Churchyard and Hawke (16 page)

‘Yes, but I don’t know whether it made any sense. He mentioned the name "Chester". Does that mean anything to you?’

Excitedly, Tom replied, ‘Yes . . . Chester Woods, one of the footmen who’s married to Peggy, the assistant cook. He had a reputation as a womaniser before they were married and he’s also very fond of his drink. But both he and his wife said they were in bed together all night.’

Then we’ll need to speak to them both again.’ Amos said, ‘and find out whether Jimmy is telling us the truth.’

The doctor had straightened up from Jimmy in time to hear their exchange and now, tight-lipped, he said, ‘Well he certainly isn’t going to confirm whether or not it was the truth he told you. He has just died.’

CHAPTER 23

Before returning to Bodmin with Tom, Amos visited the spot below the woods where Jimmy had been found. A police search party was already scouring the area in a bid to ascertain where - and if possible why - he had gone into the river.

As they arrived the smashed Laneglos wagonette was discovered and only a few minutes later a constable stumbled across the cache where the items burgled from Laneglos had been hidden. .

There was some damage to a couple of the pictures but as far as Amos could remember from the list he had compiled with Lady Hogg, the only item of stolen property still missing was the Laneglos pony, and he and Tom were in agreement that Alfie must have ridden off on the animal, leaving an injured Jimmy behind to fend for himself. It seemed the most likely explanation.

As they were travelling back to the police headquarters, Tom said, ‘I’m not surprised Alfie deserted Jimmy. He’s ruthless enough to sacrifice his own mother if he ever thought it necessary, but it’s not like him to abandon so much valuable loot. I would have thought he’d have moved heaven and earth to make money on it. There is some very valuable stuff back there - probably more than he’s ever had in his hands before.’

‘Perhaps he somehow got word that Enid’s body had been found and realized we would be looking for him and Jimmy. He’s shrewd enough to realize that no matter how valuable the stolen property might be it would be no good to him if it led to a meeting with the hangman.’

‘He certainly seems to have made good his escape.’ Tom said, regretfully, ‘I was hoping he might have managed to get back to the Mermaid, perhaps when it was coaling at Plymouth, then he’d have been picked up when the boat reached London.’

Amos had discussed the question of conspiracy charges with the Cornwall chief constable and it had been decided to bring no charges against the Mermaid’s passengers, Amos pointing out it would be difficult to prove exactly what crimes the more sophisticated of the criminals on board had planned to carry out at the Laneglos ball. Besides, those who had committed crimes, the Hoxton gang and Conrad Shannon, had been caught and charged with either burglary, or attempted burglary - and in Shannon’s case, forgery. Now, with the death of Jimmy, only Alfie remained to be apprehended.

The Chief Constable had agreed that the Laneglos burglary should be regarded as a separate crime but when the body of Enid was discovered, Amos had telegraphed to Scotland Yard with the result that the London river police boarded the Mermaid when it sailed into their jurisdiction, searching for the prime murder suspects. But their search for the missing members of the Banks family had proved fruitless.

‘Alfie was aware we knew of his association with the Mermaid,’ Amos pointed out, ‘He would have kept well clear of it. I doubt whether he’ll return to Hoxton for a while, either. With a murder charge hanging over his head he might even have boarded an emigrant ship bound for Australia or America! If he did, we’ll never see him again.’

‘If it wasn’t for Enid’s murder that would be a very welcome state of affairs,’ Tom commented. ‘The Met police would certainly be happy about it.’

‘Unfortunately, his disappearance doesn’t make solving Enid’s murder any easier,’ Amos said, ‘Had anyone asked me earlier today, I would have said the death of Jimmy was sufficient for us to close the case, but now I’m not so sure. What Jimmy told us just before he died worries me. He seemed genuinely surprised that Enid was dead - in fact was totally unable to take it in. Then there’s what he said about seeing the footman, Chester Woods, on the night of the burglary. I wish he had been able to give us more details about that. When did he see him . . . and where? Was Woods the one who opened the door to Alfie and Jimmy? If Jimmy told us the truth then both Woods and his wife have been lying and both were probably involved in the burglary.’

Flicking the reins over the back of the pony, urging it to greater speed, Amos said, ‘We need to speak to Chester and Peggy Woods again - and the rest of the staff at the house too. With Jimmy’s information in mind we might learn something we weren’t looking for when we spoke to them before. We’ll call in at Laneglos before returning to headquarters to tell them we’ve recovered the stolen property and make arrangements to interview everyone tomorrow.’

Amos’s intention to question the Laneglos staff suffered an unexpected setback. When they arrived at the great house the following day to interview the servants they learned that yet another tragedy had befallen the Hogg family. Earlier that morning, a maid taking early morning tea to Viscount Hogg in his bedroom had found him dead.

Suffering indifferent health for some time, the ageing peer had taken to his bed the day after the Laneglos ball, apparently suffering from a mild stomach disorder. It had been attributed to the amount of rich food and wine available for all and sundry all night long and which he was known to have enjoyed, most probably to excess.

When his condition failed to improve Lady Hogg called in the physician from Bodmin Town Doctor Hollis, who had attended the family for very many years. The ageing doctor agreed that Lord Hogg had not only over-eaten but also over-exerted himself, something he had been warned against in the past.

Prescribing a strong purgative, the doctor instructed Lady Hogg to keep the patient resting in bed for a few days, by which time he declared he should be ‘as right as rain’.

Despite this cheerful prognosis and increasingly concerned by her husband’s condition, Lady Hogg called the doctor in again on the following day. Whilst accepting that her husband was in the habit of over-indulging in food and drink, she declared she had never seen him in such a feeble state before.

The doctor felt she was worrying unnecessarily but in order to placate a very important member of the community he decided upon an old-fashioned ‘cure-all’ and resorted to blood-letting. At the same time he pointed out, as tactfully as he could, that Viscount Hogg was an old man and should not expect to be able to maintain the life-style he had enjoyed as a younger man.

Still not reassured, Lady Hogg had telegraphed the son and daughter of her husband’s first marriage suggesting that they should return to Laneglos as a matter of urgency.

Unfortunately, both reached Laneglos too late to see their father alive, arriving late in the day of his death. The Honourable Rupert was now the 7th Viscount, he and his sister taking some small comfort from the knowledge that that they had been able to spend time with him on the occasion of the County summer ball

The news of Viscount Hogg’s death was given to Amos and Tom by a very upset Laneglos housekeeper and they knew it would be insensitive to continue investigations at the great house at such a time. Instead, Amos concentrated on collating the remainder of the information that had come to hand concerning the burglary and the murder of Enid Merryn.

He discussed both cases with the Chief Constable who was in favour of closing the murder file in view of the death of their chief suspect, but Amos argued that there were still too many loose ends to be tied up before the young maidservant’s death could be brought to a satisfactory conclusion. The Chief Constable eventually conceded the argument - and events were to prove that Amos was right to keep the case open.

Later that day, Doctor Andrew Sullivan, the young surgeon and pathologist who had carried out the post mortem on Enid Merryn called at the Bodmin police headquarters to personally deliver an autopsy report on a baby born to a single young girl who lived on the moor near the town. She had not reported the baby’s birth and the baby had been found dead by a constable, called in by neighbours. The pathologist’s report showed the baby had suffered from a serious heart defect and the trauma of the birth had proved too much for its fragile constitution.

His report delivered, Sullivan put his head around the door of Amos’s office and, greeting the police superintendent, said, ‘I hear that the lad from London you suspect of murdering the young Laneglos housemaid has met his own violent end?’

‘That’s right.’ Amos confirmed,’. . . but almost the last words he spoke were a denial that it was his doing.’

‘Do you believe he was telling you the truth?’ Suddenly interested, the young doctor entered the office and seated himself on a chair on the opposite side of the desk from Amos.

‘I wish I knew. I would be a happier man if I could convince myself he was lying.’

‘So you do believe him! Why? He had both motive and opportunity and was a known criminal - you said so yourself.’

‘True,’ Amos agreed, ‘but he had no history of violence and when he was dying - and I’m convinced he knew he was dying - he wanted me to tell Enid he was sorry if his actions had got her into trouble.’

Doctor Sullivan snorted disdainfully, ‘If he was apologising for getting her pregnant it was far too late. He should have thought about it four months ago, when he made love to her. . . .’

The expression that came to Amos’s face brought the doctor’s condemnation of Jimmy Banks to an abrupt halt and, leaning forward towards him, Amos demanded, ‘What did you say?’

Startled, by the unexpected intensity of Amos’s question, Sullivan began, ‘I said it was far too late for. . . .’

‘No,’ Amos said, ‘After that. How many months pregnant did you say Enid was?’

‘Four months. . . .’

‘Are you absolutely certain of that?’

‘Positive,’ Sullivan said, emphatically,’. . . It might even have been slightly more. She wouldn’t have been able to keep it a secret for very much longer.’

Amos was silent for so long that the doctor began to feel uncomfortable, but something in the Superintendent’s expression stopped him from interrupting his thoughts.

Eventually, Amos said, ‘Doctor Sullivan, you have just produced the strongest evidence yet that young Jimmy was telling the truth - and that someone else had a motive for killing Enid Merryn.’

‘I’m sorry . . . I don’t understand. How does anything I have said indicate that this young man did not kill Miss Merryn? She was certainly pregnant.’

‘Yes, but not by Jimmy Banks. I don’t doubt he made love to the girl, she was apparently quite besotted with him, but he did not go to work at Laneglos until two months before she was murdered. . . by which time she was already two months pregnant! If the real prospective father knew of her condition and had a great deal to lose by having his secret found out then there is still a suspect out there. It is possible Jimmy Banks actually saw him on the night. If so, and the new suspect’s wife gets to know of it we might well have another murder on our hands!’

In spite of the latest information that had come into his possession, Amos was unable to pursue his enquiries at Laneglos until after the funeral of Viscount Hogg, the chief constable declaring it would be ‘in bad taste’ to further upset the Hogg family. He pointed out that no one at the great house was aware that suspicion had shifted from the ex-footman, so if the killer was still working there he would be unlikely to abscond.

The funeral itself was a sombre but impressive event. Not only were representatives of all the Cornish gentry present, but nobility from beyond Cornwall’s border came to pay their last respects to the well-known and highly respected peer of the realm.

Amos and a number of uniformed constables were in attendance to ensure there were no untoward incidents and Tom took the opportunity to speak with Flora Wicks about Amos’s intention to interview the Laneglos servants once more.

She was surprised by the request but did not question him further after he promised to give her his reasons when he and Amos came to the house. She suggested they should wait until after the reading of the will, which was due to take place the next day. Amos agreed and it was arranged he and Tom would visit Laneglos during the morning of the day after.

When Amos and Tom arrived at Laneglos they found the house in turmoil, with vans and wagons standing outside the front entrance, being loaded with boxes, trunks and small items of furniture from the house.

Amos was about to ask one of the servants the reason for such activity when Flora Wicks came from the house. When she reached the two policemen, Amos said, ‘We seem to have arrived at yet another inconvenient time, what’s going on?’

‘Some of Lady Hogg’s personal belongings are being moved to the dower-house at the far end of the park. The Honourable Rupert is now the seventh viscount. In addition to the title he has also taken over the estate and, of course, Laneglos House.’

‘But this is very soon after the late viscount’s death! I am aware the new viscount is Lady Hogg’s stepson and not her actual son, but surely he is not turning her out only a couple of days after his father’s funeral?’

‘No, Rupert. . . Lord Hogg, wouldn’t do that and she won’t actually be leaving Laneglos for some days, but there’s been a falling out between him and the Honourable Charles yet again and I think Lady Hogg wants to move away with her son as quickly as possible in the hope that he might calm down.’

‘Oh? What’s happened between the step-brothers?’ This time the query came from Tom.

Flora hesitated for only a moment before replying, ‘Well. . . it’s no secret that the Honourable Charles and the new Viscount Hogg have never got along with each other, so there’s nothing new there, but when the late Lord Hogg’s will was read the family learned he had left the Honourable Charles absolutely nothing. Not only that, although he ensured that Lady Hogg would be well looked after and want for nothing, he left her with no immediate access to capital, which means she is unable to finance the extravagance of her son. I believe he was expecting to be left enough to pay off his debts and then rely on his mother to continue to fund his extravagant London lifestyle.’