Dangerous Pursuits (A Rose McQuinn Mystery) Page 21

  'Did he really tell you all that?' He smiled.

  ‘He did. But that you were a brave young lad who would step in between snarling dogs and you'd once rescued children from drowning in a raging torrent.'

  For the first time he laughed as if a load had been lifted from his shoulders, an intolerable burden.

  'Please go on,' I said.

  'You want to hear the rest? Angus decided that when we came to Edinburgh I should be his new wife, Lady Harriet. Oh, it would be a great lark fooling everyone for a while. I told him we'd never get away with it and that he was mad even to consider such an idea, but he assured me it was purely temporary, give him time to settle things at Carthew House.'

  He shrugged. 'So I agreed - reluctantly. When Angus decides - well, he's used to being obeyed and as I learned long ago, others mutely follow. And when I lost my nerve he said be patient, a few weeks and we'd disappear abroad again, buy a villa in Italy.

  'The one thing he hadn't bargained for was being hailed as a returning hero in his home town. Edinburgh's pride with all the publicity, the limelight, the brave son she would not let go.'

  He laughed ruefully. 'There were even invitations to Balmoral. That was the one thing I regretted, having to miss meeting our dear Queen. But we were safe enough, she never invites the wives along. One thing Angus hadn't bargained for was finding out that my father was living in a ditch half a mile away.

  'Do you know that Pa has the second sight? He was sure I was still alive, that he would have known if I was dead. And that was why he came to Edinburgh. As a child I was always asking Ma about Scotland, about the Castle - and when Pa read about Angus coming home, he thought he'd know if anything more had been heard of me. Then he saw us driving through Duddingston and recognized Lady Carthew, on one of her rare outings, as his one and only son.'

  He paused. 'And I made the mistake of telling Angus I'd seen Pa and I was sure he'd recognized me. You know what happened next,' he added grimly. 'The fire. That was dreadful. Unforgivable. I accused Angus and he swore it was vandals but I heard his racing gig come back that night. He knew that if he admitted he had been behind it, that would be the end of us. I don't hold with murder and I'd never forgive him - never - for killing my own father to protect his reputation. Not even to keep us both out of prison.'

  He gave me an apologetic look. 'Sorry I scared you that afternoon in the hospital when you came in to see Pa. I wasn't intending to run you down when I followed you back from Leith. I had to get back into Lady Carthew and it was very important you didn't follow me on your bicycle down the lane to the stable yard.'

  He poured a glass of water for us both. 'Sorry I haven't anything stronger to offer. Can you bear to hear the rest?'

  I said of course and he went on, 'Good, because it's easier coming from me than from Dr Pierce. If anything happens to Angus - which God forbid...'

  Again he paused, stared mutely out of the window, a prisoner with a vision too awful to contemplate. 'Quite frankly, I'm growing weary of playing the delicate Lady Carthew. I'm bored. I'm still young and I want some action in my life, the idea of living like this indefinitely - until death do us part - fills me with horror.

  'Don't mistake me,' he added hastily, 'I love the old man, but I can't bear all this. Sometimes I think I'm living in a nightmare from which I'll never wake up. Despite all his promises about finding a place in some less conventional society.'

  He shrugged. 'It's all a pipe dream - for us to start again where an old man and his lover won't raise an eyebrow.'

  And he brushed a hand across his eyes. 'One hell of a business. God knows how it will all end.'

  In the silence that followed, I said, 'Did you know there's a dead woman in the mausoleum?'

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  'A dead woman, eh? Is there really? I'd like to bet there are quite a few.' And although his glance was quizzical, he looked alarmed. 'Know who she is?'

  'I can make a guess. Yvonne Binns, lately your - I mean Lady Carthew's personal maid.'

  He jumped to his feet, shouted, 'So that's what - where...'

  Recovering, he gulped more water but his hand shook. 'Anyone else know?'

  For my own safety, I said, 'Yes. Detective Sergeant Macmerry - my friend Jack, he knows.'

  He groaned. 'So that's it. All I know is that Yvonne was blackmailing Angus. She knew about us, like Mrs Laing who must know but prefers to pretend that such things don't exist. Old Kennock hasn't any idea, but Pierce has. Angus trusts him, they've been lifelong friends and he told me Pierce knew there were episodes in his university days before he went to India.

  'About Yvonne. She came to help Mrs Laing. Had worked in an institution making uniforms so she was invaluable as a dressmaker - very useful - and as Angus didn't know a thing about women's clothes, she had to be let into the secret. She would have soon found out anyway, but it was always a dangerous situation and although Binns was paid well for her silence, she got greedy.

  ‘Well, he wasn't the one to stand for that - public exposure, the newspapers. He refused to discuss it with me, said he'd paid her off and that was the end of it.'

  He shuddered. 'But I had an awful feeling that he wasn't telling the truth. Blackmailers don't go all that easily and I couldn't shake off the thought that maybe he'd paid someone to get rid of her.' He looked at me and said grimly, 'And now I think you've given me the answer. That wasn't a wise move, Rose. If Angus finds out, you might have to join the other dead ladies in the vault.'

  And letting that sink in: 'You're safe with me - for the time being. You were Pa's friend and that makes you special-'

  The door was flung open and Dr Pierce rushed in.

  I knew by his face even before he said, 'Harry - I'm so sorry - Angus - is - is-'

  Harry made a choking sound. Then he screamed, 'No!'

  With that terrible sound of anguish and animal pain, he staggered to the door, turned and sobbed, 'It can't be true - tell me it isn't true.'

  Pierce shook his head sadly. 'It is true. Not the fire, Harry. He's been ill, seriously ill for a long time. This was just the final straw.'

  Harry looked as if he'd like to hit him. 'And I wasn't with him. Dear God, I wasn't even with him...'

  He ran out of the room and the doctor turned his attention to me. Assuring him that I had suffered no injury beyond a bruise on my forehead, I asked for the children.

  'They are very well considering, and fast asleep again. Mercifully it will all seem like a bad dream to them. Torquil will be reprimanded but he is only a little boy - a dreadful lesson, and I doubt he will ever play with matches again.

  'Their father will be contacted and in the face of such a family tragedy, I imagine he will abandon his expedition and return immediately. Meanwhile Mrs Laing will take care of them until their nanny gets back later today.'

  As I went downstairs with him, I thought of Nancy for the first time and how dismayed she would be at missing this prime piece of drama.

  In the library we were followed by only the faintest whiff of smoke, more like autumn fires than the deadly blaze that had engulfed the nursery wing.

  'It's a miracle it wasn't a lot worse,' I said. ‘I’m sorry about Sir Angus.'

  Dr Pierce shook his head. 'It is not unexpected, Mrs McQuinn, this is the way Sir Angus would have wished to go. Seeing himself as a soldier still, dying bravely in action - saving the lives of two small children.'

  He sighed and went on. 'A sad business, the real reason for his retirement and returning to Edinburgh, knowing that he hadn't long. All these visits supposedly to see Lady Carthew when he was the invalid. But I was sworn to secrecy - Harry was not to know, he was not to be made unhappy by carrying such a burden.'

  He paused and looked at me. 'Harry has told you.' It was a statement not a question.

  'Yes, everything about Lady Carthew, that is.' I paused and added what was beginning to sound suspiciously like melodrama if murder had not been involved, 'Did you know that there is a dead body in the vault?' />
  There was no surprise or shock this time. He said, 'So Sir Angus has just informed me. His dying words were to extract a promise that I protect Harry at all costs - a young man with his whole life before him,' he added bitterly. 'And when the Binns woman found out about Lady Carthew, she had to go.'

  He paused a moment, looked round for a drink, then with a shrug continued, 'She was blackmailing them. Wanted five hundred pounds to keep quiet. So Sir Angus said he didn't have that much money in the house but that he'd meet her on the road beside St Anthony's Chapel and hand it over. When she arrived, there was no Angus, instead there was a police constable in the hackney. She panicked, saw prison ahead, took to her heels, ran up the hill. He followed her, they struggled, and he used the chloroform he had been given - stolen from my bag incidentally - to knock her out in the carriage and drive her to the shore.'

  He shuddered. 'A terrible story. He was to put her in the sea while she was unconscious so that it looked like suicide. Unfortunately, in his panic, he overdid the chloroform. He saw she was dead and realized he had to get her into the cab along the road. Scared to carry her in case anyone saw them and rushed over offering help, he went down to bring the cab closer.'

  He paused and looked at me. 'That's where you came in, the nosy lady with a deerhound.'

  'The constable played his part very well,' I said. 'Am I right in guessing he was Peter McHully?'

  Pierce nodded. 'A petty villain who had once been employed in the stables and would do anything for money.'

  'Were he and the maid lovers?'

  'Who on earth told you that? McHully had a wife and children in Leith and as far as I know he'd never met Binns.'

  'Did Sir Angus know that he was a member of the Opera Society?'

  'Yes, and as he was familiar with Gilbert and Sullivan, he must have guessed that the constable's uniform from Pirates was very useful. I suspect McHully was well ahead of him - a spate of local burglaries in which a bogus constable was involved.

  'After your untimely arrival, Mrs McQuinn, he lost his nerve, put Binns in the hackney trunk and deposited her in the mausoleum. There was method behind this - Angus told me that McHully had already decided that the five hundred pounds should be his now to keep his mouth shut.'

  He paused. 'You know the rest. McHully had to go. Not too difficult for a man in the General's position to whisper in the ear of an ambitious armed policeman that this was a troublemaker. Just a stray bullet, that was all. Assured of promotion - there are corrupt police constables too, you know,' he added gently.

  'You look tired and shocked, Mrs McQuinn. It's a long time until dawn and we'll see you home. The snow is still deep but presumably we'll be able to get my carriage out. Molly is keen to go home and I have a lot to do here.'

  'I'll walk, thank you. I'll go across the hill, I know the way. Yes, I'm quite sure,' I added, cutting short his protests.

  Truth was, I was nervous. I knew too much and I wanted to put as much distance as I could between Carthew House and safety.

  I gathered my cloak in the hall and opening the door I saw that even in the midst of crisis and sudden death Mrs Laing had cleared snow from the front steps.

  The doctor put a hand on my arm. 'Mrs McQuinn, one thing before you go - I must ask of you. A lot depends on how you answer.'

  I didn't say what I was thinking: Even my own life.

  'I can keep a secret, if that's what you mean.'

  'That's good.' He sighed deeply. 'Discretion is the word.'

  I looked back and saw that the blinds were already drawn in the main part of the house. Past the still smouldering, blackened rafters of the nursery quarters, I spared a thought for Harry as I walked out of the stable yard.

  As I wearily crossed the stile on to the hill, a joyous bark greeted me and Thane rushed forward through the snow.

  I put my arms around his neck, hugged him, knowing I was safe at last. He was wild with delight as he led the way, carefully making a track for me to follow across the hill to the Tower.

  There I removed my sodden boots, hung up my skirt wet to the knees, saw that the peat fire had not gone out and, with Thane lying before it, feeling secure and guarded I climbed the stairs to my bed and slept until darkness fell late that afternoon.

  I was awakened by Thane barking and a ring at the front door bell.

  Jack, I thought, pulling on a shawl.

  Not Jack. A visitor.

  Harry Roderick.

  'May I come in?'

  I was scared but he looked so grief-stricken, so lost, I hadn't the heart to set Thane on him.

  I led the way into the kitchen where Thane accepted this stranger as a friend who patted his head and spoke kindly to him, as I made tea from the kettle always kept hot on the hob.

  I said I was sorry about Sir Angus. 'What will you do now?'

  'That's all been worked out without my knowledge,' he said bitterly. 'Pierce tells me that when Angus knew - knew he hadn't long he drew up a will leaving me in my real name quite a lot of money. I'll take it and with Pa we'll begin a new life together as soon as we can get away from here.'

  'What about Lady Carthew?'

  He smiled. 'Oh, didn't you know, she died in the fire, poor lady. Trying to help her husband save the children, she collapsed and died. She would not have wanted to live on without him. Everyone knew that.'

  ‘That's quite ingenious.'

  'Isn't it just. We have it all planned, Mr Appleton and the good faithful family doctor. The Fiscal will accept their death certificates without question. Then after the military funeral at Edinburgh Castle, both coffins will be carried to the vault - Lady Carthew's duly weighed down - and as Sir Angus ordered, the vault will be sealed for all eternity with other members of the family and one extra, Lady Carthew's personal maid decently but anonymously coffined.'

  I shuddered. 'What about Mr Appleton? Was he left anything in the will?'

  'Hasn't been heard of for years, last sighting in Australia.' With an earnest glance: 'Do you think it'll work, Rose?'

  When I frowned, he added, 'It all depends on you. My future and the General's reputation are in your hands. We can't force you to keep silent and we can't kill you because there's no one left to order any more killings.'

  'So what do you want me to do?'

  'I want you to forget all this, pretend it never happened and believe every word you read in the newspapers. The gallant soldier and his lady.'

  As he was leaving I asked after the children. 'Fine really. Incidentally Torquil thought the flames meant the devil had come for him for his wickedness, so he asked for another offence to be taken into consideration. Something about stealing a key from your house to play robbers and jailers. Lost his nerve and put it on the garden wall for you to find next day. Did you ever get it? You did! Good!'

  Harry laughed. 'He's not a bad wee chap really.'

  Another mystery solved, I thought as I waved him goodbye. 'Take care of Auld Rory.'

  'You bet I will!'

  When Inspector Grey dropped Jack off at the Tower that evening, he was appalled to hear of my misadventures after the Carthews' dinner party: the disastrous fire and my rescue more or less unscathed, by the ne'er-do-well stepson.

  And that was all I told him and everyone else, including Nancy, fending off questions with the discretion I had promised.

  It wasn't difficult since the guilty, one humble, one proud, had met their fate, meted out by a greater justice than that of trial in our earthly law courts.

  To this day, Jack believes that my grim discovery in St Anthony's Chapel was no more than disturbing a pair of illicit lovers who had been experimenting with a dangerous drug, like chloroform.

  I let him think he was right. That's good for a man. Besides, there are some secrets meant to be kept for ever.

  And this was one of them.

  ###

  There are fifteen titles in the Inspector Faro series available from bookstores and on www.amazon.co.uk. Available on Kindle:

  E
nter Second Murderer

  Bloodline

  Deadly Beloved

  Killing Cousins

  A Quiet Death

  To Kill A Queen

  Also available on Kindle in the Rose McQuinn series:

  The Inspector’s Daughter

  Dangerous Pursuits

  An Orkney Murder

  Connect with Alanna online:

  Author’s homepage: http://www.alannaknight.com