‘Using all those sharp knives and other potentially lethal tools?’ I exclaimed. ‘I hope not! No, no, my dear, that would be extremely unlikely. But who knows what judges and juries and all the business of a trial will decide.’
‘He didn’t mean to kill her, at least, if what he told you is true.’ My wife had apparently decided to play devil’s advocate. She likes a good argument. I don’t mean a quarrel. We seldom quarrel. But we do have some very lively discussions, let us say.
‘I don’t know that it is true.’ I put my side of the debate forward. ‘I do know that he flew in a terrible rage when I thwarted him; and before that when poor old Fitchett crossed him. It is more than possible, at the moment when Emily rejected him, he did want to kill the girl. At the very least, he intended to hurt her badly in revenge. Let others decide that, Lizzie. I only collect the evidence and find the perpetrator of the crime, if I’m lucky. If you want to know what happens next, read about it in the newspapers. Dunn remarked how much the press will love the whole rotten business!’
The fire crackled in the hearth. A distant clang of a saucepan falling indicated Bessie was at work in the kitchen. She would have an account of the story from Biddle when next he called. It was too much to hope he would keep that to himself. Bessie would insist on details.
‘Have you been able to visit Miss Eldon, or Miss Bernard, today?’ I asked my wife.
She sighed. ‘Not today. I took Bessie with me shopping at the vegetable market; and the fog made it so difficult, it took us a full two hours to complete our business. But Miss Eldon and I have discussed that we can do for Rose when the weather improves. It must improve eventually!’
‘And what have you come up with?’ I asked with some misgiving.
‘I have suggested to Miss Eldon that we could take Rose out with us in Wally Slater’s cab, just to drive through the parks. She would not meet anyone and have any difficulty. But she would escape the four walls of that house for an hour or two.’
‘Have you mentioned this to Mr Bernard?’
‘Not yet.’
‘Then I suggest you wait a while, until the better weather is here.’ I hesitated. ‘Lizzie, I know you have the best of intentions, as does Ruby Eldon. But have a care. Bernard is devoted to his daughter, maybe obsessively so. The way he has shielded her from all society suggests that. You have achieved a remarkable amount, you and Ruby. But be very careful. Obsessive love, of any kind, is dangerous. To visit Miss Rose at home, well, that’s one thing. To take her away from the house, and her father’s watchful eye, and drive her around London, well, that is quite another. It may be a step too far. He could easily refuse and put a stop to your visits altogether.’
‘But Rose would be so upset!’ Lizzie protested. ‘And he loves her! He wouldn’t wilfully distress her.’
‘Just remember that, sometimes, love and logic don’t go hand in hand.’ I sighed. ‘I have encountered terrible things done, not from hatred but from a twisted sort of love. I sometimes think love is one of the most powerful and dangerous of motives.’
The fire crackled again and, with a rustle, the coals fell in upon one another, down into the scarlet and yellow of the flames. In them, it was easy to imagine pictures. One I saw was of Ezra Jennings, standing atop the ancient stone, in the drizzling mist, the wind whipping his hair as he screamed his defiance.
Acknowledgements
This book remembers Jack Martin. He repaired shoes in a workshop set up in a garage made of corrugated metal sheets. When I was a child, I spent a lot of time watching him at work. He explained to me exactly what distinguished a good piece of leather from an inferior example. I watched, fascinated, as he drew the shape of a sole freehand, cut it out and pared it down until it was an exact fit. He allowed me to collect up fallen nails and tacks from the floor with the help of a large magnet, sort them, and put them in jam jars. Occasionally he let me put the finishing touch to a repair by using heelball to bring the heels to gleaming perfection. I was not allowed to do this very often because I used too much.
I sometimes think writing a book is very similar to that shoe repair process I watched so many years ago. The assorted ideas picked up here and there wait in the equivalent of jam jars in my mind. The plan of the book is sketched out roughly and then it is pared down, reworked, and when it is right, all put together and finished off with a final polish.
Writers owe a lot to the sympathetic support and eagle eye of their editors. My thanks go to the present one, Clare Foss, for her encouragement and support. I hope you enjoy this book, Clare!
I must also thank my friend and fellow writer, Angela Arney, who drove me to Salisbury and accompanied me visiting the town.
One note concerning the description of the monument known as Stonehenge, on Salisbury plain, which Ben Ross has cause to visit in the course of this book. When he would have seen it, in 1870, its appearance would not have been as it is now, following extensive restoration work in the 1900s. I have based Ben’s sight of it on the painting of 1836 by John Constable.
The Inspector Ben Ross Mysteries
A Rare Interest In Corpses
A Mortal Curiosity
A Better Quality of Murder
A Particular Eye for Villainy
The Testimony of the Hanged Man
The Dead Woman of Deptford
The Murderer’s Apprentice
Find out more
First published in Great Britain in 2019 by Headline Publishing Group, an Hachette UK Company
This edition published for the US market in 2020 by
Canelo Digital Publishing Limited
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Copyright © Ann Granger, 2019
The moral right of Ann Granger to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781788638456
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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