by Holly Bell
‘Oh!’ Amanda uttered in surprise, then, ‘Oh I see, yes. Thank you, Inspector.’
‘Don’t want this landmark experience to be marred,’ he responded, carrying her back up to dry sand, away from water.
‘No, indeed. … erm,’ she chuckled. ‘You can put me down now. I’m no featherweight.’
Trelawney lowered her toes to the sand. He checked his watch. ‘Ok, to drop you back now?’
‘Of course.’
Seated on the warm bonnet of a newly parked car, Tempest was regarding the sand and water with rampant disapproval. He glanced at Amanda and Trelawney, making their leisurely progress up the beach.
Humans were quite fascinating in their way, he thought. Watching their thought process was like observing the progress of the ice age.
It was all so blatantly obvious. They were clearly beginning to experience that thing their species was always human-a-wauling about, in what they fondly regarded as ‘songs’. His human was better than most, and her pet male did seem to be blessed with a little grey cell or two. Still ... if that was the best of the bunch.
Tempest knew he was being fair. He wasn’t the only one that regarded humans as intellectually challenged. He’d had a chat with the gorillas in their kingdom at London Zoo. They held the opinion that humans could be quite loveable, but they were such hard work. The only way to communicate was through sign-language, as they’d forgotten how to speak Primate and still hadn’t got the hang of telepathy.
Amanda and Trelawney had almost reached Tempest’s dais, when the inspector’s phone signalled an incoming text.
Sunday lunch. Bring Amanda.
About to put his grandfather off with an excuse, he saw the text was from his Gran Flossie. He gave an exasperated sigh.
‘Trouble?’ Amanda asked solicitously.
‘My father must have told my grandparents you’re here.’
‘Or just bush telegraph,’ she suggested.
‘No, this is a small town, not a village.’ He sighed. ‘I am summoned to Sunday lunch and asked to bring you. Don’t worry, I’ll find a way out of this for you.’
‘Is it usually a big family do?’
‘Yes, my great-uncles and great-aunts, uncles and aunts and cousins and their children.’
Amanda was already looking uncomfortable.
‘Don’t worry,’ Thomas repeated reassuringly. ‘However,’ he added with a suggestion of gritted teeth, ‘I think I do need to have a word with my father.’
He dropped Amanda off, being relatively quiet but still friendly.
Thomas kept a lid on his seething irritation, sent a text to locate his errant parent, and drove to the holiday cottage, where Kyt was overseeing the installation of a new fridge.
‘Morning, son, what’s up?’ Kyt said, waving off the delivery van with a word of thanks.
‘Good morning, father.’
Oh dear, thought Kyt. ‘Father.’ What have I done?
Thomas had decided that he must give his parent the chance to either absolve or explain himself.
‘May I ask, whether you informed Granddad and Gran that I was here with Miss Cadabra?’
His father chuckled.
‘Not guilty, m’lud.’ Thomas visibly relaxed ‘This one’s on you, I’m afraid, Thomas. You were “down in the sand” with Amanda —’
‘I was not down in the sa—’
‘And mistimed it. You were spotted.’
‘Oh no,’ replied Thomas in hollow tones.
‘Oh yes. If you will go about cavorting with attractive young ladies on the beach —’
‘I was not cavorting,’ Thomas stated with some heat. He explained about the wave.
‘Fair enough. But I’m sure you can imagine how it might have looked. Anyway, I got this.’ Kyt passed over his phone. Thomas’s brow creased.
‘This text is in Cornish,’ he objected.
‘Good chance for you to practice,’ his father replied, amiably.
‘I haven’t really got time,’ came the testy response.
‘Yes, you have. Come on.’
‘My a welas agan Tom war’n treth namnygen. I have ... just seen your —’
‘Our.’
‘Our Tom on the ... beach.’
‘Good,’ encouraged Kyt.
‘Gans mowes teg yn diwvregh dhodho. With a girl .... pretty in ...’
‘His arms.’
‘Piw yw hi? Ah, who is she?’ Thomas scrolled down. ‘OK, thanks, Dad, for making it clear she is a colleague. Pyth yw hy hanow? That must be “What is her name?” And thank you for just saying “Amanda”. Oh, Gran pursued it, I see.’
‘Naturally.’
‘Pyth yw hy hanow teylu? What is her surname? Oh no. You had to say Cadabra. Ha, the last nail in the coffin. I see. Sorry, Dad for thinking it was you who’d told them. What’s this? Ty a yll dos ynwedh?’
‘Saying that I can come too. Only if you decide to go with Amanda and want me along for moral support,’ Kyt added mischievously, peeling the clear protective plastic off the front of the fridge door.
‘This isn’t funny, father.’
‘Oh yes, it is.’
‘I don’t see how a situation stacked sky-high with the potential for embarrassment can be —’
‘Now, now, son, I think you underestimate your grandparents’ capacity for tact.’ Kyt gathered up the packaging from the new appliance.
‘Perhaps, but what about the rest of the Mongol hoard? I have to find a way to say no. It’ll be far too many people all at once for Miss Cadabra. She’s not at her best in crowds.’
‘Well, I’m ahead of you there, son. I called Mamm just before her phone lost its signal. The greats and the uncles, aunts and cousins are mostly busy with in-laws and DIY, and your cousin Gawen is just dropping off the children, while they go out to an especially luxurious romantic lunch, as compensation for his forgetting his wife’s birthday!’
‘Oops,’ remarked Thomas.
‘Oops, indeed. Mamm gave him a voucher for Victoria’s Secret, which should help. Anyway, Thomas, so it’d be just your grandparents, the little ‘uns — Polly and Wella — and you and Amanda. If you’re willing and able.’ Kyt thrust the plastic and cardboard into a bin bag.
‘Ah. Well. In that case ...,’ responded Thomas, somewhat reassured. ‘I’ll put it to Miss Cadabra. May I see what she says before I accept your thoughtful offer of moral support?’
‘Of course.’
Thomas paused. ‘Sorry if I came in with all guns blazing a bit.’
‘You hid it very well. And very sheriff-like,’ commended his father teasingly, drawing the first smile his son had managed since his arrival. ‘Speaking of which, where’s your new deputy?’
‘At the cottage. I’ll give Miss Cadabra a call later. See if she’d fancy the shooting gallery at the arcade!’
Thomas chuckled, tipped his imaginary Stetson and took himself off, leaving his father to indulge in a hearty bout of laughter.
Chapter 30
Chief Inspector Hogarth Interviews: Marielle and Zoe
The beach escapade forgotten, Amanda and Trelawney again speculated, in the car on the way to Hogarth’s, as to which of the Lucy family might be the slayer of Mordren Dowrkampyer. Eventually, the evening got round to pudding and tea, and a resumption of the story.
‘Well, I couldn't let it go at that,’ said Hogarth. ‘I couldn’t just accept that little Zoe or Elodie, Peter, Marielle or Geoffrey was a killer. I had to know what was going on around them when it happened. And I had to know which one of them felt they were responsible. I asked if, in order to get a clearer picture of what went on that night, I could interview them separately.’
‘How would you know when you interviewed one, whether the others were there or not?’ asked Trelawney.
‘I had to take that on trust. Anyway, they agreed.’
***
‘We do understand,’ Peter responded, ‘that there was a very great deal going that night, and the, er, interaction we had with the
students and Mordren Dowrkampyer was only a part of it. We do want to help you, so of course, it’s fine. Who would you like first?’
‘I’ll go first,’ volunteered Marielle.
‘Right, we’ll all clear off,’ said Peter.
Marielle drew her legs up beside her and wriggled her shoulders into the cushions.
‘This too informal for you? We can do it at the kitchen table, you know,’ she offered suggestively.
Hogarth’s lips twitched. ‘This will be fine, thank you, Marielle.’
‘You can call me Miss Penlowr, if it helps ... Chief Inspector.’
He laughed. ‘Marielle and Michael will be fine.’
‘Ok, fire away.’
‘You woke up. Do you recall why?’
‘Elodie woke me. She was often wakeful in the night. She felt something was wrong. But then we heard the sounds, like voices and like crackles, and then there was a bang. And the room was weirdly warm for that time of year.
‘We got dressed quickly and then went out into the hall. That’s when we smelled the smoke and saw the stairs above were on fire. We got the kids — the other students — up and dressed and on the stairs. We could hear shouts and sorta bangs, and we could see these little coloured flashes below, if you know what I mean?’
‘Ok.’
‘The landing was clear, so Elodie told the kids to stay put while we checked the main hall. Well, it was all going on there. People with sticks or batons — wands we realised later — and it was like when you strike a match, and it flares? It was like that coming out of the wands.’
‘Did you recognise anyone, Marielle?’
‘Just Mordren, and one other guy, Frongar.’ She shuddered. ‘One of the Dowrkampyer sons. He was there, and then he went out the side door, and the fighting went outside. We went down onto the final flight of stairs. We were just about to call the kids down when Mordren himself came out of the room on the landing between the stairs we were on and the flight above where the kids were waiting.’
‘Did you get a glimpse into Mordren’s room? Was there anyone there?’
‘I didn’t, but Shilpa said it looked well trashed and she thought she saw someone on the floor.’
‘Then what happened?’
‘I don’t know exactly. He looked up at some flames. I remember a noise on the stairs behind us and in the hall, but I daren’t take my eyes off Mordren. There was movement and a flash out the corner of my eye but ....’
‘What happened next?’
‘Well, he looked down the stairs past us and then saw the kids, and his face goes all sorta cold. You know how people talk about a murderous rage? Well, this was like a blue flame — cold fire — but the intention was the same. And in case I was in any doubt, he points his wand thing at the kids and says something like,
“Sorry guys, school’s out.”
‘But even before he said it, I knew what he was going to do. I looked around for something to chuck at him — anything — and there it was: a wand lying on the stairs behind. All I had to do was just reach down, grab it and do what I’d seen the fighters doing: aim it. And the next thing was the big firework, and bye-bye Mordren.’
‘Did you intend to kill him, Marielle?’
‘I wanted to stop him. And yes, at any cost,’ she replied defiantly.
‘Did you know what the wand would do?’
‘No. I’d never seen one before in real life apart from maybe in the lab. I didn't know what it was. But I’d seen what the guys fighting had done with theirs. Just aim and, I dunno, want it, I suppose.’
‘And what did you want?’
‘I told you. I wanted to stop him. And I did. I had to protect the others, especially Zoe and Elodie. Besides that, we had to get the kids out. And we did.’ Marielle raised her chin. ‘And yes, Michael, if I had it to do again, I’d do the same thing. Remorse Central this ain’t.’
Hogarth defused the tension by moving on.
‘And then?’
‘We made a run for it out of the side entrance. I heard someone shout, “Hey! Get them!” But we took the van and made our escape. I think it was the sound of the sirens that saved us.’
‘And you had no idea who the attackers were?’
‘No. On the occasions when we did go outside Dowrkampyer land, the idea was to avoid people.’
‘Thank you, Marielle.’
‘No problem.’
Zoe volunteered next, surprisingly. She wriggled into the corner of the sofa, pulled her knees up to her chin and looked out at him warily.
‘I will tell you, but I doan want loadsa questions,’ Zoe stated.
‘I understand,’ responded Hogarth. ‘And if I ask you something you don’t want to answer then you don’t have to.’
‘I know. K. So. Elodie woke me up. We got dressed and the other children and everyfing. Then we were in the hall and noise and fighting and smoke and fire on the stairs, and we went to see if it was safe and it wasn’t, and then it was. And we have to get the children out. They were fighting outside, not inside then, ‘cept maybe by the kitchen, so we could all go down the stairs, but then that bad man came out, and he was all dangerous, and I thought he’s gonna kill my friend Shilpa and Mimi and Roger, and I like them, so I had to stop him, and he was a bad man, so I picked up the wand and bang! And there was a big light, and then the bad man was all gone, and we got away.’
‘Zoe, did you know the wand would kill Lord Dowrkampyer.’
‘He was a bad man.’
‘Yes, he was,’ Hogarth agreed. ‘But did you know the wand would kill him?’
‘I didn't know ezackly. I wanted him to stop.’
‘Yes.’
‘And he did. That all?’
‘Yes, thank you, Zoe.’
‘Ok. You gonna take me for a ice-cream?’ asked Zoe, clearly feeling that this was part of the bargain.
‘Yes, after I’ve talked to Elodie and your brothers.’
‘Hm. Ok,’ she conceded.
‘May I speak to Geoffrey?’
‘Yup. I get him. Bye.’
Chapter 31
Chief Inspector Hogarth Interviews: Geoffrey, Elodie and Peter
Geoffrey seated himself upright, but relaxed, hands lying open, palm up, in his lap.
‘Thank you, Geoffrey, for talking to me.’
‘Always my pleasure, Michael.’
‘May I say ... you don’t seem the sort to take a life.’
Geoffrey regarded Hogarth solemnly.
‘None of us is born the sort to take a life.’
‘We are all born with the instinct to survive,’ countered Hogarth.
‘Yes. But there is more than one kind of survival.’
‘True. Well, before we get into too deep philosophical waters ....’
‘Yes, I understand.’
‘Geoffrey, do you remember seeing anyone that you recognised that night?
‘Just the Dowrkampyers running past our door and the one who told us to go back into our room, Lord Mordren Dowrkampyer and the young Frongar Dowrkampyer. Apart from the children, no one else was identifiable. There could have been more Dowrkampyers outside, but it was dark, and our objective was to get to the van and get away.’
‘But someone tried to prevent you?’
‘Someone said something like, “Hey, they’re getting away”. Something like that. Someone started running towards us, but either they gave up because of the sirens, or because we managed to get into the van and drive away quickly enough.
‘Were there any casualties that you saw?’ Hogarth asked.
‘Yes, there was a body on the stairs near the hall, and at least two others in the hall itself who might have been either wounded or deceased. Unfortunately, there was no time to see if any of them could be helped. We had our priority: we had to get the children out.’
‘But you were challenged on the stairs, on the way down?’
‘Yes, the children were on the flight above, and we were on the final flight down to the hall, when Mord
ren Dowrkampyer came out, cutting the children off from us and from escape. It was clear, from the way that he spoke to them that he did not intend to let them go.’
Hogarth suggested, ‘While he was distracted with the other students, you could have made a run for it.’
‘One must defend one’s own. That is my responsibility. As the eldest and the one born to protect my brother and sisters. But also others more vulnerable than I: those three children on the stairs. Perhaps if it had been only ourselves, we would have attempted escape, while Dowrkampyer was temporarily distracted by something else rather than somebody. But the children were there, and they were my own. My own people, whether they knew it or not. And there was the wand, lying nearby.’
‘So, you used it?’
‘I played my part, Michael,’ Geoffrey responded gravely. ‘And for that, I must make peace with myself.’
Hogarth pressed. ‘So, it wasn’t Zoe or Marielle who fired the wand-shot that obliterated Dowrkampyer?’
‘It was not.’
‘Thank you.’
‘You are welcome. Would you like to speak to Elodie next?’
‘Please.’
Heels and knees together, tucking her hair behind one ear, there was no need for the words:
‘I’m here.’
‘Thank you, Elodie. Tell me again, please, purely from your own perspective, what happened that night.’
‘You want to know what was going on around us?’
‘That you personally can recall,’ clarified Hogarth.
‘I can’t say what was happening above, apart from the fire. I did see lights like fireballs passing up by the windows. I heard shouts. We got the students dressed and onto the stairs leading from the hall outside our room to the first-floor landing. That was when it was clear.’
‘Before that?’ he asked.
‘There were members of the Dowrkampyer family running past.’