The Crozier Pharaohs

17

Judgement Suspended

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Susan and Dr Mortlake were in the middle of tea, although the second cup had not been poured out, when the telephone rang. The receiver was in what had been Dr Rant’s surgery. Susan excused herself to her guest and went along to answer it. It was Harrow on the line. He announced himself.

‘We’ve been to see Dr Mortlake,’ he said, ‘but his receptionist told us he had gone to visit the Miss Rants at Crozier Lodge.’

‘They’re not here. Dr Mortlake is having his tea.’

‘Keep him there. We’ll be along in no time. Now the news about Dr Rant’s death is known, there are one or two points he can clear up for us. And, look, Miss Susan, don’t tell him who this call is from. We want answers straight off the cuff. This is a very serious matter and we don’t want a prepared statement.’

Susan returned to the sitting-room.

‘Only the girls saying they had been asked to stay for dinner, so would be later than they thought,’ she said. She went into the kitchen to her brother and said, ‘Get it down you and hop it before the police get here.’

‘Police? I haven’t done nothing!’

‘Get lost, I tell you!’

‘Oh, all right. Got nothing on you, have they?’

‘Who knows? Swallow — and off!’

Adams obeyed her. He disliked meeting the police. She returned to the sitting-room and unemotionally resumed her interrupted tea. Harrow and Callum turned up just as she was carrying the tray back to the kitchen. She put it down to answer the door to them. She noticed, as she did so, that, although they had parked their car on the drive, it completely blocked the front gates. Sekhmet, Isis and Nephthys were inspecting it, having already taken a sniff or two at the doctor’s car which was near the house.

‘Excuse me a minute,’ she said. ‘With the gates open, they could get out.’

‘Shut the dogs up, if you don’t mind, miss,’ said Harrow, ‘and leave the gates as they are. We shan’t be a minute. Where can we find Dr Mortlake?’

‘In there.’ She indicated the sitting-room door. ‘He won’t be expecting you.’ She went out on to the drive and soon had the two hounds and the Labrador safely penned. Harrow and Callum went to the sitting-room and entered it without knocking. Dr Mortlake rose as they came in.

‘You’ll have heard the news about Dr Rant,’ said Harrow.

‘Dear me, yes. So it was suicide, after all.’

‘We think you could help us as to that, doctor. By the way, can you tell us what this is?’ He produced the worked flint. Mortlake took it and turned it over in hands which, in spite of his professional training, were slightly unsteady.

‘Good Lord!’ he said. ‘I wondered where that had got to. It’s the gem of my collection. I was burgled a few weeks ago, so I suppose the thieves picked this up accidentally with the valuables they took.’

‘You have never reported a break-in, doctor.’

‘I didn’t think it was worthwhile. You chaps don’t seem all that clever at recovering stolen property.’

‘Reverting to the matter of Dr Rant, we would like you to accompany us to the station, where I can have a shorthand writer at my disposal. Your evidence may be of the greatest assistance to us in our enquiries.’

‘The police station? Oh, all right. I’ll get my hat.’

Five minutes went by before Harrow said, ‘Where the devil has he got to?’

‘In the bog, perhaps,’ said Callum. Susan appeared as they walked into the hall. They questioned her.

‘He’s nowhere about,’ she said, ‘unless he went upstairs, but I’m pretty sure he didn’t. One of the treads makes a loud cracking noise. I should have heard it. Besides, I believe I heard the front door shut about five minutes ago. I shouldn’t wonder if he’s scarpered. Not everybody enjoys being questioned by the police.’ Remembering their search of her cottage, she looked at them with little enjoyment herself.

Callum dashed up the stairs, but soon came down again.

‘Well, he can’t have got far,’ said Harrow. ‘His hat is still on the hall stand and his car is in the drive. He couldn’t get it past ours. We’ll soon catch up with him.’

‘Not if he’s made for the top of the cliff railway and has gone by the cliff path. You can’t get your car along there and, once he’s in the valley, he could hide for days among those rocks. You’d better let me loose the hounds,’ said Susan.

Without waiting for any comments, she dashed out at the front door and bounded down the steps. The two policemen followed, passed by Mortlake’s car and got into their own without waiting to see what Susan would do.

They drove to the top of the cliff railway, left the locked car safely parked and made for the cliff path. Before they were halfway along it, the panting hounds, all six of them, followed a good way behind by Susan, streamed up to them and passed them. Susan dropped into an easy jog-trot and said, ‘He left his hat, so I let them smell it. They know he is somewhere ahead of us along here. They’ll find him.’

‘I hope they won’t pull him down and savage him,’ said Harrow.

‘Of course not. Gentle as lambs. They will hold him until we get there, that’s all.’ She dropped into a walk. Realising that, so far as the hounds were concerned, there was nothing to be done without her, the policemen followed suit. They came to the end of the cliff path and to the steep incline which led down to Rocky Valley. Seated on the cricket ground below was Dr Mortlake. The six hounds were in an alert circle around him regarding him with the affection which, if they are of noble mind, the victors extend to the vanquished.

‘Well, what do you know?’ said Detective-Sergeant Callum.

‘You go first, miss. We don’t want the seat of our trousers torn out,’ said Detective-Inspector Harrow, looking at the slavering ring of canine eagerness.

‘So let me get it all straight,’ said Laura, a day or two later.

‘The floor is yours,’ said Dame Beatrice courteously.

‘Funny about the English language. To be floored means to be baffled, more or less defeated, as I understand it — comes from prize fighting, I suppose. Lots of our sayings seem to come from one form of sport or another. Batting on a sticky wicket, for instance. Anyway, contrary to being floored, to be given the floor means that one is free to orate and to produce arguments, no matter how long and how boring.’

‘Riding for a fall; drawing a bow at a venture; that cock won’t fight; the ball is in your court; to trump your rival’s ace; to hound a person to death; to miss the mark; the dice were loaded against him; skating on thin ice; a sprat to catch a mackerel; to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds — ’

‘To be three sheets in the wind,’ said Laura, grinning. ‘Meanwhile — ’

‘Oh, I do beg your pardon. You were about to recapitulate.’

‘Not that, exactly. I only want to get things straightened out. When did you know that Mortlake was the murderer?’

‘It has not been proved yet that he is the murderer, but undoubtedly he will be brought before the magistrates and they will decide whether he is to be sent for trial.’

‘But you yourself think he’s guilty.’

‘There were indications when Detective-Inspector Harrow heard the story told by Adams about finding an interloper in the Rant’s garage loft. I thought it possible that the person wearing the long coat and the hat was Susan, but when we confirmed the identity of the dead man at Watersmeet, it seemed likely that the motive for murder was a lot more complicated than punishment for dog-stealing.’

‘The verdict on Todhunter’s death and the one on Dr Rant’s will be quashed, I suppose, as a formality. But what about that hat and the piece of material that the police found at Susan’s cottage?’ asked Laura.

‘There is no doubt in my mind that those two objects were planted by someone who wanted to throw suspicion on Susan,’ said Dame Beatrice. ‘Whoever did it was careless enough to provide a hat of the wrong colour that did not even fit her — presumably in the belief that, if anyone had seen the intruder at Crozier Lodge that morning, they would not have been close enough to discern the details of the hat. As we now know, however, the piece of trouser material did match the garment found at Watersmeet — and that was more incriminating. The police were certainly concerned about Susan’s involvement, but they had no other evidence against her.’

‘It must have counted in her favour that she reported finding the body and lost no time about it.’

‘Possibly, although a murderer might have followed the same line. Well, the verdict stood and then the valley murder took place and about that there could be no doubt at all. Whoever the murderer was, he was an extremely desperate man. In killing the chemist’s assistant, he had scotched the snake, not killed it. Someone else was on to him.’

‘I can see how the forged prescriptions had tripped up Mortlake in the end, but who else had the goods on him? Not Goodfellow, and it was Goodfellow who got murdered in Rocky Valley.’

‘Have you forgotten that Goodfellow was a very unsavoury private detective? I surmise that, when the prowler began to visit Crozier Lodge, Susan justifiably feared for the safety of the precious Pharaohs and engaged Goodfellow to find out what was going on.’

‘Then he was the chap whom Adams found in the garage loft?’

‘Oh, no. That was Todhunter,’ said Dame Beatrice firmly. ‘Let’s look at the facts from the beginning. Don’t forget that Mortlake knew Dr Rant very well. It is my guess that he acquired proof that Rant had been responsible for the death of that woman in the Midlands and used this to blackmail his employer — in the hope of taking over Crozier Lodge when Rant died. Mortlake was obviously an ambitious young man without the means to set up his own practice. Rant promised him some money, but would not change his will leaving the Lodge to Mortlake. This refusal must have given root to an obsession: Mortlake became more and more greedy and impatient. He even proposed marriage to Bryony, remember? In the end, he decided that the only way to achieve his ends was to hasten Rant’s death — which anyway could not have been far off — by doctoring his prescriptions. Bryony and Morpeth would not have stayed long in that large house after their father’s death, if it hadn’t been for the Crozier Pharaohs — and Mortlake could probably have purchased it cheaply because of its unhappy associations.’

‘Your powers of deduction never cease to amaze me. So Mortlake saw the Pharaohs as having ousted him from his rightful inheritance? Todhunter’s reappearance on the scene must really have put a spanner in the works.’

‘Knowing that Morpeth, in particular, was of a nervous disposition, Mortlake thought that a prowler at Crozier Lodge would soon scare the sisters away — especially if he seemed to pose a threat to the hounds. By stealing Sekhmet, he was sending a warning shot across the sisters’ bows.’

‘But Todhunter realised what was afoot and lay in wait for Mortlake in the garage loft?’

‘Precisely. But he was not the thief of our hat, raincoat and doctor’s bag,’ added Dame Beatrice. ‘He had no fear of being recognised — whereas it would have destroyed all Mortlake’s plans had he been spotted by one of the sisters. Mortlake probably visited the loft on several occasions before the fateful meeting with Todhunter.’

‘Well, I know you don’t approve of blackmail, but we must give this Todhunter some credit for spying out the lie of the land and giving Mortlake a taste of his own medicine,’ remarked Laura. ‘I wonder what possessed him to accompany a murderer and a dog to Watersmeet that morning.’

‘That we shall never know, I fear,’ said Dame Beatrice. ‘What we do know is that, with the removal of Todhunter, Mortlake’s problems did not go away. By that time, Goodfellow was watching his every move.’

‘Presumably he was not watching closely enough to have witnessed the murder at Watersmeet? Otherwise, even Goodfellow would surely have turned Mortlake over to the police. But he was suspicious enough to confront the murderer at a later date — and get himself killed in turn?’

‘It seems to me a logical conclusion.’

‘We still have no proof that Mortlake murdered Dr Rant.’

‘In order to blackmail Mortlake, Todhunter must have kept the forged prescriptions. Faced with them, Mortlake will betray himself.’

‘Yes, but where are they?’

‘I do not know, but a visit to Adams’ shack might be useful. I think Susan may have arranged for Goodfellow to lodge there. It would have been a sensible place for him to stay if he wanted to maintain a low profile. Adams is not a man to ask awkward questions — especially of someone who frequently gave him generous presents.’

‘What about the Rocky Valley murder? Surely, if Goodfellow had made open accusations, he wouldn’t have risked meeting Mortlake in a lonely spot at night.’

‘I do not suppose any arrangement had been made to meet there. As I see it, Dr Mortlake must have found out that his adversary Goodfellow was living in Adams’ shack. Knowing that the man had to emerge occasionally to take the air, he awaited his opportunity and one evening followed him, fell on him from behind, pulled his head back and cut his throat.’

‘But why would Goodfellow have taken a walk to Rocky Valley at such a time in the evening? I know it isn’t far from Adams’ shack, but — ’

‘I have never thought the murder took place on the spot where the body was found. It took place on the moor. I think Mortlake left the body to drain off the immediate flood of blood and then carried it to where the hiker found it.’

‘This is all surmise, though, isn’t it?’

‘Certainly it is, but it fits the facts so far as we know them.’

Dr Mortlake was brought before the magistrates and, after the hearing, committed for trial. A police search of his house revealed Dr Rant’s old hat and coat and also his ‘black bag’. Bryony was questioned about the contents of this, but was unable to give a detailed list. She was obliged, however, to admit that the scalpels had disappeared. Shown the receptacle which Laura had found on the cliff, she identified it as having belonged to her father.

In spite of this, the prosecution felt that they were on anything but safe ground with regard to the Rocky Valley murder, although, at Dame Beatrice’s suggestion, Adams was brought forward to testify that Goodfellow had been his lodger and that he had taken his usual evening stroll on the evening of the murder.

‘Did you not wonder what had happened to him when he did not return that night?’ asked Harrow.

‘I reckoned he had dropped in at the Crozier Arms.’

‘Was it not one of your nights to go there, too? I am told you were a regular customer.’

‘I was on the slate, not being too flush at the time, and they wouldn’t serve me till I’d paid off me arrears.’

‘Wouldn’t Goodfellow have treated you?’

‘Him? Scrooge could have learnt a thing or two from him. There was I giving him grub and shelter when, for all I knew, I could have landed meself in dead trouble. When he never come back that night I reckoned either as he couldn’t find his way, being too plastered, or else as he had welshed, owing me money. Then, of course, I heard subsequent, as the poor bastard couldn’t have come back, whether he intended or not.’

Mortlake, however, defeated justice and the law. He left a confession and was found dead in his cell long before he could face a judge and jury. The verdict was suicide. He had taken cyanide.

‘He can’t have been properly .searched,’ said the Chief Constable, when he heard what had happened.

‘He was a doctor, sir, and up to all the dodges, ’ said Harrow.

‘I’m not sure they did much searching,’ said Laura, when the news broke. ‘Anyway, however the verdict was to go at the end of his trial, he was finished professionally and he knew it. You can’t get yourself accused of murdering people and, even if you are acquitted, expect a surgery full of trusting patients. How have Bryony and Morpeth taken the news of his confession and suicide?’

‘With equanimity. The two men he murdered meant nothing to them. As for Mortlake himself, Bryony told me that it was an embarrassment to have him in the neighbourhood after she had refused his offer of marriage.’

‘Cold-blooded young spinsters, aren’t they?’

‘More so than you imagine, perhaps. I am pretty sure that it was only a question of time before one of them murdered their father. Dr Mortlake put parricide beyond their reach.’

‘Well, it seems that Dr Rant would have died from his own excesses sooner or later,’ said Laura.

‘I think Mortlake and the daughters feared it would be later and I am sure all three knew that they were to gain under Rant’s will, and so cupidity, as it often does, settled the issue.’

‘I suppose Bryony would be your choice of murderer if Mortlake had not forestalled her.’

‘Impossible to say which of the women it might have been, particularly as it seems to have been Morpeth who did most of the cooking,’ said Dame Beatrice.

Laura looked at her distrustfully and then observed, ‘Well, perhaps it is easier to believe that Morpeth added arsenic to Dr Rant’s soup than to think of another doctor adding it to his medicine.’

‘In his confession Dr Mortlake alleges that Dr Rant paid him very poorly, when it was obvious that the practice — and the Rants’ comfortable style of living — would not have survived without his, Mortlake’s, tireless dedication and personal sacrifice. He was pressed for money and was in debt. In the words of a BBC commentator describing the losing player in a game of snooker, he needed “to negate his arrears”,’ said Dame Beatrice.

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[scanned anonymously in a galaxy far far away]

[A 3S Release— v1, html]

[November 14, 2006]