manager if Omar was at breakfast. He was not surprised when the clerk told him that Mr. Naser had already left. He told Ralph that he had settled his account the previous evening because he planned to leave early that morning.

  Ralph phoned the police again. This time he was put through to Inspector Roberts. On hearing what had happened and Ralph’s suspicions about Omar Naser, the Inspector said he would come over right away. Ralph went into the dining room to have his coffee while he waited for the Inspector to arrive.

  ***

  Ralph went back over the details of the previous evening as well as his recollections from the time the intruder broke into his room. He told the Inspector about the smell of the sandalwood and how he recalled that Omar Naser wore a similar scent.

  “We’ve had our eye on Mr. Naser for some time now, Professor Chalmers. I’m just sorry that you had to get in his way, sir. We know he travels on several false passports and he’s wanted by Interpol in connection with a number of international criminal activities.”

  “If they know all of this, why haven’t they arrested him?” Ralph wanted to know.

  “They know that he works for a big business group based in Cairo. He travels around Europe buying up antiques and treasures that have been stolen by criminal gangs, particularly the Chechen mafia, but he’s a pretty slippery character and so far he has eluded us. We have alerts out at airports and ferry crossings to Ireland and Europe, but he has wealthy backers. Money talks, as they say. So far we just haven’t been able to catch up with him.”

  “I’m fairly sure that he’s somehow involved in the theft of the amulet from Highclere, and possibly the one that Liam Wilkes was wearing when he was killed,” Ralph said. “With what you’ve just told me, now I’m more certain than ever.”

  “We don’t know anything about a connection between Mr. Naser and a stolen pendant. When you’re feeling a bit better, sir, perhaps you could come over to the station and tell us what you’ve found out?” Ralph knew that it was not a question. He would have to share his suspicions about Liam’s murder and why he thought someone had killed him.

  ___________________

  Chapter 8

  Inspector Roberts listened closely to Ralph’s theories concerning Liam’s death.

  “Some interesting ideas Professor Chalmers and we appreciate you sharing them with us. We’re not ruling anything out at the moment. Omar Naser is certainly high on our list of suspects for the break-in to your room. When we get hold of him he’ll have some questions to answer. My constable found several fingerprints on your briefcase and in other parts of your room. We’ll need to take yours while you’re here so we can eliminate them from any that were found. Even if we aren’t able to make any other charges stick, that should be enough for a conviction on the robbery of your effects, and of course for the assault. By the way, how is the head?”

  “Fine thank you, Inspector. I expect my head is a bit too hard to worry about a little bump like that.” The truth was that Ralph’s head was still tender where whatever object his assailant had used had struck him, and had the granddaddy of all headaches.

  “Do you have any other suspects for the attack on Liam?” Ralph asked. Naturally he hoped that Omar would pay the price for the assault and the theft, but it was nothing compared to what he was convinced was cold blooded murder.

  “We checked out Ethan Detchner. He’s the American who was not with the rest of the group that day. But he has an alibi for that period. We’ve contacted the taxi firm at Newbury that brought him back to the hotel and they confirmed the times he was traveling between town and the hotel. He also had a shopping receipt that showed the date and time he made his purchases, so he was nowhere near Burghclere.”

  “What about Justin Edington. He must have been one of the last people to see Liam alive.”

  “According to Silas, Justin left the Carpenter’s before Mr. Wilkes and two of his lads confirmed that he was working with them at the farm all afternoon.”

  “It sounds like that’s two people crossed off the list, Inspector. “Did you check out Anton Meckler?”

  “I’m afraid that Mr. Meckler’s in Reading General Hospital. He was admitted early on the morning of the day Mr.Wilkes died. He’s pretty ill by all accounts. They’re not even sure he’s going to make it.”

  “Poor sod,” Ralph said. “He didn’t seem like a bad sort. I do remember he had a pretty nasty looking eye last time I saw him.” Ralph remembered that Katie had advised Meckler not to mix alcohol with the antibiotics he was on when they saw him at the Carpenter’s Arms. He realized that the Inspector wasn’t finished and turned his attention back to what he was saying.

  “Barry Marston was on the set filming all that day at Highclere Castle and Silas Archer’s staff confirmed that they had been short-handed that day, so he stayed late to help them clear up after the lunch crowd and get the place ready for the evening. And that just about takes care of the obvious suspects. Of course we may not be aware of everyone who may have had a reason to attack your friend.”

  Ralph did not say anything. In a way he supposed that Liam was a friend of sorts, although he had only known him for a few days.

  “By the way, sir, you didn’t happen to meet anyone when you were on your cross country walk between the Carpenter’s and the Vineyard Hotel?” Ralph was stunned.

  “Are you saying that I’m a suspect in your enquiries? I had only known Liam for a short while, but I still considered him a friend. And besides, what possible motive would I have?”

  “Sorry, Professor Chalmers, but this is a p
ossible murder enquiry and I’m just doing my job. But, if I understand correctly, you saw no one who could vouch for you between the time you left the pub and the time you returned to the hotel?”

  “No. No one. As I told you before, I must have covered about 10 miles. I took a circular route and went through the grounds of Highclere Castle. Wait a minute. I did stop to talk to one of the ground’s people at the Castle. A Fred Walmsley. Yes that’s it.”

  “We’ll check that out, sir. Thank you.”

  Ralph was trying not to over-react. Of course Inspector Roberts was right. He had to look at everyone connected with the victim, and Ralph had been one of the last people to see Liam alive. But it didn’t make him feel any better. Then he remembered something the Inspector had said about Liam.

  “Inspector. When I identified the body you thought he had died of a heart attack. I still think he was murdered for that damned amulet.”

  “Well, sir, we made a statement to the press this morning, so you’ll read about it soon enough in any event. The toxicology report confirmed that he may have been poisoned.”

  “But that’s not possible,” Ralph said. “His body was found miles away from the restaurant. What did the report say, anyhow?”

  “It said that he had traces of hemlock in his system.”

  “How could that be if he was found in the woods? Are you saying that he ran into someone out in the woods who made him drink hemlock or injected him with it?”

  “You’re obviously not a country man, sir. Hemlock grows wild in the woods around here. Conium Maculatum. You’ll see loads of it growing on the sides of ditches where it’s damp. Mr. Wilkes could easily have picked some of the thick stems and chewed on them. The hospitals get the odd case of it every year. You know, city kids out for a day in the country. They start having a pea shoot fight with their friends and collapse. I’m told that it has a most peculiar effect on the body. It starts with the feet and legs. First they go numb. That causes the victim to fall down. Then the numbness spreads up to the waist and arms and they can’t get up. Eventually it attacks the lungs. It’s easy to mistake it for an asthma attack.

  “If it just grows wild in the countryside, what about the livestock? Isn’t it toxic to them as well?”

  “It is. Sometimes the cattle chew on the flowers of the plant, but as they’re so much bigger than humans, it doesn’t kill them. Most of the time they just lie down and have a bit of a sleep and then get up and carry on.“

  “So can I assume that ‘m not actually being accused of handing the poisonous reeds to Mr. Wilkes?” said Ralph realizing that it sounded a bit churlish.

  “No, not really, sir. We think that someone must have come across Mr. Wilkes when he was lying there unconscious and taken the pendant off of him then. Once they took the pendant they simply left him lying there like that without seeking help or alerting anyone. And of course we all know that as a consequence, Mr. Wilkes died.”

  Inspector Roberts had been at least somewhat relieved when the toxicology report came back. His worst nightmare would have been to have Wilkes murdered by the escaped prisoner. At least he felt he could safely eliminate him as a suspect.in connection with Mr. Wilkes’ death. He thought that he could safely assume that the cause was accidental ingestion of the poisonous plant.

  Ralph was not convinced. Liam had been neither stupid nor careless. It seemed bizarre that someone that intelligent would pick up some piece of reed out in the woods and chew on it until his legs went numb. There had to be a more sinister explanation.

  “I’ll need to get those prints before you go,” the Inspector said as he stood up to say good-bye. “And don’t hesitate to get in touch if anything new comes to light. But I think it’s more than likely a case of accidental poisoning.”

  Ralph went along to the fingerprint lab where the technician took his prints. Inspector Roberts had asked him to let them know if he planned to leave the area, just as a matter of courtesy, and Ralph had to admit that it rankled a bit. He was not at all happy that he might still be a suspect, in spite of the Inspector’s assurances to the contrary. There was nothing more he could do there at the moment, so he went back to his hotel.

  ***

  A phone call to Katie did little to boost his morale.

  “Maybe the solution is to take an alibi along when you go for your runs in the woods,” she joked.

  “I don’t really find it that amusing that Inspector Roberts believes I could possibly have been involved in Liam’s death,” Ralph replied somewhat testily.

  “What you need is to get away to Devon for a few days and chill out a bit.”

  “Well, it isn’t likely to be this weekend. Especially as the Inspector has all but asked me to stick around here for the time being.”

  “But that hemlock theory is interesting,” said Katie. I read something about it not long ago in an article about the effects of the blitz during WW2.”

  “What has the blitz got to do with it?”

  “Oh, it was just saying that they found the same effect with victims of the blitz or even natural disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis. They called it by some medical term. Rhabdomyolysis or something like that. And don’t forget, it’s how Socrates met his Maker as well.”

  “Anyhow, this was Burghclere woods, not some disaster zone. And I don’t believe that the cause of Liam’s death was some sort of natural disaster. If my guess is right, it was something a bit more commonplace, like greed.”

  “You’re such a wet blanket, Ralph. It would be much more exciting if it was some vengeful god that struck him down.”

  They chatted on and Katie said she was coming down to bail him out if necessary. “I get in to Reading at eleven,” she said. “And try not to get yourself locked up before I get there.” He had to admit that she had lifted his spirits, in spite of her rather irreverent take on the entire affair.

  Ralph went out for a long walk around the grounds of the hotel. It seemed to clear his mind and he now thought he had over reacted to what the Inspector had said. He took a nice long shower and came down to dinner in the hotel dining room much more relaxed than he had been a few hours earlier. Ralph ordered spotted dick for desert. It always reminded him of the puddings he had enjoyed when he was at school, and resolved to walk an extra couple of miles the next day to compensate.

  When Ralph got back to his room he looked up Socrates on the internet and read about how he had been offered death by poisoning. Hemlock provided a slow death and the Inspector had been right when he described the stages. It seemed that the victims did not suffer very much.

  ***

  Katie’s train pulled in to Reading Station right on time.

  “Miss me?” She asked as she gave him a peck on the cheek.

  “How was the journey?” Ralph asked. Of course he had missed her, but he always felt awkward actually talking about that sort of thing. Fortunately Katie had got used to his diversionary tactics and didn’t make an issue of it.

  “So what’s up with all the murder and intrigue? I hope I haven’t missed any important developments,” she said as she tossed her little weekend bag on the back seat before she settled herself in the passenger seat and fastened the seatbelt.

  “I thought we’d stop by and get a bite of lunch at the Carpenter’s Arms,” Ralph said.

  “You’re not fooling anyone, Ralph Chalmers. If I know you, you want to sniff around and see if you can pick up any more clues about Liam’s murder.”

  “You’re always accusing me of things,” Ralph said. “Besides, I told you that the police are still treating Liam’s death as accidental.”

  Ralph found it infuriating that Katie seemed to know exactly what was going on in his head. He admitted that he wanted to talk to Silas Archer. He was eager to find out exactly what had happened after he had left Liam and Justin having their lunch at the Carpenter’s.

  Katie chatted about her night at the theater and her job hunt as they drove towards Burghclere. Obviously my head wound is history, he
murmured to himself.

  The pub was quiet. A couple sat and ate their lunch at one of the side booths and old Josh was sat at the other end of the bar with his pint. Silas seemed ill at ease when Ralph began to question him.

  “A sad business. One minute he was here at the bar talking and laughing and the next I heard was that he’d been found dead in the woods. I heard on the radio this morning that now they’re saying he died from hemlock poisoning. That’s happened around here before, but usually it’s kids playing around, putting the reeds in their mouth.”

  “Do you think a grown man like Liam would do something like that?” Ralph asked.

  “You don’t know, do you. He seemed like a nice enough bloke; wasn’t like some Americans who come in here and complain about the warm beer. Didn’t seem like the type to do something so stupid, but you never know.”

  “From what I gather, you must have been the last person to see him alive,” Ralph said.

  “I guess that’s right,” Silas agreed. “Except maybe Justin. They had lunch together, although now I think about it, your friend was still here when Justin left to go back to the farm. Had a party coming in or something like that.”

  “Did Liam appear upset about anything? Or act out of the ordinary?”

  “It’s hard to tell. I didn’t know the guy. But now I think of it, there was something. He asked for a glass of water and wanted some ice for it. He said it was too warm in here with the widows closed up. Well, as you can see, it’s still chilly, that’s why we have the fire going.”

  “Did he say anything about where he was going or ask directions to the station or anything?”

  “He had that map Justin gave him. But he did seem to want to chat. I had been thinking about what he said when he was in before. You know, how his Grandmother had worked at the Castle. Well I reckoned that she could have known my Grandfather. I told him how my Granddad had told my Dad that the Earl and that Carter bloke were worried that there was something to that thing about a curse on people who tampered with that Tutankhamun tomb. Mr. Wilkes said it was all a load of superstition. Seems he might have been wrong. Poor bloke.”