The Barker's Dozen - Reminiscences of an Early Police Dog (31 page)

While we were waiting for his return Sergeant Allen calmly tied the pony’s reins to part of an ornamental balustrade and strode up the stairs to join us by the door. My master started telling the sergeant how he wanted to handle this part of the investigation and I turned my attention to the park. The first order of priority, for a Springer, when assessing new country is to spot any opportunities for a good muddy swim. I knew that I was unlikely to get the chance but a dog can dream. There is a lake at Hevershap that consists of two main sections linked by a narrow arm of water over which the drive passes on an ornate stone bridge. A very well developed shrubbery leads almost down to the water after following the far edge of the drive for about fifty yards. I was working out if I could approach the lake through the shrubbery without warning any ducks when the butler returned.

The butler’s gasp of refined outrage when he spotted how Sergeant Allen had secured the pony woke me from my reveries and I listened with some amusement as the over mighty servant struggled to pass on his master’s message with even a modicum of insincere politeness.

‘My master will see you now Inspector’ the butler grimaced. ‘He was unaware that I was referring to your good self when he was told that the police were going to call. Please come this way.’

We were ushered into a nicely appointed study, which seemed to be at odds with the man who rose from a chair to greet us. The room reflected an educated good taste, while the man was obviously a follower of the more outrageously flamboyant fashions.

‘Sir William,’ my master offered the man his hand. ‘I am so dreadfully sorry for this interruption but I have been asked to take over the case following the unexpected departure of Inspector Bowman. Unfortunately, with the evidence that has been handed to me, I do not think that we can guarantee a conviction. I would like, therefore, to re-interview some of your household.’

‘So you think the lad’s guilty?’ Sir William tried to sound grave but there was a faint undercurrent in his voice that hinted of satisfaction.

‘Inspector Bowman’s report leads to that inescapable conclusion,’ my master answered slightly mendaciously.

I watched Sir William’s face relax slightly as his smile became genuine and I silently applauded my master’s cleverness. Any other approach would have been met with a total lack of co-operation but this way my chief suspect might actually co-operate in his own downfall.

‘I understand that you are very busy, Sir William, and I do not want to disturb you unnecessarily.’ My master paused as if in thought before continuing, ‘if you would instruct your butler to show me the relevant rooms in the house and introduce me to any of the staff that I need to talk to I think that you can be left to your work.’

‘Thank you, Inspector. I do appreciate your courtesy in this matter,’ Sir William crossed to the bell rope as he spoke and gave it a quick tug. ‘You will come and see me before you leave, I trust.’

The butler entered the room and listened to his master’s instructions. I could tell that he was slightly surprised by Sir William’s change of heart, but took his new orders in good heart. Courteously, he opened the door and ushered us into the hall.

‘Sorry about the earlier misunderstanding Inspector,’ the butler said in a slightly ingratiating fashion. ‘My name is Groom and I’ve been the butler here for nearly eleven years. Now, how may I be of service?’

‘I would appreciate it if you could show me the library, the drawing room and the dining room. After that I want to ask you, and perhaps some of the other servants, to clarify parts of your earlier statements.’ Your uncle was once more brisk and professional in his attitude.

‘Certainly sir, if you would care to follow me.’

The butler crossed the hall and opened one leaf of a pair of double doors revealing a comfortable library. The room was quite large with a big table and a map chest close to bay windows.  By the fire two comfortable leather armchairs were arranged on either side of a small table the top of which had an inlaid mother of pearl and ebony chess board. A small cabinet stood to the right of the doors and the rest of the walls were lined with floor to ceiling book cases containing a wide selection of volumes.

I settled down to watch my master at work when a small hiss attracted my attention. Turning my head I caught sight of a female tabby standing in the hall. She turned and using her tail to beckon disappeared from view. I quietly got to my feet and followed her, moving carefully so that none of the humans noticed my departure. She was waiting for me in a corner of the hall where a large piece of furniture made a secluded corner.

‘What can I do for you?’  I asked her politely, noting as I did that she was well fed and had sleek fur.

‘Am I right in thinking that your master is the great Inspector Thompson and that you are Snuffles?’

‘Yes,’ I replied modestly. ‘Who do I have the honour of addressing?’

‘Bee, I was Lord Reventhorpe’s cat, and I believe that you are investigating his murder?’ She paused and waited until I nodded. ‘I don’t need to tell you that Sebastian did not kill his father. He is a good kind man.’

I reassured her as to that point and asked her if she had anything to add to my knowledge of the events.

‘The accursed daughter killed him with a poisoned nut. After Sebastian left she followed the butler into the library and talked with her father for a while. While she was sitting opposite him she cracked a nut and gave him half the kernel, within seconds he had died and she slipped out of the library, pausing only to throw away the remains of the nut.’ The cat lashed her tail and continued in an agonised meow, ‘She murdered my human and then her nut killed my Squeak.’

I waited patiently for a few moments while she collected herself. It was hard to be still when I realised that I might be on the track of some physical evidence but I could tell that she was in a very distressed state.

‘Your Squeak?’ I asked gently when she was calmer.

‘He was only a mouse, but he was mine,’ her voice broke into a soft meow so I nuzzled her gently. ‘I found his mother in the kitchen and killed her only to realise that she had been moving one of her young. I looked at the small creature and just couldn’t harm it and before I knew it I was raising it as my own.’

Once more I waited for her to compose herself.

‘You want the villain to be punished for Squeak’s death as well as your human’s?’ I asked her gently and was answered by a small affirmative movement of her ears, ‘Show me where this nut is and I will make sure that it comes to my master’s attention.’

We waited until the humans moved into the drawing room and then I followed Bee back to the library. Having witnessed the little cat’s obvious grief I wondered whether or not I could arrange matters so that the daughter paid for Squeak while her husband settled Lord Reventhorpe’s account. I could not see any way of achieving this outcome so I resolved to speak to Fielding who is much better at that sort of thing; I resolved, however, that someone was going to get bitten.

I nudged the left hand leaf open and instantly Bee ran to the small cabinet beside the door and with a small heart-broken cry pointed behind it with her paw.

The position of the cabinet beside the door allowed me to look behind it with relative ease. As I approached I noticed a large number of cat hairs on the carpet and a rub mark on the wall and deduced that Bee had spent some time vainly trying to reach her mouse. Behind the cabinet I could easily see half a walnut and several pieces of shell. Lying on top of the nut was a mouse, its body contorted with the effects of the poison. Agonisingly it must have been just outside Bee’s furthest reach.

‘Thank you Bee,’ I told her as I turned away. ‘I will go and fetch my master.’

With a final soft meow Bee left the library and I could hear her running up the stairs.

I walked out of the door and following the sound of my master’s voice went into the drawing room where he was trying to understand all the events of the fatal evening. There are times when it pays to be subtle but this wasn’t one of them. I went up to your uncle, took his left hand in my mouth and started pulling.

As soon as your uncle told me to show him, I dropped his hand and walked back to the library cabinet where I barked once and pointed. My colleagues have learnt to trust my nose so without hesitation the two detectives carefully lifted the cabinet away from the wall.

‘What have we here?’ my master asked rhetorically

‘Nothing but a dead mouse and a nut it must have found,’ Groom seemed to think that an answer was required and started to kneel down. ‘Give me a second, Gents, and I’ll soon have that cleaned up.’

‘No you don’t,’ my master said in a hard cold voice as he pulled the butler to his feet and pointed to a chair. ‘Sit down there and be both quiet and still.’

My master knelt down by the mouse’s body and looked carefully at it for a couple of minutes.

‘Sergeant, look at that poor mouse and see if you agree with me that it died from a virulent poison.’ My master stood up and made way for Sergeant Allen, ‘I would appreciate it if you could quickly sketch how the body lies in relation to the nut. I think that might be quite important.’

While the Sergeant busied himself my master stood by the door and glared at the unfortunate butler not, I am sure, from any certain suspicions but more on general principles. I suddenly became aware of the rank smell of fear and glancing at my master watched his nostrils dilate slightly. The butler kept quiet but I could see the sweat glistening on his forehead.

‘Inspector, I agree’ Sergeant Allen said after several minutes. ‘The poor thing’s body is so badly contorted that I think it may have broken its back in its final convulsions. Unless I am mistaken there is the mark of a single mouse bite on the remains of the nut.’

‘In other words Sergeant, we have the murder weapon?’

‘Without a doubt, Sir,’ Sergeant Allen glared at the butler.  ‘If I may make so bold I think that it is highly likely that the last person to see Lord Reventhorpe alive probably knows something about this nut.’

Sergeant Allen started to carefully gather up the mouse and the nut fragments which he placed in a bag that he always carried for moments like this. My master paced slowly, never looking at the butler, until the Sergeant had finished and the cabinet was back against the wall.

‘Well, Mr Groom?’ My master spun on his heel and flung the question at the butler like a verbal lance. ‘Why did you kill Lord Reventhorpe?’

The butler went pale and stuttered out an almost incomprehensible denial.

‘On no, Mr Groom, that just won’t do,’ my master approached the butler who shrank back into his chair. ‘According to your statement to Inspector Bowman you were the last person to see Lord Reventhorpe alive. The poison in that nut would have been almost instantaneous. You must have gathered up the evidence and hidden it as you left the room. I think that you could just have got out of sight through the baize door before Lady Caroline entered the hall.’

‘I didn’t do it, Inspector, as God is my witness,’

‘I do not think that the jury will believe you. Do you agree Sergeant?’

‘I’ve never seen a more certain candidate for the gallows, Inspector,’ Sergeant Allen managed to inject a note of cruel excitement into his voice that was totally alien to his nature.

‘Inspector Thompson,’ Groom’s voice broke and I started to feel pity for him even though I understood why the two detectives were treating him like that. ‘I wasn’t the last person to see Lord Reventhorpe.’

‘Why don’t you tell me everything?’ my master suggested sitting down in the other chair. ‘It would be to your advantage to co-operate fully.’

‘When we heard that the Honourable Sebastian had made up his quarrel with Lord Reventhorpe most of the domestics were very happy,’ Groom started nervously but quickly settled into a confident narrative. ‘The truth is that the Honourable Sebastian is like his father, a good and generous man, and we knew that he would look after the elderly and sick servants.

‘It was a different story with Sir William and Lady Caroline. They have already made it clear that once the will has been proved any servant who is not capable of very hard work will be cut off. I am of the opinion that the new owners of Hevershap Hall are interested solely in money. Already small acts of meanness have been enforced.

‘On the evening of the murder, I spoke to the Honourable Sebastian just before he left the house. I offered to arrange for a trap to take him to the station but he elected to walk, as it was a good evening. He was in a very good mood and apologised to me for breaking my nose.

‘I went into the library to see if Lord Reventhorpe wanted anything else and was asked to fetch him a brandy and water. I noticed that his box of Turkish delight had been placed on the small cabinet by the door. I brought him his drink and seeing that he wanted nothing else quietly left the room. I could not recall ever having seen him so happy.

‘I had just reached the baize door when Lady Barke walked across the hall and entered the library. I paused for a moment, waiting to see if my services were required, and then continued to my pantry. As the door closed behind me I could hear her excited voice telling her father how overjoyed she was that the quarrel with the Honourable Sebastian had been resolved.

‘Five minutes later Lady Caroline’s scream ripped apart my feelings of contented satisfaction and I rushed to the library to find things as I described to the police. It was made clear to me later that evening by Sir William that I would be well advised not to confuse the police with any idea that Lady Caroline might have been in the library when her father died. Good positions are hard to come by and I did not want to be dismissed without a character.’