Jake smiled at her, his eyes warm.
Alkmene continued, encouraged, ‘We’ll certainly try and clear Kramer’s name. We just learned the murder weapon was not the hammer everybody was talking about, but something else. Perhaps that can point us in the right direction.’
Ms Anderson squeezed Alkmene’s hand. ‘Thank you. If something happened to Heinrich, my boy would be so upset.’
Alkmene figured that the woman herself was not immune to Kramer’s charms and his steady influence in their lives, established during all those weekends he had spent here supposedly spying for Lady Eleanor. But Abby Anderson would never admit to that. She had not before, when she was so worried she might fall for the wrong man again. And she certainly would not now that Heinrich Kramer was standing in the shadow of the noose.
Having experienced too many losses already in her young life, she would not open her heart to new hurt again.
Alkmene smiled at her. ‘We’ll do everything we possibly can. Could you wait here a moment? Jake, fetch the innkeeper’s son. It’s about time Miles confessed to what he has been up to. We now have the ideal chance to convince him he must speak. He would not want an innocent man to be in prison.’
Ms Anderson was surprised but took the chair again, and Jake left the room to go downstairs on his errand.
Alkmene stood and focused on the task ahead. This might bring a solution closer.
Jake’s footfalls came back so quickly she was certain he had not found the boy, but the innkeeper’s son walked behind him, his face full of suspicion.
When Miles saw Ms Anderson, surprise flashed in his eyes. He had apparently not expected the pretty widow who occasionally helped out at the inn to be here in the room of one of the guests.
‘Hello, Miles. We’ve just heard,’ Alkmene said, ‘that Kramer, Duncan Woolsbury’s driver, has been arrested for murdering Reiner Goodman. Kramer has spent time around town and he has become a close friend to some people. It’s in their interest he is released again as soon as possible. I think you can help us achieve that.’
‘Me?’ Miles seemed to shrink.
Ms Anderson said, ‘Please, consider, Miles. Scotland Yard is here. They’re merciless. They’ll never let Heinrich go again unless we can prove he did not do it. You’ve had a chance to get to know Heinrich while he was staying here. He is a kind man. He has never done you any harm. He doesn’t deserve to be locked up now.’
‘What do you expect of me?’ Miles cried. ‘That I deliver myself into the hands of Scotland Yard? Never.’
He wanted to turn and run from the room, but Jake blocked the doorway.
The boy stared up at him in desperation. He made a half-hearted attempt to swing his fist at Jake, but there was no conviction behind the blow.
Jake could dodge it easily and remain firmly positioned in his only way out.
Jake said, ‘We’ll not tell the police anything of what you are going to tell us, unless we have to – to clear Kramer. But I think you can help us without getting involved. We have to know why you were meeting up with Goodman. Away from this inn, away from the village. Somewhere lonely and also under the cover of darkness.’
The boy’s eyes were frantic. ‘I never met him on the night he died.’
‘Maybe not,’ Jake affirmed, ‘but even so we need to know the reasons for the earlier meetings. You didn’t go that particular night, but somebody did go and killed Goodman. Now who knew about the meetings? Who was involved other than the two of you?’
Alkmene so hoped Miles would incriminate Peartree.
Or Page. Anybody other than Kramer and Duncan.
Miles wrung his hands. ‘There was nobody else. That’s just it. If I talk about it, they’ll think I did it.’
The boy’s face was red with exertion. ‘I won’t go to prison. I won’t.’
‘You need not be afraid of prison, if you have not done anything wrong.’
The boy gasped for breath. ‘I did not kill Goodman, honestly. But…’ He hung his head. ‘I did steal the gold bracelet.’
‘So there was one.’ Jake exchanged a quick look with Alkmene.
Her heart skipped a beat thinking Duncan had really been on to a legendary treasure.
Ms Anderson sat up on the chair, her face pale, eyes wide. ‘There really is a treasure on those lands? I never believed my father.’
Miles raised his arms in a desperate gesture. ‘I don’t know if the treasure is real or not. I don’t know if that bracelet was really old. I don’t even know if it was made of real gold. How could I know? I had never held anything like it before.’
He swallowed and continued, ‘All Goodman told me was that he wanted the excavation to end in total failure. He wanted me to make sure that…paperwork was destroyed, ditches got flooded and if anything valuable was found, it would vanish. I didn’t want to help him but he made me. He told me all these things about Woolsbury abusing my sister, having seduced her and wanting to make fun of her and… I got really mad and decided to steal the bracelet and give it to Goodman.’
Jake stared at him. ‘You gave it to him? But…’
He looked at Alkmene. ‘It never turned up. The police must have searched Goodman’s belongings after his sudden death. Why did they not find the bracelet among his things?’
He focused on Miles again and repeated, ‘You gave it to him? Goodman had it?’
‘Yes.’ Miles nodded emphatically. ‘I don’t know what he did with it after I gave it to him. He didn’t have time to take it to London. Maybe he sent it there in a parcel? I do not know. But it is odd like you say, for the police have been searching his things and they didn't find it. Aldridge was talking about the search when he had a beer here two nights ago. That the dead man’s things hadn't yielded any evidence that there had ever been a treasure. I was stunned when I overheard him saying that. I had so hoped the police would find it among his things. If the bracelet had turned up, everybody would have known I hadn’t stolen it, but Goodman had. Everything would have been solved.’
He hung his head, dejected that it hadn’t been so easy.
‘Interesting point,’ Jake said, glancing at Alkmene. ‘Why did the police not find it? Where is it now?’
Alkmene held the boy’s gaze. ‘You gave Goodman the bracelet. Where?’
‘Out in the fields, near a spot where I go birding. It’s close to the excavation site. Still, he had trouble finding it. He had asked someone local where it was exactly. He was very late. I gave the bracelet to him and he looked at it like he couldn’t believe it was real. Then he laughed and said it was just perfect. The perfect revenge. He refused to pay me for it. He said it wasn’t fair to earn money off crime. He was smirking at me and I said I’d never help him again. I ran off. He tried to come after me, but he couldn’t. The ground is uneven there and he stumbled and almost fell. I could hear him calling for me, cursing me as I ran. I was worried he’d do something to hurt me, but he couldn’t notify the police or anything, or his own scheme would have come out. Him wanting to sabotage the excavations.’
Alkmene nodded. ‘That makes perfect sense. And what happened on the night of the murder?’
Miles took a deep breath as if he had to conquer a mental barrier to talk about it. ‘Goodman wrote me a note that he wanted to meet me, in the same spot where we had met before. It was left in the stables. I have no idea how he knew I would be cleaning the horses’ bridles that day. But the note was there. I ignored it because I didn’t want any more trouble with him. I knew if my father ever got wind of what happened, he’d break all of my bones.’
Alkmene stared ahead with a frown. ‘How did Goodman know you’d find it and not somebody else?’
‘The bridles are my responsibility. Sarah won’t come near them. She says the wax used to keep them supple makes her fingernails ugly.’ He grimaced.
Alkmene frowned deeper. ‘Did Goodman know that? Had he ever been in those stables before?’
‘I don’t know. H
e did stay here at the inn. Maybe he saw me walk in and out while he watched from an upstairs window?’
‘Even so, he could not know about Sarah’s fingernails,’ Jake said looking at Alkmene. ‘Going in and putting the note in the right place is more of an action for a local. What if the note left for you didn’t come from Goodman at all? The killer sent you a note and one to Goodman, wanting you to meet up. He probably put a different time in each note so he could meet Goodman, kill him and leave the body for you to find. The meeting was set up in the same place where you had met before. You would not be able to deny that. The killer figured that the theft of the bracelet would come to light and you’d be accused of having killed Goodman to keep the loot for yourself.’
The boy swallowed hard. ‘I didn’t go there that night. After Goodman had laughed at me about the bracelet and refused to pay me for it, I was done with him, honestly. I have no idea who killed him.’
He hung his head again. ‘Will the theft become known? My father will have my hide for what I did.’
Alkmene shook her head. ‘You didn’t keep the bracelet.’ The mother had said her son would never steal for himself. She must have suspected something. She had to have been so afraid that her family would be torn apart.
Alkmene said, ‘If the bracelet ever turns up, the police will assume Goodman stole it from Duncan. No need to tell them that you did.’
Jake added, ‘But next time somebody feeds you lies about your sister, you’d better walk away and not get all worked up and do stupid things. Understood?’
Miles nodded, his tight expression relaxing. Jake stepped aside so the boy could get out of the door. ‘Go now.’
The boy rushed out. His footfalls banged down the steps in a rhythm of relief.
Alkmene looked at Jake and said energetically, ‘All right. So we now know for sure that Goodman was lured out to a meeting place that night. Miles said that the place where he had met Goodman before was close to the excavation site. That fits with the doctor’s conviction that the body had been moved. It was dragged or carried from the meeting place onto the site to point the finger at Duncan. The hammer, dipped in Goodman’s blood, was a further attempt to incriminate Duncan. The real murder weapon must have been carried off by the killer.’
Alkmene nodded. ‘Goodman was supposed to meet Miles and find out more incriminating things against Duncan. He probably never had any suspicion of a trap until it was too late.’
She drummed her fingers on her palm. ‘The police must have found a note about the meeting among Goodman’s things. Why did Aldridge not mention it? Why did he say explicitly that there was no clue among the dead man’s things?’
Jake shrugged. ‘Aldridge said there was no clue among the dead man’s things that there had ever been any treasure. Perhaps he didn’t think the note proved anything as to the treasure. And who knows, Goodman might have burned the note or disposed of it in another way before he left for the meeting. Perhaps the note required him to destroy it. If it was written to lure Miles to the scene at another time, the killer would have made sure Goodman destroyed his note so the police could never compare the two.’
‘Maybe.’ Alkmene rubbed her forehead. ‘But why use Duncan’s hammer, if it was set up to incriminate Miles? And there is also the gold bracelet to consider. What did Goodman do with it after Miles handed it over to him? Maybe it was in the dead man’s pockets? Were they ever searched on the spot? Or will the bracelet be at the morgue now? Did you ask?’
Jake shook his head. ‘Not specifically, but if the dead man’s pockets had yielded something so extraordinary, you’d think the police would have mentioned it to me of their own accord. You could, however, cross to the police station and ask.’
‘Last time I went to the police station to ask something it didn’t exactly go down well.’ Alkmene sighed. ‘But maybe I can meet Inspector Coones there and he might be open to some suggestions. I have a feeling he is pretty eager to see this case succeed.’
Jake scoffed. ‘He has his suspect. Kramer.’
Ms Anderson made an agonized sound.
Alkmene waved at her. ‘Don’t worry. I’ll find Inspector Coones right away and talk to him. He wanted my statement, right? Well, he can get my statement.’
And she marched to the door and out into the corridor.
Chapter Nineteen
Once inside the police station Alkmene’s bravado was sinking already. There was no trace of Inspector Coones or his youthful helper. Constable Aldridge, who had refused her access to Duncan a few days ago, was standing behind the desk, drinking coffee and leafing through a book.
A book that looked a lot like the volumes on local history she had spotted with Leonard Page.
‘Interested in local history?’ she asked.
He looked up, startled. ‘Oh, it’s you. Well, have to kill the time somehow, right?’ He snapped the volume shut and put it under the desk as if he was embarrassed to be caught with it. ‘How can I help you?’
‘Has Inspector Coones been here? The Scotland Yard man?’
‘Yes, but he left again. Wanted to get statements from all kinds of people. He’s after the driver now.’ The constable shook his head. ‘They change their tune every two minutes, those big-headed inspectors. But I don’t care whom he arrests as long as it’s not one of us.’
‘I was wondering: is the area easy to navigate for someone who doesn’t know it well? I mean, suppose I wanted to find a certain spot, what approach would I take?’
‘Ask a local, I suppose. Especially a hunting or birding man. They know the land like the back of their hands.’
A hunting man. Like himself. Had Goodman asked him for the spot where Miles had agreed on the meet? She could not ask it of course without giving away Miles’s involvement with the missing bracelet. Too bad.
Constable Aldridge asked, ‘You intend to take a little trip?’
‘No, it’s for my father. He collects plants and all, you know. He might want to come here and have a look.’
She didn’t say he was in India now, but continued cheerfully, ‘Mr Goodman, who died, was a bit of a botanist too, I heard. Going out into the fields to look for plants.’
‘No, he didn’t know a thing. Real city person if you ask me. Believed everything he was told.’
‘Ah. Are his personal belongings here?’
Suspicion flashed over the constable’s face. ‘How come?’
‘I just wondered if they were taken off his dead body upon the find or if they were left on him to be taken off at the morgue. I have no idea about such things.’
‘That’s as it should be. You’re a lady.’
Alkmene grimaced. ‘I was just wondering if he was carrying any notes on his person about plants or birds he had seen. My father would be grateful for information on important species.’
Eddy called from the back, ‘You should know, Aldridge. You searched his pockets.’
The constable flushed. ‘There was nothing in them.’
‘Nothing at all?’ Alkmene hitched a brow. ‘How odd.’
‘I mean, nothing important of course. Nothing but a hankie, change, the usual.’
Aldridge leaned back on his heels. ‘If you’re wanting Inspector Coones, you’d better go find him where he is taking his statements. He seemed in an awful hurry to get back to London. I bet this is just not a big enough town for him.’
Alkmene smiled. ‘Still it had a murder. You should be gratified.’
Aldridge rounded the desk and walked to the door, opening it for her. ‘It was nice talking to you, Lady Alkmene.’
He gestured for her to get out with his free hand. The baton on his side made a noise as it moved in the holder. It sounded like it was made of iron rather than wood. Then she had no idea what such things were made of. They had to be sturdy, as during a riot an officer had to use them to give a decent blow to any attacker, knocking him out cold… Perhaps they were weighted.
Alkmene walked int
o the bright sunshine, then halted and frowned. Weighted?!
Her mind raced.
The hammer not being the murder weapon, but a club-like thing.
Page’s mention of someone snooping in his book collection. The spare keys to the former town hall having been turned in at the police station.
The people who had been present at the inn the night when the bracelet had been stolen.
A hunter who knew the lay of the land. Who was also experienced in moving heavy dead animals around.
Empty pockets. Not a clue left in Goodman’s things, as to the treasure.
The letter written to Lady Eleanor to get Duncan away from the site. The paper having been taken off a stack on which the writer had written before. Notes about the gold.
Alkmene wasn’t conscious she was standing half in the street until a farmer steering a small hand cart loaded with apples yelled at her and she jumped out of his way just in time.
She rushed into the inn muttering to herself, ‘It all fits. But how to prove it…’
Chapter Twenty
Alkmene stood shivering in the breeze that came across the open space. The ruins of the abandoned farmstead where Kramer had met the small boy lay behind her like eerie shadows in the half dark.
Up in the skies a sliver of moon shone brightly against thin veils of clouds. In the distance an owl hooted.
Miles had given her the location. Here he had met with Goodman, handing him the golden bracelet. Here Goodman had probably come again, that fateful night. Here he…had probably died.
Alkmene wrapped her arms around her shoulders and pushed her heels firmly to the ground. There was nothing to it. Jake had said it was a long shot anyway. But after she had talked to Duncan and asked him with whom he had discussed his find, she had been absolutely sure that her conclusion about the killer’s identity was right. She had been sure enough to risk this meeting.
If she was wrong in her assumptions, no harm would come of it.
If she was right, the man who would appear any moment was the killer. Not a killer who had struck out in anger, or in self-defence, but on purpose. Intending to kill.
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