by A K Lakelett
‘So there you are. The Eric Warner I saw in the bank was one sharp dresser, always in Saville Row suits, white shirts and silk ties; he was the epitome of a high-priced London solicitor. He did not wear anything cheap. I bet that one of his suits cost more than I spend on clothes in a year!’
‘I see, didn’t think about that.’ Jimmy thinks about his own clothing.
‘So we now agree he was in disguise and meeting someone?’ Caroline asks
‘Yes, Miss Marple, go on.’ Jimmy smiles, ‘this is good.’
‘This other woman, Eve, meets Warner in Tersel Woods on that fateful day,’ Caroline whispers dramatically.
‘But hold on, why does she want him dead? Money? Jealousy? Wasn’t she in love with him? Why, what’s the motive and how does she do it?’ Jimmy asks.
‘I suspect she used a poison of some sort. It had to be a reasonably fast-acting type. I also think she may have had her own reasons for killing him, but we may never know for sure. People get murdered for all kinds of reasons.’
‘Ok, I think he could have been poisoned, they were running more tests, the pathologist said so at the inquest, but what about that motive?’
‘Channeling my inner Miss Marple here, I’m going to do what she always does. You know how she talks about how someone reminds her of someone else and how people have their reasons, usually based on something that happened to them in childhood or where they lived before. And once you hear her explaining it, it’s always a very reasonable motive for a person you haven’t even thought about.’
‘Right, go on.’
‘In this case, I could imagine it was indeed likely that this other woman, Eve, had a very personal motive which she shared with him before he died.’ Caroline lowers her voice, and moves her hands like she was knitting. ‘Miss Marple would just sit on a sofa and say, in a totally matter of fact way, something like this: “They sit down by a tree”’ she turns to Jimmy – ‘I think you said he was found sitting down?’ Jimmy nods. ‘Eve gives him something to eat or drink; coffee or a protein bar or something like that – which obviously contains the poison. And then when he starts to feel the poison, Eve turns to him.’ Caroline turns to Jimmy and lowers her voice. ‘Eve says something like this: “Remember me; remember the ‘good times’ way back?” His eyes widen as he realizes who she is. And then, he takes just one deep breath, one deep sigh, a gargle and then – everything is quiet.’
Caroline stops, looks out to the sea for a moment and sips some water.
‘Wow,’ Jimmy says, ‘and then what?’
‘Then, I think, Eve just sits there for a while at his side, holds his hand, checks his pulse, and finds none. She appears to be talking to him again, and gets up, saying, “Sorry darling, but I have to go. It’s so nice here. Enjoy!” She takes one thermal cup with coffee, leaves the other one and walks away to a waiting car. She drives away.’
‘Why would she stay, why not just leave?’
‘She had to obviously stay put to see that it worked, the poison that is. And even if somebody saw them talking, they wouldn’t suspect that anything was wrong. How’s that for a Miss Marple imitation?’ Caroline smiles.
Jimmy is silent for a while, then nods.
‘Impressive use of the little grey cells! I would say it is very good, although a downright scary story. It makes sense, it fits, but it’s scary. And yes, I do agree that something like that could have happened. At least, it’s a whole heck of a lot better story than what the police have been saying. How do you figure out these things? And now the question is, if you are right, and you could be, who then is this “other woman”?’
‘That is for you to figure out,’ Caroline says, smiling. ‘Come, race you to the water!’
Tuesday 15th of July
DI Peter Greene
Greene receives a visitor carrying a small box with her.
‘Two things: first I would like you to see this letter that Penny the solicitor gave me.’
Greene takes it and reads. The letter is a short note by Selena Harris addressed to Joyce Lane saying that she took her own life after having killed Eric Warner. She begs for forgiveness from her niece and asks her to be kind to Caroline Evans. Greene hands the letter back.
‘I am so sorry. Do you know this Caroline Evans?’
‘I’ve met her; she’s Aunt Selena’s neighbor. She helped Auntie by driving her to the hospital and doctors and such. But the biggest reason I came here was this.’
She hands a small box to Greene.
‘I think you should see this. I found it in my aunt’s storage closet in the basement,’ Joyce Lane says. ‘I have been clearing out her flat in order to put it up for sale later this month.’
‘What is it?’
‘It appears to be gym clothes and a diary belonging to Karen Warner, apparently a daughter of Eric Warner. As you know, my aunt was a headmistress at the school where it seems both Karen and Elizabeth Warner attended when they lived in London.’
‘Thank you, I’m sure Mrs. Warner appreciates you bringing this over. We’ll make sure she gets it.’
‘I urge you to read it first and then decide if you want to take it to her.’
‘How do you mean? What’s in it?’
Greene opens the box and finds a small pink book with a golden lock, which had been broken, on top of a t-shirt, pair of shorts, and a pair of blue and pink trainers.
‘Did you break the lock?’
‘No, it was that way when I found it. And if you open it, you can see for yourself. I’ve got to go back now, I just wanted to leave that one with you. Please read it.’
‘Thank you.’ Greene says.
His visitor walks out and Greene is left to stare at the little book.
His first thought is to have it dusted for fingerprints, but realizes that it might be a waste of time since they don’t have any fingerprints for Karen Warner on file. But, being a careful man, he puts on a pair of gloves and carefully opens the book.
Inside is a letter written by Selena Harris explaining how she got the clothes and the diary and why she hadn’t given them to Margaret Warner.
The book, which is a diary, starts “My name is Karen Erica Warner, and this is my diary. I will write what happens to me every day. Today is my eighth birthday”. Greene flips through the first pages, small daily or nearly daily notes about going to the new school in London and meeting new friends. All the fun at a birthday party for one of the new friends a few days later and talking with Mary. Positive and sunny notes, written in childish handwriting; big letters, different colored pens, all the o’s have eyes and all g‘s look like cats’ tails. Then she goes on to talk about how daddy says she’s his special girl, stating smugly how she was ‘much more special’ than Lizzie was. After the first twenty or so pages, the letters get smaller, and the tone changes. The nearly daily notes get darker, and some of the pages look like she had cried and the tears had dropped and smudged the pages. In the end, the notes repeat how she can’t do it any more, she’s ashamed, how it hurts.
Greene finishes reading the diary, sighs deeply and leans back in his chair for a while. He feels like he has just been punched in the stomach. He has to go see his boss. He takes the diary and the letter with him.
He explains to Mullan how he got the book, what he thought of it, and what he had heard from Maggie about Karen’s death.
‘You mean, with his own daughter? Good God! You sure about this? How long did it go on?’
‘By the looks of it, at least for three years, maybe longer. She does say in the beginning that she was “Daddy’s special girl’. The diary starts on her eight birthday and she died when she was eleven.’
‘My God, and she killed herself you think?’
‘Yes sir. According to Maggie Warner, Karen was an excellent swimmer; she competed in school tournaments. There was no reason for her to drown. According to Maggie, the doctor in the hospital in Collioure suspected that she might have had a cramp due to the water being cooler than she was used to
, or had simply got tired as she was a bit far out from the shore. But I don’t think she or anybody else suspected it was a suicide.’
‘There was no post-mortem?’ Mullan asks.
‘Nobody seemed to think there was really any reason for it. The water was on the chilly side, only 15-16C, and although she was a good swimmer, she could have become cold and tired. She was only eleven after all, and rather skinny – not much body fat to keep her warm.’
‘My God, the poor kid.’ Mullan sighs.
‘Indeed. Inside the diary, there was a letter – or rather, notes – from Ms. Harris who blames herself for not seeing what was happening to Karen before, and get her help. Karen’s grades had been slipping.’
‘And we know she wrote those?’
‘Yes sir, they look exactly like the one which we received from the solicitor,’ Greene continues.
‘After the death, Maggie visited the school and collected all Karen’s things. But the gym locker, which was in a separate building, was forgotten. Once Ms. Harris opened Karen’s gym locker at the end of the semester, she just emptied it all into a bag and called Maggie. That was apparently more than three months later, and the clothes had become rather ripe by that time. Maggie said there was no need to send the clothes to her and asked Ms. Harris to throw them away. It was only when she starting separating the clothes that she found the book. And then she read it.’
‘But she didn’t call or talk to Mrs. Warner?’
‘No, she thought about it and agonized over it, or so her letter says. Mrs. Warner had been through a lot, with Karen’s death, and Ms. Harris had also heard about her divorce. So Ms. Harris didn’t want to cause any more grief – what good would that have done to anybody, she writes. She wrestled a lot with it. On one hand she says, she thought Maggie should know what kind of a man she had married; on the other hand, she asked herself why should Maggie have to know about Karen’s past suffering? What good would that do? If she didn’t know what Eric had done, telling her now would only make her feel even worse for not seeing it when it was happening and for failing to prevent it. And if Maggie had known what was going on, which Ms. Harris doesn’t believe, then she was already living in the hell of her own making. So she decided not to tell. She washed and rewashed the clothes and put them all in a box, decided to think about it later.’
Both men sit quietly for a while.
‘You believe this is all true?’ Mullan asks.
‘Yes I do. I don’t see any reason for Ms. Harris to lie.’
‘Well at least we now can definitely close the case – she has confessed and we now know why she did it. While I absolutely agree that he should be punished for his evil deeds, I still think murder is too drastic an action for her to take, we do have laws.’
‘I think the reason for the murder wasn’t just Karen, I think there were more than just her. Ms. Harris’ confession letter hints to others as well. It seems Eric Warner was not a very nice man at all, real nasty bastard he was, if I may say so.’
‘You may, and I agree wholeheartedly. What are you going to do? Are you going to tell Maggie Warner?’
‘I don’t know, sir, what do you think?’
‘Quite honestly, I do not know. I really don’t. It is really not a police matter anymore as such. The murder we set out to investigate has been solved; we have a signed confession as well as medical evidence and other proof. Karen’s case, which wasn’t our case, was closed years ago.’
‘Indeed, sir.’
‘I believe you have come to know Maggie Warner pretty well by now?’ Mullan allows himself a half-smile.
‘Yes I have. She is a very fine woman, sir.’
‘Then I’m afraid it is going to have to be your decision. I will support you whatever decision you make, but it is going to be your call.’
‘Very good sir, thank you.’
‘What will you do?’
‘I do not know yet. I have to think about it long and hard.’
‘Take your time; you want to make the right decision. However, you can now close the case.’
‘Thank you sir, I will do so.’
Action
As the police have not found any new evidence to the contrary, and as they now have a confession supported by medical and other evidence, they accept Selena Harris as being guilty of the murder of Eric Warner, and close the case.
Chorus
Tuesday 25th of July
DC Terry Ford
Terry Ford drives to Elm House with an envelope containing Eric Warner’s driver’s license and credit cards. These had been in the envelope the police had received from Selena Harris’ solicitor.
He parks his car next to the red Audi, walks to the door and bangs the doorknocker. Estelle opens the door.
‘Now what?’ she says, leaning on the doorframe.
Terry explains that the police, with the approval of the coroner, are now closing her husband’s case as Ms. Harris had confessed to his murder. He offers her the envelope. She grabs it, says ‘I told you it wasn’t me!’ and slams the door closed.
The Abbey Chronicle, page 3
Eric Warner’s case closed
The Faukon Abbey CID released a report today stating that they are closing the investigation of the death of Eric Warner on May 12th. His death was not due to natural causes; he was murdered by Selena Harris whose body was found in her flat on June the third. She had confessed to his murder before taking her own life. Police have not released a motive for the murder. The coroner’s decision is unlawful killing.
Jimmy Carter, The Abbey Chronicle
Jimmy emails a copy of the police report to Caroline and adds, “You were right, Miss Marple; there was another woman – always cherchez la femme!”
Action
A text message from Joyce to Evie
Case now officially closed. And it wasn’t just us; he did it to Karen too, possibly others.
A text message from Evie to Joyce
Thanks, so I heard from Jimmy. Who is Karen?
A text message from Joyce to Evie
His own daughter. Say hi to cousin Julia. TTYL
Chorus
Wednesday 26th of July
DI Peter Greene
Late in the afternoon, Peter Greene drives to Penzance to tell Maggie about the closing of the case, and Selena Harris’ role in it. They sit in her back garden, talking and sipping some scotch watching the sun vanishing behind some clouds.
‘But didn’t you initially suspect Estelle and Pratt too?’ Maggie asks.
‘Yes we did, especially after we found out that they both had lied to us about their whereabouts at the time Eric was found in Tersel Woods. Estelle had flown back from the Scillies that very day and Pratt had seen her, not in Faukon Abbey or Tersel Woods, but in Exeter. Estelle had likely suspected he was going to bring someone else there and wanted proof. Pratt had been there too to clean up the flat after the weekend and she had seen Estelle outside. We have traffic camera data that puts Estelle in Exeter at the time Eric was killed. And a neighbor confirmed Pratt’s presence there too. Estelle then flew back to the Scillies and Pratt went to London.’
A seagull screeches above, being chased by two others. Maggie swirls her scotch around.
‘So Eric’s case is now officially closed?’
‘Yes, it is.’
‘Poor Miss Harris.’
All quiet again, few tears fall down her face. Greene takes her hand and squeezes it gently
‘I brought you something,’ Peter says shyly, taking a DVD from his pocket. He hands it to her.
‘When Harry Met Sally?’ Maggie smiles and wipes her eyes.
‘I liked it a lot actually,’ Peter says, ‘especially the part at the end where they show all those old couples who tell how long they’ve been together and how much they still love each other. Would you like to watch it? With me?’
‘Of course I would.’ Maggie smiles at him. ‘Let’s go inside. I’ll make some popcorn.’
‘This could be the b
eginning of a beautiful friendship,’ Peter quips. He takes her hand.
Final Action
The play is now over
Thank you for coming
All masks have fallen
Sad truths thought
long forgotten
now uncovered
Behind elegant facades, deep despair hides
Crimes we don’t see
Crimes we don’t want to see
Crimes we don’t think happen to us
We don’t talk, we don’t see, we don’t hear
We hide our suffering too well.
Evie was never found.
Acknowledgements
Faukon Abbey is an entirely fictional town set in Devon, England. Hunting with falcons, falconry, however, has been practiced since medieval times and is practiced even today. While it is/was mostly practiced by men there were and are women master falconers.
Most of the other places mentioned in this book are real and exist; however, all the events and all the characters described in this book are entirely figments of my imagination.
A special thanks to the doctors of Bastyr University who took me on face value and told me about poisons. Thanks also to my editor, Ryan Bagger and cover designer James at GoOnWrite. The ME’s office in Seattle provided valuable information as did a lot of other people both in UK and in the US. I am truly thankful for everybody who has patiently answered to my often esoteric questions. I have followed their advice as far as it suits the plot and any mistakes are all mine.