Barbara Cleverly - Not My Blood

“At that moment Betty gets back a few minutes late from school because she’s been held up waiting on young Drummond. She takes it all in and helps clean up. They decide to leave the knife, thinking the bad weather will destroy the prints, but anyhow, Rapson’s were the last ones on there. She goes back to the school kitchen and nicks one of the meat knives and puts it in its slot in their own kitchen. Harry is sent to bed and told nothing’s happened. He’s to say, if anyone asks, that he’s been up there playing with his cars.”

“Clear as day. What’s your problem, Martin?”

“Trouble is, Betty confessed as well. And blow me if she doesn’t make it sound convincing. The women are covering for each other. Deliberately, to spread confusion?”

“Or because they appear genuinely to believe the other one did it?” Joe offered. “The inference is that it must therefore be the work of a third party. I’ve seen that happen. And, I can tell you, it works. If the accused really aren’t certain, the jury is even less so, and an acquittal usually follows.”

“According to Betty, as she was getting back from school, she saw Rapson chasing Harry, ducked into the kitchen, and snatched the first knife that came to hand-from the draining board-and stopped him in his tracks. Three stabs, and she pulls it out. Rapson amazes her by not keeling over but standing his ground. She wipes the knife on her skirt and shoves it in his hand. He drops it and stumbles off. But then Betty goes one further. Modern lass. Reads the papers. Listens to gossip. Clued up, you’d say. She accuses Rapson, who’s no longer here to defend himself, of-” Martin glanced at Dorcas and, seeing something in her expression, braced up. “Of paedophilia. Interfering with young boys. Says she’ll stand up in court and speak out. Says she was only defending her little brother from a sex-crazed monster.”

“Look, one doesn’t want to pose as barrister for the prosecution, but isn’t there a little matter of Rapson’s-er-well-signalled proclivities? A certain tendency to pursue members of the opposite sex, Betty in particular? The headmaster’s intervention and all that?” Joe said tentatively.

“The lass has got that covered,” Martin announced with ill-disguised pride. “She’s going to say as how that was all a sham, a pretence. Haunting her was an excuse to get close to the lad. You can imagine the effect of that delivered from the witness box. A girl whose honour has been doubly betrayed. Every male breast in the jury will be swelling with indignation.”

“Tell me, Martin, how do you predict that defence will go down at the Sussex assizes?”

Martin smiled. “On previous performance, I’d say the judge and jury will decide for self-defence or justified homicide or both. The twelve good men and true will all be local. And young Betty in the box would tug at your heartstrings. You can imagine. They’ll ask for Rapson to be dug up to stand a charge of something-anything.”

Martin was ill at ease in spite of his positive forecast. Dorcas and Gosling turned glowering looks on Joe.

The voice Joe heard breaking into the strained silence-wily, manipulative, authoritative-was that of Sir George, his mentor in India. Surely not his own?

“Allow me, Martin, to put an alternative scenario before you. We have here, in Rapson, a man who-and his bank manager will confirm this-had been for some years the subject of blackmail. His bank was becoming alarmed and had resorted to issuing warnings. Can we guess at the subject of the blackmail? An unhealthy interest in small boys? His career would never survive the revelation that was threatened. The blackmailer was most probably a man in his own immediate surroundings. Someone close to him? A professional colleague? A combination of guilt and fear and suspicion screw his emotions to a height and, perhaps with the trigger of the scheduled beating of a small boy in the offing, Rapson cracks under the strain and decides to do the honourable thing and end it all. He snatches up a knife from the school kitchens as he passes through on his way out of the school and goes off to find some space in the courtyard where he won’t make a mess on the carpet. A space where he can be viewed from the cottage making his statement-‘See what you women have driven me to!’ And he stabs himself in the heart.

“Now, the Romans were adept at this type of exit, and perhaps they were his inspiration-historian and classical scholar that he was. But it is in fact remarkably difficult to summon up the strength to do it. His attempt is not immediately fatal. In great pain and instantly regretting his action-as many suicide victims do-he tears the knife from the wound and, rapidly shedding blood, starts off back to the school to find medical help. Are we surprised that only one set of prints was found on the knife-Rapson’s own?”

“The rabbit blood, sir?” Gosling was eager to hammer down every nail in this creaking construction. And at once he answered his own question. “Old Rory! He’d just handled all the knives, and he’d been killing and gutting rabbits. Cross-contamination!”

Joe nodded. “Well, what do you think of that, inspector?”

Martin cleared his throat. “I think it’s the most brazen, duplicitous pack of lies I’ve ever heard spoken. Shame on you, commissioner! Do you know, I think if we were just to lose Old Rory’s statement and advise the women to keep their traps shut, we could get away with it. He’s never going to turn up in a court of law as witness anyroad.”

Joe smiled. “Well, think about it. No rush. What other revelations do you have in that pile of documents?”

“This came for you. Special motorbike messenger from Whitehall.”

Another brown envelope crossed the table. “You’ll see it’s been opened. I notice you had it addressed to Assistant Commissioner Sandilands and Inspector Martin. Very thoughtful. So I had a peek. Oh, my! Lists of members of the Eugenic Society. Two. Countrywide and a selection for the southeast.”

Joe fell on it and skimmed his way down the alphabetical list, grunting with surprise and exclaiming as one famous name after another caught his eye. “Confirmation. Farman’s here. Also Bentink. There’s our link.”

“Anyone else we know?”

“I’m afraid so. There’s Dr. Chadwick, father and son, many notables listed as ‘Mayor’ of this, ‘Alderman’ of that, physicians aplenty-but I’m wasting time. Gosling, give me the names of the missing boys in alphabetical order if you can remember them.”

Gosling snapped to and recited the names:

“Jefferson.”

“Here.”

“Hewitt-Jones.”

“Listed.”

“Houghton-Cole.”

“Present.”

“Murgatroyd.”

“Three of those-we’ll have to check initials.”

“Pettigrew.”

“Here.”

“Renfrew.”

“Here.”

“And your last, Gosling?”

“For Peterkin, look under Greatorix, sir. The stepfather.”

“Yes, he’s here.”

Joe broke the deep silence. “Gentlemen, I think we’ve got the buggers. Time to roll them all up.”

“Did you make an arrest at the clinic, sir?” Martin enquired.

“No. Hard nut to crack, St. Raphael’s Clinic. Shall I tell him?” Joe asked the others unnecessarily.

Martin listened without interrupting the tale. And finally: “But you’ve got it with you? The evidence? These films?” he asked eagerly.

“Yes. We’ll have to take a peek at them in London. I’ll get them back to the Yard and give them a good going over.”

“It can’t wait. Spielman’s still out there. It’s a Saturday.” Gosling looked at his watch. “Seven o’clock. School hall! Quick! It’s Langhorne’s weekly treat-Laurel and Hardy will be just finishing. The film show for the boys. If you can get up there before he starts pulling the plugs we could have an after-hours command performance. I know how to work one of those projectors. I’ve filled in for Langhorne once or twice.”