Martin Edwards - The Frozen Shroud

‘Robin Park,’ Hannah said. ‘What is he like?’

She and the Kinds were relaxing over a glass of Rioja after a filling dinner: Louise cooked a mean shepherd’s pie. Tarn Cottage was a congenial place to spend an evening, far better than lonely, draughty Undercrag. When she moved, she ought to try and find somewhere comparable. If she could afford the mortgage, without a partner to share the financial load.

‘Not easy to form an opinion of someone who’s experiencing the worst moments of his life,’ Daniel said. ‘If you’re wondering if he was less keen on Terri than she was on him, I think I can set your mind at rest.’

‘Yes?’

‘Absolutely. He was heartbroken when we found the body. Horrified.’

‘But?’ Hannah asked.

‘What makes you think there is a “but”?’

‘Be honest,’ Louise said. ‘When he turned up at Watendlath, you thought he was overreacting, didn’t you?’

‘Yes, though I didn’t get the impression he was acting . If that was a performance, it deserved an Academy Award. He’d lost Terri, and he was desperate to find her. But he seemed more frightened by the legend of the Faceless Woman, and the coincidence that Terri had gone missing at Hallowe’en, than I thought was rational.’ Daniel took another sip from his glass. ‘My mistake. He was right to be afraid.’

‘One thing’s for sure,’ Louise said, ‘he wasn’t the only one who was rattled.’

‘No?’ Hannah asked.

‘Quin and Jeffrey quarrelled after we went to bed. It was obvious this morning, as much from their body language as from what was actually said. At breakfast, you could cut the tension with a knife.’

‘Last Saturday evening,’ Daniel said, ‘I saw Jeffrey slap Quin on the face.’

‘What was that all about?’ Hannah asked.

‘Not sure. It’s obviously a volatile relationship. They’ve been together for years, but it isn’t easy, working together and living together as well. Perhaps the pressure tells on Jeffrey, every now and then.’

‘Three women killed in Ravenbank on Hallowe’en,’ Louise said. ‘Even allowing for the fact the murders span a century, it’s bizarre.’

‘The press are wetting themselves with excitement,’ Hannah said, ‘especially since they discovered that a former telly presenter with an interest in murder was on the spot when the body was found.’

‘We left the landline phone off the hook,’ Daniel said. ‘Journalists were waiting for us here as soon as we got home after giving our statements. I issued a two-line comment, a morsel for them to chew on, and refused to say any more. Finally they gave up, and went off to file their stories. But they’ll be back.’

‘After badgering your agent with offers of publicity for your new book,’ Louise said.

‘Vultures.’ Daniel groaned. ‘They’ve got a job to do, I guess. When we last saw Oz Knight, he was slamming his front door in the face of a young woman from one of the nationals. I suppose being in the news for the wrong reasons may harm his company.’

‘Not like Oz to rebuff a pretty blonde,’ Louise said. ‘He isn’t exactly the model of a faithful husband.’

‘Is that right?’ Hannah asked.

‘His wife told Daniel that he had a fling with Shenagh Moss before she moved into Ravenbank Hall with Francis Palladino.’

‘And Melody Knight? Marc hinted to me once that she’s a flirt.’

‘I’m not sure she means anything by it. Though Daniel will know better than me.’ Louise gave her brother a cheeky grin. ‘She’s already had a cosy one-to-one with him.’

Daniel blushed. ‘She writes freelance for local magazines, a rich woman’s hobby, I suspect. She isn’t a trained journalist. When she said she was keen to discuss the murder of Gertrude Smith, I was happy to have a chat. We met at Marc’s shop.’

‘What did she have to say?’

‘Her theory is that Letty Hodgkinson was innocent, and someone else killed the Faceless Woman.’

‘Based on what?’

‘A conversation overheard years ago by Robin Park’s mother, when she was working at Ravenbank Hall during its former incarnation as a care home. Letty’s daughter, Dorothy, met Roland Jones there when he was a patient, just before he died. He’d been her tutor — and one of Gertrude’s admirers.’

‘What was said in this conversation?’

‘Miriam Park is maddeningly vague. The bottom line is, I’m not aware of any hard evidence to support the view that Letty Hodgkinson didn’t kill Gertrude.’

‘Coincidentally, Fern Larter, who was on the team when Shenagh Moss was killed, was convinced she wasn’t guilty either.’

Daniel nodded. ‘Marc told me.’

‘Suppose it wasn’t a coincidence?’ Louise suggested.

‘What else can it have been?’ Hannah asked. ‘Everybody involved in the Gertrude Smith case was long dead by the time Shenagh was murdered.’

Daniel stood up and raked the fire with a long brass-handled poker. Hannah was mesmerised. Had Stefan Deyna used a similar weapon to smash her friend’s face to pulp?

‘I suppose,’ Daniel said quietly, ‘the theory was that Craig Meek simply copied the MO of Gertrude’s killer to deflect suspicion away from him?’

‘Suggesting a connection with the previous murder at Ravenbank?’ Louise said. ‘He was an outsider, so it might make sense.’

‘Yet nobody seems to have been fooled. As I understand it, whatever Fern’s personal reservations, he’d have been arrested if he hadn’t died in that car crash.’

As Hannah nodded, Louise said, ‘Rather like Stefan. He may have tried to pull the wool over people’s eyes, but without success.’

‘Exactly,’ Daniel said. ‘He’s the obvious suspect, so battering poor Terri and covering her face in much the same way as happened twice before in Ravenbank was pointless.’

‘Killing Terri was even more pointless,’ Hannah said. ‘She never did anyone any harm.’

‘Of course not. But it makes me wonder — why did Stefan bother, why did Meek take the trouble, when it was so futile to imitate the murder of Gertrude Smith? Why …?’

‘Two crazy killers,’ Louise interrupted. ‘Logic matters less to them than to a former Oxford don.’

‘I’m a writer, not a don,’ her brother said. ‘People interest me. Why they do what they do. Now, and in the past. And this copycat MO, I just don’t get it. Take Stefan, for instance. How did he know about the legend of the Frozen Shroud? Why take it into his head to indulge in some kind of grisly re-enactment of the old story?’

‘He’ll have read about it,’ Louise objected. ‘If he found out where Terri’s new boyfriend lived, he’ll have looked up Ravenbank, and hey presto!’

Hannah’s phone trilled. ‘This is Fern. Hopefully we’ll soon find out what Stefan has to say for himself.’

‘Got him!’ Fern whooped in her ear. ‘Arrested twenty minutes ago. We’re bringing him back to Carlisle this evening. No resistance, no bloodshed, thank goodness, he came like a lamb in the end. I’m told he seemed glad it was over, and wanted to talk.’

‘Before the lawyers get at him?’ Hannah felt triumph surging through her. A good end to a horrible day, a day she would never forget. ‘Brilliant.’

‘Well, yes and no.’ Fern sighed. ‘At the moment, he’s in denial. Insisting he didn’t touch Terri.’

‘You can’t be serious.’

‘’Fraid so. He claims she was already dead when he found her.’

Louise and Hannah were up the next morning, consuming a virtuous breakfast of muesli and grapes, washed down by camomile tea, long before Daniel stirred. Hannah was glad that Louise didn’t talk for the sake of making conversation. Daniel’s sister was a woman after her own heart, someone who understood the pleasure of the companionable silence. Not like Terri; that relationship had been founded on the attraction of opposites.