The Devil in Disguise (22 page)

‘Any more news? I saw a review in the morning paper of the musical Luke was so keen to back. Though there was probably more ink spilled over Matthew Cullinan's engagement than there was about the show.'

‘He reckons he likes to hide his light under a bushel, but he's news, isn't he? Liverpudlian society isn't exactly swimming with blue blood. As for the other trustees, there's now a minor mystery about Roy Milburn.'

Ashley's face became inscrutable, but his tone remained light. ‘Not got himself into another scrape, surely?'

‘Dunno. It seems he's disappeared.'

‘Hiding from his creditors, I expect. It wouldn't be the first time.'

Harry perched on a stool. ‘He and I missed each other on the phone yesterday, but Frances Silverwood spoke to him. She wanted to let him know we've found out Vera Blackhurst's past. She has a track record of cashing in on the wills of wealthy old men. The odds are that we'll be able to strike a deal with her over the Kavanaugh money.'

‘Luke would have been glad about that.'

‘Yes, but it's by the by. Roy was supposed to be at the Pool Theatre last night, but he failed to turn up. And though I tried to ring him again this morning before I went to court, there was no answer.'

‘I've known Roy for a long time,' Ashley said. ‘He's a great character, but I wouldn't ever claim that reliability is one of his virtues. Ten to one, he's picked up a woman in a pub somewhere and persuaded her to take him home for the night. Going AWOL is nothing new for him. I wouldn't worry too much if I were you.'

‘I'm not exactly worried. Curious, yes. The Kavanaugh Trust is surrounded by more than its fair share of mysteries.'

‘Shall we have that coffee while we chat?' Ashley went to the front of the shop and put up the
Closed For Lunch
sign. ‘Rather early, but I don't think I'm missing out on too many customers. Keep talking.'

‘For example,' Harry said as Ashley fiddled with a filter machine in the back room. ‘Why was Luke so keen to put a large chunk of the Trust's money into a little-known American musical at a time when funds were short?'

Ashley frowned. ‘He did mention it to me. He had a good deal of faith in the Waterfront Players.'

‘Did he ever mention the name of Bruce Carpenter to you?'

‘I can't recall it. Why?'

‘Carpenter is the producer of
Promises, Promises
. He accompanied Don Ragovoy to Luke's funeral. And he works at the Hawthorne Hotel.'

Ashley shrugged. ‘I'm not surprised he attended the funeral. As for the Hawthorne - I don't see the connection.'

‘Neither do I - yet. But perhaps there is one. I'd started thinking that Luke stayed at the Hawthorne because it was convenient for Roy's place just around the corner. But if he wanted to see Roy, why not have a quiet word with him after the meeting at the Piquet Club? If Luke wanted to see Carpenter, that might explain why he turned up at the hotel.'

Ashley blinked. ‘To discuss what?'

‘Maybe Roy misled Luke about the Trust's finances. If he put more money into the show than was wise, he may have wanted to pull the plug. He and Carpenter may have been the pair Julio overheard quarrelling - and Carpenter would have had a motive for murder. The man is crazy about the theatre. He might have flipped.'

‘Ingenious,' Ashley admitted. ‘But I'm not convinced. As I understand it, Carpenter owed - and still owes - an enormous debt of gratitude to Luke. I can't imagine them having a serious argument. Besides, if you're right, why would Luke book an overnight stay? Sorry, but it doesn't stack up. Anyway, the coffee's ready.'

After Ashley had poured, Harry said, ‘All right, then, what's your theory? Let's assume Luke was murdered. Whodunit?'

Ashley started. ‘I don't know.'

‘Come on. You're a murder buff, you're as bad as me if not worse. You can't read a report in the papers about a mysterious crime without playing your own guessing game. You regard people who peek at the last page of a detective story long before they've finished reading as little better than savages. Your godfather is dead, you believe murdered. You must have ideas about a possible culprit.'

Ashley pursed his lips. ‘I've never pointed the finger at anyone.'

‘Would you agree that if Luke was murdered, the truth is likely to have some connection with the Kavanaugh Trust?'

‘It seems an almost inevitable deduction,' Ashley said. ‘He was retired and lived alone - not the sort of lifestyle where you make enemies. The Trust was his main interest in life.'

‘If we leave aside Bruce Carpenter, then Luke's fellow trustees are the obvious suspects, given that one of them was deceiving him.'

‘I can't disagree with what you say,' Ashley said hesitantly.

Harry finished his drink and put the cup down on the desk. ‘Don't take this the wrong way, Ashley, but I've felt from the outset that there was something you were keeping from me.'

Ashley's features had become expressionless. ‘What makes you say that?'

‘I'm used to being lied to,' Harry said. ‘I've had years of practice. It comes with the job. And it's occurred to me that Luke may have been more forthcoming about his worries with you than with me. He claimed that he hadn't and my original instinct was to believe him. But you were close, he trusted you. To you, he might just have been prepared to name the person he had in mind, perhaps even spell out what had happened. Talking to a solicitor, his instinct would have been to remain discreet, especially if he had little hard evidence. He wouldn't want to defame anyone. It wouldn't fit his sense of propriety.'

Ashley bit his lip. ‘I suppose I owe you an apology. You've always been frank with me. Perhaps I should have been more careful to return the compliment.'

‘So Luke did spill the beans?'

‘You're no fool, Harry. He did use me - well, as a sounding board, I suppose. I did think about telling you, but it didn't seem fair to the person concerned. Several reasons for that. First, I might have been wrong about Luke having been murdered. I didn't think so, but I couldn't be sure. Next,

the things Luke mentioned to me might have had no link whatsoever with his death. I might have pointed you in entirely the wrong direction. And finally, just as Luke was unhappy about blackening someone's name without being able to prove a thing, so was I. It didn't seem right.'

‘Might there have been a fourth reason?'

‘Such as?'

‘Perhaps a sense of loyalty to the person in question.'

Ashley flinched. ‘What makes you say that?'

‘Am I on the right track?'

‘Maybe. But explain your reasoning.'

‘The way I see it is this. As far as I know, you only know one of the trustees well. You and Roy Milburn go back years. I'd assume that if you were trying to protect anyone, it would be him.'

A long sigh. ‘Of course, you're right. But it proves nothing, Harry, let me emphasise that. Just because Luke was unhappy about Roy, it doesn't necessarily follow that Roy killed him.'

‘Why don't you tell me the story?'

Ashley shrugged. ‘Now the cat's out of the bag, I might as well. Luke was bothered about a shortfall in the Trust's funds. A large sum of money had gone missing. Too much to be explained away as a downturn in investment income. He hadn't realised how serious things were when he promised to underwrite the musical. When he looked at the detailed figures, he was shocked. Theft was the only possible explanation. Roy fobbed him off with some lame excuse. Luke

knew Roy had been spending quite heavily and it didn't take much to put two and two together. When he spoke to me, he was thinking of asking a firm of outside accountants to undertake a special audit and find out how much money was involved. He wondered if he should give Roy a chance to make amends and repay whatever he'd taken before matters went any further.'

‘And what was your view?'

‘I thought it was a good idea. Roy is an old friend. I don't defend him - his behaviour can be appalling. But he's always been a survivor, managed to avoid really serious trouble. A fraud charge would be something different altogether. Call it foolish if you like, but I hated the idea that he might go to prison.'

‘What did Luke say?'

‘He said he would need to think it over. But yes, I thought he would at least speak to Roy. He didn't lack a heart. And Roy can charm the birds off the trees when he's in the mood. I hoped they could work something out between themselves. As long as Roy made amends promptly and resigned as treasurer, Luke might have been willing to leave it at that. He wouldn't have wanted the Trust to become involved in unseemly publicity if it could be avoided. At the same time, I'm sure he would have insisted on full restitution with the absolute minimum of delay.'

Harry said softly, ‘And what did you think when you heard about Luke's death?'

Ashley's face darkened. ‘Does it matter? I think I've answered the important question. You were right. Luke had cottoned on to Roy's defalcations.'

‘I just wondered if you'd discussed with Roy your theory that Luke was murdered.'

Ashley fiddled with his cuff-links. ‘You must understand, this is very difficult for me.'

‘Because you suspect your old friend of having killed your godfather?'

The bookshop was silent as Ashley stared like a blind man at the packed shelves. Presently he cleared his throat and said, ‘I'm sorry, Harry. I suppose I should have said something to you earlier.'

‘Have you confronted Roy?'

A mute nod.

‘And he confessed to you?'

‘No!' Ashley said fiercely. ‘He did not. He laughed at me, told me I'd always had a vivid imagination. Read too many detective stories for my own good. And then he brushed the whole thing aside and started talking about something else as if what I'd suggested was so absurd as not to deserve more than a moment's conversation.'

‘But did he convince you he was innocent?'

‘No,' Ashley said, bowing his head. ‘Not at all.'

Harry scarcely noticed the rain as he walked back through town. Although the sky was dark, in his mind everything was becoming clear at last. The key to the puzzle must be the Kavanaugh Trust's financial plight. For all his eccentricities, Charles had been as generous a benefactor as his father and had covenanted a monthly lump sum right up until his death. Matthew Cullinan was an experienced investment adviser, whose acumen should have helped to shore up the finances. The cost of subsidising a stage musical might have been heavy, but it should not in itself have bankrupted the Trust. However strong his wish to support the Waterfront Players, Luke would not consciously have authorised a grant that was more than he believed was affordable. As treasurer, Roy was in the best position to milk funds for his own benefits. He was notoriously short of money, but Harry recalled the Rolex and his extravagant mood that lunch-time at the Hawthorne.

Luke had presumably asked Roy to meet him at the Hawthorne and decided to stay there so as to kill two birds with one stone. He could talk to Bruce Carpenter about the musical and then ask Roy how he intended to repay the money he had stolen from the Trust.

But Roy would not have been willing or able to make good the deficit. Easy to imagine his blustering denial of guilt followed by panic when Luke made his disbelief clear. Luke would have been insistent. If Roy could not put matters right, there would be no alternative but to call in the police. For Roy, though, there had been one alternative. The death of Luke, in circumstances that could be passed off as accident or suicide.

As he walked down Fenwick Street, Harry glanced up and caught sight of the old furniture store. For a moment he toyed with the idea of calling there to see if Roy was there. On second thoughts, better not - at least until he had decided how to handle any confrontation. Perhaps it was lucky he had not cottoned on to the truth at the time of his visit to the studio. The railing that ran around the roof of the building was alarmingly low. Roy might have started to make a habit of pushing people to their death.

As he hurried through the main door of the office, still deep in thought, he was stopped in his tracks by the sight of Frances Silverwood in reception. She looked haggard and ill; her eyes were red and she was blowing her nose. A copy of the local morning paper was spread across her knees.

‘What on earth brings you here?'

She looked up and half-rose from her chair. ‘Thank God you're here. I called you half an hour ago, but I was told you and Jim were both out. Your girl said she didn't know when either of you would be back. Because it was so important, I decided I'd turn up on the off-chance.'

‘What's this all about? Is it something to do with Roy Milburn?'

Frances raised her eyebrows. ‘No, nothing at all. Hasn't he turned up yet?'

‘Not as far as I know,' Harry said grimly. ‘What, then?'

She lifted the newspaper and Harry saw that it was open at the page with the report of the opening night of
Promises, Promises
. There was a small picture of Bruce Carpenter together with his leading lady, a much bigger one of Matthew Cullinan toasting his bride-to-be. ‘I take it you haven't heard?'

‘Heard what?'

Frances swallowed. ‘It's about Matthew.'

Harry stared. ‘What's happened to him?'

‘My information is that at this very moment, the honourable Matthew Cullinan is in India. He's been seconded there for the last twelve months by a cancer charity that he works for, to help with a project to develop a specialist cancer hospital in Madras.'

‘Don't be silly. We were with him at the Pool Theatre only last night.'

She shook her head. ‘I'm afraid we weren't. The person we have been dealing with is someone else altogether. He's an impostor. And now he has disappeared.'