R Raichev - Assassins at Ospreys

‘Your marriage,’ Antonia said. ‘Your part in her daughter’s death. What she sees as your part in her daughter’s death.’

‘So you do believe she heard me – the other night? As I was telling you about it? When she came in?’

‘Yes.’

‘All right. All right. Let’s be rational about it,’ Beatrice said. ‘Ingrid was last seen going to Ospreys. Let’s assume she was going to Ospreys. Did she disappear before she got to the house – or could it have been after?’

‘That,’ Major Payne said, ‘is the million dollar question. Before – or after?’

‘Well, she didn’t kill Ralph, that’s for certain. We’d have known by now if she had. The police phoned Ospreys from here, as it happened – a nurse answered – a male nurse, apparently – everything seemed to be fine. I mean Ralph is alive.’

Payne cleared his throat. ‘Renshawe was going to change his will in your favour on the morning of the 26th – correct?’

Beatrice stared at him out of guileless doll-like eyes and spoke breathlessly. ‘Yes. Yes. He said he’d instructed his solicitor to go to Ospreys at eleven in the morning, but I have absolutely no idea whether their meeting took place or not.’

She spoke as though she had forgotten all about it – or as though it couldn’t matter less. Antonia felt sure her indifference was feigned.

‘Len was dismissive about the whole thing. He thinks it was just the ramblings of a mortally ill man,’ Beatrice went on. ‘But Ingrid couldn’t have known about the will, could she? I am terribly befuddled now. If Ingrid did go to Ospreys, it was to kill Ralph as an act of revenge and make me take the rap for it… It couldn’t possibly have had any-thing to do with the will, could it?’

‘No. Though I have a feeling the changing of the will may be important in some way,’ Major Payne said. ‘If Renshawe had died before eleven o’clock in the morning, you wouldn’t have become his sole beneficiary. Only he didn’t. Who was the beneficiary from the previous will, do you know?’

‘Ralph’s nephew Robin,’ Beatrice answered promptly. ‘Ralph told me when he phoned, you see. Said Robin had been a great disappointment. He said Robin was forty, but hadn’t done an honest day’s work in his life.’

‘Renshawe has an idler of a nephew, eh? Is he a Catholic too? Forty – same age as Father Lillie-Lysander,’ Payne said in a thoughtful voice. ‘Do you know anything about Father Lillie-Lysander? That’s the priest who visited Renshawe.’

‘No, I don’t.’ Beatrice shook her head. ‘Oh my God. The Catholic priest! He too has disappeared, hasn’t he?’

‘He has.’

‘I read about it in the paper. Do you think there is a connection between him and Ingrid?’

‘Both of them knew Ralph Renshawe,’ Antonia said. ‘They visited him at Ospreys. Father Lillie-Lysander was Ralph’s father confessor. It is not inconceivable that they did bump into one another at some point. They disappeared on the same day. I believe that is a line of inquiry the police will want to follow – are probably following at this very moment.’

‘Assassins at Ospreys. I don’t know why I said that. Sorry.’ Payne waved his hand. ‘It just struck me as a damned good title for a detective novel.’

‘It’s fantastically clever,’ Beatrice breathed. ‘Alliterative – or do I mean onomatopoeic?’

Antonia said nothing. Her face remained blank. She would never use a title like that, never, she determined.

There was a pause. ‘I think it’s time we went to Ospreys again and took a look round,’ Payne said, glancing at his watch. ‘It’s half past three. What do you say, my love?’

‘Excellent idea,’ Beatrice said. The next moment she giggled and her hand went up to her lips. ‘Sorry!’

‘All right,’ Antonia said. I can’t believe she did that, Antonia thought.

‘Did you say “again”? Have you already been to Ospreys?’ Beatrice frowned.

‘Yes. We did go to Ospreys the day we came here, or rather the night,’ Payne explained. ‘We wanted to make sure Renshawe was all right. But we found no one at the house.’

‘That must have been when Ralph was rushed to hospital. As a matter of fact, I too want to go to Ospreys,’ Beatrice declared. ‘I’d like to come with you, if I may… Please.’

‘Well, you are perfectly entitled to a visit. After all he did ask you to visit him,’ Major Payne said. ‘I think it’s time Ralph Renshawe saw the person to whom he left his fortune. The real Beatrice Ardleigh.’

Without a Clue

‘… but the priest, as you say, got in her way – perhaps he tried to defend Ralph Renshawe, so she killed him. Then she panicked and fled. It could have happened that way, but then if it did, where is Father Lillie-Lysander’s body? You couldn’t get any sense out of Ralph Renshawe, could you?’

‘No. We did try. I don’t think he was aware who we were. He kept talking gibberish. Said that when one’s mind was fixed on death, everything started to spiral and to magnify. He asked if I knew how many spirals there were. Then he told me: double helixes, spiral galaxies and corkscrews.’ Inspector Hopper tapped his forehead with a forefinger.

‘Ralph Renshawe is gravely ill, isn’t he?’

‘Yes. Dying, apparently. Cancer. There was a nurse there – a man – not the original nurse – he was new. South African. Came last night. There’s no other staff, which is odd enough for a big house like that. We are trying to track down Nurse Wilkes. She left yesterday. Seems to have gone off. Somewhere abroad, I gathered. She’s been with Ralph for a couple of months at least. She might be able to tell us something. Did she let Ingrid Delmar into the house? Was the priest already there? Did she see the priest go? It’s odd, her leaving so suddenly. ..’

‘It is odd, yes… You found nothing of interest at Ospreys?’

‘No. It all seemed in perfect order. Nothing suspicious. We saw no need for a proper search at this stage.’

‘Perhaps the murder took place outside. Perhaps Ingrid ran into the priest as he was leaving. He might have become suspicious – realized that she wasn’t Beatrice Ardleigh – and challenged her? That was when she killed him – she might have had a knife – or cracked his skull with something heavy – picked up a stone. Then she put him into the boot of her car – no, she hadn’t a car. But if she did kill the priest, what did she do with the body?’

‘Hid it somewhere on the grounds… Or inside the house?’

‘Could she have done that – dragged the body into the house?’

‘No. I don’t see how – not without the nurse becoming aware of it. It was broad daylight – morning.’

‘Nurse Wilkes would have heard the noise… There’d have been blood… Perhaps Nurse Wilkes was in on it too. Wilkes might have helped Ingrid dispose of the body?’

‘She might have… Well, we should get a warrant, go back to Ospreys and do a proper search. Yes. It’s imperative that we speak to Nurse Wilkes… Where is Ingrid Delmar? Where’s she vanished to?’

‘On the run. Hiding somewhere. At some hotel. Some B and B. Skulking under a bridge. She’s a nutcase. Keen on revenge. Pretending to be the other one. All those photos of little girls in her room. She claimed they were her daughter. And she wrote a poem – “Madrigals for Mad Girls”. Serious hair-raising stuff. She should never have been allowed to walk free. We’ll get her sooner or later. She’s conspicuous enough, with her black gloves and blood-red hand.’

‘If she keeps her gloves on, her blood-red hand won’t be noticed. .. She might be dead.’

‘You mean it’s the other way round? The priest killed Ingrid?’