Elizabeth George - A Suitable Vengeance

St James reflected upon the fact that Harry Cambrey believed his son had been working on a story that would have been the making of the Spokesman. Ostensibly without confiding his intentions to his father, Mick had planned that this story would reach a wider audience than was available in this remote area of Cornwall. Thus, St James wondered if Cambrey could have discovered that his son was spending time, money and effort away from the Spokesman, all for something that wouldn't benefit the newspaper at all. And, if Cambrey had discovered that, how would he have reacted to the news? Would he have struck out in anger as he had done once before in the newspaper office?

Every question concerning the murder revolved round a decision between premeditation and passion. The fact that there had been an argument suggested passion, as did the mutilation of the body. But other details – the condition of the sitting room, the missing money – suggested premeditation. And even an autopsy would probably not generate a definitive distinction between the two.

'Where is everyone this morning?' Sidney got up from the table and took her coffee to one of the windows where she curled onto a velvet-covered bench. 'What a dreary day. It's going to rain.'

'Tommy's taken Deborah and Helen to catch the train for London. I've not seen anyone else.'

'Justin and I ought to be off as well, I suppose. He's got work tomorrow. Have you seen him?'

'Not this morning.' St James was no mourner for that fact. He was finding that the less he saw of Brooke, the better he liked it. He could only hope that his sister would come to her senses soon and clear her life of the man.

'Perhaps I'll rout him from his room,' Sidney said, but she made no move to do so and she was still sipping coffee and gazing out of the window when Lady Asherton joined them. The fact that she had not come in for breakfast was evident in her choice of clothing: she wore blue jeans rolled above her ankles, a man's white cotton shirt, and a baseball cap. She was carrying a pair of heavy gardening gloves which she slapped into her palm emphatically.

'Here you are, Simon. Good,' she said. 'Will you come with me a moment? It's about Deborah's cameras.'

'Have you found them?' St James asked.

‘Found them?' Sidney repeated blankly. 'Has Deb lost her cameras on top of everything else?' She shook her head darkly and returned to the table where she took up the part of the paper which her brother had been reading.

'In the garden,' Lady Asherton said and led St James outside where a salty wind was fast delivering an angry-looking bank of grey clouds from the sea.

One of the gardeners was waiting for them at the furthest point of the house's south wing. He stood opposite a beech tree, secateurs in his hand and a worn woollen cap pulled low on his brow. He nodded when St James and Lady Asherton joined him, and he directed St James' attention to the large yew bush that abutted the house.

'Dead pity, that,' the gardener said. 'She be right damaged, poor thing.'

'Deborah's room is just above,' Lady Asherton said.

St James looked at the plant and saw that the portion of the yew nearest the house had been destroyed, its growth split, broken and torn off completely by an object which had, most likely, been dropped from above. The damage was recent, all the breakage fresh. The distinct scent of conifer rose from the mangled branches.

St James stepped back and looked up at the windows. Deborah's room was directly above, the billiard room beneath it. Both were far removed from the dining and drawing rooms where the party had gathered on the previous evening. And, as far as he knew, no-one had played billiards, so no-one would have been witness to the noise which the camera case must have made as it crashed to the ground.

Lady Asherton spoke quietly as the gardener went back to his work, clipping off the ruined branches and stowing them in a plastic rubbish sack tucked under his arm. 'There's a margin of relief in all this, Simon. At least we know no-one from the house took the cameras.'

'Why do you say that?'

'It hardly makes sense that one of us would take them and drop them outside. Far easier to hide them in one's room and slip off with them later, wouldn't you agree?'

'Easier, yes. But not as wise. Especially if someone inside the house wanted to make it look as if an outsider took the cameras in the first place. But even that's not a wise plan. Because who were the technical outsiders last night? Mr and Mrs Sweeney, Dr Trenarrow, your sister-in-law, the MP from Plymouth.'

'John Penellin,' she added. 'The daily help from the village.'

'An unlikely lot to be stealing cameras.' From her expression, he could tell that Lady Asherton had already done some considerable thinking about Deborah's cameras, about where they might be, about who had taken them. Her words, however, acted to camouflage this.

'I'm having difficulty understanding why they were stolen in the first place.'

'They're valuable. They can be sold by someone who needs money.'

Her face crumpled momentarily, then regained composure.

St James showed mercy by saying, 'The house was open during the party. Someone could have got in while we were in the dining room. It would have been no large matter to slip up to Deborah's room and take the cameras then.'

'But why take the cameras at all, Simon, if it's a matter of money? Why not take something else? Something even more valuable?'

'What?' he asked. 'Everything else is too easily associated with Howenstow. The silver's marked. The family crest is on everything. Surely you wouldn't expect someone to cart off one of the paintings and hope it wouldn't be noticed as missing until the next day.'

She turned her head to look out at the park, a movement designed merely to avert her face for a moment. 'It can't be a question of money,' she said, twisting her gardening gloves in her hands. 'It can't, Simon. You do know that.'

'Then, perhaps Mrs Sweeney objected to having her photograph taken after all,' he suggested.

She smiled bleakly at that but went along with his effort to divert her. 'Could she have slipped out to the loo some time after dinner and trundled through the house looking for Deborah's room?'

Her question brought them back to the inescapable reality. Whoever had taken the cameras had also known which room was Deborah's.

'Has Tommy spoken to Peter this morning?' St James asked.

'Peter's not up yet.'

'He vanished after dinner, Daze.'

'I know.'

'And do you know where he went? Where Sasha went?'

She shook her head. 'A walk in the grounds, down to the cove, for a drive. Perhaps to the lodge to see Mark Penellin.' She sighed. The effort seemed too much. 'I can't believe he's taken Deborah's cameras. He's sold most of his own things. I know that. I pretend not to, but

I know it. Still, I don't believe he'd actually steal things and sell them. Not Peter. I won't believe that.'

A shout rose from the park as she finished speaking. Someone was coming towards the house at a hobbling run, a man who alternately clutched his side then his thigh with one hand while with the other he waved a cap in the air. All the time he continued to shout.

'Jasper, m'lady,' the gardener said, joining them with his rubbish sack trailing behind him.

'Whatever is he up to?' As he reached the gatehouse, Lady Asherton raised her voice. 'Stop shouting like that, Jasper. You're frightening us all to death.'

Jasper dashed to her side, wheezing and gasping. He seemed unable to gather enough breath to put together a coherent sentence.

' 'Tis 'im,' he panted. 'Down the cove.'

Lady Asherton looked at St James. They shared the same thought. Lady Asherton took a step away to distance herself from information she couldn't bear to hear.