False Pride Page 24

  ‘Lucas said to let me go, that he guaranteed I wouldn’t talk. But Shirley told her brother to tie me up and leave me in the shed so I couldn’t raise the alarm. Lucas said to go easy because I was his housekeeper and he didn’t want me damaged, but …’ She rubbed her jaw and her wrists. ‘You saw what the man did.’

  Bea said, ‘Back up a minute. You’re a good witness, Magda. You have excellent recall. What exactly did Shirley say when she stopped her brother using the taser on you?’

  ‘She said, “You can be a little too enthusiastic with that thing.” Why? Is that important?’

  ‘It may be,’ said Bea. ‘It sounds as if he’s used the taser before on people. Can you kill with a taser?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Piers. ‘There’ve been a couple of incidents when the police tasered someone with a heart condition and they died. And, I suppose that if you turned up the volume, it could lay you out good and proper.’

  ‘So who was Shirley thinking about when she said that her brother had been too enthusiastic with the taser?’ said Bea. ‘Not Kent. He was hit with a blunt instrument. Not Lord Rycroft, who ran into a tree while driving. Not the twins, who drank something nasty. There’s only one person whose death Shirley could be referring to,’ said Bea. ‘Does everyone agree?’

  Piers said, ‘Owen Rycroft? The cuckoo in the nest?’

  Magda gaped. ‘But, why?’

  Bea said, ‘Because he was pure poison. It was his arrival that started all the trouble. He used his position as favourite to try to push out all the other little birds in the nest with the object of leaving himself in control of the Rycroft money. He started with his father; he got people to think Lord Rycroft was developing Alzheimer’s, ordering goods that he didn’t need on the Internet. He wanted Lucas’s flat. He tested both Kent and Lucas but found them too honest for his purposes, which was why he thought up that scheme to involve them in the supposed theft of the jewellery.

  ‘There were easier targets; he agitated about the twins’ business methods and debts. How much longer would they be able to get their debts cleared by the Rycroft Trust with him in charge? He considered Hilary and Shirley a waste of space, and said so. There was another man who worked in the office whom he didn’t like, wasn’t there? Ferdinand Redbreast. Owen threatened to cut them all off at the knees. He also threatened Mrs Tarring.

  ‘But he did have some success and one piece of good luck. Young Ellis – who would in the ordinary course of events have inherited the title and stopped Owen in his quest for power – was killed in a traffic accident. If Lord Rycroft continued to show signs of incompetence, he might well have been sidelined into an old people’s home. But there was a groundswell of opinion forming against Owen. The twins got together with the other members of the family who were under attack, because if Owen had managed to cut off their income, what would they have done? Are any of them employable? Ferdinand and Shirley might be but, from what you say, Magda, Hilary is not entirely stable, and as for the twins …!’

  ‘Yes, I suppose you’re right.’

  ‘We know that the younger members of the family were all talking to one another, exchanging news and views about Owen, creating alliances which in themselves were not strong enough to dispose of the man, but which fuelled their anger and their greed. Think of a network of people all hating Owen, and all phoning one another the whole time. Who was in that network?’

  Piers counted them off on his fingers. ‘The twins, Hilary and Shirley, and Ferdinand.’

  ‘Who else?’

  Magda wasn’t sure. ‘Mrs Abbot, you don’t really think Mrs Tarring was involved?’

  ‘She’d been threatened with losing her job, hadn’t she? She knew what was going on, all right. How much she actually did to help the others, I don’t know, but I think we can take it that she fed them information when she could, helped to pass around what information each of them gleaned, and was slow to assist any action which might have made it clear what they were up to. Now, these disaffected family members tried to get Lucas to join them, but he wouldn’t. The network seethed but had no real idea how to deal with the situation. Then everything changed because Hilary acquired a taser. How do you think that happened?’

  It was Piers who answered. ‘They’re illegal here, but if they’re available in America I’m sure you can get hold of them somehow. We heard that the twins had blotted their copybooks with some strong-arm tactics. They beat someone up, didn’t they? They had contacts through the clubs which could have helped them source a taser. Why did they give it to Hilary? Well, he’s not too bright, but I can see they might think he’d be useful as an enforcer.’

  ‘It seems to me,’ said Bea, ‘that giving someone like Hilary a lethal weapon was tantamount to encouraging him to kill, but it’s possible the twins didn’t intend him to go that far. Only, Hilary spun out of control. Owen had a subtle mind. It amused him to get his own way by drip-feeding falsehoods, not by the use of fisticuffs. I think Owen had some kind of confrontation with Hilary on the Friday, and he reacted by using his taser “too enthusiastically”. And that’s how and why Owen died.’

  Magda said, ‘But that doesn’t explain who—’

  Bea said, ‘Let’s take it step by step. There’s a tangle of motives here, none of them pure. I think that when Owen was killed, certain members of the network decided to take up where he left off, partly to pay off debts because they were short of money – that’s the twins – and partly to get rid of some of the other members of the family who stood in their way. They all knew, because of the phone bugging, that Owen had planned for Kent and Lucas to take the jewellery out of the bank, and they saw how this could be turned to their advantage. They saw, as Owen had done, that if they could only intercept the package, then Kent and Lucas could be blamed for its removal from the bank. What fun! They could get Kent and Lucas, those oh-so-pure Rycrofts, charged with theft. And out they’d go. So the twins descended on the studio in search of Lucas and the jewellery … and missed them.’

  ‘That sounds about right,’ said Piers. ‘While Shirley and Hilary were putting Owen in Magda’s bed, the twins were hot on the trail of the jewels.’

  ‘Keep thinking “network”. They were all on the phone to one another, listening to what was recorded on the bugs that Ferdinand had placed in different houses, exchanging information all the time, hearing about Owen’s death, hearing about the jewels being taken out of the bank, and knowing that Lucas was going to be out that morning.’

  ‘I still can’t get my head around Hilary putting Owen in my bed,’ said Magda, disbelieving. ‘I’d never even met him then. Why should he want to embarrass me?’

  Bea and Piers looked at her, and wondered how blind a nice woman could be.

  Bea said gently, ‘Look, Hilary killed Owen or tasered him, and then smothered him – possibly with Shirley’s help. He wouldn’t have done anything as subtle as putting him in someone else’s bed himself. It was Shirley who had the brains and took control of the situation. She got Hilary to put Owen in your bed because she thought His Lordship might be getting too fond of you.’

  Magda went fiery red. ‘Oh, really. As if Lucas has ever …! Honestly, it’s never crossed his mind. Nor mine, either.’

  Piers put her arm about her. ‘You’re a pretty woman. Why wouldn’t it?’

  Magda blushed pink at being called a pretty woman. And yes, she glowed at the compliment. But she still fought off the suggestion that Lucas might become interested in her.

  ‘You don’t understand. Mrs Tarring told me all about Lucas having a really bad experience with his sister-in-law many years ago, and that he’s not shown any interest in women since. Poor man. No, you must be mistaken. He’s never looked at me that way. Really, he hasn’t!’

  Bea smoothed this over. ‘I think Shirley misunderstood the situation.’

  ‘Yes, of course,’ said Magda in a constricted tone.

  Bea considered that now the thought had been placed in Magda’s mind, she would not be able to throw
it off. The next time she and Lucas met, perhaps she would be even more aware of him.

  ‘Wait a minute,’ said Magda. ‘How did they know the place was going to be empty? Normally I’d have been there all morning. Lucas only decided to take me with him at the last minute.’

  ‘I think that was fortunate for you,’ said Bea. ‘If you’d been at home when Hilary toted Owen’s body upstairs, you might have met the same fate as him.’

  And been put in the same bed as Owen. And wouldn’t that have been a nice morsel for the gossips? That hasn’t occurred to Magda. Luckily.

  Bea continued, ‘Let’s follow Shirley and Hilary. They have put the body in your bed and Shirley is on the phone to the twins, who’ve gone to the studio to intercept the jewels. She hears that the jewels are not at the studio, so she searches Lucas’s place on the off-chance that he’d taken the stuff back home before going on to the studio. And that’s when it occurs to her to take the jade. Not only could she use the money their sale would bring in, but also to give the police – when they were eventually summoned – the impression that Owen’s death had been due to a burglary that had gone wrong.’

  Magda said, ‘So the twins followed me here and tried to frighten you, Bea, into saying where the jewels are. They didn’t know I was already here and that I’d hidden them in the garden shed.’ She wailed, ‘But where are the jewels now? Did the intruder who came in the night take them, and is now keeping quiet about it?’

  Bea said, ‘It’s all right. Piers and I heard you tell Mrs Tarring where you’d put them, and thought they’d be safer in another place. Don’t worry, we can get them back whenever we want. Meanwhile, back to the action. When the twins left here empty-handed, they heard that Shirley had searched Lucas’s place and not found the jewels. The twin who was still conscious told me – and I believe he spoke the truth – that when they left me here, they decided to search Lucas’s place for themselves. They went to the office to get some keys and found it locked up, so that didn’t work. They tooled around a bit in the car, drinking from a bottle they found there. They ended up back here. One twin began to be really ill, and the other got him down to the agency and broke down the door. He set off the alarm, but at that point I was helping Piers move house and I wasn’t around. The twin who was not so badly affected ought to have called for an ambulance, but he didn’t. I did, when I got back, but feared the worst for both of them. It seems I was right, for one has already died and other is still in hospital. So who put the drugged drink in the twins’ car?’

  Bea went to the window and looked out onto the street. ‘By the way, they said they left their car outside my house, so it should still be here, if it hasn’t been towed away. Anyone know what their car looks like? It was an open sports car, I think.’ She looked left and right and couldn’t see one. Perhaps it had already been towed away?

  Magda said, ‘But who would have wanted the twins out of the way?’

  Piers was frowning. ‘The only people left who might have had reason to do it are Shirley and Hilary. I suppose that while the network had one aim in mind, they worked together, but when Owen died the jewels were up for grabs. Finders keepers.’

  ‘Could be,’ said Bea, favouring the idea. ‘By the way, which hospital did they end up in? I think someone told me.’

  Piers said, ‘Charing Cross. But, hang about. Drugging the twins puts them out of the running for anything else that happens. If they didn’t go back to the studio, and Shirley and Hilary are otherwise engaged at Lucas’s place, then who killed Kent?’

  ‘Indeed,’ said Bea. ‘Who else is hanging around?’

  ‘No one,’ said Magda, looking blank.

  ‘Back to basics,’ said Bea. ‘There is someone. What about Ferdinand, to whom Mrs Tarring appears to be somewhat partial?’

  ‘But why would he?’

  ‘Look, he’s involved in whatever anti-Owen plots have been going on, isn’t he? We know that because he bugged Lucas’s desk and he’s the prime candidate for listening in to the phone conversations. Remember that although most of the family wanted Owen out, they all had different reasons for doing so. Ferdy had his reasons, too, didn’t he? Didn’t Mrs Tarring tell us how Owen used to make fun of him, call him “Robin Redbreast” and threaten him with the sack? Ferdy would be one of the founder members of the “Hate Owen” club.’

  ‘But to kill Kent!’

  ‘Consider the timing on Saturday morning. The twins, Shirley and Hilary are all rushing around disposing of Owen’s body and trying to find the jewels. Ferdy doesn’t seem to have been involved in that, but he’s keeping himself up to date, as they are. He learns that the twins haven’t found anything either at the studio or here at my house. He learns that Shirley hasn’t found them at Lucas’s place. He knows that Kent is planning to meet Lucas at the studio. Does he know that Hilary has killed Owen? If so, he must be in a terrible state of anxiety. No one was meant to get killed. All that the conspirators aimed for at first was to neutralize Owen, and look what happened! Hilary murdered him.

  ‘Panic! The twins had gone off by themselves. Shirley and Hilary had put Owen in Magda’s bed and fixed things up to look like a burglary. Ferdy knew that Lucas and Kent were to meet at the studio and he didn’t know that the venue had been changed because the alteration to that meeting had been done on people’s mobiles, not on their landlines. So he went along to the studio, perhaps to try to deflect suspicion, perhaps to grab the jewellery, or perhaps he even meant to make a clean breast of it …?

  ‘I don’t think he meant to kill Kent. But when he got there, he found the door open and Kent surveying the damage the twins had done. Kent challenged Ferdy because there was absolutely no reason for the man to have been there if he hadn’t been involved in the plan to get the jewellery out of the bank. Kent threatened to call the police. He turned his back on Ferdy, who panicked, picked up the iron cockerel doorstop, and knocked Kent out. His instinct was to flee, to remove any connection with the Rycrofts. So he took Kent’s identification papers and mobile phone and left him there for Piers to find on his return. Muddled thinking. But none of them could earn the title of Brain of Britain, could they?’

  Magda whispered, ‘Ferdy killed Kent? Oh, that will upset poor Mrs Tarring.’

  Bea huffed. ‘The least of her problems. I have a feeling she’s known – or guessed – what happened all along. I don’t mean that she knew who killed whom, but she knew that there was a network of Rycrofts who were working against Owen and she has been trying to find reasons not to suspect them. And so she helps us a bit. But not too much. Perhaps she just does some listening in, and relays the odd message? Perhaps she helps Shirley get keys to all the properties? She probably rationalizes what she’s doing as being careful, being loyal to the Rycrofts, not knowing anything at all, really. Hilary knew she was involved, and that’s why he tasered her when she tried to calm things down.’

  Piers said, ‘Who tried to break into the agency in the middle of the night?’

  Bea said, ‘Ferdy, I think. If it had been Hilary, I think that somehow or other, he’d have managed to get in.’

  Magda sighed. ‘I don’t like thinking ill of Mrs Tarring. She’s been so good to me in the past.’

  Bea said, ‘I know. But she’s … conflicted. Doesn’t know what to think.’

  NINETEEN

  Sunday afternoon

  Bea had an idea. ‘Magda, when we were all talking about who might have done what, it seemed to me that Mrs Tarring was being protective towards Ferdy. She’s a widow, isn’t she? Or divorced? Didn’t she say that Ferdy was a widower, with no children? She’s free to marry again now. Do you think she has her eye on Ferdy?’

  Magda shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Maybe, it did sound as if … but I don’t get to the office and I don’t know the gossip.’

  Bea looked at her watch. Bernice! I must ring the school! William hasn’t rung back. I’ll kill him!

  And then … ‘Piers, you did double-lock the front door, didn’t you? I have a horrid
feeling that when Lucas and Co. fail to find the jewels back at your studio, they’ll be back here to have another go at Magda.’

  Piers nodded. ‘Double-locked. Shall I shoot the bolts on the front door as well?’

  Someone twisted a key in the lock of the front door. And twisted it again.

  Bea shot to her feet. ‘The cupboard in the kitchen was hanging open. I told Mrs Tarring where I kept the spare keys! What an idiot I am! She’s taken one so they can get back in whenever they wish!’

  Bea, with Piers close behind her, ran for the hall to bolt the door, but was too late. The intruders were already in.

  Lucas appeared first, with Hilary at his shoulder. Lucas was narrow-eyed, hands hanging loosely at his side. His hair was not as smooth as before and there was a yellowing bruise on his neck. He walked stiffly, under threat from the taser which a thickset youngish man was pushing into his neck. This was Hilary?

  Hilary was enjoying himself. A man who’d found his true metier in life.

  Behind him came Shirley …

  … who was grasping Mrs Tarring by her upper arm. Mrs Tarring was uncertain on her feet. Her hair was all over the place, there was a bruise colouring up on one cheekbone, and her lip had been split. Her eyes were wild. Bea could hardly recognize the competent administrator in this broken creature.

  ‘Back! Get back in there!’ said Hilary, waving at Bea and Piers with his free hand.

  They backed into the big room.

  Magda rose to her feet with a cry of alarm when she saw Lucas.

  His eyes flashed when he saw her. And then narrowed again. Had he sent some sort of message to Magda? Yes. She clapped both hands over her mouth, her eyes huge.

  ‘Sit!’ said Shirley, swinging Mrs Tarring round to sprawl onto the settee. ‘The rest of you, too!’