The de Vere Deception (David Thorne Mysteries Book 1)

by Loy Ray Clemons

  The doctor broke from the group and Thorne caught him as he headed back down the hall. “Pardon me, but I’m here to inquire about Mr. Frederick Hollister.”

  The doctor stopped briefly and shook his head. “I’m afraid he didn’t make it. Fortunately, he was in no pain when he went. I’m sorry.”

  Thorne found a chair in the corner. Helena saw him and went to him. She was still sobbing. “Freddie is—”

  “I know, the doctor told me. I’m sorry to hear it. Freddie was a good man, an exceptional man.”

  She stopped crying. “I knew it would happen all along, but when it does you—”

  “Is there anything I can do, Helena?”

  She was resolute. “I need to get the affairs of the bookstore in order and determine how Freddie would have wanted us to proceed.” She moved closer to him and said in a low voice, “If you could come by the store tomorrow morning, I’d like to talk to you about something very important. Around nine o’clock?”

  “Of course. In the meantime can you ask the nurse to release Freddie’s medical information to me?”

  Helena and Thorne went to the nurse’s station and she asked the nurse to release the information. She thanked Thorne again before returning to the man and woman she been talking to. A petite, efficient-looking woman in her fifties was summoned to the counter. “Yes? What can help you with, Sir?” She spent ten minutes describing the extent of Freddie’s injuries and his condition before he died.

  “Mr. Hollister said nothing before he died, except to inquire about his wife.”

  As he went down on the elevator, he wondered what Helena Hollister wanted to talk to him about that was so important. With Freddie gone, she was the only person left in Stratford to whom he felt any obligation, as he could no longer help Gweneth.

  At nine o’clock, the following morning Thorne went to Helena’s office in the bookstore. From the looks of the office, Helena had been there since early morning. The credenza was piled high with files and books. “Please sit down, David. I’m sorry, but the office is a mess. Freddie was great with customers and picking out books and all, but his organization of files and such was—”

  Thorne asked, “What can I do to help you, Helena?”

  “I remember you told me you were no longer working for Freddie’s group—Gil Bada and the others. I thought you might be able to work for me. What do you charge for your type of work?”

  This was it, he thought. Now he was in danger of being totally immersed in the affair. There was no way out. “Don’t be concerned about that. I was Freddie’s friend, and I want you to think of me as yours, too. I don’t want any fee to help.”

  “I’d feel better if you would—”

  He shook his head. “No, I just wouldn’t feel right. Please tell me what kind of help you need.”

  “Well,” she said haltingly, “I’ve been asked by Inspector Hammersmith if he could come by this morning. If you could stay until he comes, it would be helpful to me. I know he’s going to ask me a lot of questions and—”

  “I’ll be glad to remain while you talk to him. Perhaps I can help.”

  She gave a smile of relief. “Thank you.”

  Chapter 51

  Inspector Hammersmith was surprised to see Thorne when he entered the office. “I thought you had completed your work and was headed back to the U.S.?”

  “I thought I might be of help to Helena. I’ve moved out of the manor house, and now I’m staying at the White Rose until I go back to London.”

  Helena said, “I asked Mr. Thorne to come by. He was a good friend of Freddie and I thought he might help with the design of our living quarters in the castle. Regarding Freddie’s accident, I want to be as helpful as possible, but I don’t know what you need from me.”

  “You might have information that did not seem important at the time. Did Mr. Hollister have visitors recently.”

  “I don’t remember anyone out of the ordinary visiting him here. Of course, there was Mr. Thorne here, a publisher’s representatives, and a few friends came by from time to time.”

  “Did he discuss the work at the castle with you?”

  “No, except for where we were going to live in the castle, and about the new bookstore there—the layout of the store and all. She smiled and nodded in the direction of Thorne. “He did mention Mr. Thorne and how helpful he’d been in explaining what they were doing.”

  “I’ve spoken with a number of other people,” Hammersmith said. “They’re mostly merchants here in the center of town, including Mr. Linsdame. Some said he was being disloyal to the town by directing tourists away from Stratford.

  “Oh, that’s not so,” said Helena. “Freddie thought the addition to the castle would enhance the town’s business and bring even more people here. Freddie loved Stratford.”

  Hammersmith didn’t respond to Helena’s passionate outburst, but studied his notes. He turned again to Thorne. “May I ask what your plans are, Sir.”

  “I’ve agreed to help her— if she needs me.”

  “Do you think it might be a bit—well—a bit sticky, working for Mrs. Hollister since you had been working as a consultant for Mr. Bada? Did you leave on good terms?”

  Thorne attempted to direct the conversation away from the confrontation with the group. “Mr. Bada and his associates felt my services were no longer required and I agreed. It’s that simple. Mr. Bada and I are still good friends.”

  Hammersmith’s brow wrinkled into a frown. “But still—” He put his notebook back in his pocket and said, ”Well, that’s for you and Mrs. Hollister to work out.”

  Thorne said, “I’ll be glad to keep my eyes and ears open and let you know if I hear or see anything that might be helpful.”

  Hammersmith smiled knowingly. “If you’re thinking of investigating Mr. Hollister’s death I would discourage you from doing so. We’re quite capable of doing that.”

  “Well, as I have said, my main function would be in simply helping Mrs. Hollister as she needs me

  “Good,” said Hammersmith. He tipped his hat to Helena. “Well, Mrs. Hollister, I’ll take my leave now. If either of you can think of anything that might be helpful, or that might relate to Mr. Hollister’s accident, please let me know.”

  After Hammersmith left, Helena said, “Thank you for being here, David. It was not as bad as I thought it would be, but you were very helpful.”

  She sat down at the desk and shuffled papers. “I may want to ask your opinion on things about the design of the bookstore—if we—if I—still move it over there. I know it was Freddie’s dream to have a bookstore—and a research center there. I don’t know now if I . . .”

  She paused and went to the door, opened it, and looked out to see if there may have been listeners outside.

  She closed the door behind her and dropped her voice. “David, I’m also concerned about something else—something I’ve been aware of for the past two months,” she said, just above a whisper. “It’s the financial condition of the store. I do have a couple of friends who have offered me advice on the subject, and possible assistance. I’m concerned more than ever now about Freddie’s accident. Inspector Hammersmith’s questions seemed to indicate it might not have been an accident. Do you think I might be in danger?”

  “I wouldn’t worry about that if I were you. You’re just imagining things.”

  “I know the Inspector said you should stay out of it, but if you could help me. That is, finding out whether it was or wasn’t an accident, it would help ease my mind

  Thorne said, “I’ll do what I can.”

  Helena said, “Freddie didn’t discuss finances with me that much. It wasn’t his strong suit. You were Freddie’s friend. Did he ever give you any indication he might have been in financial trouble I might not know about?”

  “No, he never mentioned anything to me. He didn’t discuss the business of the bookstore with me. I do know he had an interest of making more money, mostly for your security.”

  She smiled swee
tly and looked down at her large hands resting on the desk. “I don’t want to take undue advantage of our friendship, and I know you’re anxious to return to the States.”

  “Don’t worry about that, Helena. I’ll see what I can find out.” He went to the door. “Are these friends of yours—these advisors, professional people or just friends?”

  “They’re not really professional types—just friends that can help and I think I can trust.”

  He smiled and nodded in agreement, “It’s good to have friends you can trust.”

  Chapter 52

  Thorne entered the castle from the north side, worked his way through the queen’s guards’ room and hurried up the long winding stairs of the queen’s Keep. At the top floor, he casually took out his note pad and began to write. The workmen at the castle appeared to be unaware Thorne was no longer involved in the job.

  The stone masons working in the queen’s apartment had seen him often over the past month. They exchanged nods and smiles of recognition. He singled out an older man, the foreman of the stone masons, and said casually, “Looks like the work is progressing nicely.”

  “Yes, Sir. We should be out within the month.”

  Thorne continued in the same casual manner. “Good. How many men do you have working on pointing up the joints?”

  “Oh, it varies. There’s around two dozen or so.”

  Thorne abruptly changed the subject. “Oh, by the way, I heard there was an accident here. I was out for a while and didn’t find out about it until I returned. What happened?”

  The foreman dropped his head. “Ah, bad business that. Someone up here must have accidentally knocked a stone off, and it caused a pallet to fall. I checked with all my lads here and none of them did it. It must have been one of the building inspectors. They was up here mucking about at the time.”

  “How many were there? I mean, we’re supposed to monitor anyone not working on the job.”

  “That’s true, Sir. The Clerk of Works was up here with them, so I thought it was O.K.”

  “Well, yes, I suppose so,” Thorne said. “He’s got to keep up with that sort of thing.” He went over to the wall and looked closely at new mortar in the joints. Nodding approvingly, he said, “Good work—good work. You have a good crew, Sir. Have you had all of them long?”

  The foreman beamed and straightened perceptibly as Thorne called him Sir. “Thank you, Sir. We try to do quality work. All good lads. We’ve had most of them for up to ten years. Top men all.”

  “They didn’t say they saw anything, did they? For example, like you said, could one of the visitors have accidentally kicked the stone over?”

  The foreman stroked his chin, then called, “Hey, Pete, come here.”

  A young muscular man walked over and looked quizzically at Thorne. “This is Pete,” said the foreman. “He’s one of our hod carriers. He mixes the mud and hauls the stone up for us.”

  He turned to Pete. “You said something about warning one of those visitors about getting too close to the opening in the floor, didn’t you?”

  “I did, Sir,” Pete said. “I told one of them blokes who was mucking about to be careful because we was about to pull up a pallet with bags of cement.”

  “Cement bags only? No Stones?” Thorne asked.”

  Pete shook his head. “Nope, just bags of cement We already had the stones up here..”

  “What did he look like. Was he one of the town inspectors?”

  “A short, wiry little fellow with a thin face. Had a town inspector’s nametag with ROBERTS or maybe ROGERS on it.”

  Thorne asked, “Where was he when you heard the pallet fall?”

  Pete said, “He was walking away from the opening. He must have been fifteen or twenty feet away.”

  “What happened when you all heard the pallet fall?”

  The foreman said, “Well, we all stopped what we was doing and ran over to have a look. “It was a proper mess down there. The bags had busted, and poor Mr. Hollister was lying under them.”

  “Did this inspector, this Roberts, say anything?”

  The foreman shrugged. “He came over and said we had a major safety hazard here, and he’d have to write it up. We never heard any more about it.”

  Thorne asked the foreman, “Did you ever see Roberts up here at other times?”

  Pete broke in. “I found him up here early that morning when I got here. That was the morning of the accident. Said he was checking on the stone wall anchors. I thought that was strange since we ain’t using no anchors on the job. We were just pointing up joints. I got busy, and when I looked again, he was gone.”

  “What time do you usually come in?”

  Pete said, “I usually get here around five-thirty. I’m supposed to be on the job at six, like the masons, but I want to have their mud ready when they get here, so I come in early.”

  Thorne wrote in his notebook and asked, “So, you’re sure this building inspector, Roberts, was here when you arrived?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Are you investigating this thing, too, Mr. Thorne?” the foreman asked.

  “No, but since I was out of town at the time, I just need to be up-to-date when I discuss it with the Clerk of Works for his report.”

  He put his notebook back in his pocket on his way to the stairway. “Well, I best be off, I have other things to do. Keep up the good work. That’s the best joint work I’ve seen.”

  The foreman and Pete exchanged smiles, and the foreman said, “Well, thank you, Sir. It was good talking to you.”

  Chapter 53

  Thorne waited in the outer office of the Stratford police station. He knew he might be making a mistake by getting more deeply involved in Freddie’s death, but at this point, he felt he couldn’t escape the responsibility..

  The dispatcher said, “I think the Inspector can see you now, Sir. His office is at the end of the hall.”

  He went down a hallway to a door with the lettering DETECTIVE INSPECTOR COLIN J. HAMMERSMITH on the upper panel of obscure glass.

  Hammersmith waved Thorne to a chair as he entered the small office. “Well, Mr. Thorne, I see you haven’t been able to book your flight. Maybe we can assist you.”

  Thorne ignored the Inspector’s facetious remark. “Before I leave, I want to give you additional information you may not have. I was out at the castle picking up a few things before leaving and came across something that might be of use to you. I also have a suggestion.”

  Hammersmith crossed his arms and said, “Let’s have the something first, then I’ll determine if I’m interested in the suggestion.”

  Thorne told him of the conversation he’d had with the foreman and Pete that morning.

  Hammersmith said, “I also spoke with the foreman immediately after the accident—Dickinson is his name, I think.” He opened a folder on his desk. “Yes, that was his name, and I don’t remember anyone named Pete. Dickinson didn’t say anything about a Pete and nothing about an inspector named Roberts or Rogers..”

  “Maybe Pete told Dickinson about it after you had talked to him.”

  “Could be, could be.” Hammersmith asked, “What about this suggestion?”

  “Inspector, I know you’ve been in police work for many years. I’m sure all kinds of—”

  Hammersmith was becoming impatient. “Please get on with it.”

  “Perhaps this Roberts isn’t sure if Pete saw him kick the stone over the edge. If this Roberts thought Pete might have seen him, he may try to silence him.”

  “Mr. Thorne, it appears you’ve been reading a lot of crime novels or watching a lot of detective shows on the telly. I see where you’re going with this. You want to offer Pete as “bait”, right?”

  Thorne said, “Pete is usually the only one there early to start mixing mortar and setting up stone for the masons. He told his foreman and me he saw Roberts the morning of the accident. If you were to—”

  Hammersmith steepled his hands and nodded. “This Roberts might not even work for
the town. But, if I were to put out the word around town that there’s new evidence, or that Pete might know something, you think this Roberts might come back early in the morning to look for the evidence and wait around for Pete?”

  “Yes, to search for overlooked evidence and to catch Pete alone. If we were to be there first and wait for Roberts—well, it might work.”

  “Mr. Thorne, there are a lot of things that might work.” He leaned back in his chair. “I don’t think we’ll need Pete there. But, let’s talk a little more about how me might flush out this Roberts—or whoever killed Freddie Hollister.”

  Chapter 54

  Hammersmith planted seemingly discreet information around Stratford about the upcoming investigation of Freddie’s accident. It soon became overt information about the strong possibility of new evidence at the castle. Hammersmith said there would be a meeting on Thursday afternoon at the queen’s Keep to determine what might have been the cause of the accident.

  He suspected Roberts, or others responsible for Freddie’s death, would come to search for the so-called evidence—or to silence Pete—in the early morning hours prior to the meeting. He planned to wait with two assistants through Wednesday night and Thursday morning to catch the murderer. Thorne had requested to be present with them, and Hammersmith had relented.

  Hammersmith and Thorne sat on cement bags behind a stack of lumber in the Queen’s apartment on the top floor of the Keep. A detective sergeant was positioned on the ground floor and a police constable on the floor just below the apartment. To keep in contact all three groups had walkie-talkies. Around four o’clock Hammersmith received a buzz on his walkie-talkie. The sergeant said, “There’s someone coming up the stairs. He’s just now on the second landing. “Shall I follow him?”

  “No,” said Hammersmith. “Both of you stay put until I tell you different, but in no case allow him to leave the building.”