There was an answer to that last question at least. Nelson could have been Owen's GP in Southampton, and all that stuff he'd spun Horton was a lie. They needed more information on Nelson's background, and they needed to dig deeper into Owen's past employment record, university career and medical background.
Depression settled on Horton and stayed there while he briefed Uckfield. He could tell instantly that Uckfield warmed to the idea of Owen being involved in his parents' death and Thea's subsequent quest for revenge.
Uckfield sat forward but a cry of pain stalled his further comments.
'Back still giving you jip?' asked Horton.
'Yes, and so are you,' Uckfield gasped. 'I've already asked to see Thea Carlsson's medical records, which after what you've just told me sounds like a smart move. I'll request her brother's. Even if Owen Carlsson didn't kill his parents then Thea could still blame him for neglecting her after their parents' death. That architect man in Sweden, Bohman, said as much.'
'She's had a long time to think about getting even,' Horton growled.
'Yeah, and maybe hearing her brother singing Arina Sutton's praises over Christmas and New Year really got up her nose. Then, seeing how upset he was following her death, Thea feels rejected once again when he won't let her comfort him. Especially when she's come home to take care of him.'
Despite not wanting to believe it, Horton knew that it sounded plausible.
Uckfield said, 'DCI Birch is looking for a past connection between Anmore and Thea Carlsson.' Uckfield held up his hand to staunch Horton's reply and winced as he did so. 'It's possible that Owen told Thea at Christmas that he was planning to marry or live with Arina Sutton, which was why he went to Luxembourg on his own leaving his newly bereaved girlfriend in that big house. When Thea Carlsson came here to stay with her brother over New Year she could have met up with Jonathan Anmore while visiting Scanaford House with Owen. If we can establish a link between Thea Carlsson and Anmore then it's possible that she could have arranged for Anmore to kill Arina in the place her parents died-'
'Why would she do that?'
'Because she's sick. She's got a warped mind. Then she rushes home to comfort her brother.'
'That's a bloody big if.' But even as he said it, Horton knew he had been thinking the same and had said as much to Cantelli earlier.
Uckfield continued, 'Anmore kills Owen after Owen rejects Thea. Then Anmore and Thea Carlsson arrange that neat little performance at the Duver that you happened to stumble upon.'
Horton didn't like this one little bit. In fact he hated it and judging by Uckfield's expression he had been considering this for some time.
Eagerly Uckfield went on. 'Anmore tries to kill Thea Carlsson by setting fire to the house because he's scared she'd confess. Then Thea gets out of the hospital, finds Anmore and plunges a pitchfork in his back.'
'So where the hell is she?'
'That's what I want you to bloody well find out.'
Dismissed, Horton headed for the canteen tormented by the knowledge that the woman he had thrown from that burning house could have killed her own brother and Jonathan Anmore.
'Any news on Anmore's boat?' he asked grumpily, sitting between Cantelli and Trueman.
'It hasn't been in the sea for some months,' replied Trueman, shovelling fish and chips into his mouth as though he'd not eaten for days. 'So he couldn't have been meeting gun runners or drug dealers.'
'He could still have met them on shore,' Cantelli said stubbornly.
'He could,' agreed Trueman, 'but if your theory that Owen killed his parents and Thea killed her brother with Anmore's help is correct then it's of no significance anyway. At least not to this case.'
Cantelli had obviously been updating Trueman while Horton had been in with Uckfield.
To Trueman, Horton said, 'I want you to look into Dr Edward Nelson's background. He could have known Owen Carlsson professionally when he was at Southampton University.'
'I know where he was during his National Service.'
'Not sure that helps us much,' Horton said with sarcasm.
'You never can tell,' Trueman replied solemnly. 'Nelson and Sutton were both in the Royal Army Medical Corps from 1956 to 1959, based at the British Military Hospital in Tripoli. Or at least Nelson was in Tripoli until 1959. Sutton left there a year earlier but there's no trace of where he went. He next shows up as a registrar at Guy's Hospital in 1960.'
'Don't the army records tell us what he was doing?'
'Not the ones I've had access to. But I've asked a mate who works there to have a nose around.'
'Where haven't you got mates?' Horton muttered.
'It pays to keep in touch. He doesn't know why Sutton's records are missing from 1958 to 1960.'
'Could he have been abroad on another posting?'
'Probably, but the records should show that.'
Cantelli said, 'Perhaps it was hush-hush.'
Trueman shrugged. 'Could be, which means that someone's conveniently lost that information or destroyed it. Or it could just be incompetence and someone forgot to fill in where Sutton was between September 1958 when he left Tripoli until he was discharged from the army in November 1959 and showed up for work at Guy's in
January 1960.'
Horton could feel his curiosity rising. He didn't like gaps of any kind, although Trueman could be right and this was probably just a piece of slipshod work. Even if it weren't, he didn't think it had any bearing on the case, except for one thing that still irked him: Owen's visit to Nelson.
He stretched and rubbed his face. 'What was going on in the world in 1958 and 1959?'
'The Cuban crisis,' Trueman said, promptly. 'Fidel Castro took over as premier on the sixteenth of February 1959 and brought the world to the brink of nuclear war as his alliance with the USSR provoked a missile crisis.'
'Our Man in Havana,' muttered Cantelli.
'It's a book,' confirmed Trueman to Horton's raised eyebrows.
'And a film,' added Cantelli. 'By Carol Reed, starring Alec Guinness and Maureen O'Hara. 1959.'
'If you say so,' Horton said. Cantelli was an expert on these things. 'But I can't see Sutton being in Havana or anywhere else in Cuba.'
'Probably not,' Trueman agreed. 'But Our Man in Havana is a good book.'
Suddenly something connected in Horton's tired brain. Book.. Sutton… Of course! Trueman, you're a genius.'
With a smile, Trueman said, 'I know that.'
Horton leant forward. 'Bella Westbury, ex British Army Military Intelligence, shows up on the Isle of Wight and becomes housekeeper to Sir Christopher Sutton just when the man has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. And what do some people do when they discover they haven't got long left for this world?'
Cantelli said, 'They confess.'
'There's a Catholic for you.'
Trueman caught on. 'Or they write a book — their memoirs.'
Horton smiled triumphantly. 'Exactly! Bella said to me that she was leaving because her job was done. I thought she meant killing Arina, Owen and Jonathan Anmore and maybe even Thea Carlsson, but that wasn't her job, and neither has it anything to do with Owen's environmental project. Bella Westbury was here to stop Sir Christopher blabbing about where he was and what he was doing during 1959. My God, it makes sense.'
He threw himself back in his seat and watched the expressions on Trueman's and Cantelli's faces before adding, 'By being in Scanaford House as housekeeper, she was able to field Sutton's calls, sift through his post and his possessions and make sure he wasn't about to break the Official Secrets Act, which he must have signed when doing National Service. She was also able to conduct a thorough search of Scanaford House after Arina Sutton was killed in case Sutton had left a written confession.'
Cantelli said, 'So she did kill Arina.'
Horton chewed it over. 'Only if Sir Christopher had told his daughter his secret on his deathbed.' And he could have done. Confession being good for the soul and all that. But he still couldn't see where Helen and Lars Carlsson came into it. Maybe they didn't and the fact that their deaths had occurred in the same place as Arina's had been just one of those weird coincidences. Or perhaps Owen had killed his parents and Arina really had been killed by a hit-and-run driver. Her death in Seaview had been the catalyst which had unlocked Owen's secret and set up a
